What Marketing Actually Costs
Honest ranges for what things cost in the Calgary market — not our price list, but what the market charges and what sits behind each price band. Written so you can judge any quote, including ours.
How much does SEO cost in Calgary?
Honest ranges for what SEO actually costs in the Calgary market, what sits behind each price band, and how to tell an underpriced package from a fair one.
Read the guide →What does a website cost in Calgary?
Real ranges for business websites, e-commerce and landing pages — and the six things that actually move the number.
Read the guide →How much should you spend on Google Ads?
How to set an ad budget from what a customer is worth, what management costs, and the minimum below which advertising cannot work.
Read the guide →What does social media management cost?
What monthly social management includes at each price band, and when it is worth paying for at all.
Read the guide →What does a logo and brand identity cost?
From a $50 marketplace logo to a full identity system — what each band buys and what you actually need.
Read the guide →Price is the easiest thing to compare and the least useful.
Three quotes for the same job routinely arrive at $900, $2,400 and $6,000 a month, and all three can be honest. What differs is what sits inside them — how many hours, done by whom, on what, and whether the ad budget is included in the number or separate from it.
The guides here set out the ranges we see in the Calgary and Alberta market, and more importantly what changes as you move up a band. That is the part that lets you judge a quote rather than just rank it.
Six questions worth asking any agency
- Is the ad budget included in this figure, or on top of it? If the answer is vague, assume the worst and ask again.
- How many hours a month does this represent, and who does them? A $2,000 retainer is eight senior hours or thirty junior ones. Both exist.
- What is the minimum commitment, and what happens at the end of it? Auto-renewing twelve-month terms are common and rarely in your favour.
- Who owns the ad accounts and the website when this ends? If the answer is not "you", the price is not the real cost.
- What is the first thing you would change, and why? A good answer is specific about your business. A bad one is a list of services.
- What would make you tell me to stop? Anyone who cannot answer this has never done it.
What makes a price band move
| Factor | Why it changes the number |
|---|---|
| Competition in your category | Cost per click is set by whoever else is bidding, not by the agency. Some Calgary categories cost four times what others do. |
| Starting condition | An account with clean tracking and a working website needs far less remedial work than one without. |
| Number of services or locations | Each one needs its own page, its own research and its own campaign structure. |
| Content and creative volume | Writing and design are the largest variable. Reusing what you have costs less than producing new work. |
| Seniority of the person doing it | The single biggest driver of price differences between agencies, and the one nobody puts in the quote. |
| Reporting depth | An automated dashboard costs nothing. A written monthly read costs real hours. |
The ranges in these guides are reviewed against what we see quoted in this market. They are not our price list, and they are not a benchmark — they are a reference point, so that when a number arrives you have something to hold it against.
Want a real number for your situation?
Ranges only get you so far. Tell us the specifics and you will get a written, fixed quote — usually within one business day.