Why does US Digital Partners cost more than some agencies?

Lets be blunt: if you are in the process of obtaining quotes for digital marketing services, ours will likely not be the cheapest.

We often have prospective clients inform us that, while they liked the content of our proposal, they were disappointed to find that our quote was significantly higher than estimates they received from other agencies.

We understand that we aren’t the best fit for everyone, nor do we try to be. During our over two decades in business, we have refined our processes and cost structures to fit the way we know will help us deliver our best work.

Here are some of the reasons our costs can run higher than our competition:

We aren’t a vendor

When it comes to digital marketing service providers, you generally have two options:

• You can hire a freelancer or vendor to provide you with specific services that go beyond what you can do on your own. This would be like hiring an expert to install an HVAC unit during a DIY home remodel.
• You can hire a consultative partner to help you develop a marketing plan and execute on the activities it requires. This would be like hiring a design/build firm to plan and carry out a home remodel with your input.

Both are great options, but which one is right for you depends on your needs and goals. We often find that when prospective clients are looking for quotes, they end up receiving quotes from both types of agencies, which causes a big variation in the price range. While we can certainly help fix immediate issues, our real value comes from our ability to act as an extension of your marketing team (option 2), not as a short-term vendor(option 1). This style of relationship provides higher returns over time, but it requires more of an investment than hiring a contractor or vendor.

We don’t outsource

It’s a common practice for marketing agencies to outsource tasks to third party designers and developers, often overseas.

While this strategy is an effective cost saving strategy for both agencies and their clients, it often affects the quality of the work. Designers and developers have their own styles, and bringing new contractors on for each project requires more ramp-up time while both parties align on the vision. Furthermore, working with offshore contractors typically slows project communication because of time zone differences and language barriers.

The USDP team is both-in house and in-person, all working together from our office on the banks of the Ohio river in Cincinnati. Working together as a set team makes collaboration second-nature, and it allows our clients to work directly with the designers, developers, and marketers bringing their vision to life.

In an industry where time and money are very much correlated, keeping our staff in-house is certainly more costly than outsourcing to contractors, but we wouldn't have it any other way, and that is reflected in the quality of our work.

We take a multidimensional approach

While we offer over 11 unique service lines, we don’t view them in isolation. When developing a website, for example, we don’t only focus on design and development. Throughout the project, we also rely heavily on our content strategists and digital analysts to make sure that the website content is clear and optimized for search engine crawlers.

We want to make sure that every client project benefits from the different disciplines of digital marketing. This approach yields robust results and has led to hundreds of happy clients, but it often requires more time, attention, and cost.

We have been doing this long enough to know that our approach isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. A cheaper solution always exists for every product or service, but it is important to make sure that the service level you are paying for will fit your needs.

If you are curious about how we price digital marketing projects, you can view our pricing model.