Hi Federica!

The cost to run online sales promotions varies depending on a range of factors including:

• The platform/channel - e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, AdWords, etc

• Pricing options - on the Google display network you can choose cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPC) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA)

• The industry of the advertiser - keywords in some industries are more expensive than others 

While there are many variables, below is a breakdown of the ballpark figures you can expect to pay for various online channels:

• PPC: approximately $1-2 per click

• Facebook: approximately $1 per click

• Instagram: approximately $0.50 - $1 per click

A basic paid ad campaign could cost as little as $300 per month or reach into the thousands...

One of the most popular budgeting strategies for a sales promotion is by allocating a percentage of your sales revenue as it gives you more control and the budget will increase or decrease with the amount of sales you generate. A typical allocation percentage of sales revenue is around 5%.

Hi Federica,

Can you provide more information on what you are looking to do and on what scale?

There are many ways to promote online however it comes down to scale and target market. Some markets can be costly to promote to depending on the method used. You can promote for free online however without knowing what type of promotion you are looking to do it is hard to answer this one.

Adwords: Cost depends on the keyword value however you control the budget.

Facebook: You can control the cost.

Email marketing: I wouldn't send emails from your address, I would use a third party for that as bulk emails can ruin your email rep.

Those are the most common however really comes down to you and your budget vs the target market. In some cases it would be more productive to try direct marketing instead of casting a net (adwords etc). Casting is very popular and you can get good ROI however direct marketing tends to bring in much better results.

Either way you control the budget so it would be an idea to work out how much you want to spend then look at what can be done for that price.