Inbound Marketing Pricing: How Much Does it Cost for B2Bs?

• Donny Kemick

Before getting into the meat of this post ... if you're looking for a quick answer, check out our inbound marketing pricing page.

If you’re considering hiring an inbound marketing agency to boost your bottom line and find new customers, you probably have a lot of questions. Chances are, you’re wondering:

• "How much does inbound marketing cost?"
• "What influences the cost one direction or the other?"
• "How much should I budget for inbound marketing?"

Strap in: There are several variables that contribute to what you’ll end up investing.

Inbound Marketing Agency Pricing

When you work with an inbound marketing agency, you can expect them to offer a full suite of B2B buyer-focused strategies and tactics, outlined below.

(Wondering "What is an inbound marketing agency? Learn about that here.)

Generally speaking, inbound marketing service pricing runs $5,000-20,000 per month. You'll find outliers in both directions.

Some agencies offer full-service outsourcing packages and can handle all components of an inbound marketing strategy. Other agencies specialize in one or a few services. If you have a specific deficiency you want solved, you may want to look into agencies with SEO (search engine optimization), HubSpot (onboarding and training), or content marketing pricing packages.

In the case of certain needs, like a new website, you may opt for a one-off project partnership instead of a monthly retainer. We find, though, that many projects end with the client asking for ongoing marketing services once they realize the effort it takes to keep up. 

The more you're able to invest, generally speaking, the more your agency can do ... and the faster you'll see results.

Although there are many variables that determine what you end up actually investing, most inbound marketing agency pricing packages are flexible as long as your goals and timeline follow suit. An experienced inbound agency will fully understand what your goals and timeline are, and propose a plan to achieve them along with the investment needed.

You can also an inbound/digital marketing cost calculator (like you see above) to estimate costs on your own. If that's too headache-y for now, here are the main components of online marketing and their prices as standalone services:

Inbound Marketing Plan & Strategy

Depending on the length of time this covers (1 year vs. 5 years), the cost of building a marketing strategy will vary. A short-term, trial-sized strategy may cost around $5K, while an in-depth, long-term plan can run upward of $20K. These prices include the months of research and on-site visits needed to formulate an effective, personalized strategy.

Written Content Production

A full-time content writer can cost your company $35,000-70,000 in salary alone, depending on experience level. Outsourced content production typically runs around $5,000 per month, though this can vary greatly depending on the scope, writer's experience, and whether they're a freelancer or agency employee. Typically, content writers produce copy for:

• Educational blogging
• Long-form resource pages
• Premium offers (e-books, whitepapers, case studies, etc.)
• Landing pages
• Calls-to-action (CTAs)
• Emails (marketing and sales)
  

The comfort in hiring an agency writer is knowing they come with the backing of an entire team of experts.

Website Development

It's common for business leaders to reach out to agencies and say, "We need a new website." This isn't terribly informative, as "new website" can have a wide range of implications. It could mean:

• Redesign of an existing site
• A new site from scratch

From there, B2B website development costs vary wildly based on your expectations, the website's size, and how much you want to customize it.

Above, you can see both extremes on the spectrum. Chances are, your sweet spot is nowhere near the top end, but not quite at rock bottom, either.

(Related Resource: The True Costs of HubSpot Software)

Multimedia Content Production

A full-time multimedia specialist (graphic design, video, UX design, web dev) can cost your company $30-80K in salary. Outsourced multimedia production typically runs around $3K per month, though this can vary greatly depending on the scope, experience, and whether they're a freelancer or agency employee. Typically, multimedia specialists produce:

• Videos (product demos, facility tours, About Us, etc.)
• Pro-level photography (not your shaky iPhone 8 stuff)
• Premium content design & layout (ex.: e-book)
• Call-to-action buttons & graphics
• Blog, social media, & email graphics
  
  

SEO

From local businesses to enterprise manufacturers, a little search engine optimization goes a long way. These services help you rank higher in Google and other search engines, and tend to have a huge compounding effect once you gain some momentum.

High-quality SEO services come at a price of no less than $750 per month. Cheap SEO will cost you more in the long run than any up-front digital marketing costs ... and can cause lasting damage to your business.

PPC

Thinking of hiring a Google Ads agency? PPC management pricing will take your monthly advertising budget into consideration.

You can expect to pay at least $1,000 per month for expert management. You should expect to invest at least $500 per month separately in ad budget.

Social Media Marketing

A professional social media manager will offer their services for $2-4K per month on average. This is extremely scope dependent, and should take into account the amount of ...

• social channels,
• planning/strategy,
• writing,
• visual development,
• listening,
• moderation, and
• paid promotion

... that needs to be done on a monthly basis.

Working with an inbound marketing agency or insourcing your social media can bring that down to $500 to $4,000 per month.

Platforms

Content Management System (CMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), marketing automation, and email marketing software can all make your life incredibly easy. Some services are free; some are not, and prices vary.

Different platforms will offer different levels of insight, control, and convenience. If you need training or management assistance with your marketing platforms, you can find resources online or pay a consultant to come to your facilities and teach you how to use them.

It’s important to note that many agencies have a software platform they specialize in and recommend you use. While many agencies are flexible about this, you could wind up in a situation that's like marrying a spouse you love, but with relatives you loathe.

Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, & Sales Enablement

Ongoing conversion (visitor to lead) optimization, nurturing of leads through the funnel, and supporting a strong relation between marketing and sales that turns more leads into customers will. This is one of the most significant investments for an inbound marketing team. A full-time specialist in conversion rate optimization (CRO), lead nurturing strategy, and sales enablement will run you $50-100K annually.

If you outsource these activities to an agency, you can expect to pay $2,000-$4,000 per month.

 

Marketing & Sales Coaching

To fix an in-house team's skill gaps or replace an underperforming agency, B2Bs sometimes hire a marketing coaching agency.

What does a marketing coach actually do? 

• (For existing teams) Evaluate gaps and lead appropriate training
• (If you're starting from scratch) Help you build the right roles and fill them with the right people
• Teach you how to do SEO, PPC, content writing, website building and design
• Sales enablement -- building automated tasks, using buyer-friendly messaging, etc.
• CRM (customer relationship management) system onboarding and buy-in
• Measure and report on progress

Digital marketing training costs depend on how many of the above areas you want help with, and whether you want a set number of sessions vs. ongoing aid. You may also need to foot the cost of training for HubSpot and other software team members are new to.

To learn whether your company and team situation fit best with outsourced marketing, coaching, or a hybrid approach, take our quiz:

How Much Should You Budget for Inbound Marketing?

B2B product industries invest 7.8% of their revenue into marketing, while B2B services industries spend 5.9%, according to HubSpot.

Depending on the size of your business and your growth goals, the amount you'll want to invest in inbound marketing will vary.

We've highlighted ranges above to help you get an idea of what inbound would cost you to correctly execute in-house versus hiring an agency.

The biggest factors to consider when deciding what to invest in inbound marketing are:

• What's your starting line? How many visitors, leads, and customers do you receive from your website? Are you starting from ground zero, or already a well-oiled web-based machine?
• How aggressive are your goals? Looking to double sales, or grow by 10%?
• How fast do you want to get there? Six months? 2 years? 5 years?
• Your ability to take on portions in-house: Remember, you need to be able to do it consistently and do it well to make an impact. Some initial coaching might make this more realistic.

As with most things in life, investing more time and money usually yields faster/better results.

Custom-Build Your Inbound Marketing Package

Ultimately, inbound marketing pricing is up to you. Your level of investment may influence:

• The agency's quality of work
• How much you grow
• How fast you grow

Inbound marketing is a long-term commitment that gradually builds ROI over time. You'll need to drop the right pieces in place – from team to tactics – and watch patiently as they bear fruit.

To learn what services you might need for a successful campaign – and what they'll cost – refer to our digital marketing pricing package and template page:

(Editor's note: This post was originally published March 2016 and was most recently updated in November 2024 with fresh insights.)