How Much Does Digital Marketing Cost?
What drives the cost of SEO, PPC, social media, content and websites — and how to set a realistic digital marketing budget for your business.
"It depends" is the honest answer — but that's not very helpful when you're trying to plan a budget. This guide breaks down what each digital marketing service involves, what drives its cost, and how to decide what to spend.
Prices vary hugely by country, agency size and market competitiveness. Treat the ranges below as orientation, not quotes.
The two parts of every marketing budget
Every budget has working media (money paid to Google, Meta and other platforms for ads) and services (the people who plan, create and manage the work). A good agency is transparent about both and never hides a markup on media.
SEO
SEO is usually a monthly retainer. For small local businesses, retainers commonly sit in the low thousands of dollars per month or less; national, ecommerce and enterprise programmes cost more because they need more content, technical work and link building. One-off audits are a cheaper way to start. See our SEO packages.
PPC management
PPC management is either a flat monthly fee or a percentage of ad spend — commonly in the 10–20% range for percentage models. On top of that sits your ad budget, which depends on cost per click in your industry and how much data you need. See PPC management.
Social media marketing
Cost depends on the number of platforms, how much content is produced (especially video) and whether community management and paid social are included. One or two platforms with steady posting is the most affordable starting point. See social media marketing.
Websites
A small business website and a custom ecommerce store or web app are very different projects. The main cost drivers are the number of unique page templates, custom functionality, integrations and how much content needs to be written. See web development.
What drives the price up or down
- Competitiveness of your market and keywords
- Number of locations, languages or products
- How much content the agency creates
- Seniority of the team on your account
- Speed and the number of channels run at once
How to set a realistic budget
- Start from a goal — e.g. 30 more qualified leads per month
- Estimate what a lead or customer is worth to you
- Pick one or two channels most likely to hit the goal first
- Commit for at least three months so there's enough data to judge
- Scale what works and cut what doesn't
Want a number for your business? See our pricing page or request a quote.
FAQ
What's the cheapest form of digital marketing?
Optimising your Google Business Profile and asking happy customers for reviews costs very little and often drives the fastest local results.
Is SEO cheaper than PPC?
SEO usually costs less per lead over the long term but takes months to build. PPC costs more per lead but works immediately. Many businesses run both.