Marketing Estimate Template
A marketing estimate provides a marketer’s potential clients with information about the cost of particular marketing services. To create an estimate, marketers consider the scope of work for the project, then determine the cost of each of the individual things required to complete the project. From there, a sum of costs can be calculated and a reasonable profit added to arrive at a total estimated price. Even though the figure offered in an estimate is not final, marketers try to come as close to the final invoiced price as possible.
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Scope of Work for Marketing Services
Because marketing is a fairly broad area of service, it may be helpful to work closely with a client to clearly define the scope of work. The strategy to be employed on behalf of a client will depend upon the company’s size, age, what products and services it provides, and its owner’s individual goals. Some clients will want to focus on local digital marketing to generate immediate sales leads while others may prefer a more traditional approach in support of a nationwide brand-building campaign. A good method for defining the scope of work is to first identify the client’s goals and then work backward to determine which type of marketing services will best achieve those goals. In doing so, the appropriate method to charge will become apparent.
Payment Models for Marketing Services
There are many ways to charge for marketing services. Each client may need an individually tailored payment model based on their individual marketing strategy. Whatever the payment model, transparency is the best policy when developing a payment method for a client. While payment models vary greatly, each individual model will fall into one of two main categories:
- Service-based
- Performance-based
Service-Based Model
A service-based payment model will typically be some form of flat-rate payment based on the type and extent of services provided. The success (or performance) of some marketing activities may not be easily quantifiable. SEO, for example, requires tasks and actions that may not necessarily correlate to any immediately identifiable metric. It may take many months before the positive effects of these kinds of marketing activity are realized. Because they are no less labor intensive than any other service, they are best billed at a flat-rate. Here are some areas of marketing that might be charged for as a flat-rate:
- SEO (certain aspects of)
- Content creation
- Website creation
- Brand building/marketing
The Performance-Based Model
Certain marketing metrics are easily trackable. When a clear connection exists between marketing dollars spent and sales gained, a service can be billed based on performance. Here are some of the ways that a marketing firm will charge based on performance:
- Cost per transaction
- Cost per lead
- Lead-to-customer conversion rate
- Cost per acquisition
- Click-through rate
- Social media engagement
How to Use the Marketing Estimate Template
Using the marketing estimate template is simple: just download and fill it out, or use our free estimate generator.