{
  "slug": "marketing-specialist-costs-calgary-2026",
  "data_collected": "2026-10-19",
  "corpus_size": 269,
  "method": "One researcher per role collected every price a Calgary, Alberta or other Canadian provider publishes on its own website, searching as a buyer would. A second, independent researcher reopened every page in a separate load, confirmed each price, unit and quote, and looked for providers the first pass missed. Marketplace rates (Upwork, Fiverr, creator platforms, the Shopify Partner Directory) are kept as self-set rates. Prices a second read could not reach are excluded. A third read confirmed every price the second read found. Each row's region is the provider's stated head office.",
  "naming_policy": "Provider names and URLs are withheld; each row is one published price.",
  "headline": "A Calgary graphic designer at the $30 median wage costs an employer $67,453 a year. Specialists who publish prices charge what that work costs once nobody else pays the other half.",
  "sample_label": "269 published prices across seven marketing roles; the post's ranges use the 162 from Calgary and Alberta providers' own websites",
  "collected_label": "October 2026",
  "key_findings": [
    {
      "value": "$67,453",
      "claim": "Yearly cost to an employer of a Calgary graphic designer at the $30.00 Job Bank median wage"
    },
    {
      "value": "$5,000 to $7,000",
      "claim": "Full brand identity, established tier, Alberta providers"
    },
    {
      "value": "$700 to $1,500",
      "claim": "Social media management a month, established tier, Alberta providers"
    },
    {
      "value": "$600 to $1,000",
      "claim": "Paid ads management a month, ad spend extra, Calgary providers"
    },
    {
      "value": "$4,000",
      "claim": "Median monthly starting price of offers sold as fractional CMO, Calgary providers ($2,000 to $6,000)"
    }
  ],
  "sources_other": "Wages: Government of Canada Job Bank, Calgary region, published 2025-11-19. Employer costs: CRA 2026 CPP, CPP2 and EI rates; Alberta employment standards; WCB Alberta 2026 advertising-agency rate. Renovation anchors: 24 Calgary contractors and landscapers, own sites, read 2026-10-19.",
  "citation": "Meridian15 (2026). What Marketing Specialists Really Cost in Calgary in 2026. https://fifteenthmeridian.com/blog/marketing-specialist-costs-calgary-2026",
  "reuse": "Quote any figure with a link to the post. One row per published price in metrics.csv."
}