Small Business Marketing Services: Pricing Exposed (& Explained)

So, you're a small business looking for marketing services.

You do a Google search.

You browse lots of websites.

But most digital marketing agencies don't list out their prices.

UGH. Why?

Most marketing agencies don't want to list out their pricing online for multiple reasons:

1. They're afraid their competitors will see it and offer a better price to win more clients.
   

2. They think they will lose out on potential clients if their pricing is too high.
   

3. They feel like adding pricing is too limiting (i.e. offering set packages makes a potential client think those are the only services or options they offer, removing the sense of true customization).
   

4. Some charge clients unfairly or without equality - the bigger the brand or the bigger the budget, the more the agency will charge for their services.

Here are my thoughts regarding these common concerns:

1. Not only will there always be competitors who offer cheaper prices than The Digital Perch, but if they want to get more clients by offering a cheaper price, I say go for it! We only want to attract the clients who will appreciate and trust the value we bring, which is reflected in our pricing.
   

2. If clients choose not to call us because our prices are too high, so be it! Pre-qualifying the right clients and weeding out those who aren't a good fit helps save everyone's time. We would rather only get calls from the clients who are less concerned about price and more concerned about long-term business success.
   

3. I totally get the feeling of putting your agency "in a box" when it comes to listing out pricing or packages. We are so anti-cookie cutter at The Digital Perch, that it feels against the grain to offer a package that may not be the best fit for a small business. That's why we opted to just state our monthly minimums for new clients (to weed out those who aren't even willing to invest the minimum), and we always say "starting at" so small business owners understand that's the starting investment. In a nutshell, offering pricing transparency but in a way that keeps the door open to change.
   

4. I personally don't feel it's ethical to charge more, for the same service, just because the potential client has more money or is a bigger brand. Maybe that's not a good mindset when it comes to my own business growth, but it doesn't feel right. I would treat a CEO the same as I would treat a janitor — everyone deserves respect, regardless of status, money, or anything else. So for The Digital Perch, we create quotes based on our consistent hourly rate, keeping the client goals and budget in mind when creating a price structure. Not based on their existing success or brand authority.

So now let's dive into explaining The Digital Perch's pricing for small business marketing services.

Here at The Digital Perch, we are transparent about just about everything.

No, we won't share our logins or bank accounts. But we have nothing to hide and want you to be part of the whole process, from start to finish.

We have a 6 month minimum and $1,000 per month minimum management fee stated across our website.

Why?

• Our minimums ensure we only take on new clients who are serious about their marketing and willing to test new strategies to grow. Many marketing services take a minimum of 3 months to start seeing results, but we want to prove concept and test more strategies to find the thing(s) that really works before we have a chance to optimize for long-term growth. Smart marketers must go through a strategic testing phase (at least in the beginning) so dollars aren't wasted and marketing success becomes more efficient for the long haul.
  

• There are countless hours that go into the onboarding phase of taking on a new client — if we didn't have minimum contracts and they decided to cancel services a couple months in, we would be out of business with the amount of time spent alone just preparing solid strategy, analyses, reports, audits, optimizing and setting things up.
  

• We bring 15 years of successful digital marketing expertise to your business, and it shows in every aspect of what we do. We aren't a bunch of entry-level interns right out of college trying to get experience under their belt, or have employees from out of the country who get paid less than minimum wage. We are right here, in America (Dallas/Fort-Worth to be exact), with Bachelor's Degrees, families to provide for, and over a decade of experience under our belt.

Okay, rant over. Back to pricing.

Although we could, it doesn't make sense for us to add specific pricing to the website for marketing services because we know each business has:

• Unique strategy

• Unique goals

• Unique needs

• Unique budgets (for advertising costs and management fees)

• Unique audiences

• Unique products and price points

• Unique marketplaces and platforms

Even if we put multiple packages with pricing for EACH service on our website, we would likely turn away most small businesses who come to our website because they'll think those packages are the only things we offer and don't fit what they need.

That's why we opted to keep it open ended — because your unique business should have customized strategies and services to meet your goals.

However, we do offer a marketing assessment form after prospective clients have taken the quiz to determine if they qualify to work with The Digital Perch. This allows small business owners to fill out some questions that will help us send you a few different package options based on your budget, and we always include an option for a package that includes everything you want even if it's not in your specified budget so you can price shop and get an idea of what it would cost to give you everything you're looking for.

Not sure which marketing services your small business needs?

Not sure what your marketing budget is?

No problem. Fill out the form as much as you can and we will either schedule a call with you to learn more before sending a quote, or we can send you package options that we think might be most effective for your business.

Ultimately, the thing you need to know is — you get what you pay for.

We're well aware you can find cheaper social media services and management fees out there. Heck, we'll even refer you to a cheap marketing business if that's what you care most about. But we can almost guarantee those services will not come with over 15+ years of experience in proven digital marketing efforts, be customized to what you actually need (vs just doing generic social media marketing services as if it were a template), or help you meet your goals.

We're also going to be super transparent with you, from start to finish, with every service. We're not afraid to let you know if something is a waste of time or money, tell you what to expect with each service (instead of giving unrealistic promises), or say what we need from you in order to do our job effectively.

We aim to be your partner, not just a service provider.

We aim to treat your business as if it were our own, including how money is spent.

We aim to bring value to every service we offer.

If you have more questions about our digital marketing services, contact us today.