Author: Ayandola Ayanleke

Scaling a marketing team is tough — especially when you're on a budget. Whether you're a startup looking to expand or an established business aiming for efficiency, you don’t need a massive budget to build an effective team. 

If you are wondering how this is possible, this guide discusses two important points: how to scale a marketing team affordably and cost-effective marketing team growth strategies. If you're ready to build a strong marketing team on a budget, read on.

How to Grow a Marketing Team on a Budget

1. Assess Your Marketing Needs and Prioritise High-Impact Roles

The first thing to do to have an affordable marketing team scaling strategy is to identify essential needs. If you had an unlimited budget, this wouldn’t be necessary, but since you are trying to cut costs, you need to prioritise. 

Before you start adding people to your marketing team, take a step back and figure out what your business actually needs. Do you need more content? Stronger paid ads? Or a social media expert? Rather than hiring full-time staff or high-cost agencies, partner with selective marketers who can help you achieve your business goals whether it is in sales, leads, or conversions.

For example, if organic traffic is your top priority, a content strategist might be your best first hire. Then, you can hire for other roles as the budget allows. This will prevent you from overspending on unnecessary positions while ensuring your marketing efforts drive real results.

2. Leverage Freelancers and Fractional Marketing Teams

Another way to scale a marketing team is to hire freelancers or a fractional marketing team. This is because hiring full-time employees can be expensive, especially if your team is still growing. 

So, instead of full-time employment, you can bring in top talents for specific projects without committing to a full-time salary and other overhead costs. Although freelancers and fractional teams have their differences, they both offer services including content management, website development, ad campaigns, and email marketing.

Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr make it easy to find skilled freelancers, while AMAKA’s fractional team model provides executive-level expertise at a fraction of the cost. This flexible approach lets you scale up or down as needed, so you’re only paying for the work that is done.

3. Use Automation Tools

Working manually these days is a waste of time and money. No wonder more businesses are leveraging technology to improve productivity. Besides the merit of using technology for smart work, it is also an effective approach to scaling marketing on a budget. 

Leverage automation tools like Hootsuite, HubSpot, or Mailchimp to handle repetitive tasks such as email marketing, social media scheduling, and lead nurturing, instead of employing permanent staff for them. 

Automation doesn’t just save you money on salaries; it also helps prevent human errors and ensures consistency in your marketing efforts. 

The best part? Many automation tools offer free or low-cost plans. That means they allow you the flexibility to scale with them. As you grow, have more capital and need more features, you can move up the price ladder. 

Additionally, they help you focus on strategy and creativity so you don’t have to waste time manually completing repetitive but time-consuming tasks. 

Hiring a freelance marketing team

4. Outsource Specialised Skills Instead of Hiring Full-Time

Not every marketing role needs to be in-house, especially when they are specialised and/or are not permanent needs. For example, hiring full-time SEO experts, paid marketing specialists, or video editors can quickly eat up your budget. Instead, outsource specialised tasks to a fractional team or freelancers who excel in those areas. 

This way, you get access to experienced professionals without a long-term commitment. For example, if you need a video ad, hiring a freelancer on a per-project basis is way more cost-effective than keeping one on your payroll full-time. This strategy keeps your team lean while ensuring you get high-quality work when you need it.

5. Leverage AI and Low-Cost Marketing Tools to Boost Productivity

AI is changing the marketing game, and if you’re not using it yet, you’re missing out. Building a lean marketing team particularly requires engaging AI tools. 

Tools like ChatGPT for content creation, Canva for design, and Jasper for ad copy can help your team work faster and smarter without hiring more people. Moreover, they can help you generate blog post ideas, automate customer support and analyse data, among others. 

Plus, one advantage of using AI is that many AI-powered tools come with free or budget-friendly plans, allowing you to boost productivity on a budget. With AI, you can do more with less.

6. Consider Performance-Based and Revenue-Share Marketing

Imagine only paying for marketing that delivers real results; that’s the idea behind performance-based and revenue-share marketing.

Instead of hiring full-time employees or agencies with hefty retainers, you can work with partners who get paid based on actual sales, leads, or conversions. This could mean working with affiliate marketers, commission-based sales teams, or agencies that offer pay-per-performance pricing. 

Not only does this lower your upfront costs, but it also aligns your goals because both parties - you and your marketing partners - are motivated to drive real revenue.

Learning how to affordably scale a marketing team teaches you to be strategic about where you invest your time and resources. One major way, as mentioned earlier, is to hire a fractional team instead of full-time staff.

Click here to learn how AMAKA’s fractional team works.