Digital Recruitment Marketing Pricing: What Does It Cost in 2025?

What is digital recruitment marketing?

Digital recruitment marketing, also called digital employment marketing, promotes your company and its job openings to qualified applicants across the Internet. It encompasses several channels, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Indeed, Google, and a ton of other platforms.

The goal of digital recruitment marketing is to help your company attract, engage, and nurture potential applicants, including passive candidates. With this type of marketing, you’re doing more than finding qualified candidates. You’re also convincing them that your company is the best fit for them.

That’s why many businesses look at digital employment marketing as an investment. It’s helping you fill positions for the long-term, which can pay dividends for your company in the future. From lowering your hiring costs to decreasing your turnover rates, this marketing strategy offers multiple advantages.

How much should you pay for digital recruitment marketing?

While digital employment marketing offers numerous benefits, businesses often wonder what they should pay for it. They should too — prices range from $1000 to $20,000 per month, which is a significant difference. While these are only estimates, you can use the following pricing tiers to determine what’s a reasonable rate for your business.

Standard (Price: $1000 to $5000 / month)

A standard digital recruitment marketing package costs $1000 to $5000 per month.

While you may refer to this as a standard service, it works well for small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs). Its price range allows for not only the creation and management of new job listings, but also advertisements for those listings, which can help you reach passive candidates.

This service tier is also ideal for companies with only a few openings.

In comparison, a business growing at a rapid pace may require a more aggressive package. For example, if you’re opening a new location or undergoing extreme growth, you may need to invest more to get the candidates you need.

Aggressive (Price: $5000 to $10,000 / month)

An aggressive digital recruitment marketing package costs $5000 to $10,000 per month.

This strategy often appeals to established organizations or companies outgrowing their SMB classification. Like the standard service tier, an aggressive package provides businesses with access to numerous recruiting platforms. In most cases, the additional budget allows for increased ad spending, which helps you reach more candidates faster.

For companies with more than 15 openings, this service package can expedite your hiring process.

In some cases, businesses looking to fill an executive position with a passive candidate may use this service tier. With this monthly budget, they can reach and connect with several highly qualified candidates fast. Expediting the hiring process in this scenario alleviates workplace stress and backlogs.

Advanced (Price: $10,000 to $15,000 / month)

An advanced digital recruitment marketing package costs $10,000 to $15,000 per month.

This service tier appeals to established enterprises or franchises. It’s suitable for businesses with more than 20 open positions, as well as companies looking to expedite their time-to-hire. With this strategy, your organization can launch an aggressive advertising strategy that places your business front-and-center.

For companies in a competitive industry, or a market with limited talent, you can also leverage this service tier to reach the best candidates. That investment can pay dividends, as you hire and nurture established or up-and-coming talent, which can lead to massive gains for your company in the future.

Enterprise (Price: $15,000 to $20,000 / month)

An enterprise digital recruitment marketing package costs $15,000 to $20,000 per month.

Agencies that provide this level of digital employment marketing offer it specifically for enterprises. In most cases, agencies tailor your monthly ad spend to your organization’s specific needs. For example, maybe you have 50 openings to fill in the next three months or you have five high-level roles to fill.

No matter your specific needs, expect enterprise digital recruitment marketing packages to include all the essential career platforms, as well as a competitive advertising strategy. If your company occupies more than one area, your agency will tailor your ad campaign to each of your specific locations.

Remember, these pricing tiers only offer a guideline on what you should pay for digital recruitment marketing.

As you browse prices, as well as request quotes for digital employment marketing services, you will find that some agencies straddle two different service levels. That doesn’t mean you’re receiving more or less for your money, but that the agency customizes your strategy to your business.

For example, at WebFX, our digital recruitment marketing services encompass four separate pricing tiers. Adopting this approach allows our award-winning team to develop personalized strategies that provide our clients with the best talent possible.

What does digital recruitment marketing pricing include?

A common follow-up question to “What does digital recruitment marketing cost?” is “What does it include?” Before you invest in digital employment marketing, it’s essential for your team to understand what it is you’re buying. By ensuring that you and your agency understand your service plan, you can minimize future issues.

Every digital recruitment marketing strategy varies, but almost all include the following features:

Advertising

Whether you’re looking to reach active or passive candidates, it’s a tremendous help if you advertise. That’s why many recruitment strategies feature PPC services. The best part about PPC is that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, versus when they see it.

As an example, you can see a PPC ad for the search “CFO jobs” on Indeed below.

Depending on your agency, they may publish their recommended ad spend online, which is what WebFX does to provide complete transparency. While you can increase your monthly ad spend, a recommended ad spend can help your team build an accurate budget for your recruitment efforts.

Copywriting

As a part of your agency’s digital recruitment marketing pricing, they may include copywriting services.

In most cases, these copywriting services include developing ad copy for your PPC campaign. By creating copy for your ads, your agency ensures they feature the appropriate details and calls-to-action (CTAs) to motivate potential candidates to not only click on your advertisement but also act on it.

Your agency may also offer to write your job listings, which your team can then review and approve. This additional service is often seen as an advantage, as it can save your company time. It can also help your organization create an exciting job description.

Listing

A digital recruitment strategy depends on a job listing, which is why your agency should offer to upload your openings to various career websites. If your company already has your listings live, your agency may optimize or review them with your permission.

Some of the most common job sites include:

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Indeed

Depending on your agency and digital recruitment marketing strategy, you’ll likely advertise on these platforms too. That’s where an advantage of partnering with a full-service Internet marketing agency comes into play. They feature specialized teams of not only recruitment specialists but also social media experts.

That diversity in talent can help your business develop a competitive ad campaign for these different platforms.

Reporting

Data is a critical part of online marketing, which is why your agency should include transparent reporting in their digital recruitment marketing pricing. If they don’t, it’s a red flag. Save your business the stress and trouble and find another partner for your recruitment efforts.

As a part of your monthly service plan, your agency should check-in with your team to review your recruitment campaign. During this meeting, they should go over your report with you, as well as make sure your company has access to it.

WebFX, for example, features an exclusive reporting software for our clients called MarketingCloudFX. With this software, your company can check-in on your digital recruitment strategy 24/7. Plus, you get to chat with your dedicated account manager about it each month or more often, if needed.

What determines digital recruitment marketing pricing?

Like other Internet marketing services, a variety of factors influence digital recruitment marketing pricing. While your company has control over some, others are outside of your control. Learning about what affects digital employment marketing costs, however, can help your team build an accurate budget for it.

The four most significant costs of this digital marketing service include:

1. Position

With digital recruitment marketing, you can fill a variety of jobs in your workplace. That’s why companies from a range of industries use this service. The number of posts as well as the role of those openings can influence your digital recruitment marketing prices.

For example, if you’re looking to hire a passive candidate for an executive position in your organization, your agency may recommend a more aggressive strategy. That strategy may include a bigger investment in advertising and additional targeting of career sites to reach your ideal candidate.

In comparison, if you’re preparing to hire a full staff for a new location, your costs may also increase.

Agencies often scale their digital recruitment rates on the number of positions, which optimizes your advertising spend. For example, an ad spend of $1000 to advertise 20 different positions will generate fewer results than an ad spend of $2000. This is because you’re trying to reach a broad group of people with a limited budget.

As you browse agencies, consider the number and type of jobs you’re looking to fill.

2. Industry

Your company’s market sector can also impact your digital recruitment costs.

For businesses in a specialized industry with a limited pool of candidates, recruitment can become a significant investment. You’re competing with several other companies, which can lead to a higher cost-per-click (CPC) for keywords related to your positions. That has a direct impact on your advertising costs.

In most cases, agencies will alert your team early to this competitiveness.

For example, at WebFX, we conduct in-depth research into your industry, business, and positions. That allows our award-winning team to provide accurate, data-based recommendations for what you should spend on digital recruitment marketing to drive the best results.

Whenever an agency provides a budget recommendation, make sure they support it with data. It’s easy for an agency, or even your company, to pull the numbers on the average cost, search volume, and competition of a keyword.

As an example, if you want to get an estimate fast, you can use keyword research tools, like keywordtool.io, to discover the average costs for a keyword related to your industry and position. In the example below, you can see the search volume (1), CPC (2), and competition (3) for the keyword “genetic engineer job.”

If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, check out this quick refresher:

• Search volume is the number of searches, per month, for this term.
• CPC is the average advertising cost for this term. This is what you pay when someone clicks on your ad.
• Competition is how tough it is to rank in natural or organic search results for this term.

In summary, if you have a short supply of candidates, you may have to increase your recruiting budget.

3. Agency

What else can impact your digital recruitment marketing pricing? Your agency.

Agencies with decades of experience often have higher rates for their services. Their pricing approach makes sense, however, as they bring an unmatched level of expertise to your recruiting campaign. They often have access to resources unavailable to smaller, less experienced agencies due to their size and success.

In most cases, the price differences between a small, medium, and large agency is a few hundred dollars.

For most companies, it’s worth paying the extra money. When you want the best results from your digital recruitment efforts, as well as a seamless experience, it pays to partner with an experienced agency. In comparison, a less experienced agency can cause more stress and work for your team with few results.

When it comes to agencies and their prices, your team should also look out for agencies promoting “cheap” or “low-price” digital recruitment marketing services. While their upfront costs are low, these agencies often underdeliver or don’t deliver at all.

When it comes to digital marketing, a good motto to remember is that “you get what you pay for.”

Invest in a reputable and trusted agency, and you can ensure that your company’s receiving the best service and results. Plus, you can improve the quality of your candidates. That improvement can lead to a ripple effect of benefits, like reducing your hiring costs, turnover rate, and time-to-hire.

4. Advertising strategy

When it comes to digital recruitment marketing prices, your advertising strategy has the most significant impact on your budget. That’s because ads are a critical part of recruitment. They help your company reach active and passive candidates, which is why most digital employment marketing strategies include advertising.

This cost factor, however, is in your company’s control.

While your agency may recommend a specific ad spend, it’s up to your team if you want to pay that amount each month. For example, instead of investing $3000 a month on advertising, maybe your company wants to set aside $1500.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that your ad spend can influence your results. If you’re advertising less because you’ve reached your monthly cap, you’re limiting your exposure to potential candidates. That can decrease the number of applications you receive.

Coordinate with your agency, as well as your company decision makers, to choose the best ad spend budget for your business. Even if your organization can’t afford a higher, more competitive ad spend, it’s helpful to understand how it can impact your results.

With that level of understanding, your team can go into your campaign with realistic expectations.

Why use digital recruitment marketing?

Whether your team or your company’s decision-makers are unsure about investing in digital recruitment marketing, there are plenty of reasons to consider it. With this innovative marketing tool, your business can decrease hiring costs while growing your company.

Learn more about the five benefits of digital employment marketing:

1. Grow your company

As your business continues to earn new clients, you continue to expand your team. While your business can discover new candidates with traditional recruitment efforts, digital employment marketing can help your company find ones that match not only your requirements but also your culture.

That’s a massive benefit.

With better candidates becoming a part of your company, you can minimize your employee turnover. The addition of talented applicants can also help your business achieve bigger goals, like reaching a challenging annual sales goal. Plus, you can lower your hiring costs at the same time by reducing your hiring rates.

For example, if staff members typically leave after one to two years, you can use digital marketing to discover candidates more likely to stay at your company. These can include candidates that share your company’s values and thrive in a workplace like yours.

2. Reduce time-to-fill

With recruitment marketing, 20 percent of companies have decreased their time-to-hire. That may not seem like a lot. Consider, however, that this statistic includes both traditional and digital recruitment marketing. With digital recruitment marketing, you have a lot more tools at your disposal.

You also have more opportunities to reach your target audience.

For example, almost 80 percent of candidates use social media to find openings. That’s why more than 70 percent of companies have used social media to recruit and hire a candidate. With a digital recruitment strategy, you can decrease your time-to-hire even more.

A faster time-to-hire allows your business to onboard and start using the talents of candidates sooner.

3. Build a competitive team

Whether you’re in a niche industry or competitive market, it’s critical to have a talented team. With digital recruitment marketing, you can build that kind of team. A stronger team can lead to massive long-term benefits, like moving past your main competitor or expanding your business into new areas.

With digital employment marketing, you can also target passive candidates with ease. A passive candidate offers tremendous value, as they tend to have years of experience. They also have the skills your company needs to grow and achieve your goals.

Plus, your company’s agency can leverage digital recruitment marketing to ensure you’re reaching candidates that blend well with your current team members. This benefit helps your business build an even stronger team. It can also help you become the Best Place to Work, like WebFX.

4. Recruit across multiple channels

While you can find candidates through a variety of channels with traditional recruitment marketing, you can also access additional channels with digital recruitment marketing. In this scenario, you’re applying the unique benefits of traditional and digital marketing to create a comprehensive recruitment strategy.

For example, in addition to attending college job fairs, your company can also reach candidates via social media.

This multi-pronged approach offers your business a competitive advantage. Remember, almost 80 percent of candidates use social media to find their next career — that number increases to 86 percent when talking about applicants in the first 10 years of their professional career.

5. Lower hiring costs

The average hiring cost is more than $4000.

With digital recruitment marketing, however, your business can reduce your hiring costs. In a recent study, a market intelligence company discovered that recruitment marketing lowers hiring expenses. For 24 percent of the study’s participants, their hiring expenses dropped by more than 20 percent.

Even better, 30 percent of participants saw their cost-per-hire drop too.

While a variety of factors can influence hiring costs, like employee turnover rates, the fact that recruitment marketing can lower hiring expenses is immense. It provides your company a way to not only decrease hiring costs but also find stellar candidates.

Achieving these kinds of results, however, depends on your team or your agency’s expertise.

Why outsource digital recruitment marketing?

Whether you’re curious or committed to digital recruitment marketing, there are plenty of reasons to not only invest in it but also outsource it. Partnering with an experienced agency can offer your team long-term and ongoing benefits.

For example, five of the most notable benefits of outsourcing digital recruitment marketing include:

1. Save time

When your company partners with an agency, you earn a substantial amount of time back. Instead of developing and posting job listings, as well as managing an advertising campaign, your agency does it for you. All you need to do is review and approve strategy.

With the time you save, your team can focus on other tasks. For example, maybe you’re working on improvements to your onboarding process for new hires or developing new initiatives to keep employees engaged and satisfied. All these actions can help your company lower its hiring costs, plus increase its appeal to potential applicants.

2. Get expert advice

Choose to partner with a digital recruitment agency, and your recruitment campaign receives the expertise of recruitment specialists. This benefit can make a significant impact on your business, helping you hire active and passive candidates that your competition would love to have on their team.

A few examples of the advantages of expert recruitment advice include improvements in the following areas:

• Candidate quality
• Ad copy
• Ad spend
• Application rates

While your company may have to invest more in digital recruitment marketing to receive these benefits, they have a long-term impact on your business. Hiring better candidates helps your business build a strong team, which supports the goal of having a productive, performance-driven company.

3. Hire better candidates

Companies that want to hire the best possible applicants invest in digital recruitment marketing. With a competitive and smart strategy, they can reach and connect with active and passive candidates that can make a long- and short-term impact on their business.

Partner with an agency that specializes in digital employment marketing, and they can help your company find its ideal candidate. By understanding your business, industry, and branding, they can build compelling ads and job descriptions that motivate candidates to apply and accept your offer.

4. Streamline recruitment

Depending on your company, you may only focus on traditional recruitment marketing. While that can help you find some candidates, it limits your business to a small pool of applicants.

With digital recruitment marketing, you can expand your options and capture in-demand candidates. Plus, you can streamline your recruitment efforts.

While you handle your traditional recruitment efforts, your agency oversees the digital side. In this scenario, they work as an extension of your marketing or human resources team, which is what you want in a digital recruitment agency.

5. Use recruitment marketing technology

With a digital marketing agency that specializes in recruitment marketing, your company can also gain access to advanced marketing technology. This tech allows your business to not only leverage real data in building your strategy but also see the results of your campaign with transparent reporting.

MarketingCloudFX, a WebFX exclusive, is an example of this technology. IBM Watson, one of the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software platforms available, powers MarketingCloudFX to provide your business a data-driven recruitment strategy.

While it’s your company’s decision to partner with an agency or manage your recruitment strategy in-house, an agency can offer several benefits. It’s up to your business to weigh those benefits as well as the average cost of digital recruitment marketing, $1000 to $20,000 per month, to see which option meets your needs best.