How Much Does It Cost To Work With A Digital Marketing Agency?

By Lauren Razzano, CEO + Founder

One of the first things I’m asked when I chat with a prospective client is “What does it cost to work with a digital marketing agency?”, “how much is it to work with a digital marketing consultant?” or “how much does digital marketing really cost?”

If you’re thinking about taking digital marketing tasks like social media and email marketing off your plate, there’s a very good chance you’re wondering about the cost and what your overall price tag for such a project would be. And although we don’t have pricing on our website, we do comfortably talk about the cost and price factors of digital marketing services all the time with our clients and prospective clients - once we have a bit more information about their business and sales goals. 

HOW MUCH DOES DIGITAL MARKETING REALLY COST?

Digital marketing services can run you anywhere from $500-$50,000 per month depending on your goals, audience size, the specific projects you want to focus on, the scope of the work, and the experience of the consultant or agency you’re looking to work and partner with.

“I JUST NEED HELP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA.”

Nowadays with the scale of social media being a larger part of a company’s overall marketing mix, social media isn’t just something you can pass onto your intern anymore. Social media management takes strategic planning, creative content, customer service skills, knowledge of advertising buys, sales skills, a keen eye for design, and an analytical brain. It’s not just pretty pictures and witty captions anymore!

So how do you budget for something like that? The key to this is knowing exactly what you need and what you expect. Do you already have a strategy in mind and just need someone to post your pre-made content? A package like that could run you between $250-1,500 per month. If you are looking for someone to fully manage everything from strategy to photography to posting and engagement, you would be smart to budget somewhere between $2,500-$10,000 per month, depending on the size of your brand.

WHAT DOES EMAIL MARKETING COST?

Again, this will be priced based on your sales and brand awareness goals. If you are hoping to only send out one email a week, you could likely budget somewhere between $250-1,000 per month. If you have an e-commerce brand where you have multiple sales funnels and emails that are being deployed daily, you would be smart to budget closer to $2,500-10,000 per month, depending on the size of your customer base and how customer service-oriented and sophisticated you want your email marketing program to be.

“I NEED HELP WITH ALL MY DIGITAL MARKETING!”

If you’re looking for a full suite of services from social media to branding to advertising to website design, you’re definitely looking at $5,000-25,000 per month, again, depending on the size of your brand. An agency can provide you with a custom proposal taking your specific goals and platforms into account when pricing these package offerings.

As with any service-based project, most agencies will take your budget and maximize it to get the most targeted results for you. The return on your investment is important and always our #1 priority.

WHAT SHOULD I KNOW WHEN I REACH OUT TO A DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY?

Some key questions an agency will ask and information they will want to know about your company and project(s) are:

• What are your business goals for the next quarter? year?

• What are you currently doing for your marketing and sales?

• What percentage of your sales are currently coming from your digital efforts?

• How large is your audience?

• What are your current sales priorities?

• Have you worked with a consultant or agency before?

They may also ask for links to all your current social media profiles, a report or results from your recent email marketing blasts, and current traffic analytics for your website.

All of these numbers and prices are very general and based on our experience working with local businesses in northern California. Still, we hope this article helps you to have a better feel for the cost of the wide variety of digital marketing services and what you can expect when you start the conversation of finding a digital marketing agency partner to work with.