What Is the Average Cost of Digital Marketing? In-Depth Explanation by 10 Different Marketing Methods

Digital marketing is a modern marketing approach that aligns with today’s needs, driven by rapid advancements in AI technology and data science.

Because there are many different digital marketing methods available, it is relatively easy to choose approaches that match your company’s services, products, and current situation. Another key advantage is that some methods can be implemented with a relatively low budget.

In this article, we have carefully selected 10 digital marketing strategies for B2B businesses and will introduce the typical cost ranges for each method.

In addition, we will explain how to plan a digital marketing budget and how to evaluate cost-effectiveness. If you are considering adopting digital marketing, we hope this article will serve as a useful reference.

We are currently offering a free downloadable resource, “The Digital Marketing Handbook.”

If you are exploring digital marketing options, we encourage you to take advantage of this resource.

Free owned media management service materials

We offer a comprehensive support menu and track record, from strategy design to production, operation, and performance measurement.

• Explaining how to launch your own media
• Explaining content marketing
• A must-see for those who want to maximize the effectiveness of their owned media
• And more

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a collective term for marketing methods that utilize IT technologies such as IoT and AI.

By analyzing website traffic data, companies can predict consumer needs, while AI analyzes big data accumulated from purchase histories and visit records to understand customer purchasing behavior and preferences.

Even in B2B businesses, digital marketing is becoming increasingly important for raising awareness of products and services, generating leads, and driving revenue.

It is a marketing approach well suited to today’s increasingly diverse needs, as it enables companies to provide services tailored to each individual client.

Differences Between Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, and Web Marketing

Digital marketing, content marketing, and web marketing are often confused, but they differ in scope and focus.

In simple terms, the main difference lies in the tools used and the benefits they provide.

Content marketing aims to increase brand awareness and build customer loyalty by delivering high-quality content.

Content can include a wide range of formats such as websites and videos, and it is not limited to digital media.
Even offline materials such as flyers and direct mail are considered part of content marketing.

Web marketing, on the other hand, focuses on marketing activities centered around websites.

Even when using social media or email newsletters, the primary goal is to drive users to a website and generate revenue.

Web marketing involves repeatedly improving performance by analyzing website traffic data and keyword inflows to increase visits.

While these three approaches differ, many of their specific tactics overlap.

Digital marketing is a broader concept that encompasses both content marketing and web marketing.

10 Major Digital Marketing Methods and Typical Costs

Below, we explain the features and cost ranges of each method in detail.

Owned Media for Awareness, Fan Building, and Lead Generation

Owned media refers to media platforms operated by a company to distribute informational content related to its products or services.

Rather than directly driving sales or conversions, owned media primarily aims to increase brand awareness, build customer loyalty, and generate leads through content.

When outsourced, costs vary depending on the scope of work requested from the production agency.

If fully handled in-house, initial costs are limited to CMS and domain fees (approximately ¥3,000–¥20,000), with content creation costs consisting only of labor.

Operating owned media in-house helps reduce costs and can be run with a lower budget compared to advertising.
However, it requires in-house marketing expertise and significant resources, and results typically take time to materialize.

Related Article: How Much Does It Cost to Build and Operate Owned Media? A Detailed Breakdown by Cost Category

SEO to Achieve Top Search Engine Rankings

SEO is a method used to improve the visibility of your website or listings so they appear higher in search engine results for specific keywords.

Higher rankings increase exposure and are expected to drive more traffic.

SEO consists of two main approaches: on-page (internal) optimization and off-page (external) optimization such as backlinks.

Site structure design and content creation are also part of SEO.

Content SEO is a strategy aimed at increasing website traffic through the creation of articles and other written content. The cost is typically calculated based on the number of pieces of content multiplied by the per-article or per-word rate.

If you would like to learn more about SEO in detail, please refer to the article below.

Related Article: SEO Strategies for Owned Media That Avoid Common Pitfalls: Effective Methods Explained

Access Analytics to Visualize User Behavior

Access analytics is one of the most important digital marketing methods.

It allows companies to understand user intent, keyword behavior, and changes in traffic over time.

Social Media (SNS) for Easy Customer Communication

Marketing is conducted through platforms such as X, Instagram, and Facebook.

SNS enables fast information sharing, customer interaction, branding, and fan building.

While freelancers can be hired at a lower cost, the quality and level of expertise can vary depending on their experience, which may make it difficult to maintain stable, long-term operations.

In contrast, social media management agencies typically include services ranging from content planning to access analysis and reporting within their fees, making them a good option for companies that lack in-house expertise.

When using social media advertising, typical budgets start at around ¥100,000 per month, while more sustained operations that involve ongoing data collection usually require ¥300,000 or more per month.

Because SNS platforms offer multiple pricing models, costs may vary depending on the billing method chosen.

White Papers for Lead Generation

White papers are downloadable materials that summarize product details, expertise, or case studies.

By requiring users to enter contact information to download, companies can acquire lead data.

When outsourced, the typical cost ranges from ¥200,000 to ¥300,000 for a document of 5–10 pages.

Costs may vary depending on factors such as whether charts and diagrams included in the white paper are created in-house, whether internal interviews are conducted, and whether user needs research is required.

For more information about white papers, please refer to the article below.

Related Article: What Is a White Paper? Meaning, Types, and How to Use It

Email Newsletters to Build Customer Relationships

This method involves sending useful information—such as details about your products and services—in the form of email newsletters to customers who have registered their email addresses.

Its advantages include maintaining touchpoints with leads, building trust, and being able to start with a relatively low budget.

For on-premise systems, additional costs such as server maintenance fees may be required on top of the amounts above. There is also an initial setup cost of around ¥10,000, as well as licensing fees ranging from ¥1.5 million to ¥5 million.

Cloud-based systems generally do not require licensing fees and may also have no initial setup costs.

For more information on the effectiveness of email newsletters, please refer to the article below.

Related Article: Are Email Newsletters Really Effective? A Look at Their Benefits and Impact

Marketing Automation (“MA”)

Marketing Automation (MA) refers to tools and systems that automate marketing activities such as email campaigns and social media efforts to help generate leads and nurture customer relationships.

Some MA tools can even automate tasks such as ad placement and webinar hosting.

In addition to the tool subscription itself, implementation and configuration costs are also required when adopting MA.

If you work with a consultant to implement and operate your MA system, additional consulting fees will apply depending on the scope of support, typically around several hundred thousand yen.

While MA tools can be expensive, there are some options with limited functionality that can be used for free.

If you want to learn more about free MA tools, please refer to the article below.

Related Article: 7 Free MA Tools to Start Marketing at Low Cost

Video Distribution for Visual Engagement

Video distribution involves sharing video content through platforms such as YouTube, social media, or even digital taxi ads to create a strong visual impact on users.

Costs vary depending on production expenses and advertising budgets.

Outsourced video production can range widely from ¥5,000 to ¥500,000, depending on whether you are simply editing footage shot in-house or requesting full production from the planning stage.

On platforms like YouTube and Instagram, advertisers can set budgets on a daily or campaign basis. For example, many companies set a daily budget of around ¥1,000 on YouTube.

The frequency of ad exposure will vary according to the budget, and platforms typically charge either on a cost-per-click basis or on a cost per 1,000 impressions basis.

If you need further translation for the rest of the article or adjustments for a specific audience (e.g., B2B SaaS, North America), just let me know!

Web Advertising: Effectively Reaching Users

This is a method of displaying advertisements online, such as on websites and social media platforms.

Unlike owned media or SEO, web advertising delivers faster results because ads are shown as long as you pay for them. However, a downside is that in-house operation can be difficult, and advertising costs tend to increase when there are many competitors.

Most web advertising allows you to set your own budget and uses a pay-per-action model, where fees are charged based on the number of user actions such as clicks or ad impressions.

Although costs vary slightly depending on the type of advertisement, the general price range is around ¥200,000 to ¥500,000.

Webinars: Increasing Brand Awareness Through Online Seminars

Webinars are a marketing method that provides users with your company’s knowledge and information through seminars or workshops held online.

Because they are conducted online, users can attend regardless of location or time, lowering the barrier to participation and making it easier to generate leads.

Webinars are typically delivered using dedicated tools.
For example, Zoom Webinars are available from ¥123,750 per year.

How to Allocate Your Marketing Budget

When deciding how to allocate your marketing budget, align it with your company’s overall budget and marketing objectives.

As a general guideline, startups often allocate around 3–5% of revenue to marketing, while companies with stable performance allocate about 2–3%.

The approach may also differ depending on whether your customers are businesses or individual consumers.
In B2B marketing, it is common to allocate around 8% of total revenue to marketing expenses.

When considering budget allocation, referencing how much competitors are spending on marketing can also be helpful.

Digital marketing is a marketing approach well suited to modern needs, especially in an era of rapid digital technology advancement.

Going forward, more and more companies are expected to place greater emphasis on digital marketing.

Three Key Points When Setting a Digital Marketing Budget

Each point is explained in detail below.

Point 1: Clearly Define Objectives and KPIs

Before planning your digital marketing budget and costs, clearly identify what results you want to achieve through digital marketing.

The appropriate methods will differ depending on your objectives, such as acquiring leads or increasing the number of inquiries.

One important caution is not to determine your budget based on marketing methods first.

If you proceed with a method-first approach while objectives remain unclear, it becomes difficult to analyze the causes of failure and make improvements when results are not achieved.

In addition, be sure to set KPIs so that you can measure the effectiveness of your initiatives.

For more details on setting KPIs in B2B marketing, please refer to the article below.

Related Article: How to Set KPIs for B2B Marketing and Key Points by Initiative

Point 2: Do Not Allocate a Large Budget from the Beginning

Even if your objectives are clear when launching digital marketing, it may still be difficult to set concrete numerical goals such as “10 inquiries per month.”

In such cases, instead of allocating a large budget to digital marketing from the start, use the previous year’s gross profit as a reference and begin with a smaller budget, gradually increasing it over time.

After implementing initiatives for about one year and accumulating results, your target values will become more concrete, allowing you to adjust your budget accordingly.

If you are already running marketing activities, it is also recommended to refer to the previous year’s expenses.

Point 3: Maintain Flexibility

It is important to allow flexibility in your digital marketing budget so you can respond to various situations.

If you fix your budget breakdown too rigidly, it becomes difficult to act quickly when you want to add related initiatives midstream.

For example, if you operate an owned media site and page views are not reaching target levels, you may decide to focus more on social media advertising.

Rather than sticking rigidly to preset budget allocations, shifting your budget flexibly from low-impact initiatives to high-impact ones will yield better results.

How to Spend Your Budget When Operating Digital Marketing on a Low Budget

When launching digital marketing or when budget allocation is limited, you may need to operate with a low budget of around ¥100,000 per month.

Naturally, having a larger budget is more advantageous for digital marketing.

With a larger budget, you can implement and coordinate multiple initiatives and efficiently accumulate data, which is a key element of digital marketing.

However, even with a low budget, effective operation is possible with the right approach.

Each is explained in detail below.

Operating Digital Advertising and Owned Media In-House

By managing listing ads, social media ads, and owned media internally rather than outsourcing, you can reduce costs.

However, when budgets are limited, it is also important not to pursue too many methods at once.

Disadvantages include limited internal resources and the difficulty of achieving results when implementing digital marketing for the first time.

It is important to set a certain operational period and continue efforts with a long-term perspective rather than quitting immediately if results are not seen right away.

Using the Budget for Outsourced Content Production

If you cannot allocate much budget to digital marketing, focusing on content creation that will become a long-term asset is also a good approach.

Creating column articles in-house requires significant resources and time, and without sufficient know-how it can be difficult to increase content volume, so outsourcing content production can be effective.

However, since it takes time to recover costs through content, it is necessary to proceed while carefully evaluating cost-effectiveness.

Signing a Contract with a Consultant

The most recommended option is to enter into a consulting or advisory contract with specialists in digital marketing and receive professional support.

Consulting fees vary by scope but typically start from around ¥50,000 per month.

Even if you do not have employees with digital marketing expertise, consultants can propose strategies suited to your products or services, and you can accumulate knowledge and experience through ongoing advice.

If you have a slightly larger budget, choosing a hands-on consulting model allows you to receive support not only in planning but also in executing initiatives.

If you are looking for a digital marketing support company, please refer to the following article.

Related Article: 30 Recommended Digital Marketing Agencies — Fees and How to Choose

How to Measure the Cost-Effectiveness of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing methods vary widely in cost, and their effectiveness is not always easy to understand.

To confirm whether the results justify the costs incurred, calculating cost-effectiveness is essential.

Additionally, understanding cost-effectiveness is indispensable when improving initiatives to increase profitability.

Each is explained in detail below.

1. Measuring Cost-Effectiveness Based on Costs and Results

When advertising costs and outcomes such as sales or inquiries (conversions) are clearly defined—such as with web advertising or email campaigns—cost-effectiveness can be calculated as follows:

ROAS and ROI should not be evaluated independently; both should be calculated and interpreted together.

For example, if ad costs are ¥1,000,000, ad-generated revenue is ¥1,500,000, and profit from that revenue is ¥500,000:

Although revenue exceeds advertising costs, profit is only half of the ad spend, indicating that the full investment has not yet been recovered.

2. Comparing Cost-Effectiveness Between Implemented and Non-Implemented Initiatives

To determine whether initiatives such as email campaigns or retargeting ads are effective for driving website traffic, A/B testing is used.

By comparing the results, you can evaluate the cost-effectiveness of email distribution.

However, A/B testing requires a sufficiently large sample size and is not suitable for small audiences.

3. Comparing Cost-Effectiveness Before and After Implementation

When it is difficult to test two groups with different conditions simultaneously, A/B testing is not possible, so cost-effectiveness is compared before and after implementing an initiative.

For example, when measuring the impact of a website renewal, it is not possible to show the old and new versions to users at the same time.

Instead, you would define specific periods—such as one month before and one month after the renewal—and examine changes in metrics like the number of visits.

Conclusion: Understand Digital Marketing Cost Benchmarks and Operate Effectively

The costs of digital marketing vary greatly depending on the methods used.

In addition, expenses differ depending on whether you outsource or manage initiatives in-house, making careful consideration essential.

By evaluating the budget you can allocate to digital marketing alongside its cost-effectiveness, aim for efficient and effective operations.

Currently, we are offering the resource “The Digital Marketing Handbook” free of charge.

If you are considering digital marketing, we encourage you to take advantage of it.

Free owned media management service materials

We offer a comprehensive support menu and track record, from strategy design to production, operation, and performance measurement.

• Explaining how to launch your own media
• Explaining content marketing
• A must-see for those who want to maximize the effectiveness of their owned media
• And more

Techro Inc. CEO Amano

Studied data science at the National University of Singapore and the Indian Institutes of Technology. Founded a startup as a sophomore in university and operated the study-abroad media platform “Koukanryugaku.com” for about a year and a half before selling the business. Later launched a B2B marketing support business, leveraging expertise in content marketing. Specializes in B2B marketing, with deep knowledge of SEO and marketing automation (MA) tools.

自己紹介の全文を表示