Cheap Digital Marketing is Costing Businesses Fortunes. More Than You Could Ever Think!
The hidden cost of so-called affordable marketing is shocking.
Every week, businesses receive spam-type emails promising the world at nearly nothing prices.
We have all seen the Spam emails that land in our inbox, offering guaranteed rankings, all-in-one digital marketing solutions, and SEO from £99 a month, among other claims.
On the surface, these offers may well look attractive, but as they say, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.
Cheap digital marketing is rarely cheap in the long run, and in this brief article, we will explain why low-cost digital marketing often underperforms.
It often damages growth, and what most businesses want and need is not something cheap, but something that is proven, will work and will generate a positive return on their spend.
Digital marketing that works is not automated magic. Digital marketing that works relies on a skilled team with a proven track record.
It requires strategy, ongoing optimisation, human expertise, proper time to be invested into your project and complete accountability, and when a service is priced too cheaply, something has to give.
Cheap and low-budget digital marketing often focuses on the wrong keywords, the wrong techniques, or a focus on keywords that just won’t generate you leads and enquiries.
Google Ads can burn your budget rapidly; in fact, Google Ads is one of the fastest ways to lose money if it’s poorly managed. We’ve written a number of blogs about this over the last few years, so feel free to check back on some recent blogs just here.
Cheap Google Ads Management often leads to broad keyword targeting, often known as broad match, weak negative keyword list management (which generates irrelevant traffic) or even a poor landing page alignment, meaning that you could pay more for the clicks and the traffic is landing on a less relevant page, resulting in fewer leads and conversions. Our team of Google Ads Managers are fully trained and fully understands the best ways to get the best returns for your ad spend, and with experience of working with hundreds of businesses over the years, we know exactly what works.
Generic strategies don’t work in competitive markets, so it’s important to work with an agency that can put together a tailored plan of action specific to your business.
For marketing to be effective, it needs to be tailored, tested, adjusted and continuously improved / optimised – and the bottom line is this level of work cannot be delivered at rock bottom prices.
The opportunity cost is the real problem, because the cost of buying cheap digital marketing isn’t the monthly fee. It is the last opportunity cost that is wasted.
We generally recommend that SME businesses should look for an agency with a proven track record, an agency with reviews to show their happy customers, expertise and experience.
Clear strategy, not just soundbites, transparent reporting, conversion tracking, detailed information taken directly from your Google Analytics account, ongoing optimisation, and a direct point of contact with a digital marketing professional.
You don’t need cheap marketing; you need effective marketing that will deliver you a strong return on investment and the proper results and improvements that you need to grow.
If you are considering digital marketing for your website, the team here at Altitude Internet would love to put together a free consultation for you and to see if we are a good fit for each other.
We will typically take around 30 minutes to take a deep dive into your business, understand what you are doing right now, the level of traffic to your website, the level of leads that you were generating and maybe even look at some competitor activity to give you an idea as to what we feel we can do and where we can add value.
You can click here to schedule a call with a member of our team.
Here are some frequently asked questions that the team hears.
Why do many websites fail to convert traffic into leads?
Common conversion issues include:
- Slow website load times, aim for sub 2 seconds
- Poor mobile experience, optimise for a mobile-first experience.
- Confusing page layouts make the focus unclear
- Weak calls-to-action make clear what you want people to do (form fill, call you etc.)
Every website is different, and every business sector is different. A good conversion rate can therefore vary; however, we’d expect to see a minimum of 5% as a rule. Highly targeted and effective campaigns can generate conversion rates as high as 20% in some cases.
Is digital marketing better than traditional advertising?
For most UK businesses, yes, it is.
Digital marketing allows you to:
- Target high-intent customers searching right now.
- Track performance accurately and see what’s working.
- Optimise campaigns continuously and scale what works.
- Measure return on investment and see the true ROI
Traditional media, like local newspapers, printed fliers, billboards and radio advertising, are super hard to track the true returns. Digital marketing enables the most accurate way to track ROI.
Should SEO, Google Ads and website design work together?
Absolutely. In fact, we often recommend clients run SEO and Google Ads at the same time.
The best results come when:
- SEO attracts buyer-intent traffic
- Google Ads capture immediate demand, especially important whilst SEO is in the early stages.
- The website converts visitors efficiently and generates high-quality leads.
- Data is shared across all channels, allowing all channels to improve over time
When these operate in isolation, performance suffers. When they work together, results compound, helping all channels to improve.
What should I look for in a digital marketing agency?
A good agency should offer:
Clear commercial strategy, setting out their plans
Transparent reporting, detailing all metrics
Honest advice, from a straight-talking team
Ongoing optimisation from a team that you can trust
Can digital marketing work for small UK businesses?
Yes – if it’s done strategically. We support hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses across the UK and Ireland.
Smaller businesses often succeed by:
- Focusing on local SEO (local keywords and link building)
- Targeting high-intent keywords,
- Optimising conversion rather than volume
- Spending budgets intelligently, helping you to get the best results.
How quickly can I start seeing leads?
This depends on the channel:
- Google Ads can generate leads quickly (days or weeks)
- SEO builds more gradually but delivers long-term value
- Website improvements can improve conversion almost immediately.
A strong strategy balances short-term wins and long-term growth.
Why choose Altitude Internet?
With offices in the UK and Ireland, we understand:
- Competition levels
- Industry regulations
- Customers and buying habits
- UK spelling, language, and intent, so we know what works.
- We have a proven track record going back over 12 years.
- 45 skilled digital marketing experts, here to help
- Over 1,000 five-star reviews going back over a decade.
- Physical people in physical offices (Hertfordshire and Dublin) to help and support you grow
- Award-winning Google Partner.
Final Question: Is cheap digital marketing ever worth it?
In most cases, no, it isn’t. We hear many stories from businesses that have tried it and wasted their money.
Cheap digital marketing often delays growth, wastes opportunity, and costs more over time.
Want Straight-Talking Digital Marketing Advice?
At Altitude Internet, we focus on clarity, accountability, and results. No fluff, no shortcuts – just marketing that’s built to grow your business.
Get in touch today, and let’s talk about what actually works and how we can help you grow and flourish.
Click here to schedule a call with one of our experts.
Find out more about us just here.
