# What does an in-house marketer cost compared to an agency?

**Short answer.** Do not judge an employee on gross salary: add employer charges, holidays, tools and management time. With an agency you buy that overhead in, plus the option to stop.

This comparison almost always breaks at the same point: an employee's gross salary gets put next to an agency's invoice. Those are two different kinds of number, and the comparison therefore falls in the employee's favour every time.

## What an employee really costs

Beyond gross salary: employer contributions, holiday pay and year-end bonus, insurance, a workplace, hardware and licences, training, and the time of whoever manages them. Add non-productive time, because leave, illness, meetings and admin appear in no agency rate.

And the cost that never makes it into a table: if this person leaves, their knowledge leaves too and you start again. At an agency that is the agency's problem.

## What an agency person-year costs

That part is public. From the annual accounts Belgian agencies file with the National Bank themselves, calculated in IKAg's [Agency Barometer](https://www.ikag.be/barometer): in financial year 2024 the median agency made about 76,000 euro of gross margin per full-time equivalent, the bottom quartile about 61,000. That is what an agency takes in as fees per person per year, after passing through costs such as media and production.

That figure is not a price you pay, but it is the best public benchmark that exists for what a person-year of agency capacity yields. If you buy half an agency FTE, you are in that range.

## Where the balance tips

- **Towards in-house** as soon as the work returns every week, needs few switches of craft and a lot of product knowledge. You pay the learning curve once.
- **Towards an agency** as soon as the work peaks, needs several crafts at once, or is so specialised that you could never keep someone busy.

## The third number nobody counts

Switching on and off. Hiring takes months and parting ways costs money and energy; an agency contract carries a notice period of [three to six months](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/normale-opzegtermijn). That flexibility is part of what you buy from an agency, and in the year your budget halves it is the most valuable part.

See also: [what an advertising agency costs in Belgium](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wat-kost-een-reclamebureau) and [how many marketing people you need](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoeveel-marketingmensen).

## Related questions

- [Freelancer, agency or in-house hire?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/freelancer-bureau-of-in-dienst): A freelancer supplies hours, an employee supplies continuity, an agency supplies a team with several crafts in it. Choose on how predictable your work is, not on what looks cheapest.
- [What does an agency actually earn on me?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wat-verdient-een-bureau-aan-mij): Less than most advertisers assume: in 2024 the median Belgian agency kept about 22 percent of its gross margin as EBITDA, the bottom quarter 7 percent. One in seven ran a loss.
- [How many marketing people does a company my size need?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoeveel-marketingmensen): No table answers this by revenue bracket, and anyone showing you one is selling something. What can be settled: which work returns every month, and which work comes in peaks.

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IKAg is the business consultant for marketing and agencies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Market figures come from the Agency Barometer, calculated on the annual accounts agencies filed with the National Bank themselves. Figures on pitches and satisfaction come from IKAg-guided processes, and are always presented as such.

- All questions: https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq
- Last updated: 2026-08-19