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Today I'm tackling a murky topic in the digital marketing world — pricing.
More specifically, "What does it cost to hire someone to perform various digital marketing services for your business when you do not have the time or the desire to do it yourself?"
If you've ever shopped around for digital marketing service providers, I guarantee you've encountered one of the following: (A) Prices all over the map, or (B) No prices listed at all. So ...
How do you know how much things should cost?
Well, the information is out there, but you really have to dig for it.
The good news is, I rolled up my sleeves and did the research for you, and compiled a bunch of pricing for various digital marketing services.
After visiting dozens of websites (at least the ones that did list their pricing) here is my report of findings on the 6 most popular digital marketing services used by small to medium-sized businesses.
1. SEO
As you probably know, SEO is simply getting your website to rank better in the search listings.
Typical deliverables when it comes to SEO include:
The pricing model for SEO is usually an ongoing monthly retainer because SEO is a long-term strategy.
If you just want the basic, no-frills nuts and bolts, SEO services, that's going to run you about $500-$1,500 per month.
When you're ready to expand and scale up your SEO efforts, you're looking at a range of about $1,500-$5,000 per month.
Factors affecting your monthly fee include the SEO provider's skill level, their experience level, and the scope of services (i.e. how much content they're producing for you, etc.).
2. Paid advertising management
Also known as PPC (pay-per-click) management.
This involves management of your paid ads, typically Google ads and/or Facebook ads.
Typical deliverables would include:
There are usually 2 components to pricing for paid ad management services: (A)The setup fee, and (B) The ongoing management fee.
The setup fee is a one-time fee to get things initially configured. A standard setup fee is usually around $500-$1,000. If you have an advanced setup requiring more in-depth keyword research or audience research or you have to install pixel tracking or you have multiple complicated campaigns, the initial setup fee could run $1,500-$3,000.
Like SEO, paid advertising requires ongoing management. The two most popular pricing models are: (A) The flat fee model, and (B)The percentage of ad spend model.
With the flat fee model, if your ad spend is less than $5,000 per month, the management fee will probably run $500-$1,500 per month. For ad spends between $5,000-$15,000 per month, the management fee will probably be in the $1,500-$3,000 per month range. For ad spends over $15,000 per month, the management fee is probably going to be in the $3,000-$5,000 per month range.
The other pricing model is the percentage of ad spend model, which is often 15-30% of the overall ad spend.
Two important comments about PPC management pricing:
3. Social media management
This is where you have someone take care of your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, to maintain engagement with your audience so you don't have to spend all your time on social media.
The primary deliverable here is planning and posting content regularly.
The cost of hiring basic social media management services where they're just focused on content creation, posting it on your social media and maybe some engagement is usually going to run about $300-$1,500 per month, depending on volume and quantity.
If you need a more comprehensive approach to your social media management, such as managing multiple platforms or maybe you want higher quality graphics or maybe even some video creation or some very granular analytics, now you're looking at somewhere in the $1,500-$5,000 per month tier.
4. Email marketing management
Typical deliverables with email marketing management would include:
Regarding pricing, if you just need some basic email management with limited emails per month, standard pricing is probably going to be in the $300-$700 per month range.
If you need a higher level of service that includes things like segmenting your list or AB testing or automated campaigns, you're probably looking at rates in the $700-$2,500 per month range.
5. Video production
This is creating videos to promote your products, services, or your brand.
Typical deliverables include:
Of the 6 digital marketing services I'm covering today, video production has the biggest price swings simply because there are so many different types and styles of videos you can make.
For our pricing estimates, we're going to focus on promotional videos that will be used on your company website, your YouTube channel, or social media.
For a one to five minute, basic animated tutorial video or explainer video (which is a short video explaining your company's product or service) you're looking at around $1,000-$5,000 per video.
For a one to three minute testimonial video (where you provide the video testimonial footage) figure on about $1,000-$3,000 per video.
For a quick and dirty estimate on video production pricing, the current rule of thumb is about $1,000 per minute of video footage.
6. Website design and development
The final digital marketing service we'll cover today is custom website design and development for your business.
Typical deliverables include:
There are two tiers of pricing for custom website design and development.
Conclusion
You now have some pretty good ballpark estimates for what things cost if you want to get professional help to assist you with your digital marketing efforts
If one or more of these services are beyond your budget at the present time, that's good to know. Because now you can go to "plan B" and educate yourself with books and online courses and take the do-it-yourself approach for the time being.
Nothing wrong with that.
