Digital Marketing Pricing: What to Actually Expect in 2026

The Growth plan is our most popular tier because it funds a complete marketing operation. This is the plan for businesses that are past the testing phase and ready to invest in consistent customer acquisition across multiple channels.

Everything in Starter, plus: - Eight SEO-optimized blog posts per month - Advanced technical SEO audits (site speed, crawlability, structured data) - PPC campaign management for Google Ads ($500 to $2,000 per month ad spend managed) - CRM setup and basic marketing automation sequences - Lead tracking dashboard with source attribution - Bi-weekly strategy calls instead of monthly - Conversion rate optimization recommendations based on traffic data

What the setup fee covers: - Everything in Starter setup - CRM selection, configuration, and data import (HubSpot, Pipedrive, or GoHighLevel depending on fit) - Google Ads account setup with initial campaign structure - Landing page audit and optimization recommendations using tools like Hotjar and Microsoft Clarity - Lead scoring framework design

Best for: Established service businesses doing $500K or more in annual revenue, companies with a proven service offering looking to scale customer acquisition, or businesses transitioning from referral-only to systematic marketing. A 12-person HVAC company doing $2M in revenue with 60% of leads from word of mouth is the textbook fit. They have proof of product-market fit but no predictable pipeline.

Expected timeline to results: PPC campaigns produce leads within the first 2 weeks, typically at a cost-per-lead 20 to 40% higher than long-term averages while the account accumulates conversion data. SEO and content compound over months 3 through 8. Most Growth clients reach positive ROI by month 4 to 5 when combining paid and organic channels. The most common failure here is pulling paid budget too early. Google Ads needs 60 to 90 days of consistent spend to optimize bidding algorithms before cost-per-lead stabilizes.

The Accelerator plan is equivalent to hiring a full-time marketing director plus execution team. It covers every channel, every optimization, and every reporting need for businesses serious about aggressive growth.

Everything in Growth, plus: - Unlimited content creation (articles, case studies, whitepapers, guides) - Full-service SEO strategy with competitive gap analysis and link building - Expanded PPC management ($3,000 to $10,000 per month ad spend) - Video content production (2 to 4 pieces per month) - Email automation sequences for nurture, onboarding, and re-engagement - Conversion rate optimization with A/B testing via Google Optimize successors or VWO - Weekly strategy calls with a dedicated account manager - Custom reporting dashboards with real-time metrics (Looker Studio or equivalent) - Social media management across 2 to 3 platforms

What the setup fee covers: - Comprehensive brand messaging and positioning workshop, often paired with brand identity work - Full marketing technology stack audit and optimization - Custom analytics dashboard build - Complete competitor intelligence report - Marketing playbook documenting strategy, channels, and KPIs

Best for: Companies doing $1M or more in revenue targeting aggressive growth, businesses preparing for funding rounds that need strong marketing metrics, or organizations replacing an in-house marketing team with a more cost-effective external partner. A Series A SaaS company with $3M ARR needing to hit $8M by year end typically lands here, as does a 40-person professional services firm replacing a $140K marketing manager who just left.

Not every business needs a bundled plan. Individual services are available for companies with specific needs or existing marketing operations that just need one component.

A la carte services include monthly reporting and a strategy session. They do not include the cross-channel integration and optimization that bundled plans provide. If your paid media and SEO are managed by different teams with no shared roadmap, you are leaving 20 to 30% of potential performance on the table.

Hiring a full-time marketing manager costs $65,000 to $95,000 in salary alone according to BLS data. Add benefits (roughly 30% of salary), tools ($500 to $2,000 per month for SEO tools like Ahrefs at $249 per month, analytics platforms, and design software), training, and management overhead, and the fully loaded cost reaches $90,000 to $130,000 per year.

That person is one generalist. They cannot match the specialized depth of a team that includes an SEO strategist, content writer, PPC specialist, and analytics expert. A single in-house marketer making a category mistake (say, investing $20K in Facebook ads for a B2B audience that lives on LinkedIn) wipes out their salary value in a single quarter.

Our Growth plan at $997 per month totals $11,964 per year plus setup. That is roughly 10% of the cost of one full-time hire, with access to a team of specialists and established processes that took years to build. The math gets even more favorable when you factor in ramp time. A new hire takes 3 to 6 months to understand your business and start producing. An agency with documented onboarding processes starts producing in weeks.

The honest caveat: an in-house marketer who stays 3 plus years and genuinely understands your business eventually produces things an agency cannot. Deep customer insight, institutional memory, internal advocacy. The right long-term play for most $5M plus businesses is an agency now, in-house hire in 18 to 24 months, agency kept as extension of the team.

No setup fee and low monthly cost. If an agency charges $299 per month with no setup, ask what you are actually getting. Strategy, audits, and initial buildout cost real time and money. Agencies that skip these steps are either doing templated work (the same 10 blog posts reskinned for every client) or planning to upsell you later. One common trap: the $299 package is a loss leader that transitions to a $2,500 "recommended upgrade" after month three.

Long-term contracts. Be cautious of agencies requiring 12-month commitments before you have seen any results. Quarterly commitments with renewal options give you enough time to evaluate performance without trapping you in a bad engagement. Annual contracts are not inherently predatory. They can reduce your rate by 10 to 15%. But they should only come after a quarter of demonstrated results.

Vague deliverables. "SEO optimization" means nothing without specifics. How many pages optimized? How many keywords targeted? What technical improvements? What reporting cadence? Get specifics in writing before you sign. A good contract quantifies output: 8 blog posts per month, 1 technical SEO audit per quarter, 2 backlink placements per month, weekly Looker Studio dashboard.

Hourly billing with no cap. Hourly billing incentivizes the agency to take longer. Fixed monthly plans with clear deliverables align the agency's incentives with yours: deliver results efficiently.

Before signing with any agency, run this checklist. Request three case studies from clients with similar revenue, industry, and channel mix to yours. Ask specifically for the before and after metrics with month-by-month breakdowns, not just the final number. A 400% traffic lift sounds impressive until you learn the baseline was 200 monthly visitors.

Ask who actually does the work. Is it the senior strategist you met in the sales call, or a junior writer you will never speak with? Request resumes or LinkedIn profiles of the team assigned to your account. If the agency will not share them, assume the work is getting outsourced to contractors in a lower cost market.

Verify reporting cadence and access. You should have real-time dashboard access, not just a PDF emailed once a month. Looker Studio, HubSpot reports, or a custom dashboard that you can log into whenever you want. Monthly PDFs are for agencies that want to control the narrative.

Finally, budget for a 90 day evaluation window. Sign a quarterly agreement. At day 60, schedule a checkpoint review. At day 90, decide whether to renew. Agencies that cannot produce meaningful early signals (indexed content, campaign data, first leads) in 90 days will not magically improve in month 6.

We charge setup fees because the strategic foundation matters. Skipping it means guessing, and guessing wastes your monthly budget. We charge flat monthly fees because you deserve predictable costs. No "we discovered another problem" invoices. No scope creep charges.

Every dollar in your monthly plan goes toward execution and optimization. You see exactly where it goes in your monthly report. If something is not working, we reallocate budget to what is. That is what accountability looks like.

How do I know which plan is right for my business?

Start with your revenue and growth goals. Businesses under $500K in annual revenue typically start with the Starter plan to build their digital foundation. Businesses between $500K and $2M that need consistent lead generation fit the Growth plan. Businesses above $2M or those targeting aggressive expansion benefit from the Accelerator plan. A 15-minute discovery call helps us confirm the right fit.

Can I upgrade from Starter to Growth later?

Yes. About 60% of our Starter clients upgrade within 6 to 9 months once they see initial results and want to accelerate. Upgrading is seamless because we already understand your business, market, and baseline metrics. There is a prorated setup fee for the additional services, typically $500 to $1,500 depending on how much new infrastructure the upgrade requires.

What is not included in the monthly price?

Ad spend for PPC campaigns is billed directly by Google or Meta to your account. We manage the campaigns but you control the ad budget. Third-party tool subscriptions (if you want your own access to SEO tools or analytics platforms) are also separate. Everything else, including strategy, execution, reporting, and optimization, is included in your plan.

Do you require long-term contracts?

We work on quarterly commitments. The first quarter includes your setup phase and initial execution. After that, you renew quarterly based on results. We earn your business every 90 days. If you are not seeing value, you should not be locked in.

How quickly will I see results from my investment?

Paid advertising through PPC produces leads within the first 1 to 2 weeks. SEO and content marketing take 3 to 6 months to build momentum but compound over time. Most clients see positive ROI within 4 to 6 months when combining paid and organic strategies.

What happens if I need to pause my plan?

We offer a pause option for up to 60 days per year. Your strategy, content calendar, and campaign data are preserved. Pausing longer than 60 days may require a re-onboarding fee to audit changes in your market and update your strategy accordingly.