What Marketing Really Costs for a Local Business

Marketing costs something, even when you do it yourself. The trick is knowing which costs you are already paying in hours instead of dollars. Here are the four places the money and time go, so you can decide what fits your week and your budget. Reading it takes about ten minutes, and adding up your own numbers takes about ten more.

1. Your own time

Writing, posting and answering messages all take hours. Hours are a cost even when no money changes hands, and it is the cost most owners forget to count. If you spend three evenings a month on posts, that is time you are not spending on the business, your family or your rest.

2. Tools

Scheduling, design and listing tools usually come with a monthly fee. Add up the ones you already have. A tool helps with a task, but it does not do the task for you.

3. Someone to do it

You can hand the work to a person or a service. You pay so your evenings stay free. This is the cost owners usually think of first, and it is where it pays to ask what you are actually getting each month.

4. Photos

Real photos of your place and your work help every other piece. Phone photos can be enough. A clear, honest picture of your counter, your truck or your chair works harder than a polished stock image.

Why not just use a cheap post tool?

It is a fair question. Many low-cost tools mainly schedule the posts you write. Some add writing help, but you still decide what to say. Most do not plan your quarter, fix your Google profile and listings, or answer to anyone when something stops working.

Some owners should use one, and they will do fine. If you already write your posts and just need them to go out on time, it may be all you need. If you want the whole job handled, that is a different thing.

Add it up for your business

Take ten minutes with a sheet of paper:

1. How many hours a month do you spend on marketing, and what is an hour of your time worth?
2. What do you pay each month for scheduling, design or listing tools?
3. What do you pay anyone else to help?
4. What would it cost to have each piece done right?

Be honest about the first one. It is usually the biggest.

What we charge

At Grid Pulse Media it is $1,500 a month, with no setup fee. Start with three months, and after that it is month to month. Each quarter we meet for an hour to plan the next one, and you approve the plan before it starts. Your website is yours to keep either way.

The monthly price pays for a marketing plan built around your goals to run:

• Posts written and published on schedule.
• Your Google profile and listings kept matching your website.
• Reviews and comments answered in your own voice.
• Blog articles that connect back to your services.

Every 90 days we check what worked and plan the next quarter. Building your website, setting up your Google profile and social accounts correctly, and mapping your first 90-day plan are included.

We put the price out in the open because we want the right owners to say yes quickly and the wrong ones to say no quickly. Saves everyone time. You can read the full list of questions on our Pricing FAQ, or get started with a setup call.