Content Marketing Cost: Is it Worth it? (+ Examples)

Generally, the cost of content marketing is anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 a month. But is it worth it? We say yes! Read on to see what to factor into your marketing budget.

Here, you’ll find:

• How much does content marketing cost?
• Strategy costs
• Content creation costs
• Promotion and outreach costs
• Auditing and analysis costs
• The benefits of hiring a content marketing agency

Content marketing is essential for generating leads and sales. It’s no wonder that over a third of all businesses dedicate between 10% and 29% of their marketing budget to content marketing!

But what if you’re working with a limited budget?

If you’re worried you can’t afford content marketing, this comprehensive guide will show you exactly what it takes to make it work — and why it’s worth the cost.

How much does content marketing cost?

In general, content marketing costs around $5,000 to $20,000 per month.

Kind of a wild range, right?

Let’s break it down to see where this cost comes from.

What factors into the cost of content marketing?

The cost of content marketing varies based on several factors, including:

• Your goals
• The amount and type of content you need
• Who you hire to perform and manage the tasks
• The content marketing tools you use
• The industry you’re in
• The quality of the content

Your goals

It’s important to understand what you want to achieve from your content marketing efforts, as this affects the cost.

For example, a content marketing campaign focusing on brand awareness may be more expensive than one focusing on sales. This is because it’s more long-term and has a larger target audience.

The amount and type of content you need

The more content you want to produce and distribute, the more you will need to spend.

Some content needs more time to research, edit, and publicize, which means it costs more. For example, a 500-word article will typically cost less than a 5,000-word whitepaper.

Who you hire to perform and manage the tasks

When building your content marketing squad, you have three options:

1. Build an in-house marketing team
2. Hire freelancers or contractors (for example, a freelance writer or independent content marketing consultant)
3. Hire an agency to handle your content marketing

Some businesses stick to one option or opt for a mix of all three.

It all comes down to your budget and needs. For instance, if you’re a startup looking to scale fast, hiring an agency with years of experience is the way to go.

For in-house content strategists, the average annual salary is $94,744 in the U.S. On average, full-time content writers in the U.S. earn $58,918 per year or $23.33 per hour.

Freelance content strategist costs range between $1,500 to $3,000 per month, depending on the campaign size, type of content produced, and their experience.

Content marketing agency costs can be anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 or more per month, depending on goals, timeline, and scope.

Some content marketing agencies charge hourly or by performance. HawkSEM charges a simple monthly fee that doesn’t involve setup costs, making it easier to keep your budget in check.

(We’ll talk more about the benefits of hiring a content marketing agency later in this article.)

The content marketing tools you use

Content marketing tools make it easier to manage, create, optimize, and advertise your content. Some are free, while others have a cost attached to them.

Take Canva for example. This is a design tool for creating graphics, social media posts, and other visual content without graphic design skills or software. While there is a free version, you can pay $12.99 a month for additional features.

One of the benefits of working with a content marketing agency is that they have access to enterprise-level software that you can take advantage of.

At HawkSEM our proprietary software (ConversionIQ) ensures our marketing targets the right audience and helps us optimize campaigns to deliver a healthy return on investment (ROI).

The industry you’re in

Some industries require technical knowledge, experience, and an understanding of specific regulations.

Creating content for the finance, engineering, legal, real estate, and education sectors can incur additional costs.

The quality of the content

“Quality is everything in content marketing,” says Caroline Cox, senior content marketing manager at HawkSEM. “Publishing without a plan for consistency or quality means you waste your time and budget on content that potential customers don’t want to see and that gets lost at the bottom of the search results.”

“High-quality content demands a bigger marketing budget, but it’s worth it.”

Now let’s drill down a little more into the different types of content marketing and what the typical costs are.

Strategy costs

A good content plan means you can create content that fulfills the needs of your target audience and keeps them engaged until they’re ready to convert.

Your content strategy should include:

• Marketing goals and objectives: Clearly define your business needs and how your content marketing campaign will meet them
• Target audience: Identify your target customers so you can create content that speaks directly to them
• Content types: Determine the content you’ll create, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics.
• Editorial calendar: Plan out your content in advance to ensure consistency
• Distribution channels: Determine the channels you’ll distribute your content on, such as social media, email marketing, or paid advertising
• SEO strategy: Ensure your content is optimized for search engines and that your target audience can find it
• Metrics and analytics: Determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your content marketing campaign
• Team roles and responsibilities: Define the roles and responsibilities of each team member involved in the content marketing campaign
• Budget: Determine campaign spend for your content marketing campaign

How much does a content marketing strategy cost? It depends on how complex your strategy is and who is creating it.

However, a good content marketing plan will make it easier and more cost-effective to implement your campaign, so it’s worth the initial outlay.

Content creation costs

Content creation is the backbone of your content marketing campaign.

The more high-quality and targeted your content, the better your results will be.

Your costs will depend on the type of content you want to create and who will create it. Let’s break things down:

• SEO
• Blog posts
• Guides and ebooks
• Copywriting
• Design
• Video creation
• Podcasting
• Social media posts
• Interactive content

SEO

Cost: $32 to $100 per hour

It’s vital to factor search engine optimization (SEO) into your content marketing strategy if you want your content to rank in the search engines. This includes elements like keyword research, on-page optimization, and technical SEO.

There’s a common misconception that SEO is free. While it is more cost-effective than other marketing channels, like paid search and paid social, you still have to invest to get the right results.

The cost of SEO depends on whether you bring aboard an in-house team, freelancer, or agency.

Most freelance SEO experts charge monthly retainers between $501 and $1,000, with others charging an hourly rate between $75 and $100.

An agency charges an average of $98 per hour or around $3,200 per month for retainers.

If you hire an SEO expert in-house, you can expect to pay an average of $67,388 annually or $32 per hour. Though costs can reach as high as $103,000 depending on experience and location.

Blog posts

Cost: $250 to $1,500 for a 1,500-word article

Blog posts help businesses position themselves as subject matter experts in their industry, showcase their expertise, and drive traffic to their websites.

Hiring expert blog writers with successful track records may cost a little more, but they will create better-quality content.

“If you have a limited marketing budget, one of the best things you can do is to create a small library of meaningful, quality blog posts,” says Sam Yadegar, co-founder and CEO of HawkSEM.

“Share your experience and provide value that nobody else can, even if it’s only five or 10 articles.”

The average cost of blog posts depends on length, topic, and the expertise of the writer. Peak Freelance shows the average cost for a 1,500-word blog post ranges from $250 to $399. In-demand, experienced writers can charge upwards of $1,500.

Guides and ebooks

Cost: $1,500 to $5,000

Downloadable content pieces like guides, ebooks, and whitepapers are a great way to get leads.

You can qualify these leads to determine which ones to sell to, and which to “nurture” with additional content like email marketing.

The cost of ebook creation depends on the word count and topic of the ebook.

In our experience, outsourcing copy for an ebook can range anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 – potentially even more for something long and complex.

You also need to factor in the design cost and the cost to create a blog post or landing page to promote the ebook.

Copywriting

Cost: Anything up to $3,500

When you want to create landing pages, homepage copy, and case studies to convert website visitors into leads and sales, you need a copywriter who gets your target audience.

Take this landing page from Square for example. It’s generic and doesn’t convey its value to new users:

However, the updated version is much clearer and resonates with Square’s target audience –  online and local businesses:

If you hire a full-time junior copywriter, you can expect to spend $60,652 per year or $29.16 per hour on average. A senior copywriter can demand an average salary of $76,238, or $36.65 per hour.

If you want to hire a freelance writer, the American Writers & Artists Institute (AWAI) shows that SEO copywriting fees vary based on the type of page and size of the website.

For instance:

• Web page optimization costs between $100 and $400 per page
• Small website copy costs $1,500 to $3,500 for five to six pages
• SEO strategy and training (aka consulting) costs $150 to $500 per hour
• A single PPC ad costs $25 to $250 per ad

Design

Cost: $30 to $120 per hour for an infographic

High-quality visuals get your prospective customer’s attention and encourage them to keep reading.

With a graphic artist on your team, you can develop gorgeous branded images and infographics – like this one our team made:

According to Upwork, the cost for freelance graphic designers that offer infographic design is between $30 and $120 per hour

If you want to recruit in-house, a full-time marketing designer costs an average of $84,411 per year in the U.S.

Don’t forget about photos and stock images. You’ll pay around $0.49 to $8.67 per stock image, depending on which stock photo site you use and the rights to the photo.

If you opt for a professional photographer, the cost will vary based on the number of photos, location, set design, professional models, and photo editing. This can be anything from $5,000 to $25,000 for a project.

Video creation

Cost: $20 to $120 per hour

Adding video marketing to your content marketing strategy will broaden your audience reach since you’re targeting people who prefer to watch content instead of reading it. Plus, you’re on more platforms, like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

Video content may include a mix of webinars, social media shorts (for example, TikTok and Instagram Reels), product demos, and how-to videos.

The content marketing cost for video production needs to include both production and the cost of editing the video.

If you decide to do the latter yourself, you’ll need video editing software and a good computer. One of our favorites is Adobe Premiere Pro, which starts at $22.99 per month.

f If you use a freelance video editor, you can expect to pay between $20 and $120 per hour, depending on the skill and experience level.

Hiring in-house will cost an average of $51,131 per year or $24.58 per hour.

Don’t forget the video script. A remote YouTube video script writer will cost an average of $24.29 per hour.

Podcasting

Cost: Anything from $100 to $5,000

Starting your own podcast is a fantastic way to show off your expertise, encourage conversions, and make listeners aware of your brand.

To run a podcast you need a microphone and computer, as well as a camera if you want to create a video podcast.

You’ll also need recording and editing software, as well as somewhere to host your podcast.

Depending on what equipment you need and the tools you choose, podcasting as a business owner can cost from $100 to $5,000.

Social media posts

Cost: Between $500 to $17,950 per month

Marketing is all about being where your audience is.

That means creating engaging, educational, and inspirational content on social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

According to Sprout Social, an outsourced social media management package costs between $500 and $17,950 a month.

This includes content creation, social advertising, and platform management.

If you want to bring in a social media specialist full-time, the average cost is $70,287 per year or $33.79 per hour. Bear in mind that this doesn’t include any tools you use to manage your social media presence or create imagery.

Interactive content

Cost: It depends on the type of content you want

Interactive content is content that website visitors can interact with. For example, quizzes, polls, games, and even augmented reality apps.

NerdWallet’s mortgage calculator does two things: engages its target audience and educates customers about the mortgage process.

The content marketing cost for interactive content varies significantly because of the many different types of content you can develop.

This means it can cost anything from a few hundred dollars for an interactive infographic to thousands for an app or tool.

Promotion and outreach costs

Cost: $23.36 to $149 per hour

Building campaigns and executing them is what content marketing is all about.

But you can’t just hit publish and expect traffic to pour in. It requires ongoing content promotion and outreach to get your content seen.

Content promotion consists of sharing your content on platforms like email, social media, and paid ads – as well as more traditional marketing channels like print ads and out-of-home (OOH) advertising.

We’ve already covered the cost of social media and paid social ads. If you want to hire an email marketing specialist in-house, this costs an average of $69,583 a year or $33.45 an hour. If you want to use an agency, this costs an average of $100 to $149 per hour.

Content outreach is about building relationships with bloggers and influencers to share your content for backlink building, as well as getting quotes from your teams published in third-party articles.

An outreach specialist or public relations (PR) professional will cost differently, depending on whether you go with a freelancer, agency, or in-house employee.

A PR agency will either bill hourly or on a monthly retainer. Rates vary depending on experience and size – you can expect to pay between $4,000 and $25,000 per month.

A full-time PR employee has an average salary of $48,383 per year or $23.26 per hour.

Auditing and analysis costs

Cost: $40.66 per hour and up

Over time, your content will become inaccurate, lose its search engine ranking, and see a drop in traffic. Regular content audits can help keep your content fresh and relevant.

Content audits:

• Replace outdated information, stats, and visuals
• Make the format more readable
• Optimize to improve ranking (we use Clearscope)
• Add new sections, research, and insights
• Implement quotes from relevant subject matter experts (SMEs)
• Enhance the content quality (grammar, tone, voice, style)

The cost for a content audit depends on how large your site is and can cost from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.

Once you’ve audited your content, you need to update it. We do this monthly, mentioning when the article was originally published.

The cost for content updating can be several hundred dollars or more, depending on the length and amount of work needed.

Keeping a close watch on your content performance will ensure your campaigns generate favorable results.

You can either have an agency do this for you or hire an in-house employee.

These content marketing analysts will use tools like Google Analytics and Semrush to monitor your site’s ranking. Your analyst will also generate weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly reports so your team understands what’s happening with your content.

The cost of hiring a full-time content marketing manager is an average of $84,566 per year or $40.66 per hour.

If you use freelance writers, designers, and content creators, you need a project manager to assign tasks and ensure everything gets completed on time.

The average cost of hiring a freelance project manager is $96,081 per year or $46 per hour. An in-house project manager will cost an average of $88,474 per year or $63.89 per hour.

Another option is to allow a content marketing agency to handle project management as an add-on.

The benefits of hiring a content marketing agency

In this article, we’ve looked at the different content marketing costs for freelancers, in-house staff, and agencies.

Hiring a content marketing agency may seem like a costlier outlay, but it can lead to a wealth of benefits for your business.

“The number one benefit of hiring a content marketing agency is that there are multiple people on the team with different skill sets,” says Yadegar.

“You’ll get access to copywriters, graphic designers, social media specialists, and video producers. Plus, they’ll have years of experience working with clients in your industry, meaning they will deliver the right results for your business.”

Here are some more reasons why working with an agency may be the best route for your business:

• Fresh perspectives: Agencies have a pool of in-house and freelance teams, which means more perspectives to bring to the table, increasing innovation and creativity
• More time to run your business: Agencies don’t need hand-holding, which enables you to focus on other matters, like running your operations
• Enhanced organization: Agencies gather all the information and documents needed to make your content marketing campaign a success from the start
• Cost-effectiveness: While it may seem like an additional expense, hiring a content marketing agency can actually save you money in the long run. There are no benefits, holidays, or bonuses to pay, unlike in-house staff
• The right results: At the end of the day, it’s all about getting an ROI on your marketing budget — agencies provide a clear strategy, reporting, and action plans to ensure you succeed

When choosing a content marketing agency, it’s important to remember that the cheapest option isn’t always the best.

“Choosing a low-cost agency or freelancer is a false economy,” says Yadegar.

“It’s likely that you’ll get a junior writer who doesn’t have experience in your space or that the content is AI-written. This means you won’t be producing anything original, which is something Google looks at as a ranking factor.”

Consider the cost of content marketing in terms of ROI. You may spend $20,000 a month, but this leads to $80,000 in profit, it’s well worth the investment.

The takeaway

Content marketing can be an affordable way to grow and scale your business.

However, you need to implement the right strategy and ensure your content marketers can deliver it.

Our final tip? Vetting is critical. Whether you opt for freelancers, an in-house team, an agency, or a mix of the three, take time to learn their process, past results, and level of expertise.

That way, you can build a winning team that doesn’t need a lot of your attention to get results.

If you’re looking for an agency that offers all the content marketing services you need — and that’s a breeze to work with — you’re in the right place.

This article has been updated and was originally published in June 2023.