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Cost guide

How much does content marketing cost in 2026?

A monthly content marketing programme costs $375–$3,750 per month at the direct rate. The price follows the pieces we publish, updates to older pages and reports. A topic map and strategy sprint (fixed scope and price, with an end date) and long-form articles by the piece are priced separately below. Every figure becomes a written proposal.

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The range

What it costs,
at the direct rate.

Priced as a monthly publishing programme that follows a topic map. A strategy sprint comes first. If you already have a map, you can buy articles one at a time.

  • ProjectTopical map and strategy sprint$625–$3,125fixed quote, one-time
  • RetainerMonthly content programme$375–$3,750per month
  • Per unitLong-form article, per piece$200–$500per article

Indicative: every figure is refined into an itemised proposal.INR figures shown excl. GST.

Where the engagement includes it, a Prism workspace holds requests, approvals, tasks and reviews.

What moves the price

Why the price
varies from job to job.

01

Pieces per month, and how busy your market is

How often you publish is the biggest swing in the range. In a quiet business-to-business niche, a steady few pieces can own the subject, so the price sits low. Where well-funded competitors publish all the time, it sits high. Each piece takes research, writing, senior editing, publishing and linking. The proposal names how many pieces a month, so you can add or drop some.

Biggest factor
02

Who already ranks for your subject

The gap between your pages and the pages you need to outrank sets the depth. Beating thin posts takes a short plan. Beating publishers, marketplaces and brands with years of links takes longer pieces with more original thinking. The free content review measures that gap before the proposal.

Competition
03

The state of your existing content

The most common fault in an old archive is two of your own pages competing for the same search. Thin posts and dead pages that drag the good ones down come next. Updating and removing pages is part of the programme. With a large archive, the strategy sprint must list and score every page before writing starts. The size of that job sets its price.

Hidden cost
04

Depth and research per piece

The basic unit is an answer-first article. It answers its own question at the top, in words an AI tool can quote, then adds depth below. A main guide built on original research counts as more than one unit. Surveys, data pieces, design, illustration and photography are quoted separately, because not every topic needs them.

Production
05

Access to your experts

Every draft is checked by an expert. The depth that AI tools quote comes from your people, not from a model's guess. If your specialists can give a short interview per topic, research time stays low. If nobody can be spared, desk research takes longer, or expert interviews become their own line.

Often forgotten
06

Markets and languages

Each language needs its own topic map. Buyers ask different questions, and different pages compete. A translated piece rarely answers the local question. Translation is quoted separately. A second market is scoped as its own lines, so you can start it once the first is working.

Scope
The options

Which option
suits your business.

Each option below is one way to buy Content marketing. Read what it is and who it suits, then ask for the one that fits. Your proposal itemises it.

Project

Topical map and strategy sprint

$625–$3,125fixed quote, one-time
What it is

The plan before the first word. We list and score everything you've published. We map groups of real buyer questions and put them in order of business value. You get a publishing calendar with briefs for the first month. The free content review is the short version; the sprint ends in a plan any team can run.

Who it fits

Teams with writers but no plan, businesses about to buy content from anyone, and sites with a large archive nobody has scored. It doesn't fit a team that won't publish against it, because a plan with nothing built on it is just a document.

Included
  • Content audit: what ranks, what gets cited, what competes with itself and what to cut
  • Real buyer questions grouped into topics, ordered by sales value
  • A publishing calendar with topic order and target searches
  • Briefs for the first month's pieces
  • One walkthrough call with the strategist who built it
Not included, quoted separately
  • Writing the pieces
  • Technical SEO fixes (see Technical SEO)
  • Refreshing existing pages
Turnaround
2 to 3 weeks
Moves the number
How much you have published: 40 posts is a quick list; 4,000 is a big dig.
Request this option →
Retainer

Monthly content programme

$375–$3,750per month
What it is

The monthly service. Each piece gets a brief, then is written answer-first, edited, published and linked on the day it goes live. Each quarter we update and trim your older pages. A monthly report links pieces to rankings, visits, enquiries and mentions in AI answers.

Who it fits

Businesses that want content to bring in steady traffic and enquiries. You need a subject worth owning, a site that passes technical checks, and patience while results build month by month. It doesn't fit a site with technical faults that block ranking; that needs technical SEO first. Nor does it fit a budget below the range, where articles against your own plan do more.

Included
  • A brief for each piece: target search, what the reader wants, the answer, sources and links
  • Pieces that answer first, written, edited, published and linked on the day
  • Older content refreshed and trimmed every quarter
  • Links added between new and old pieces
  • Monthly reports linking each piece to rankings, visits, enquiries and AI citations
Not included, quoted separately
  • Original research, surveys and data pieces
  • Design, illustration and original photography
  • Translation
Turnaround
Monthly, 3-month minimum
Moves the number
How many pieces a month, and who else is publishing. Two a month in a quiet B2B niche is very different from ten a month against well-funded rivals.
Request this option →
Per unit

Long-form article, per piece

$200–$500per article

One unit: one 1,500-word answer-first article: briefed, researched, written, edited and published with its internal-link plan

What it is

Writing capacity by the piece. One long-form, answer-first article, briefed against your plan. It is researched, checked by an expert, edited by a senior editor and published on your CMS with its internal links.

Who it fits

Teams that have their own topic plan but not enough writers. It doesn't fit a team with no plan, because a lone article with no related pages around it rarely ranks.

Included
  • Brief based on your map: target search, what the reader wants, the answer it must give
  • Expert-reviewed draft that gives the answer first
  • Published on your CMS, with links to and from your other pages
  • Two revision rounds
Not included, quoted separately
  • Subject-matter interviews
  • Original graphics or photography
  • Translation
Turnaround
5 working days per article; batches of 8 or more scheduled weekly
Moves the number
Depth: a 3,000-word main guide with original research counts as two articles.
Request this option →
Cheaper or dearer

What makes your quote
lower or higher.

The proposal lists pieces, updates and research rather than hours. So every item below is a line you can add or remove.

Brings the quote down
  • A clear business subject in a niche where few others publish well
  • Existing content that scores well, so updating it does more than new pieces
  • Experts in your business willing to give a short interview per topic
  • Your own designer or illustrator, so pieces go live with their visuals
  • One market, in one language
Pushes the quote up
  • Publishers or well-funded competitors ranking for the searches you need
  • A large archive to list, score and trim before anything new
  • Original research, surveys and data pieces built from scratch
  • Design, illustration or photography commissioned per piece
  • Several languages, each with its own plan and its own competing pages
What you get

What your fee
pays for.

The fee buys published pieces with the reasons behind them, and a monthly report on what they earned. We don't promise rankings or AI mentions, because Google and the AI tools decide those. We do promise the brief, the piece and the report.

01

A brief you can check

The target search, what the reader wants, the answer the piece must give, its sources and its links. All written before drafting starts.

02

Answer-first pieces, linked on the day they go live

Written to rank, to skim and to be quoted. Then published on your CMS with internal links both ways, not left for later.

03

Older content kept up to date

Older pieces are updated when their answers go out of date. Weak pages are merged or removed, and pages competing for the same search are fixed.

04

Expert review on every draft

AI helps with research and outlines where it's useful. A senior editor works on every published word and checks it with your specialists.

05

Reports linked to enquiries

Each month, pieces are linked to rankings, visits, enquiries and AI mentions. So the calendar is judged on what it earns, not on how much it publishes.

06

Everything stays yours

The plan, briefs, pieces and link plan are delivered in your systems, documented well enough for any team to continue. IP and ownership terms are agreed before work starts.

AgenciesThe ranges above are direct prices. Agency partners buy from the partner price list, about 20% lower on packages.

See the partner price list →
Questions

Frequently
asked.

Because words aren't the work. A per-word price rewards length and skimps on research, editing and linking, which make a piece rank and get quoted. The monthly fee buys a set number of briefs, pieces, updates, links and reports, each listed. Teams that only need writing can buy articles by the piece.

A full plan you can run. The free review is a short look at what ranks, which of your pages compete with each other and which topics look worth owning. The sprint scores everything you've published and maps real buyer questions. It puts them in order of business value and gives you a calendar with the first month's briefs.

Both. It covers the writing, editing, publishing and linking, at the number of pieces the proposal names. The plan comes from the sprint bought first, or is built in the first weeks of the programme. You never pay for it twice. Original research, design, illustration, photography and translation are quoted separately when a topic needs them.

When you have the plan and the editing, and only lack writers. Each article comes with its brief, expert review and internal links. What it doesn't cover is the upkeep: quarterly updates, trimming, links and the report on enquiries. Without that, older pieces lose ground while you pay for new ones.

No. The proposal shows each as its own line when a topic needs it. A survey panel, a data study, a designed report or new photography is a real cost with a real supplier. Bundling it in would either raise every month or hide it. Where a piece needs research, you see the cost before deciding.

The bottom of the range. That's the fewest pieces a month that can own a subject in a real market. It covers enough pieces to complete a topic, plus the updates and reports that keep it ranking. Below that, you pay for reports on content that isn't growing, so the sprint or a batch of articles does more.

No, because the draft is the cheap part. AI helps with research and outlines where it's useful, and a senior editor works on every published word with your experts. To be quoted by AI tools, content must be more accurate and original than what they write themselves. Cheap, unchecked output buys pages the AI tools ignore.

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and the service page.

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