How To Reduce Digital Marketing Costs And Increase Effectiveness

I opened my first digital marketing company in 2001, and it was one of the first of its kind. We didn’t offer web development, graphic design or even hosting — we just did digital marketing, and we did it well. As word got out, we quickly started growing with agencies all over the state and had them calling to white label our services to their clients.

At the time, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to generate new weekly clients without any real effort. Some of the larger traditional marketing agencies were giving more than I could handle, and we had to upgrade offices three times in two years.

Everything was great until a larger client asked me to jump on a call and help him with an unhappy client who was threatening to quit. I didn’t want to upset the reseller, so I spent an hour preparing all the research and data to show them how we helped increase search engine rankings, conversions and almost every other measurable metric.

I presented everything to the client and thought, “There is no way they can complain about the results.” And then the client said something I’ll never forget: “I’m sorry, but this isn’t worth the $30,000 I spent in the last three months.” You see, we were only charging the agency $1,000 a month, and unbeknownst to us, the agency was charging a 1,000% premium to the client.

That day I sat with my employees and told them we were no longer going to white label but were focusing on owning the entire relationship. We tripled our prices, ramped up sales materials and never looked back. From my years of owning a white-label digital marketing company, here are the top ways I learned a small to medium-sized business can reduce their marketing costs while actually increasing performance.

1. Go Straight To The Source

Every agency I have ever worked with has outsourced much of the heavy lifting, whether it disclosed it or not. While its team may have organized or handled the high-level items, the majority of work was done via freelancers or outsourced overseas. If you bring in your own specialists, you can avoid paying $150 to $200 an hour for the same work you can get for $15 to $20.

Read more: forbes