A common question potential clients ask:
How much will it cost to hire you to help us with our marketing?
The simply answer, with no intention of ducking the question is…
It depends.
And it depends on YOUR answer to two key questions
1. What is the lifetime value (LTV) of customers for your business?
2. What is your current cost of acquisition of a client?
Understanding the LTV of customers is crucial. It ensures that you spend an appropriate amount of money to acquire a customer. Spend too little, and your competition will beat you. Spend too much, and you lose money.
Also, many businesses fail to factor in repeat or add on business. For example, a client who makes many repeat purchases or renews an annual contract for years may be worth spending lots of marketing dollars to acquire up-front- maybe even at an initial loss- to acquire.
Knowing this metric is essential in helping you gauge what a potential marketing agency can deliver. It’s a benchmark to evaluate marketing agencies. Keep in mind, the best marketing agencies are asking this question about YOU too. Does YOUR business provide LTV for the marketing agency?
This meeting of the minds focused on long-term value on both sides leads to a smart, strategic approach to marketing based on achieving long-term results.
Secondly, the current marketing cost of client acquisition keeps short term costs in perspective. How much are you willing to spend to acquire a client? Are you willing… and finally able… to acquire a new client at a loss?
While it might make sense to acquire a new client at a loss for LTV, do you have the cash flow strength to do this?
Now, after you answer these two questions about your business, what should you expect to pay for health IT marketing services?
1. Expect to pay for things like a marketing assessment, brand audit content audit, or competitive research as part of a marketing services proposal.
Like a physician, prescribing before diagnosis is malpractice. You would pay any professional- doctor, attorney, CPA- to gather the facts and fully research your problem. Marketing challenges are just as complex, and impact the business balance sheet potentially as much or more than a major tax or legal issue. Understanding your market environment is critical to providing sound advice. Shortcut on the foundation, and your strategy will be shaky.
Expect to invest $2000- $10,000 depending on the extent of the marketing issues you want to address.
It pays to invest up front so your marketing partners have a strong base of knowledge about your business. This will actually save you money in the long run. A marketing agency that knows your business will be able to quickly spot trouble areas you might miss, helping you find solutions before you even realize there’s a problem brewing.
2. Ongoing engagement and execution. Costs vary widely here because engagements and executions have thousands of variables. Does the engagement include:
Branding and Positioning
Market Research and Buyer Persona Development and Testing
Marketing Message Creation and Testing
Content Marketing Strategy and Execution
Social Media Strategy and Execution
Design Services
Public Relations
Typically, we see engagements and executions run between $3000-$30,000 per month.
Keep in mind, these engagements are based upon a mutual value-based discussion and up-front paid assessment. We do not have a set fee or services schedule. Every engagement and execution is customized and tailored to the individual needs of the business.
Are you ready to invest in marketing your Health IT firm?
Are we a fit?
Well… that depends, doesn’t it?
The first investment is time. For both of us.
If the numbers cited here fit your budget, and you sense a fit based upon what you’ve learned reading the blog articles and downloads, let’s get on the phone and talk.
Schedule a Health IT Marketing Consult
Oh yeah… one last question:
What does it cost you… time, effort, and lost or blown sales opportunities… NOT to hire the right marketing agency?
photo credit: Johnny Vulkan via photopin cc
