Online promotion is now a cornerstone of marketing strategy in the vast majority of industries. Why? The answer is simple: because most consumers search for the products and services they're interested in online. Therefore, regardless of the scale of your business, be sure to promote yourself online! And how much does an online advertising campaign cost?
We'll answer right away that the costs of an online advertising campaign depend on many factors. Therefore, it's impossible to precisely determine them without analyzing the specific situation. However, it's worth knowing what influences the scale of expenses and how to properly plan your budget for this purpose.
What is the price of an online advertising campaign?
Online advertising campaign – what are the costs?
It's up to you to decide what budget you plan for it – a few hundred złoty, perhaps a dozen or even tens of thousands? You decide. Effective advertising on Facebook or Google Ads doesn't have to cost exorbitant sums. The point is that determining campaign spending shouldn't be left to chance, nor should planning exactly where the money will go. The goal is to ensure that every złoty invested in an advertising campaign delivers a return. However, this depends both on how much money you invest in the promotion and how you use the budget.
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Nevertheless, a huge advantage of the internet – and especially campaigns implemented on social media or via Google Ads – is the ability to precisely set spending limits: both on a daily or monthly basis, as well as for the entire campaign.
What are you paying for?
When it comes to displaying typical online advertisements, such as banners or sponsored links, the costs most often depend on:
- number of message views – in this system, you pay for each view, regardless of whether the recipient decided to interact with the ad,
- number of clicks on the ad – then costs are generated only when the recipient clicks on the link to your website.
This is, of course, a very general explanation, as it all depends on the type of campaign being run and the specific tools that will be used in it.
How are Google Ads / Facebook Ads billed?
Google Ads and Facebook Ads are currently the two most widely used advertising platforms. Why? The answer is simple: because they have HUGE reach.
Google is where the vast majority of people begin their search for products and services, and the American giant has a very extensive partner network. This means that promotions through Google can reach audiences both within the search engine itself (and its related tools) and through various external portals.
Facebook has approximately 3 billion users worldwide, and browsing its newsfeed is a favorite pastime for many people, including those in Poland. Therefore, by utilizing both channels, you can quickly and effectively communicate with your target audience. Furthermore, online advertising on both Google and Facebook allows for precise measurement of reach and the audience for your messages . This translates into ease of planning, implementing, and optimizing campaigns of any type.
Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads are based on two basic advertising payment systems.
- PPC, i.e. pay-per-clickIn this model, you, as the customer, pay for the ad the moment they decide to click on it, and thus, for example, go to an offer on your website. This is a very profitable solution, especially if the campaign is sales-oriented. Costs per click are priced individually.
- CPV, i.e. cost-per-view – this model charges a fee for each ad impression, meaning each time it's displayed. This model is profitable, for example, when the message is displayed in a pop-up or other engaging format. It can also work well when the campaign is focused on strengthening your brand image and similar activities.
The billing method can be dictated by the chosen ad format or chosen freely. Which is more profitable? It's impossible to say for sure, as it all depends on the goals you want to achieve with your campaign, its reach, target audience, and available budget.
What influences the cost of a campaign?
The method of payment calculation by systems like Google Ads or Facebook ads isn't the only factor that influences the final cost of an online advertising campaign. So what else affects your budget? Effective advertising on Facebook and Google Ads can cost more or less, depending on:
- Whether you run the campaign yourself or with the help of an agency
On the surface, setting up a Google Ads campaign or Facebook ads yourself seems like a very simple task. After all, the service interfaces are easy to use, so you just need to click through the options and you're done, right? Theoretically... yes. In practice, however, especially if you have no experience in the world of online marketing, you can expose yourself to very high costs that won't translate into the expected conversions or ROI. You can also expect to wait a very long time to see the results of Facebook and Google Ads ads, if they appear at all. So the question is: can you afford such a risky expense?
Yes, online marketing agencies charge a fee for their work, which can increase the initial investment. However, actions undertaken by experts are often spot-on and allow for achieving satisfactory results at a lower cost. In practice, an online advertising campaign implemented by professionals will usually cost significantly less and yield measurable, clear profits.
What about the cost of services provided by an SEM agency? First and foremost, it's important to clearly distinguish between the costs of publishing paid ads in Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or other systems, and the costs of managing these campaigns . It works somewhat similarly to hiring specialists to create billboards that will hang throughout a city. The cost of renting the media is just one component of the overall fee. Ultimately, the agency also has to design a truly effective Facebook or Google Ads ad—developing a creative concept based on in-depth analysis and defined goals—as well as printing it, among other things. They also charge a fee for this.
In the case of a digital agency implementing your online campaign, the price of the service depends on the contribution its employees make to both the preparation and configuration of the campaign, as well as its ongoing monitoring, modification of parameters and preparation of reports presenting the results of their actions.
You can bill a digital agency in several different ways, and the billing model itself depends on the specific company's policy. You may encounter billing methods such as:
- A fixed monthly fee for a package of selected services – from your perspective, this is the simplest solution, as you gain full cost predictability and easy billing. However, the question is, will an agency that charges you a fixed fee regardless of results actually put in the effort to increase your reach and lead generation results?
- Payment only for results – in this model, the agency only pays if it meets the sales goals you set together, so the effectiveness of advertising on Facebook or Google Ads determines the final cost. In this system, you can certainly expect highly motivated employees to improve your reach. However, this can be associated with significant unpredictability.
- A fixed base fee + performance bonus – this is the "golden mean" that benefits both the agency and you. That's why more and more companies are choosing this solution.
One thing is certain: before you even decide to work with a specific partner, find out exactly what you'll be billed for and how . A clear understanding at the start of the collaboration is crucial for the success of the endeavor.
- Experience of an interactive agency
The more experience an online marketing agency has, the higher the chance that its planned campaign will achieve measurable success. However, with years of experience and extensive specialized knowledge comes higher fees. Therefore, you can expect that using the services of experts will be more expensive than working with newcomers to the industry. Contrary to popular belief, however, the former's fees don't have to be exorbitant, and a slightly higher investment can yield greater profits.
On the other hand, it's worth approaching companies that offer significantly lower prices for advertising campaigns than the competition with a pinch of salt and considering the underlying reasons for these rates. Remember that in a large and experienced digital agency, a team of individuals with broad expertise is typically responsible for managing a campaign for a single client. They also utilize advanced and often expensive tools and assist not only with paid advertising but also with other areas of SEM. The more comprehensive and effective the activities, the better the return on every penny invested in promotion.
- Scope of cooperation with experts
For an online advertising campaign to clearly translate into achieving your marketing and sales goals, it can't be implemented without prior preparation. Therefore, an agency will certainly offer you a package of preliminary analytical services – the more precisely their specialists verify your current market position, technical capabilities, business environment, competition, and the promotional potential of various strategies, the higher the costs. However, such an investment usually results in a higher ROI for the campaign itself and the desired response. Effective advertising on Facebook or Google Ads may be more expensive initially, but there's a good chance the costs will pay off more quickly. This is another issue to consider and discuss with a specialist.
- The size of your company and its scope of operations
If you operate on a local scale—e.g., a city or province—you'll need a campaign with a much narrower reach than a corporation operating internationally. Therefore, you'll need less promotional spending.
It is worth knowing that advertising expenditure on Facebook, Google Ads and other channels is also influenced by the competition in your industry, the type of recipient to whom the messages are addressed and the duration of the campaign.
- Selected communication channels
Online advertising is a very broad concept. It encompasses a wide range of promotional tools – from sponsored links and banners on external portals to social media promotions and even content marketing and SEO activities, which also impact branding and conversions. The price depends on which of these you choose and how much you incorporate into your campaign.
What might be the costs of individual online advertising activities?
You already know that when it comes to online advertising, the sky's the limit and that you, the client, are ultimately responsible for deciding how much you invest. However, you're certainly curious about the specific costs involved. While Google Ads or Facebook Ads campaigns are determined by the size of the advertising budget (a digital agency typically calculates its fee as a percentage of the money spent on Facebook or Google Ads ads), SEO efforts may be a mystery. Here, you're not paying for "advertising space," but for activities aimed at ensuring your website ranks high in standard search results.
SEO activities are often very time-consuming – it can take three or even six months before you see results. This is a long time, which is why some clients become impatient and wonder what they're actually paying for. However, you must remember that for a website to be perceived by Google algorithms as valuable to users in a given context, a great deal of time and effort must be done.
SEO activities may include:
- performing an SEO audit, which will identify the shortcomings of the current website and determine the course of action, as well as allow you to select key phrases for positioning that will have a positive impact on how your competition promotes itself,
- preparing a specific action strategy based on the target group of the offer,
- planning and implementing technical changes to the website – sometimes it will be necessary to build the company's website from scratch, and sometimes only a minor modification or reconstruction of the structure,
- preparing website content that will have a reader-friendly layout and will be adapted to SEO requirements,
- increasing website security,
- creating a company blog that will enable long-tail positioning
...and many other elements. This calculation alone demonstrates the amount of time and energy specialists will have to devote to "setting up" SEO activities. Therefore, you can expect a significant initial investment. And what happens afterward? The initial SEO results will pay off for many months, so in the future, a larger portion of your marketing budget can be directed toward, for example, typical online advertising campaigns.
Remember: it's best for SEO, paid advertising on Facebook and Google Ads, and other online marketing activities to be conducted as part of a single, cohesive campaign. This allows you to optimize your promotional budget and achieve short- and long-term results from your promotional activities. Of course, these aren't all the pieces of the puzzle that need to be considered when calculating your online advertising budget. As you can see, estimating the cost of an online advertising campaign without examining your company's specific situation, needs, and goals is like reading tea leaves. If you want to gain specific information on how much your company should spend to see results from your promotional investment, contact us . Our specialists will provide a quote and present you with various options—from very economical to slightly more expensive—so you can make an informed choice.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Costs associated with running an online advertising campaign
- Billing methods for Google Ads and Facebook Ads
