Many small or medium businesses experience a certain amount of sticker shock when they start to look at investing in digital marketing seriously. In some cases, you might be tempted to take a DIY approach. In truth, DIY digital marketing is often more hassle than the money you save, and most small-to-medium sized businesses would be better off with a professional.
So how much should you be spending on digital marketing? Entrepreneur Magazine states that, on average, small businesses in 2017 were spending about $75,000 per year on digital marketing efforts. This is, of course, dependent on your unique business plan and size, but in general, businesses are spending about 4-12 percent of their total revenue on marketing.
So how does this cost break down? Let’s take a closer look.
Your Branding
If you already have an established brand and logo, you might not need to spend any money on this. However, if your brand is in need of a refresh (see our previous blog post to find out if this is you), you should at least expect to pay a bit. When price shopping for logo and branding designs, keep in mind that each project is completely unique. You want your brand to stand out and your branding materials to complement your personal style and business objectives.
Designing a logo is more than simply opening up Photoshop and drawing a shape with your name. Hours of research, planning, and implementation are required to start the project, as well as creating a unique style and guideline for how the brand and logo should be used on each medium (i.e., print materials, online marketing, social media, etc.)
Beware of branding costs that seem low for all this work because they will most likely fail to live up to your standards or not be unique enough for the desired effect.
The Website
When you consider the size and scope of a new website project, you can understand why the cost might seem significantly higher than other digital marketing projects. Especially in real estate, your website is often the first point of contact for a new client, and you can surely bet that they will be critical when judging your site.
Spending money on a website can be a challenge for businesses, especially ones who are just starting out, however, it’s an invaluable investment that will stay with you for your entire career. When shopping for a new web designer, it’s important to compare the price to what you’re getting. For example, a $5,000 website might sound like a great deal, until you find out that it is taken from a template and now your site matches millions of other websites on the net. In a case like this, you may find yourself spending even more than you intended in order to make the templated site unique, and you still might not find the exact result you are looking for.
A completely unique website, owned by you rather than the developer is invaluable. When it comes to paying for a custom site, you should consider all the bells and whistles that come with it. For example, the SEO, content strategy, blogging, and other details should all be taken care of. Although these websites are certainly more expensive, the time you save not having to deal with issues is worth it because it opens you up to focus on your business rather than working on web developing, which is probably not your forte.
Maintenance and Upgrades
As a busy real estate agent, you probably don’t have the time or inclination to fiddle with WordPress themes, update blog posts, or re-do SEO strategies. You’re busy servicing clients, following up with leads, and making money. A good way to tell if an ongoing digital strategy package is right for you is if the cost of that package is less than what your hourly rate would be if you spent time on the same task. Nine times out of ten, the cost will be justified, and you can certainly make more money working on your business while you outsource various digital marketing tasks.
Additionally, since these tasks are probably not where you have the most experience, outsourcing them to an expert will not only save time and money, but it will also provide a higher ROI because you can expect to see solid results on a regular basis. When looking for ongoing maintenance a digital marketing plan, beware of plans that seem to overpromise. They will almost all certainly underdeliver. Look for plans that are charged on a monthly basis with plenty of flexibility to manage your business’s evolution and changing digital marketing needs.
When it comes to spending money on things like a website, branding, or an ongoing digital marketing strategy, it’s important that the value outweighs the cost. Working with a company that specializes in the real estate industry should be your first step in choosing a digital marketing company to work with.
Want to drive traffic, build your brand, and engage your target audience? Download our eBook: ‘The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Marketing’. It’s a collection of some of our best marketing articles, tips, and tricks that we’ve collected over the years.
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