What Does Christian Marketing Cost? Pricing & Packages

Somebody asked me at a chamber lunch last month, “So… what does this cost?”

Then they quickly added, “Ballpark. I won’t hold you to it.”

I love that question. Most agencies hate it. They’d rather get you on a call, learn your budget, and build a number backward from there.

I’d rather just tell you.

If you run a Christian-owned business and you’re shopping for marketing help, you deserve real numbers before you ever book a call. So here they are… what faith-based marketing actually costs, what you get at each level, and what’s inside a Red Palm proposal.

What Christian Marketing Actually Costs

That’s the whole range. No “starting at” that quietly doubles once you sign.

Where you land depends on one thing more than anything else… how many places you need to show up, and how much of the work you want off your plate.

What Drives the Price Up or Down

Four things move the number:

• Organic, paid, or both. SEO and AEO build authority that keeps paying off. PPC brings leads in now. Running both costs more, and works harder.
• Management fee vs. ad spend. Our fee pays for strategy, setup and management. Your ad budget goes straight to Google, Meta, Truth Social, whichever platform you are advertising on. Keep those two numbers separate in your head, and in any proposal you read.
• Commission on ad spend. Many agencies take a percentage of your ad budget, often on top of their fee. So the more you spend, the more they make, whether it’s working or not. We don’t charge commission on ad spend. You spend what you spend, and we manage it to a proven process.
• Content volume. Avatar pages and blog articles take real hours to research and write right. More pages a month means more work.
• How many ad platforms. Google alone is one price. Each added platform is another $750/month to manage.

Red Palm Packages, Side by Side

Notice what’s not on the list… a big social media package. Social is finicky. The algorithm changes and your reach drops overnight. And you’re building on rented land… meaning Facebook or Instagram owns the platform, your followers and the rules, not you. They can change who sees your posts, or shut your page down, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

I’ve watched it happen. A beloved brand spent $30,000 a month on Facebook ads for years. Then his social media person handled comments the wrong way, and Facebook shut the page down. No ads. No fans. No followers. Zilch… for months. Years of investment, gone, because he never owned the land it was built on.

Your website and your email list are land you own. Search and AI answers reach people when they’re actively looking for what you do, so that’s where we put your money first.

Most of our proposals recommend one package, not three. We tell you which one fits and why… and sometimes that’s the smaller one.

What’s Inside a Red Palm Proposal

A proposal shouldn’t be a mystery box. Every Red Palm proposal follows the same simple path:

• A note from me. What I heard when we talked, in plain words.
• Your project background. Where your business is today, and your Year 1 goal in a real number, like “double leads from 25 a week to 50.”
• The opportunity. Where your Next Best Client is actually looking… Google, AI answer engines, or both… and how we put you in front of them.
• Your growth pathway. The package we recommend, and why it fits.
• Add-ons and notes. Anything optional, clearly marked. For example, managing ads on a second platform is $750/month per platform.
• Your project timeline. Usually discovery in week 1, setup in week 2, optimization in weeks 3 and 4, then ongoing improvement.
• Next steps. A verbal yes, a signed contract, your first payment, then a tech call and onboarding call.

Every proposal also asks one question most agencies never do… how much faith do you want in your marketing? We call it UpBranding, and you choose the level. None at all, a sprinkle, or full-out Kingdom evangelism. It’s your business and your testimony.

Your proposal stays valid for 60 days, so you have time to pray on it.

Count the Cost: Stewardship and Your Marketing Budget

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” Luke 14:28 (NIV)

Marketing is a tower. Start it without counting the cost and you end up with a half-built foundation and a lot of regret.

Stewardship means every dollar has a job. That’s why we keep reporting open 24/7, why we won’t stack tools you don’t need (I wrote a whole post on tool sprawl), and why we’ll tell you when a smaller package will do.

Your marketing budget is a resource God entrusted to you. Treat it that way, and expect the same from whoever you hire.

Questions to Ask Any Agency Before You Sign

Whether you hire us or somebody else, ask these:

• What exactly is included each month, in writing?
• Is ad spend included in your fee, or separate?
• Do you take a percentage of my ad spend?
• What’s the contract minimum, and what happens after?
• Can I see my reports any time, or only when you send them?
• Who owns my website, my ad accounts and my data if we part ways?
• How will you show up in AI answers, not just Google?
• Will my marketing sound like me, or like everybody else?

A good agency answers every one of these without flinching.

Frequently Asked Questions