Marketing costs: Breakdown

One of the most important things to consider when planning your marketing is the costs of your marketing efforts. There are many different marketing channels, and how much you’re able to spend determines what you can invest in each of them.

Knowing the costs of different marketing options will help you get a better idea of what your budget should look like – and that’s what we’re here to help you with.

In this article, we’ll give you a breakdown of the marketing costs of some of the most popular digital marketing options today.

Breakdown: What to expect your marketing costs to look like

Breaking down marketing costs isn’t easy. There are many different channels you can use for marketing, and every company invests in the ones that serve them best.

The result is that there are as many unique marketing budgets as there are companies. Unfortunately, that makes coming up with an accurate marketing costs estimate quite challenging. The good news, however, is that this makes marketing budgets highly customisable.

Essentially, you can pick and choose the channels and strategies that suit you best – and then you can figure out how much you’re able to spend on marketing.

Below, we’ve broken down the approximate costs of some of the most popular digital marketing options today. We’ll be looking at:

1. Web design
2. Search engine optimisation (SEO)
3. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
4. Content marketing
5. Social media marketing
6. E-mail marketing

The figures below will give you a rough idea of some of the costs to expect from your marketing efforts. Keep in mind, however, that if you want exact numbers, you’ll need to consider your unique campaign goals, target audience and industry specifics.

Let’s get into it.

1. Web design

Your website can make or break a first impression, and that makes a professional website a vital part of your marketing strategy. It’s essential for brand credibility, user experience and conversion optimisations – and all are important for your business to succeed.

The marketing costs of a website increase depending on the design’s complexity:

• Basic website – simple design and functionality
• Small to medium business website – enhanced design and customisations
• Large corporate website – complex structures, e-commerce capabilities and high-level customisations

The cost of a custom-designed website typically ranges from £4,000 to £12,000. Ongoing maintenance fees for updates, support and minor design modifications can add anywhere between £40 and £1,200 per month depending on complexity.

2. Search engine optimisation (SEO)

SEO improves your website’s visibility on search engines. Over time, it drives organic traffic to your website through keyword optimisation, link building and technical enhancements, making SEO an important element of your marketing strategy.

The costs of SEO typically include a monthly retainer, the price of which depends on competition, target keywords and scope. There’s also consulting to factor in, which is typically an hourly fee. You can also go for project-based SEO – the price for this is based on your website complexity and goals.

Typically, the cost of SEO sits somewhere between £800 and £6,000 monthly, depending on campaign complexity and industry competition.

3. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

PPC ads increase your visibility by placing ads on search engines or social media platforms. The costs of PPC ads, however, fluctuate with competitiveness and targeting.

Monthly ad spend can vary widely per platform, and it’s also dependent on your target audience, industry and keyword competition. There are also management fees for monthly management, optimisation and reporting to consider.

Excluding ad spend, you should expect the costs of PPC advertising to land somewhere between £1,200 and £8,000 monthly.

4. Content marketing

By delivering valuable, relevant information through articles, videos and more, content marketing helps you build brand authority and customer loyalty.

The costs of content marketing depend on whether you’re paying per piece, buying monthly content packages or investing in a full content strategy including end-to-end content creation, strategy and distribution.

If you’re paying per article, you’re typically looking at costs between £80 and £400 per content piece depending on the complexity and length of each piece. The costs of monthly packages usually range from £1,600 to £8,000 based on volume and content types.

5. Social media marketing

Social media marketing connects your brand to your audience through platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, helping drive engagement and brand awareness.

The costs of social media marketing typically cover organic social media marketing and/or paid social media ads. You’ll likely also be paying for a social media strategy and consulting to go with it.

For social media marketing, expect to be paying between £800 and £2,800 monthly. Paid social ads may add £800 or 10% of your ad spend – whichever is higher.

6. E-mail marketing

E-mail marketing nurtures leads and strengthens customer relationships through targeted messaging, such as newsletters and product updates.

For e-mail marketing, you’ll be paying for a subscription to the software you need to run your e-mail marketing efforts. You’re also factoring in campaign costs and the price of automated e-mail series – e.g. the welcome series, nurturing and re-engagement e-mails.

Expect costs between £240 and £4,000 monthly. The costs per e-mail usually sit between £0.08 and £0.40 depending on audience size and content.

Wrapping up

Marketing is one of the most valuable investments for any business looking to get their name out there, and this makes it important to be prepared to fund the costs of your marketing efforts.

With the breakdown above, you’ll have a better idea of the marketing costs of some of the most popular marketing options today – and that’ll help you put together a marketing budget suited for your business.