Strategy itself does not have a price. But, any plan must anticipate the cost of making the strategy happen. When people inside and outside the company are telling you to do something about your website, when you are receiving repeated notices from marketers telling you that your search ranking is low, when someone is telling you that your strategy is not working, it’s time to cost the detail in your strategic plan.

Digital marketing agencies do more than consult. They provide services, tools, and tactics., all of which have a price on them. But, you might categorize them as idea people or delivery people. You want to determine if you are paying for their advice, for their education, or for a combination of both. It’s an important start because your colleagues, competitors, and would-be providers are going to challenge. Everyone’s got an idea of how the work should get done, when it should, and how much it should cost.

You must know if the service provider will charge by the hour or by the project. Hourly work seems to discount the work. And, project pricing invites bidding wars. The compromise is the provider that charges for the quality of its work as Brand Anvil does.

You can move towards some cost numbers once you admit that marketing is a necessary function. A digital marketing strategy is necessary enough that there’s no use arguing with budgets; you make a commitment and follow it through. But, desired and proven outcomes should provide an offensive in any budget dispute.

As a rule, the providers who only do strategy charge higher rates than those who only do services or those who provide both strategy and services. Moreover, these numbers do not account for the layering and blending of charges by agencies that provide multiple services. Still, these numbers tell you what you need to look for in researching, shopping, and negotiating.