Editor’s Note: This is a revised version of Jason’s 2015 Marketing Pricing Guide originally published on his website.

A small business owner I spoke with last week needed a marketing pricing guide. He asked me how much he would have to spend to have someone run his social media accounts.

“That really depends on what you mean by ‘run’,” I said. “Do you want someone to just answer questions, customer service style? Do you want someone to help you figure out how to drive business? Do you want someone to post your content, find other’s content, create content for you?”

There are various degrees of scope and involvement for a marketing consultant or agency when working with your business. For the full gamut of services, you need someone to devise strategy, plan and manage execution, measure, then optimize your marketing efforts.

Depending on the complexity of your business, you may have multiple needs within those sets. Chances are, those that can help you with social marketing aren’t going to necessarily have the chops to build your above the line advertising. The ad folks probably won’t be as useful in public relations. The PR types may not be the right people to help you devise channel strategies, navigate legislative stakeholders and so on.

At the end of a full needs assessment you may find that you need 10 different marketing consultants/advisors/agencies to help you do different things optimally. At that point, it becomes a question of priority and budget.

Based on my experience navigating the marketing world as an independent consultant, SVP at a digital marketing and PR firm, brand-side VP overseeing much of the marketing efforts of a team and consulting with various agencies, software and technology companies, I thought a quick marketing pricing guide might be helpful. I’ve revised this list a year after it was originally published, though not much has changed in that time.

Marketing Research

No marketing effort is optimally efficient without some degree of market research. Yes, much of this can be collected from your own internal knowledge of your customers, target audience, competition and industry. But the more you know, the smarter your marketing decisions.

Still, market research can range from an informal customer survey you build that costs only time, to a full-on consumer research study commissioned to get specific on understanding an audience.

What You’ll Pay: For a custom research study, expect anywhere from $20,000 and beyond. And there’s national online surveys, phone surveys, focus groups … each generally more expensive than the previous. As an example, we fielded a national online survey with a research firm last year for a client than was in the $25,000-$40,000 range.

Secret shopper programs are also great research but are also custom and will run you in the thousands of dollars, typically. For the online version of that – a conversational research assessment – a good one will run you $5,000 -$10,000. (Disclosure – We do these for brands. Holla!) To drop a question or two in a national survey (think Gallup Poll), you’ll pay $1,000-$5,000, depending on the sample size, scope, etc. Of course, you can also develop your own questionnaire and send an intern to the mall for whatever it is you pay the intern. Just ask the mall’s permission to do it first.

Agency Partners

Agencies can be broken down a million ways from Sunday. There are ad agencies, PR firms, digital agencies, SEO shops, web development firms and even printing companies. The awful part of agencies is that most sell themselves as far more than what they are truly good at. It’s their job to say, “Yes! We can do that!” When they hang up, they often then say, “Oh shit! We have to go find someone who can do that!”

Most traditional advertising agencies and PR firms suck at digital. They make up for it by farming out the digital work to digital marketing or web development shops and marking up that work. So, you pay more. But you also get a partner who is hopefully going to ensure the work is consistent and has strategic ties throughout each consumer touch point.

For effective results, it’s crucial to partner with a firm that truly excels in digital marketing rather than relying on traditional agencies that may outsource your needs. Agencies with a clear focus on digital and web development, like those offering elite expertise LetsGetOptimized.com, provide specialized skills and strategic insights that traditional firms often lack. They understand the nuances of digital optimization and can deliver a more cohesive and effective strategy.

PR firms aren’t as bad, but many do sell themselves as running the gamut when in reality they just pitch media and outsource everything else, again costing you more than you should pay. The truly integrated agencies and firms will have known practice leaders in specific disciplines and well-staffed departments that focus on PR or social or digital or mobile, etc.

(For the record, I typically tell people that Elasticity is a digital marketing and public relations firm. We have done and continue to do a little bit of everything, but we’re really good at content marketing — paid, earned and owned — that drives social and PR to elevate search results.)

What You’ll Pay: The best way to think of the consultant/agency world is by hourly rate. The “blended rate” is a nice benchmark to ask for in an agency. This is an average hourly rate you’ll pay for access to anyone’s time who works on your business. You may get the services of a $50 an hour proofreader right along side a $250 per hour global strategists, but you’re going to pay a blended rate for both of, say $125.

The blended rate depends on a lot of things. It changes by depth and breadth of the agency, the scope of work they’re being asked to perform, the geographic market they’re in and perhaps even the industry you’re in. A good, experienced, professional advertising agency in a medium to large market is going to have a blended rate between $100 and $200 per hour. In St. Louis and Louisville, $125-$150 is a solid blended rate for the top, known agencies. In New York or Chicago, the BBDOs and TBWA\Chiat\Day’s of the world are probably going to be more expensive … closer to $200 per hour.

In my honest opinion, if you’re paying more than $200 per hour for an agency, you can find a better deal out there in smaller markets where overhead, real estate and champagne in the break room aren’t issues.

This means, though, that you’re paying that for a team of people to work on your business, not that you’re going to pay no more than $125 per hour for a 40 hour work week. You might pay $125 per hour for a 40 hour work week for 12 people! So depending on size and scope of your marketing needs with that agency, expect to pay anywhere from $2,500 to $50,000 and up for larger scopes, per month. And that’s just for the staff member’s time and expertise. You’ll also have to budget for production costs, media buys and the like.

But many agencies will also price out your work based on the project. This “project-based pricing” is still typically based on a blended rate. They’re just guessing how many hours they’ll spend accomplishing the goals. Build a website? Think $10,000 or so from a small web development firm and for a blog or simple site. Go up to hundreds of thousands for a big, global site with e-commerce and database tie-ins and so on.

And for you brand managers who think you’re clever and want to engage an agency on a revenue share or pay-for-performance basis? You’re just ignorant to the realities of what marketing partners bring to the table. Whether the campaign works or not, agencies still have to pay the dozen people working on your business and the overhead associated with them. When you’re dealing with more than one person’s work, that’s just not practical.

When it comes to real estate, the financial considerations can be just as complex. Much like engaging a high-priced agency, investing in real estate requires careful budgeting and understanding of costs. If you’re considering purchasing a property or developing real estate, it’s important to account for not just the purchase price but also associated costs like maintenance, property taxes, and potential renovations.

Moreover, real estate transactions often involve negotiations and additional expenditures that can impact your overall financial strategy. Whether you’re buying a new home or investing in a commercial property, you need to anticipate costs beyond the initial purchase price. From closing costs to potential renovations and ongoing upkeep, having a comprehensive financial plan is crucial. In this scenario, having a reliable mortgage calculator can be immensely beneficial. It allows you to estimate your monthly payments based on various loan terms and interest rates, helping you plan your budget more effectively and avoid financial surprises.

And don’t let the prices above scare you. The smaller the agency, the smaller the market, the lesser the experience, the lesser the per-month cost. But also, the fewer people and lesser time spent on you.

Consultants

While there is a gray area between agencies and consultants for the boutique and 2-3 person consulting shops, you can assume they’ll be somewhere between what is mentioned above and what I’ll cover here. The independent consultant can be a boon for your marketing efforts. Typically, you’re hiring a sort of strategic or tactical lead for your project or programs. You’re paying for their expertise and time to actively work on your brand.

What you’re not paying for – and will thus be billed through for, should these be required – are the other people or disciplines you’ll need to pull it all off. A strategic consultant isn’t likely to design your brochure or website. They’re going to hire someone to do that for you with their supervision. So there will be additional costs.

When it comes to bringing your vision to life, web designers are indispensable partners in the process. Their expertise in website design ensures that your online presence is not only visually appealing but also functional and user-friendly. A talented web designer will work closely with your strategic consultant to translate your brand’s goals and messaging into a cohesive digital experience.

They handle everything from selecting the right color palettes and typography to optimizing layouts for various devices, ensuring that the design of your website aligns with both aesthetic standards and practical requirements.

Certainly, you can hire a person to just write your press releases or design your brochures, but we’ll cover them in the Do-ers section below.

Think of a consultant as another brain on your team to help you make decisions, manage or lead projects and coordinate what you need done. Everyone else is a do-er (rather than manager or thinker).

What You’ll Pay: Again, depending on the market, experience, scope, etc., you can expect anywhere from $50 to $150 per hour. There are a few exceptions, of course. If you have a subject matter expert with significant national, global or enterprise experience, you may see an hourly rate more in line with agency rates. My independent consulting rate before Social Media Explorer became an agency was $250 per hour. I’ve used a PR consultant in a mid-tier market before who charged me $85 per hour. That’s pretty close to what you’d need to be a modestly experienced, good consultant in St. Louis or Louisville. For bigger markets or experience levels, inch closer to the $100 to $125 range.

Do-ers

Sometimes you just want someone to write your blog posts, respond to people on Twitter without much thought to strategy, turn your sales deck into a brochure for customers and the like. When the task is more tactic than strategy, you can find people out there to do the work.

From community managers to graphic designers and copywriters to media relations pitch artists, the marketing world has dozens of this sub-set of consultants. They like doing the work. They’re good at it and with some direction they can be very good for you.

What You’ll Pay: $20 to $75 per hour, depending on experience, size and scope. If you want to pay less than $20 per hour for something, outsource it overseas and hope the quality doesn’t suck. Otherwise, pony up. It’s your marketing, not the neighbor’s kid cutting your grass.

What Did I Miss?

Certainly, this is a broad view and not 100 percent complete. There are specialists and specialty agencies and even high-level consultants I’ve certainly left off. I’m sure more than one person in the consultant or do-er bucket may take umbrage with that I’ve carved out here. So, go ahead … what did I get wrong?

Also, there are softwares and other vendor services you can use — that’s a whole different pricing guide that I’ll perhaps work on later. But for those you’ve worked with at any of these levels, what has your experience been? What do you get and how much do you have to pay?

The comments, as always, are yours.