The honest comparison
All three can work. Here is what each really costs.
Most pages like this exist to sell you an agency. This one exists to help you choose, including the cases where the right answer is not us.
When marketing finally hurts enough to fix, every owner lands on the same three doors: hire someone full time, sign with an agency, or DIY it on nights and weekends. Each one trades money for time in a different ratio, and each one fails in a predictable way when it is the wrong fit.
Below is the math we walk through with every business that asks, in real numbers, with the failure modes included.
In their own words
Brenna and Emily are filming this one: the story of why Flourish exists, told in their own words. It premieres right here the moment it is cut.
Until then, both stories are already written and live: read Brenna's story and Emily's story.
Side by side
Real numbers, not a rigged comparison. Two of these three are the right answer for somebody reading this page.
Option one
$5,700 to $7,100 a month
Salary, payroll taxes, benefits, and the design and ads tools they will ask for. One person, one strong skill, four passable ones, and your hours spent managing them.
Right when marketing is core to your model and you are ready to build a department.
Option two
$3,000 to $10,000 a month
Real specialists and polished reporting. Also forty other accounts, and the people who pitched you are not the people doing the work.
Right when you have the spend and the volume to be one of their bigger clients.
Option three
10 to 15 hours a week
Free in money, expensive in hours, and the first thing to die in a busy month. Inconsistency, not failure, is the usual outcome.
Right when you have the hours and you genuinely enjoy the work.
Option four, the one we built
$2,500 a month, founder led
A marketing department without the payroll: Brenna and Emily hands on, a real team behind them, and the whole system instead of one piece. Half the cost of a hire, and you get a team instead of a person. After six months you are month to month, so the work has to keep earning its seat.
See what is includedProof you can see
Not stock photos. Our founders and our team, on real sets with real clients, every week.
On set
The studio floor
Behind the lens
Teaching the room
Framing the shot
On the monitorA capable marketing manager in Texas runs $55,000 to $75,000 a year in salary. Add payroll taxes, benefits, software seats, and the design and ads tools they will ask for, and the loaded cost lands between $5,700 and $7,100 a month.
Then there are the costs you forget to budget for. One person cannot be a strategist, a designer, a writer, an editor, and an ads buyer at once, so you get one strong skill and four passable ones. They need managing, which is your hours. And if they leave at month ten, the system leaves with them.
A hire makes sense when marketing is core to your model and you are ready to build a department around them. Most local service businesses are not there yet.
Full service agencies in the Dallas market quote $3,000 to $10,000 a month. For that you get real capability: specialists, ad budgets managed, polished reporting. If you have the spend and the volume, a big shop can be the right call.
What the retainer does not show: you are one of forty accounts, the people who pitched you are not the people doing the work, and the strategy call is thirty minutes a month with an account coordinator reading a dashboard. Big agencies are built for big clients. Everyone else funds the machine.
We are built differently on purpose: founder led, a real team on delivery, and a system designed for local service businesses. That is the whole pitch. The details live on the Obvious Choice System.
Done properly, marketing a local business takes 10 to 15 hours a week: planning, shooting, writing, posting, replying, asking for reviews, and keeping the website and Google profile current. At what your hour is worth running the business, that is easily $4,000 a month in your time, spent on work you never trained for.
The common outcome is not failure, it is inconsistency. Three strong weeks, then a busy month kills the posting, the algorithm forgets you, and you start over from zero. Consistency is the entire game, and it is the first thing that dies when you are the whole department.
If you have the hours and you enjoy it, start with our free guides. How customers find and choose you online is the map we wish every owner had.
We are the wrong fit if you need leads this week. A system takes months to compound, and anyone promising otherwise is selling you ad spend with a story attached. We are the wrong fit if your revenue is under about $525,000 a year, because the retainer should never be the thing that strains your cash. And we are the wrong fit if you want to stay the hands on marketer and just need an extra pair of hands. We replace the department, we do not assist it.
If any of that is you, take the free guides and run them yourself. Genuinely. Come back when the math works.
Ask to see named clients you can call, real numbers from real accounts, and who exactly will touch your account each week. A legit shop answers all three without flinching. Vague case studies, guaranteed rankings, and pressure to sign today are the three loudest warnings.
Rarely. A capable full time marketer costs $5,700 to $7,100 a month fully loaded, before management time and tooling. An agency retainer at half that buys a team instead of a person. In house wins when marketing is your core function, not your side burden.
Who does the actual work on my account? What happens in month one? What number will you report to me monthly, and what happens if it does not move? How do I leave? The answers tell you more than the portfolio does.
When cash is tight enough that the retainer hurts, when you need this week's leads, or when nobody inside the business can spend two hours a month approving work. Fix those first and every option gets better.
You should be able to see it in the monthly numbers and leave without a fight. With us, after the first six months you are month to month, so the work has to keep earning the seat.
In their words
Unedited notes clients sent us, shared with their permission.
Feeling grateful for my social media team. They take all the guesswork out of what to post, keep me on top of fun trends, and give me a life outside of work. I still get to show up consistently without being glued to my phone 24/7.
Couture in Color, Flower Mound
I am just thankful it is off my plate. I know with confidence what is being posted is on brand and quality content that favors my business.
The Fortune Club, Canton
Even though I just started working with Brenna and Emily, I am so grateful I found them! I feel like I am working with a friend, and a friend who understands me and my business. I am thankful that I can outsource my social media to a team that wants to see me succeed and grow!
All Aesthetics, Houston
I am thankful for Brenna and Emily because they are always the smiling faces that help boost my business! They are always up to date on what is the latest trends and help me catch the attention of new customers.
4D Aesthetic Medicine, Canton
I am grateful for how Flourish so accurately displays who Dwell Church is and what we are all about in a fun, heart warming, and encouraging manner!
Tyler, Texas
No pitch deck, promise
Bring your numbers to a twenty minute call and we will tell you which of the three doors we would pick in your shoes, even when it is not ours.
Book a discovery call