How Much Should a Business Spend on Digital Marketing?

This question doesn’t have a concrete answer as there are many parameters attached to it. This include:

• The marketing strategy of the business
• The vision of the business 
• Revenues 
• Capital
• Total budget 

Despite these parameters, a shift of about 35% has been seen in business who prefer to use online marketing compared to traditional methods meaning more assets, time and money are being utilized on digital marketing.

Especially for the B2C, business to customers type of business, online and social media marketing play a huge role in hosting sales, traffic and generating revenue. Statistics have shown that 80% of business spend $50,000 a year on digital marketing with others going an extreme often times greater that amount to $500,000.

You probably would like some statistical data on this information, take a look here:

[Digital Marketing Spending in the United States – Source]

How Much do Digital Marketing Consultants charge?

Being a consulting agency, it requires you to be a leader in the industry for you to drive people to you. And because of that, professionals can charge high costs. These high costs come about due to the level of experience, the exposure they have, their credentials among other factors.

Consulting agencies can charge on hourly rates at an average of $100 to even $400 an hour and if you are consulting for a full day, it can be as high as $3500 a day. One factor to note is that this price can be for a localized consulting agency. A bigger more established firm can charge even triple that price. This is because they work on a value basis, what you pay for is what you will get.

On a study done to determine the rates of consultation, the results were seen to be:

• The average hourly rate for digital marketing consultants worldwide is $140.29 per hour.
• The average hourly rate for US-only digital marketing consultants is $161.57.
• 41.25% of worldwide consultants charge less than $100 per hour
• 27.28% of US consultants charge less than $100 per hour;
• 54.54% of US consultants charge between $101-$200 per hour;
• 18.18% of US consultants in our dataset charge over $200 per hour and 2.88% charge more than $500 per hour.

All this data can be seen here.

A digital marketing consultant can charge you hourly at rates between $100 to $400 plus additional compensations like office space, lunch hours, time off, benefits and equipment to use. Some freelance consultants can charge you a fraction of the price but there is risk involved working with a freelance digital marketer as they may not be certified nor proven and bring no results to the table; which would be a waste of time and resources.

In conclusion, the rates may vary hourly, or even according to the value attached. A good example is where if you employed a consultant on an hourly basis at $150 per hour and they work just 6 hours a day earning $900 but in turn, there is possibility of a major return on your investment. Digital marketing consulting can be a viable option regardless of the cost. 

How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?

Taking a step to hire a digital marketing agency can take a dip in your budget but there are also factors that determine the most you will pay for the service. One factor that highly determines the cost is the experience level

The longer the agency has been in operation the more they dominate the industry and the more they are recognized. Other factors include the size of the business, the package you are looking for plus other factors. 

On a general scope, digital marketing cost to hire can range from as low as $5,000 a month to $20,000 a month depending on the pricing package and model.