Broker Spend Efficiency Index
Most marketing spend doesn't reach your pipeline. Find out how much of yours is working — and how much is wasted.
Four ways to spend your marketing budget. Only one of them is efficient.
Most brokers are paying for marketing that doesn't reach their pipeline. Enter what you spend on marketing services each month — not ad spend — and see where the money actually goes.
Hire In-House
What it costs
£75k salary. £90k+ real cost once you add NI, pension, equipment and software.
What you think you're buying
A dedicated marketing person, full-time, fully focused on your brokerage.
Senior if you pay £75k+. Junior (£28–35k) if you don't.
What actually happens
One person can't run SEO, content, CRM, paid, social and strategy. You end up hiring freelancers and agencies on top — so the real cost is the salary plus everything else. And if they leave, you start from zero.
Head of Marketing: £75k salary = £90–95k total employer cost (NI 13.8%, pension 5%, equipment, software, training). That's £7,500–7,900/mo before they've produced anything.
Junior alternative: £28–35k salary = £2,900–3,650/mo fully loaded. Cheaper, but you're relying on someone without the experience to build the infrastructure your growth depends on.
Most brokers who hire in-house still end up spending on agencies and freelancers to fill the gaps. The salary is never the full cost.
A Typical Agency
What it costs
Your budget, handed to a mid-market UK agency.
What you think you're buying
A full team. Strategy, execution, reporting. Senior people running your account.
Who actually does the work at this budget
What actually happens
35% goes to overheads. That's — that never touches your marketing. The rest buys — of delivery — mostly from junior staff who've never worked in leasing.
Blended rate: £500/day (£62.50/hr). Based on a Clutch survey of UK agencies averaging £86/hr, adjusted down for the junior-heavy mix that does most of the work.
Total hours bought: —. After overheads, only — reach your business.
Cost per senior hour: —. That's what experienced thinking actually costs you once you strip out overheads and junior time.
Most agencies don't know your funder panel, your introducer model, or how EV transition is reshaping your pipeline. The first months of your retainer are spent paying them to learn your business.
Willowford
What it costs
Scales with scope. No lock-in. Cancel any month.
What you think you're buying
A fractional marketing lead with leasing expertise.
Same person, every interaction. No handoffs.
What actually happens
That's exactly what you get. £0 overheads. No juniors learning on your account. Specialists brought in per project — you only pay for what you use. Every pound reaches your pipeline.
Senior marketing lead with direct experience of broker commercial models — funder panels, introducer dynamics, stocking finance, EV transition, FCA-adjacent obligations. No onboarding lag.
When scope requires design, paid media, or development, the right specialist is brought in for that project. No bench cost. No account manager tax.
AI-augmented delivery means agency-level output volume without agency-level headcount.
Do Nothing
What it costs
The invoice comes later. It arrives as lost pipeline, rising ad costs and competitors you can't catch.
What you think you're buying
Time. A chance to sort it out next quarter.
Every month a competitor invests and you don't, the gap widens.
What actually happens
— behind competitors on Google in 12 months. — after two years. That gap compounds — and closing it later costs more than starting now.
Brokers investing in content and SEO grow organic visibility by roughly 15% per year. If you don't, that's the gap — and it compounds. After two years, a competitor who started today is 30%+ ahead.
Most brokers have hundreds of past customers sitting in a CRM with no follow-up sequences. That's repeat business and referrals going to whoever reaches them first — and right now, that isn't you.
- In-house costs: A Head of Marketing at £75k salary costs roughly £90–95k/yr once you add employer NI (13.8%), pension (~5%), equipment, and software. Junior marketing roles (£28–35k salary) cost £35–44k/yr fully loaded.
- Agency day rate: We've used £500/day as a blended rate. A 2025 Clutch survey of UK digital agencies found an average hourly rate of £86 (~£688/day). We've adjusted that downward to £500 to reflect the mix of junior and mid-weight staff who do most of the work. If anything, this is generous to agencies.
- Agency overheads (35%): Most agencies absorb about 35% of your retainer into their own running costs — office space, software, account management, margin. That money never touches your marketing.
- Who does the work: At lower budgets, agencies assign mostly junior staff. We've modelled this as: under £2k/mo = 10% senior, 40% mid, 50% junior. £2k–£4k = 15/45/40. Over £4k = 20/50/30.
- Google visibility growth: Brokers who consistently publish useful content and work on their SEO tend to see roughly 15% more organic traffic per year. That's a conservative estimate — we've used it for the "falling behind" figures.
- Profit per deal: Most independent brokers make between £300–£500 per funded deal. We've used £350 as the base case for the revenue-at-risk calculation.
- Google Ads cost per click: Leasing-related search terms typically cost £2–£4 per click. We've used £2.50 as the baseline.