How much does digital marketing cost?

The cost of digital marketing consists of two parts: the media budget, meaning the money you pay to the platforms, and the cost of doing the work, meaning a partner’s fee or your own team’s time. A working setup on one channel starts at around 1,800 euros a month. A typical multi-channel setup lands at 3,000–8,000 euros a month.

Where the costs of digital marketing come from

The media budget is the money you pay Google, Meta, or another platform for showing your ads. The cost of doing the work is what planning, running, and optimizing the advertising costs: either a partner’s invoice or your own team’s hours. It’s worth budgeting these two separately, because they behave differently. The media budget scales with your goals, while the cost of the work stays fairly constant.

In digital channels you don’t have to commit to campaigns worth tens of thousands of euros up front, as you would in print or TV. You can adjust spend day by day and see results almost in real time. That’s why you can start with a moderate amount and grow the investment as the advertising delivers.

Media budget by channel

In Google Ads, keyword research tells you the scale of the budget: how many people search for your products or services and what a click costs on average. In most industries, a sensible starting level is 500–2,000 euros a month. In competitive industries, click prices push that need higher.

In Meta advertising, a workable starting level is at least around 1,000 euros a month, so campaigns gather enough data to optimize. We’ve written in more detail about social advertising budgets.

In both channels, the goal sets the amount. Advertising optimized for sales or leads needs more budget than awareness advertising, because the algorithm only learns once enough conversions come in. A good rule of thumb is to calculate how much one sale or lead can cost and size the budget from there.

What the work costs

If you run the advertising yourselves, the cost is time: managing one channel typically takes a skilled person a few hours a week. If you use a partner, prices vary a lot between providers.

With us, managing one channel starts at 780 euros a month, and larger setups typically land in the 780–5,000 euros a month range. The first month is slightly more expensive, because it includes building the advertising and getting measurement in order. The two ways of working together are described in our service models: we do it for you, or we coach your own team.

It’s hard to get good work cheap, but you don’t need to hire the most expensive agency either. What matters most is finding a partner whose size and way of working fit your goals.

Where to start with a small budget

With one channel. Pick the one where demand already exists: if people search for your products on Google, start with search advertising. If demand needs to be created, social is often the better first channel.

Get measurement in order before spending your first ad euro. Without conversion tracking you won’t know what works, and growing the budget is guesswork.

When a channel delivers, grow its budget moderately and add a new channel only then. Not every channel needs to be in use. A small budget in one channel almost always performs better than the same amount spread across four.

See our service models to find out which way of working together would suit you.