What Does it Cost?

Your Time and Money Investment

Marketing IS expensive (because it's time intensive).
Marketing FEELS expensive (because you haven't budgeted for it).

While we do have set prices for the products and services that we offer, we don't compete on price (we're more expensive than many of our direct competitors in the 'marketing for accounting firms' space), and our goal is not to sell you a particular product or service.

We are in the business of helping firms build a marketing engine that is both effective and sustainable. That means helping you choose the strategy and the marketing tactics that will generate the highest ROI and fit within the financial realities of your firm.

Rough estimate benchmarks

Small Firms (under $3m ARR) should spend around 5% of revenue on sales/marketing

Large firms ($3m+ ARR) usually need to spend 7%-10% on sales/marketing (they spend more because they need more new business just to keep up with clients that leave).

Firms that are growing aggressively (20%+ per year) are spending closer to 20% of revenue on sales/marketing.

This budget should include sales and marketing salaries and commissions, software costs, ad spend, and any fees paid to an agency. The real problem is most accounting firms don't have a marketing budget and don't factor the cost of acquiring new business into their fees.

Price should usually NOT be the primary factor in determining who you hire. Marketing agencies are not interchangeable. It's important to find a marketing partner that has the right strategy for your business and has the best chance of generating real ROI.

We are likely more expensive than most of the other marketing companies that focus on the accounting space. We don't "line-item" the services or track directly against hours, but you can use $150/hr as a rough approximation of how we arrive at our fees. Most of our clients spend $25k-$120k per year with us.

The Cost of Strategy

The first step with marketing is always strategy. How in-depth the strategic engagement needs to be will depend on your firm size, revenue goals, and how core marketing is to reaching those goals. We can help you determine what you likely need on a discovery call.

Messaging
Guide
$1,750
Marketing
Roadmap
$3,500
Website
Blueprint
$5,000
Niche
Strategy
$12,500
Positioning Statement ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
Messaging Brandscript ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
Elevator Pitch ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
Marketing Budget ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
Tactics Scope & Sequence ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
Sitemap & Recommendations ✔️ ✔️
Website Design Mockups ✔️ ✔️
Homepage Wireframe ✔️ ✔️
Niche Workshop & Brand Guide ✔️

The Cost of Production

Most firms handle some pieces of their marketing production in-house and outsource other pieces. The prices below reflect the fees Benchmark Growth Marketing charges for various services.

Fully-custom writing, design, development and support.

  • Standard website: $13,500
  • Subscription website: $595/month (2 year contract)
  • Large or complex website: $15k-$30k
  • Website hosting and support: $225-$400/month

Get your firm ranked at the top of organic search results.

  • Local SEO: $500-$750/m
  • Niche SEO: $750-$2500/m

Setup, management, and optimization for Google Ads.

  • $500m + 25% of ad spend
  • $600 minimum ad spend

Blog articles, email marketing, video production, and social media management.

  • Collaborative content: starting at $800/month
  • Video content: starting at $1000/month
  • Fully-outsourced content: starting at $2500/month

Season-based, relationship focused podcasts for business.

  • $5k for initial show design and launch
  • $10k-$15k per season for production

Other Costs to Consider

Depending on your strategy and the tactics required, beyond the cost to hire an agency and the time you devote to your marketing efforts, there are a handful of other costs that will need to be covered:

  • Ad Spend. $600-$2500/month.
  • Software. $100-$1500/m.
  • Website hosting & support. $25-$400/month.

Coaching, Courses, & Groups

For firms that wish to keep most of the production in-house, but still value outside feedback and coaching, we offer coaching, courses, and a marketing mastermind group.

  • Find Your Niche Course - $2500
  • Write Your Website Course - $2950
  • Marketing Mastermind - $7950/year
  • Paid Coaching/Consulting Calls - $350

Fractional CMO

In some cases one of our senior strategists will work with a client as a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. They participate in leadership meetings, manage your marketing budget, lead your marketing team, and oversee your marketing strategy. Costs start at $3000/month.

Still on board? Let's meet the team.