It's the first question most business owners ask, and the honest answer is: it depends. Not a helpful start, so let's make it useful. Marketing costs vary because the work varies, but there are sensible ranges and, more importantly, a sensible way to think about it.
The rough numbers
For a small UK business, a one-off piece of work like a content shoot or a landing page typically starts in the hundreds to low thousands. Ongoing work, like social media management or paid ads, usually runs as a monthly retainer from a few hundred pounds up, depending on how much you need.
- A content shoot: from around £850
- A website or landing page: from around £1,500
- Social media management: from around £650 a month
- Paid ads management: from around £750 a month, plus your ad spend
What actually moves the price
Scope, mostly. How many photos and videos, how many platforms, how many pages, how much is bespoke versus templated. A single reel is cheaper than a full launch campaign. A one-page site is cheaper than a ten-page one. None of that is surprising, but it's where the number comes from.
The better question
Instead of asking what marketing costs, ask what a customer is worth to you. If a new client is worth a few thousand pounds over the time they stay with you, spending a few hundred to win them is easy maths. Marketing that pays for itself isn't an expense, it's a return.
Cheap marketing that brings in nothing is expensive. Good marketing that brings in customers pays for itself.
Our advice: don't start with a budget, start with a goal. Work out what a result is worth, then spend in a way you can measure. If you can't see what your money is doing, that's the real problem, not the price.
Written by
The Guardians Digital team