Digital marketing for a small business costs $2,000 to $5,000 a month for a local full-service program on our pricing page, plus ad spend paid to Google. Single channels are priced separately: Business Profile management is $450 to $650 a month and SEO is $1,000 to $1,600. Prices reviewed October 2026.
By Donnie Strompf. Updated October 2026.
I’m Donnie Strompf, and Good At Marketing sells every service priced below, so check my work. You can verify the agency prices on the pricing page and the one outside figure at its cited source. Every sum is simple addition you can redo.
Key takeaways
- A local full-service program is $2,000 to $5,000 a month on the pricing page, before ad spend.
- Adding the ranges for all seven channels gives $4,450 to $7,750 a month in management fees, so a $10,000 fee covers every channel with scope to spare.
- Ad spend, and Google’s charge for each Local Services Ads lead, are paid to Google on top of every fee in this guide.
- Gartner’s 2026 survey puts marketing budgets at 7.8% of company revenue, at firms that mostly earn over $1 billion, so treat that as a reference point for a small business.
- If you need customers soon, lean on paid channels. If you have more time, lean on SEO. One budget can fund both.
What does each digital marketing channel cost per month?
The table lists the monthly management fee for each channel on our pricing page and what you pay the platform on top. Website projects are quoted per project, so no website number appears anywhere in this guide.
| Channel | Monthly management fee | Paid on top |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile management | $450 to $650 | Nothing per click |
| SEO | $1,000 to $1,600, up to about $3,500 in competitive markets | Nothing per click |
| AEO and AI visibility, sold alongside SEO | $950 to $2,000 | Nothing per click |
| Google Ads management | $600 to $1,000 | Ad spend, billed by click |
| Local Services Ads management | $200 to $1,000 | Google’s charge per lead |
| Email and newsletters | $550 to $1,000 | Not listed on the pricing page |
| Social media | $550 to $1,000 | Not listed on the pricing page |
Google explains how the platform charges. Search ads are priced per click, and you pay when someone clicks (Google Ads, September 2026). Local Services Ads charge per lead and not per click (Google Local Services Ads page, undated). Those charges are separate from the fees above.
The AI form reply, which answers new website form leads, is $250 to $400 a month on the pricing page.
What do $2,000, $5,000 and $10,000 a month cover?
Each row below lists channels whose ranges on the pricing page overlap the fee, with ad spend on top. These are examples built from our published prices, so none is a quote or a promise of results. If the amount you have in mind includes ad spend, subtract the ad spend first.
| Monthly fee | Channels that overlap the fee | Their ranges added |
|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | Business Profile and SEO | From $1,450, high end above $2,000 |
| $2,000 | Business Profile and Google Ads management | $1,050 to $1,650 |
| $5,000 | SEO, AEO, Business Profile and Google Ads management | $3,000 to $5,250 |
| $5,000 | Those four plus email | $3,550 to $6,250 |
| $10,000 | All seven channels | $4,450 to $7,750 |
The pricing page sets the bottom of the local full-service range at $2,000. At that fee, two channels fit when each lands in the lower half of its range.
Business Profile and Google Ads management leave more room for ad spend. In a market priced near the $3,500 SEO ceiling on the pricing page, SEO alone costs more than $2,000.
The pricing page puts $5,000 at the top of the local range and says the practice area decides where a local business lands in it. The four-channel mix adds up to $3,000 to $5,250, so it fits when each channel sits in the lower half of its range. Adding email lifts the sum to $3,550 to $6,250, which fits only at the low end.
Add every row and the fees come to $4,450 to $7,750 a month. With SEO at its $3,500 competitive-market ceiling on the pricing page, the top of that range rises to $9,650. A $10,000 fee therefore exceeds the sum of every channel’s range, which leaves room to ask for more work inside each.
That fee sits above the local range and inside the $8,000 to $14,000 national ecommerce range on the pricing page, where SEO, AI visibility, shopping ads and email run together. Ask what the extra scope is before you accept the extra cost.
How should you split a budget between calls now and search that builds?
Split it by how soon you need new customers. Paid channels bill by the click or the lead, and you set the budget. SEO is slower. Google says some SEO changes take effect in a few hours and others could take several months, and it suggests waiting a few weeks before judging them (Google Search Central, updated December 10, 2025).
Here is how I would weigh it, based on when you need new customers.
- You need calls this quarter. Put the larger share into Google Ads management, Local Services Ads management or Business Profile management, and keep SEO to its lowest range.
- You have a working website and time. Put the larger share into SEO and AEO, and run a smaller paid line so you can see which searches produce calls.
- You are unsure. Start with one or two channels you can afford to measure, such as Business Profile and SEO, then add a channel when its numbers justify it.
Two guides go deeper on the choice. SEO vs Google Ads compares the two for a local service business, and how much to spend on Google Ads works out the ad budget itself. If your trade qualifies for Local Services Ads, Local Services Ads vs Google Ads explains how they differ.
How much of revenue should a small business spend on marketing?
No single percentage is standard; the SBA says there is no hard and fast answer (SBA, July 9, 2019), and the in-house guide covers that article in more detail.
Gartner’s 2026 survey reports marketing budgets at 7.8% of company revenue in 2026, up from 7.7% in 2025 (Gartner, May 11, 2026). The survey ran from January through March 2026 among 401 marketing leaders in North America and Europe, and most reported annual revenue above $1 billion.
Treat 7.8% as a reference point and not a budget. As arithmetic, at 7.8%, a business with $500,000 in annual revenue lands at $39,000 a year, or $3,250 a month. A business with $1,000,000 lands at $78,000 a year, or $6,500 a month.
Put those next to the fee table, then add ad spend. Our small business marketing overview is the page for local businesses that buy several services together.
What moves the price of digital marketing?
Three things move the number on the pricing page. The first is competition: in some markets more firms spend to win the same searches, and legal, med spa and home services sit at the upper end of the SEO range. The second is scope, since one channel costs less than SEO and paid ads together. The third is what a customer is worth in your market, which sets how much you can justify spending.
A fourth factor sits on your side. If your website does not record calls and form submissions, you cannot tell what a paid channel returned. Conversion tracking for Google Ads covers the setup.
You can also compare these fees with a salary. The guide to in-house marketer vs freelancer vs agency prices a first hire from public labor data, so you can set that annual total beside twelve months of the fees above.
What should you ask before you sign?
These questions apply to any provider, including us.
- Ask for the fee and the ad spend as two lines. The ad spend is paid to the platform, and the fee is paid to the provider.
- Ask which channels the fee covers, one by one. Get what a month of each includes in writing, and match each line to a row in the table above.
- Ask who owns the logins. Your ad account, analytics and Business Profile should sit under your own login, as who owns your website and marketing accounts explains.
- Ask for a report that counts calls and leads. What a monthly marketing report should include lists what to look for.
- Ask whether the quote includes a website, call tracking or software. Those can be separate lines.
- Ask the SEO questions. How to choose an SEO company lists 20 of them, plus the red flags. The SEO fundamentals guide explains what the work involves.
A fee far below a range in the table is worth a question about scope. A fee inside a range says nothing yet about quality.
Every service in the table has its own page under our services. If you are weighing one of these channels, read Is social media marketing worth it for a local business? or Klaviyo vs Mailchimp vs HubSpot vs Constant Contact: how the email platforms differ.
Good At Marketing is based in Boynton Beach and works with businesses across Palm Beach County.
Where does AI visibility fit in the budget?
When someone asks ChatGPT who to call, the business it names is the one that gets searched next. We do AI visibility alongside SEO, never instead of it.
On the pricing page, AEO costs $950 to $2,000 a month and is sold alongside SEO, so add the two rows when you buy both. What is answer engine optimization defines the term. The guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews lists what a business can do for itself.
Other cost guides
- How much does SEO cost for a small business in 2026?
- How much does Google Ads management cost?
- How much does Google Business Profile management cost?
- How much do Local Services Ads cost? Per-lead pricing and management fees
- How much does AEO cost in 2026?
Related reading
- How we report SEO ranking results, with dated examples
- Is SEO dead? What AI Overviews did to clicks and what still works
- Do agencies that rank for Florida searches publish prices? A 10-city survey
Next step
The free AI-visibility audit comes first, then a 15-minute call.
FAQ
Can I run digital marketing myself to save money?
Parts of it. Google says creating a Business Profile and listing your business is free (Google Business Profile page, undated), so the cost there is your time. Price your hours against the $450 to $650 monthly fee for Business Profile management on the pricing page before you decide.
What if my budget is under $2,000 a month?
One or two rows of the fee table fit. Business Profile management is $450 to $650, Google Ads management is $600 to $1,000 and SEO starts at $1,000, all on the pricing page. Ad spend is extra for paid channels, so decide which single channel serves your clearest goal first.
Does a bigger budget guarantee more customers?
No provider can promise a ranking, a lead count or a date. A larger budget pays for more channels or more work inside each one. Results still depend on your market, your offer and your website, so judge any plan by the calls and leads it records.
Are website costs part of digital marketing costs?
The pricing page publishes no website figure, which means the totals above exclude site work. A slow or broken site limits every other channel, so request the website as its own separate priced line. See website development for the service itself.
How do I compare a quote with these ranges?
Add up the fees in the quote and compare that total with the ranges in the channel table. If a quote bundles channels, ask for the split. Check that ad spend and the provider’s fee are separate lines, and that the quote names who owns each account.
Is a salaried hire cheaper than an agency?
A salary is only part of the cost, because benefits and software come on top of it. One person also covers fewer channels than a team can. The in-house guide shows the arithmetic with public labor data and lists which tasks you can keep in your own hands.
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