Marketing as a Service (MaaS) is either your whole marketing team, or the force multiplier your current team needs
Small business marketing usually breaks in two places: time and consistency. You either do not have enough hands to keep things moving, or you have a lean internal person who is stuck doing everything and making progress on nothing.
That is where MaaS, Marketing as a Service, comes in. At its core, MaaS is a model for outsourcing all or part of your marketing to a partner that operates like an internal marketing department, giving you access to strategy and execution without building a full in-house team. Kalungi+2Brighttail+2
The key point is “all or part.” MaaS works in two very different ways, and both can be cost-effective.
Option 1: MaaS as your only marketing team
When you need a full function, not a single hire
If you do not have an in-house marketer, hiring one person rarely solves the entire marketing job. Modern marketing is a bundle of roles: strategy, copy, design, SEO, email, paid campaigns, CRM management, automation, analytics, and more.
A MaaS model can cover that full function because it is a team, not a single role. You get a coordinated set of specialists who can plan and execute across channels, with a consistent cadence and measurable outputs. Kalungi+1
This is usually the best fit when you:
- have no in-house marketing staff
- need predictable monthly spend instead of a big fixed salary
- want marketing to run even when you are busy running the business
Option 2: MaaS to increase capacity
When you already have marketing help, but not enough of it
This is the version owners often overlook. MaaS is not only a replacement for hiring. It is also how you scale without adding more overhead.
If you have an internal marketer, they are often doing too many things at once:
- writing content while also building landing pages
- sending emails while also fighting with the CRM
- handling social while also trying to report results
MaaS can plug in as the support system that expands capacity without expanding payroll. Your internal person stays focused on what they do best, while the MaaS team handles execution, specialized work, and systems like automation and reporting.
This is usually the best fit when you:
- already have a marketer, coordinator, or assistant
- want to move faster without hiring two or three more people
- need better systems, follow-up, and pipeline visibility
Why MaaS can cost less than one full-time employee
Fully loaded labor costs add up fast
A salary is not the full price of a hire. The U.S. Small Business Administration notes a rule of thumb that the true cost of an employee can run about 1.25 to 1.4 times salary once you account for “over and above” costs. SBA
And benefits are not small. In private industry, BLS reports that wages and salaries were 70.2% of employer compensation costs in June 2025, while benefits were 29.8%. Bureau of Labor Statistics+1
If you are considering hiring a marketing manager, the BLS lists the median annual wage for experienced marketing managers at $161,030 (May 2024). Bureau of Labor Statistics
Even if your small business role is below that level, the “fully loaded” reality still tends to be far higher than the salary number you start with.
MaaS reduces risk and increases coverage
With MaaS, you are not paying for:
- recruiting time
- onboarding ramp
- training gaps
- single-point-of-failure dependency if one person leaves
You are paying for outcomes and capacity, delivered by a team that can flex based on your priorities.
The shared-cost model is where MaaS becomes unfairly practical
The other big cost in marketing today is not labor. It is the tool stack.
A functional setup typically includes:
- a CRM
- email marketing
- landing pages and forms
- automation and integrations
- reporting dashboards
- AI-enabled tools for faster content and workflow execution
Even entry-level pricing adds up quickly when you stack tools and seats.
A few examples, just to illustrate how fast software overhead can build:
- HubSpot’s Starter Customer Platform is listed as $20 per seat per month under normal pricing, with a limited-time discount shown for new customers. HubSpot
- Mailchimp’s Essentials plan is shown starting around $13 per month (pricing varies by contacts and features). Mailchimp+1
- GoHighLevel lists a Starter plan at $97 per month. GoHighLevel
- Zapier’s own materials cite a Professional plan at $19.99 per month for a set task allowance, with costs rising with usage and higher tiers. Zapier+1
None of these tools are “bad.” Most are excellent. The issue is that buying them one-by-one, setting them up, and maintaining them can easily turn into a second job.
A MaaS provider spreads the cost of software, AI tooling, templates, automations, and expertise across multiple clients. That shared-cost model is how a small business gets access to a higher-level marketing operating system without paying enterprise-level overhead.
What MaaS should deliver in both scenarios
Whether MaaS is your whole marketing team or your capacity booster, the value shows up in the same places:
- A real plan tied to revenue, not random tactics Kalungi+1
- Execution across channels with consistent cadence
- CRM structure and pipeline visibility, so you can see what is working
- Automations that protect follow-up, so leads do not fall through the cracks
- Specialists on demand, without hiring each specialty
The bottom line
If you need a full marketing function, MaaS can act as your complete team for less than the all-in cost of hiring internally. If you already have marketing staff, MaaS can increase capacity and output without adding more payroll overhead.
If you would like to explore MaaS options, contact BetterBiz at info@betterbizgroup.com or visit https://betterbizgroup.com/ for more information.
Sources (hyperlinked)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational Outlook Handbook: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers (median wage for marketing managers)
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics - BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), June 2025 (benefits share of compensation)
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf Bureau of Labor Statistics - BLS, ECEC news summary page (benefits share summary)
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics - U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA): “How Much Does an Employee Cost You?” (loaded cost rule of thumb)
https://www.sba.gov/blog/how-much-does-employee-cost-you SBA - Kalungi: “Marketing-as-a-Service Agency: What It Is and Why It Works” (MaaS definition and model)
https://www.kalungi.com/blog/marketing-as-a-service Kalungi - Brighttail: “What Is Marketing-as-a-Service?” (MaaS definition and scope)
https://www.brighttail.com/blog/what-is-marketing-as-a-service-and-4-killer-reasons-you-need-it/ Brighttail - Marketingaas.com (Managed Marketing Services definition, “all or part” framing)
https://marketingaas.com/ Marketing as a Service (MaaS) - HubSpot: Starter Customer Platform pricing page (example CRM seat pricing)
https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm/starter HubSpot - Mailchimp: Marketing pricing page and pricing plan explanation (example email platform pricing model)
https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/ Mailchimp
https://mailchimp.com/help/about-mailchimp-pricing-plans/ Mailchimp - GoHighLevel: Pricing page (example all-in-one CRM platform pricing)
https://www.gohighlevel.com/pricing GoHighLevel - Zapier: Pricing references (automation pricing examples)
https://zapier.com/blog/zapier-vs-ifttt/ Zapier
https://zapier.com/blog/zapier-pricing/ Zapier
