When growing your business as an entrepreneur, you know digital marketing is one of the most critical areas you can choose to spend your money. But if you haven’t spent money on an outsourced digital marketing agency yet, or haven’t recently, you may be unsure about what you can expect to get in return.
Of course, like most aspects of business, the answers are dependent on circumstance. The cost of digital marketing will depend on the caliber and experience of the agency you hire, the size of your business, and the services you want. So, what exactly should you expect to spend on digital marketing?
The Cost of Digital Marketing for Small Business
Small businesses tend to spend less on digital marketing than larger organizations. The reason is that smaller companies often aren’t able to devote as much money to digital marketing as they’d like. They also don’t have the same amount of data and analytics tools, which can be a boon to larger companies in identifying specific marketing opportunities and bringing them to life.
The good news is that you don’t need to hire a giant agency to make an impact. In fact, you can get compelling results on a small marketing budget. The trick is to know what you’re paying for. For example, if you want to build your email list, you can pay around $50 per month for a consultant who will set up and manage your email marketing strategy.
If you’re planning a big launch, you might pay a consultant $500 or more per month to advise you and maybe even help you manage the project. These figures are at the high end of the typical range, and they’re not entirely out of the question.
For example, if your goal is to market on Amazon, you have the option of hiring an individual freelancer or an Amazon agency. Agencies tend to use monthly retainer contracts, whereas freelancers often charge project-based fees. In 2015, Alexandra Tachalova conducted an informal survey of digital-marketing agency services and costs, and found that freelancers’ hourly rates in the digital marketing industry start at $50 to $100 an hour, whereas the average industry fee for a monthly retainer contract starts at $1,000 and goes all the way up to $3,000.
Basic SEO services cost no less than $500 a month, but remember, you could be charged additionally for creating blog and vlog content and engaging with community pages. Web development is one of the most challenging quotes to get, and will depend heavily on your industry and what kind of features you want on your website.
A basic 4-8 pager might be anywhere between $1,000 to $5,000, with websites for e-commerce businesses costing significantly more, even up to a whopping $75,000.
What’s your Marketing Budget?
You may find yourself spending more on marketing than you’d prefer, especially if you have multiple employees or a large team. These general guidelines will help you figure out what you should be spending and what kind of returns you can expect to see.
A company can overspend when it comes to digital marketing, but there are also ways to get more out of every dollar.
