The Costs of Digital Internet Marketing for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in 2020

There are more than one million small and medium-sized businesses across the country and many of them are handling their digital marketing in-house. This means that the true costs of spending on marketing and handling digital services often can’t be measured. Many of these businesses are using social media as their primary source of marketing because it is free to use. However, social media marketing can use up quite a bit of a business’s time and resources.

What Is Considered to Be a Small or Medium-Sized Business?

In Canada, a business with less than 100 employees is considered a small business, whereas a business with less than 500 employees is considered mid-sized. SMB is the acronym for “small and mid-sized business” or “small and medium-sized business.” The acronym SME is used as well, but not as often.

The Price of Social Media Management for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

On average, small businesses spend about $120,000 per year on digital services such as: web hosting, SEO, website design, email management, social media management, and reputation management. Since this work is done by employees, the money spent to expand the business’s digital presence is often absorbed into the overall cost of running the business.

Approximately 60% of the costs of running the digital side of a SMB remain in-house, whereas only 40% is contracted out. Many business owners just aren’t aware of the high costs of maintaining and growing a digital presence.

The Evolving Picture of Digital Services

In 2020, the top 3 digital service costs for most SMBs have been:

1. Web hosting
2. Web design
3. SEO

It is predicted that in 2021, more money will be spent on: creating podcasts and online videos, targeted display advertising, organic search results, and paid search listings.

Cost-Effective Internet Marketing in Toronto

The costs of marketing and maintaining a digital presence, which will ultimately lead to increased sales, are often hidden when these services are handled in-house. Sometimes it can be more cost-effective to hand things over to professionals by contracting services out to one of Toronto’s digital and internet marketing service providers.

Find out what Qode Media can do for your business and how much you could possibly save by using our services at qodemedia.com.