How much should you expect to pay for inbound marketing? This can be a hard question to answer, simply because inbound marketing agencies tend to have very customisable rates. If this is your first journey into the world of inbound marketing, then you’ll quickly learn that it all comes down to knowing what you need. But stick with me and I'll explain why this is actually good news.
Broadly speaking, when searching for an inbound marketing agency in the Netherlands in 2022, you can expect to pay for the following:
A one-time set-up fee: 3 to 10k€ for standard onboarding
Recurring monthly service: 2500€ to 15 000€/m
Hourly rate: Between 100 to 200€/h depending on skill and seniority
Blog articles: Between 160 to 600€ for 1 blog article, which includes research, editing and publication
But of course this is overly simplified. Keep reading if you want to understand what influences the price, what you can get for each price range, what allows some agencies to bill more than others for the same service and in which case it is worth it or not.
Many inbound marketing agencies will offer different packages on their websites that can help give you an idea of their price scales. But it’s very rare to find a pre-set package that’s absolutely perfect for your situation.
The good news is that agencies are well aware of this and are more than willing to work with you to find the perfect set of services for your needs. While searching for the “perfect” marketing agency may initially sound like embarking on a perilous quest for the holy grail, nothing could be further from the truth.
Trust me, it’s okay to go ahead and exhale. In reality, there are likely several different agencies that would make a great fit for your business. It’s more about knowing which services you need and finding an agency that offers them in your price range.
As you’ll quickly discover, every marketing agency has its own unique personality. While it’s common for some to be particularly well known for their strengths in a certain area, an all-inclusive agency should always be able to provide everything you need.
There is such a thing as a specialised or custom marketing agency that only caters to a certain niche, such as social media or PPV advertising. If your marketing department has all your needs covered except for one in particular, then such an agency may be worth considering.
In general, however, you’re going to be much better off going with an agency that's all-inclusive. Even if they don’t have an expert that can accommodate one or more of your needs, they’ll be able to find one. It’s very common for agencies to collaborate with each other or outsource certain services, so this shouldn’t be something you have to worry about.
As far as pay schemes go, almost all agencies operate on one of the three following price systems:
Hourly- Paying by the hour may increase your chances of getting results, but the trade-off is the uncertainty of when your project will be delivered or how much it will cost.
Project-Based- Project-based payment systems offer more clarity on delivery date and final cost, but with the potential trade-off of lower quality.
The Point System- The point’s system is somewhere in between and based on a mixture of value vs time.
It’s important to ask which pricing system an agency uses upfront so that there are no surprises. Regardless, expect to agree on a monthly retainer no matter which system an agency uses.
As I mentioned above, looking at the different packages on various agency websites can give you a broad sense of how much they change. But it’s important to remember that “broad” is the operative word here, as the odds that you’ll find the perfect package are pretty slim. At this point, it's more about narrowing down your options by finding a collection of agencies that seem to operate within your price range.
Once you have a list of candidates, it's time to start setting up consultations with each. The good news is that consultations are free because they're more or less an agency's version of a sales call. This is when you'll really be able to get an idea of what each agency would cast, as they'll all offer you their own customized quotes.
Even if you’re not sure exactly what services to go with, rest assured that the agencies will be more than willing to make recommendations. As they do, don't be shy about asking plenty of questions. If they recommend something another agency didn’t, ask them why. On the other hand, if they don’t recommend a specific service you have in mind, ask them to explain why they think you could do without it.
While you won't end up hiring every agency you book a consultation with, it's an excellent way to get plenty of free feedback. Not only will you be able to get a variety of different perspectives, but you'll also get the chance to get to know different companies. Everything from the type of questions they ask you to their behaviour will give you a solid idea of what it’d be like to work with them. Much like a series of dates, often you'll "click" with the right agency and come away with a gut feeling that tells you which one is the best choice.
Okay, so by this point you’ve probably picked up on the fact that marketing agency price ranges can be a bit hard to nail down. While that’s good to know, it’s not super helpful in terms of figuring out what you can expect to get for your money. While it's impossible to be incredibly specific, I tend to group agencies into three broad price categories. Hopefully, this can at least help you get an idea of what different budgets will likely include.
There are a series of marketing agencies out there that offer inbound marketing for a fairly low amount of money. These are the guys who charge less than 100€/hour or less than 200€ for a mid-size blog article. If you go with one of these agencies, you can get a variety of services ranging from project management and distribution to research, SEO, editing, and more for less than 2500€/month.
But why are they able to offer their services for such a bargain? Usually, because they’ve developed a creation and distribution process that they use for pretty much all of their customers. Their content follows standard industry practices and will work, but isn’t likely to be incredibly customised. But depending on your situation, that's not always necessarily a bad thing.
The survival of your business doesn’t depend strongly on inbound sales. There’s no need to pay top dollar if most of your revenue comes from other channels, such as outbound sales, networking, trade shows, etc.
You operate in a well-known industry. If so, then there’s a good chance that a low-cost agency already has a standard process that will work well for you.
Your competitors aren’t great at inbound marketing or don’t use it at all. In this case, a little effort will go a long way. If, on the other hand, your competitors have already flooded the internet with high-quality blog posts, videos, and other materials, this type of agency may not be the best way to realistically compete.
In the next tier, you’ll find expert-level agencies which offer a great deal more customisation. This is where you can really expect to get some high-quality work done and enjoy a strategy tailored specifically to you.
At this level, you can expect to pay between 100 and 175€/hour or between 200 and 600€ for a mid-sized blog article. As far as recurring monthly fees, you can expect to pay anywhere between 2500€ and 15000€/month to work with an agency in this tier. While they may cost more, it's generally because they offer something that cheaper agencies don’t. They might be an elite Hubspot partner, capable of handling complex integrations, boast an impressive client list, or offer expertise in a certain niche.
You and your management team are ready to actively make inbound marketing a priority for your business.
You can invest in a professional licence on a marketing automation platform such as HubSpot or Marketo.
When you start looking into agencies that charge more than 600€ for a mid-sized blog article or 15000€/month, you've entered the realm of elite inbound marketing agencies. These are the agencies that offer something that's very hard to find. Exactly what that "something" is could be a number of things.
They might be an elite Hubspot partner or be capable of handling very complex or specific services. Or it could be that they specialise in a rare niche that most other marketing agencies have never even heard of or simply don't have the expertise to offer. If you're looking for a marketing agency for your small local business, then it's highly likely that you'll have no need for this type of agency. Unless, of course, your small business has stumbled upon a unique new high-tech invention it plans to use to launch itself to the top of the global online marketplace.
They offer something you NEED that you absolutely can't find anywhere else.
Your business offers an incredibly unique product or service that would be very hard for another agency to understand well enough to effectively market.
No matter which type of agency you go with, keep in mind that inbound marketing is an investment. The goal is to choose the one with the best mixture of services and pricing that is likely to maximise your ROI.
As you can see from the above price ranges, marketing agencies can vary widely when it comes to pricing. So what allows a marketing agency to hike their prices higher than their competitors? In order to do this without losing business, they need to have something going for them that justifies charging more for their services.
It's likely one or more of the following:
They offer something rare and specialised, such as a mastery of different languages and cultures or expertise in a certain industry.
They offer something it would be very hard or even impossible to find anywhere else.
Your next best alternative to doing nothing is more expensive than what they charge.
They’ve earned your trust in some way, perhaps through a recommendation or highly credible industry case studies.
They have plenty of other prospective clients and can afford to walk away if you don’t prove to be a good fit.
Whether or not they are worth it will likely come down to how badly you need that special something that makes them so expensive.
As always, it depends. While there’s some truth to the adage that “you get what you pay for,” you should also keep in mind that not everyone needs the same thing.
The cases when an expensive elite agency is a good choice are obvious (see the previous paragraph for the answer), now let's talk about when it's bad choice.
Think about Ferrari. Are their cars among the best in the world? Absolutely!
Would you say that, even if overpriced for the task, they would make great cars for grocery shopping? Of course not! They have a very low trunk capacity, and they are an absolute nightmare when it comes to navigating speed bumps!
It's exactly the same for marketing agencies:
Overall, finding the best inbound marketing agency doesn’t have as much to do with the price as it does with finding the right fit for your unique needs.
Book a free 30-minute call with me. I'm happy to answer any question you may have to help you drive more sales from your inbound marketing.
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