Marketing isn’t “expensive”—what’s expensive is doing it wrong or halfway.
If you’ve ever said “marketing is expensive,” odds are the real problem wasn’t cost—it was fragmentation, misalignment, or unclear ROI.
According to multiple sources, most small businesses spend $5,000–$15,000/month on marketing. Mid-sized businesses? Up to $25,000/month or more, depending on goals and channels.
And those numbers don’t even include the hidden costs like:
- Wasted spend on disconnected vendors
- 36% of marketer time lost to data wrangling, not strategy
- Hiring the wrong person: up to $240K per bad hire, according to DOL estimates
- High turnover: Marketing has the highest attrition rate (24%) of any department
Doing It “Halfway” Costs More
Let’s break down what businesses are paying per function:
| Function | Monthly Cost |
| SEO | $2,500–$6,500 |
| Content Marketing | $2,000–$9,500 |
| PPC / Paid Ads | $600–$9,500+ |
| Social Media Management | $400–$4,500 |
| Web Design (project-based) | $5,000–$50,000 |
| Email Marketing | $150–$1,800 |
Now add CRM, analytics, copywriting, branding, and leadership. You’re easily looking at $15,000–$25,000+ a month for a scattered approach—and that doesn’t guarantee integration or results.
The Tek Difference
With Tek’s integrated system, we replace the bloated vendor model with a unified marketing engine—from brand to performance, SEO to RevOps.
All-in System > Piecemeal Vendors
Our approach delivers:
- Strategic clarity across every channel
- A full-stack ops team for the cost of one internal hire
- Fewer dashboards, more results
Instead of paying 5–6 teams to operate in silos, we build one machine that works in sync.
Proof: System vs. Chaos
In our case study with TCARE (SaaS for healthcare), we didn’t add budget, we restructured delivery. The result?
- 2× organic traffic
- 700+ AI & SERP search features
- 100% key account retention
All by building a cohesive engine, not just tacking on more tactics.
The Real Cost of Waiting
Marketing doesn’t get cheaper with time; it just gets harder to fix.
Every month spent juggling disconnected vendors or relying on guesswork is time you could be building a compounding system. The difference isn’t just in spending, it’s in:
- How fast you reach pipeline
- How well you retain customers
- How clearly you can scale
If your current spend isn’t tied to measurable ROI, then it’s not a budget—it’s a burn rate.