Marketing Consultant Hourly Rates

Whether you’re a founder hiring your first marketing consultant, or a marketer going freelance, the same question comes up fast: “What’s a reasonable hourly rate for marketing consulting?”

The short answer: in you’ll typically see marketing consultant hourly rates anywhere from $50–$200+ (around £40–£160+), depending on seniority, niche, and geography.

The long answer is more useful, because how you position the work (strategy vs implementation, one-off vs retainer, junior vs senior) often matters more than the raw number.

This guide breaks down:

• Typical hourly and day rates in key markets
• What drives those differences
• How clients should budget
• How consultants should set and defend their rates
• Where Twine fits into the picture

What Does a Marketing Consultant Actually Do?

Before we talk money, it helps to be clear on the role. “Marketing consultant” can mean:

• Strategic consultant – positioning, messaging, go-to-market, brand, channel mix
• Digital specialist – SEO, PPC, paid social, email, CRO, analytics
• Fractional CMO / marketing lead – owner of the whole strategy and team
• Implementation-heavy consultant – still strategic, but spends a lot of time “hands on keyboard”

The more strategic, specialised, and accountable the work, the higher the rate tends to be.

Typical Marketing Consultant Hourly Rates

Global & US Benchmarks

A few useful datapoints for digital/marketing consultants globally:

• A crowdsourced database of freelance marketing consultants reports an average hourly rate of $101 and an average day rate of $606 worldwide.
• A pricing survey of digital marketing consultants found an average consulting rate of about $142/hour, with most consultants requiring a minimum project size (often $3,000+).
• For more “general” digital marketers on large marketplaces like Upwork, typical hourly rates for digital marketers are $15–$45/hour, which aligns more with junior to mid-level freelancers.
• Digital marketing consultants specifically are often positioned in the $50–$200/hour range.

So in broad strokes for the US/global market:

• Entry-level / generalist digital marketer: ~$20–$50/hour
• Mid-level marketing consultant: ~$50–$120/hour
• Senior / specialist / strategic consultant: ~$120–$200+ per hour

UK & European Benchmarks

For the UK and Europe, day rates are often the starting point:

• A UK freelance rate report shows an average day rate for Marketing of £347/day (≈£43/hour), with the top 10% averaging £788/day (≈£97/hour).
• Malt’s data on experienced marketing consultants shows an average of £548/day on their European platform.
• Several UK guides on marketing consulting costs quote daily ranges from roughly £150 to £1,500+, depending on experience and whether the consultant is acting more like a strategist or a high-level management consultant.
• Digital marketers in the UK with less than 2 years’ experience often charge around £15–£30/hour, while those with 5+ years can charge £50–£100/hour.

Meanwhile, typical employee salaries for marketing consultants in the UK convert to something like £20–£25/hour for in-house roles, a useful baseline, but freelancers need to charge more to cover taxes, downtime, and overheads.

At-a-Glance: Marketing Consultant Rate Ranges

Here’s a simplified view (blending the benchmarks above) to help you orient quickly.

Note: these are ballparks, not rate caps. Top performers in niche markets can charge far more.

Level / Type	Typical Hourly (USD)	Typical Hourly (GBP)	Typical Day Rate (GBP)
Junior digital marketer / generalist	$20–$50	£15–£30	£150–£250
Mid-level marketing consultant	$50–$120	£40–£80	£300–£600
Senior channel specialist (SEO/PPC/CRM, etc.)	$80–$160	£60–£120	£400–£800
Strategic marketing / fractional CMO	$120–$250+	£100–£200+	£700–£1,500+

These align reasonably well with wider consulting benchmarks, where operational consultants might charge £50/hour and top-end strategy consultants £300+/hour.

What Drives a Marketing Consultant’s Hourly Rate?

If you’re trying to understand why one consultant is at £60/hour and another at £180/hour, you can usually trace it to 5 factors:

1. Experience & Track Record

• Years in the field, but more importantly: proven outcomes.
• Case studies like “took CAC down 30%” or “grew MQLs by 3x” justify higher rates.
• Consultants with ex-agency or ex-in-house leadership experience (Head of Marketing, CMO) almost always charge more.

2. Specialisation

• A generalist “marketing consultant” will usually sit at the lower end.
• Specialists in SEO, PPC, paid social, CRO, analytics or lifecycle often command higher rates, especially if they own a revenue-critical channel.
• The more complex or “hard to hire” the skill (e.g. attribution modelling, complex B2B funnels), the higher the rate.

3. Geography & Market

• Consultants billing in London, New York, or other major hubs tend to charge more, reflecting higher living costs and demand.
• Remote-first work has compressed some differences, but many consultants still anchor their rates to local markets — particularly in the UK & US.

4. Engagement Type

• Hands-on executors (writing ad copy, building campaigns, doing reporting) generally sit lower.
• Strategists and fractional CMOs who own the plan, budget, team, and board-level communication charge at the top end.
• Consultants who bring a framework, IP, or proprietary process can justify higher fees than those purely selling hours.

5. Risk, Scope & Accountability

• If a consultant is deeply accountable for results (e.g. performance-based contracts), they may charge a higher base plus bonus.
• Projects that require heavy stakeholder management, change management, or cross-functional coordination are priced higher than simple “build this campaign” briefs.

Common Pricing Models for Marketing Consultants

Hourly rates are only one part of the picture. In practice, marketing consultants usually combine several pricing models.

1. Hourly Rate

Best for:

• Ad-hoc consulting calls
• Small tweaks or troubleshooting
• Discovery sessions before a larger project

Pros: flexible, easy to start, low commitment.
Cons: encourages time usage, not outcomes; harder to budget big initiatives.

2. Day Rate

Very common in the UK & Europe. Instead of talking in hours, consultants quote per day (often 6–8 hours equivalent).

• UK marketing day rates commonly run from £300–£600 for mid-level consultants, with senior strategists charging £700–£1,500+ per day.

Useful for:

• Workshops
• In-person strategy days
• Interim/part-time roles (e.g. 2 days/week fractional CMO)

3. Project-Based Pricing

Here, the consultant prices the outcome, not the hours.

Examples:

• “£5,000 for a full go-to-market strategy and launch plan”
• “$8,000 for SEO audit + roadmap + implementation support”

Most consultants reverse-engineer this from an internal hourly/day rate and a time estimate, then add a margin for risk and scope creep. Guides on consulting fees increasingly recommend project-based pricing as a path away from pure hourly billing.

4. Retainer

A fixed monthly fee for ongoing access and a defined scope, for example:

• £2,000/month for 2–3 strategy calls, reporting, and oversight
• $6,000/month for full-funnel performance management

This gives clients predictability and gives consultants consistent income and utilisation risk is priced into the rate.

5. Value-Based / Performance-Based

Some marketing consultants link fees to outcomes (e.g. revenue share, success bonuses). This can work, but both sides need:

• Clear baselines (what’s happening now?)
• Clear attribution (what’s under the consultant’s control?)
• Written agreement on how success is measured

Because of the extra risk, consultants often charge a higher base rate to compensate.

How Clients Should Budget for a Marketing Consultant

Here’s a practical way to think about it if you’re hiring.

Step 1: Define the Business Problem

Instead of “we need some marketing help”, define:

• What is the problem? (e.g. high CAC, flat MQLs, low activation)
• What would success look like in 3–6 months?
• Is this primarily strategy, execution, or both?

The higher the stakes (e.g. a full product launch in a new market), the more senior you need to be and the higher the rate.

Step 2: Pick Seniority

Rough rule of thumb:

• Under $50/£40 per hour – junior or task-focused. Good for implementation, not owning strategy.
• $50–$120 / £40–£80 per hour – solid mid-level, capable of both planning and execution in their lane.
• $120+ / £100+ per hour – senior, specialised, or operating as a fractional leader.

Match this to what you actually need, not just what seems cheap or expensive on paper.

Step 3: Estimate Time & Model

Some quick examples:

1. One-off campaign audit
   • 8–12 hours of work
   • Mid-level consultant at ~£70/hour
   • Budget: £560–£840 (or a fixed project fee in that ballpark)
2. 3-month growth experiment programme
   • 1–2 days/week of involvement
   • Senior consultant at £700–£900/day
   • 12–24 days over 3 months
   • Budget: £8,400–£21,600
3. Ongoing advisory + quarterly planning
   • 5–10 hours/month
   • Senior strategist at ~£120/hour
   • Budget: £600–£1,200/month retainer

On a platform like Twine, you can post your brief, specify your budget band, and get proposals from consultants at different levels — then compare value, not just sticker price.

How Marketing Consultants Can Set Their Hourly Rate

If you’re on the consultant side, you need a rate that is:

• Competitive in your market
• Sustainable (covers non-billable time and overhead)
• Aligned with the value you deliver

A common method used by recruiters and freelancer communities is:

(Target annual salary + 30%) / 220 working days = target day rate.

Then divide by 7–8 to get an indicative hourly rate.

Example:

• Target equivalent salary: £60,000
• Add 30% = £78,000
• Divide by 220 days ≈ £355/day
• Divide by 7 hours ≈ £50/hour

From there, adjust for:

• Your utilisation (you won’t bill 100% of your time)
• Your niche and demand (busy waitlist? prices probably too low)
• The business impact of your work (owning revenue-critical channels = higher rate)

Comparing against the market ranges above (and platforms you want to work on) is a good sanity check.

Key Takeaways

• Most marketing consultants charge somewhere between $50–$200+ per hour (roughly £40–£160+), with wide variation based on seniority, niche, and geography.
• In the UK/Europe, expect £300–£600/day for solid mid-level consultants, and £700–£1,500+ per day for senior strategic or fractional CMO-level support.
• Pricing model matters: use hourly/day rates for ad-hoc and short engagements; project or retainer pricing for bigger, ongoing initiatives.
• Clients should start from the business problem and required seniority, then work backwards into hours and budget.
• Consultants should anchor to a target salary + overhead, then adjust for utilisation, niche, and value.

When you’re ready to move from theory to action:

💼 Connect with top freelance talent on Twine, build your project team today.
Share your brief and start receiving proposals from vetted marketing consultants who match your goals and budget.