What is franchising
What does it really cost to start a marketing business, and is a franchise smarter?
Setting up a marketing business sounds simple: build a brand, win a few clients, enjoy the freedom of running things your way. The reality is usually more expensive, more time-consuming and more stressful than people expect.
The dream vs the reality
It looks simple from the outside
Whether you’re looking at how to set up a marketing agency or a freelance consultancy, the process is often far more expensive, time-consuming and stressful than people expect. We regularly meet freelance marketers who’ve spent thousands trying to make it work on their own, only to end up with something unscalable, inconsistent or unsustainable.
What people think they'll spend
A laptop and a Canva subscription won't cut it
Many start out believing a laptop, a Canva subscription and a few LinkedIn posts will be enough to launch their business. But when you look at what’s actually needed to set up a marketing business properly, the real costs, and the wasted time, quickly mount up.
The real cost of going it alone
Branding (logo, brand toolkit)
£500–£1,000+
Website (domain, hosting, build)
£2,000–£4,000+
CRM / email tools
£1,500–£2,500/yr + £1,500+ setup
Proposal templates & sales process
£500–£800+
Legal setup (contracts, T&Cs, insurance)
£1,000–£1,500+
Portfolio & case studies
£0–£1,000+
Content & lead generation tools
£1,500–£2,500+
Training & mentoring
£1,000–£5,000+
Total (first year)
£7,000–£16,000+
And that’s before you invest in marketing, build an infrastructure to scale, or pay yourself.
And then there's the time cost
Building it yourself takes far longer than people think
Think about how much time goes into setting up a marketing agency from scratch, from admin and tech setup to proposals, content and lead generation.
45–80+ hours a month
Spent on admin, tech setup, proposals, content and lead generation, rather than billable client work.
~750 hours a year
The average time spent on everything except billable client work. For most new businesses, the first year is spent just getting to “ready”.
The activ alternative
A complete marketing business in a box
At activ, we’ve done all the groundwork so you don’t have to waste months figuring out how to set up a marketing agency on your own. It’s built for long-term sustainability, not a shortcut, and you might be surprised at how affordable the upfront franchise fee is.
From our CEO
Why the maths favours franchising
“People often assume franchising is the more expensive option because of the upfront fees. But when you compare that with the time, cost and stress of doing it all yourself, it’s almost always cheaper to join a franchise. We’ve kept our entry fee as low as possible so talented marketers and career changers can stop winging it and build something sustainable from the start.”
Katie Bullon
CEO of Activ Marketing
What's your next move?
Think beyond just the upfront cost
If you’re thinking about setting up a marketing business or researching how to set up a marketing agency, pause and think beyond just cost.
Time
How many hours will it take you to get to “ready”, and what could you be doing with that time instead?
Structure
Will you end up with something scalable and consistent, or a patchwork of tools and workarounds?
Scalability
Can what you build actually grow, or does it max out with you as the only person doing the work?
You could easily spend £10,000–£15,000+ in the first year building a business that still doesn’t work.
Or you could use that same budget to step into the UK’s £19.1bn franchise industry and join an award-winning model that already works.
Franchising is a proven route to scale — according to the BFA, UK franchises have a commercial failure rate of less than 1%, compared with around 50% for independent start-ups.
Ready to explore Activ?
See the numbers for yourself, meet the team, or find out what a day in the franchise really looks like.
What's your next move?
If you’re thinking about setting up a marketing business or researching how to set up a marketing agency, pause and think beyond just cost:
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Think about time
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Think about structure
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Think about scalability
You could easily spend £10-15k+ in the first year, building a business that still doesn’t work.
Or you could use that same budget to step into the UK’s £19.1bn franchise industry and join an award-winning model that already works.
Franchising is a proven route to scale. According to The BFA, Franchises in the UK have a commercial failure rate of less than 1%, compared with around 50% for independent start-ups.