Three ways to staff your marketing. Only one of them makes sense.
Hire in-house, stitch together freelancers, or plug it in. Here's how the math actually shakes out.
The marketing-staffing problem
Every growing business hits the same wall: marketing has gone from one role into eight specialties — Google Ads, Meta Ads, SEO, local SEO, Google Business Profile, Local Services Ads, web, and strategy. Hiring all eight in-house is a half-million-dollar payroll commitment. Hiring one generalist means seven channels run badly. Hiring freelancers means seven separate inboxes and no one accountable for the whole picture.
Sakativa exists for the businesses stuck in the middle: too big for DIY, too lean for a director-led in-house team, too serious about results for piecemeal freelancers. One flat fee, one senior team, all eight channels — that's the model.
Sakativa vs. the alternatives
| In-house | Freelancers | Sakativa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | ~$35,000 | $4–8k unpredictable | $1,999 flat |
| Time to staff | 6–12 months | Weeks each | 14 days |
| Strategy | Director ($110k) | None — you | Weekly 30-min session |
| Communication | In office | Per-freelancer chats | Daily Slack |
| Channels covered | Whatever you hire | Per-freelancer | All 8 |
| Risk if it fails | Severance + lost time | Restart each | Cancel anytime |
What you actually get
- A senior strategist who runs your account end-to-end
- Specialists for every channel — Google, Meta, SEO, Maps, web
- Weekly 30-minute strategy review on Zoom
- Daily Slack access between calls during business hours
- Month-to-month — cancel anytime
- 90-day performance guarantee
$536k
Avg cost to staff in-house / yr
$23,988
Sakativa annual cost
14 days
From signed contract to live
94%
12-month client retention
Common questions
Why $1,999 instead of a percentage of ad spend?+
Percentage-of-spend models reward the agency for spending more of your money — not for getting you more customers. A flat fee aligns incentives: we win when your campaigns get more efficient, not when they get bigger.
Who is Sakativa NOT a fit for?+
Brands spending $50k+/mo on a single channel usually need a specialist boutique. Pre-revenue startups without a tested offer need product-market fit first. Everyone in between — we're a fit.
What happens in the first 14 days?+
Week one is audit, access, KPI alignment, and tracking. Week two is build and launch — all 8 channels live, dashboards on, weekly cadence locked.
Ready to plug it in?
Get all 8 services for $1,999/month. Book a 15-minute strategy call and we'll show you exactly how it works for your business.