Pricing comparison
What does it really cost to get your business noticed?
There are three ways to get more customers finding you: do it all yourself, do it yourself with AI helping, or have GNR Media run it for you. This page shows what each path honestly costs — in money, and in your time.
then 18-55 hours every month
Plus software subscriptions and any paid help. If your time is worth $50 an hour, that is roughly $1,750-$4,750 of your time up front, then $900-$2,750 worth of your time every single month.
then 10-32 hours every month
AI speeds up the writing. It does not buy the software, connect it, check the facts, publish anything, or keep the routine going month after month — that stays with you.
$199 / $299 a month
We build and run the system. Your job is to tell us about your business and approve what goes out — not to become a marketer.
These are honest planning estimates, not promises. Your numbers depend on your business, your area, your competition, what you already have, and how much you take on yourself.
The detail, in plain English
“Doing your marketing” is really eight separate jobs
Here is each job in plain words: what it takes to do yourself, how much AI honestly helps, and what happens instead on a GNR plan.
| The job | Doing it yourself | Yourself, with AI help | With GNR Media |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working out what to say about your businessYour story: what you offer, who it is for, and why you are the right choice. | 8-20 hours, onceSit down and write it all out yourself — services, customers, prices, and what makes you different.Hiring a freelance strategist to do it commonly costs $20-$60 an hour on sites like Upwork, plus your time briefing and reviewing them. | 4-10 hours, onceAI can interview you and tidy your answers into a plan.Only you can say what is true, what you can actually promise, and what sounds like you. | Where every plan startsYou answer our Marketing Foundation Quiz, and we build your Marketing Passport® — the master description of your business that all the other work draws from. |
| The software that runs your marketingYour customer list, booking calendar, web forms, and automatic emails and texts. | 6-20 hours to set upBuy it, set it up, connect everything, and fix it when it breaks.The platform GNR uses (HighLevel) costs $97-$497 a month if you buy it directly, before add-ons. | 4-12 hours to set upAI can write the emails and give you a set-up checklist.It cannot safely connect your accounts, test that automations work, or untangle messy customer data. | Included with every planThe same software comes with your plan, already set up and connected as part of the system. |
| Showing up when people searchWhen someone nearby searches for what you do — on Google, or by asking an AI like ChatGPT — do you appear? | 6-15 hours + 3-8 hours a monthFind your website’s problems, fix them, and keep checking where you show up.The professional tools alone run $29-$140 a month (Ahrefs, Semrush). Hiring an agency to do it costs far more. | 3-8 hours + 2-5 hours a monthAI can tell you what is probably wrong and draft better pages.Someone still has to get inside the website, make the changes, and find out whether they actually helped. | ProGNR-managed Website Optimisation is included in Pro. We strengthen the technical and informational foundations that help customers, search engines and AI systems understand your business. |
| Articles that show you know your stuffHelpful articles on your website build trust — with readers, with Google, and with AI. | 3.5+ hours per articleResearch, write, edit, format and publish every piece yourself.Surveyed bloggers average about 3.5 hours per post before any promotion (Orbit Media, 2025). Hiring writers runs about $15-$35 an hour. | 1.5-3 hours per articleAI drafts fast — but it only knows what you tell it.You still add the real knowledge, check every fact, and do the publishing. | Basic and ProArticles & Blogs are included in both plans and are built from your Marketing Passport® to create useful long-form content for SEO and GEO. |
| Staying in front of people, week after weekThe regular posts and updates that keep your name coming up. Most owners start strong and stop by month two. | 4-10 hours a monthPlan what to say, write the posts, schedule them, and keep the rhythm going — every single month.Scheduling tools are cheap or free at low volume; the real cost is the discipline. | 2-5 hours a monthAI can turn one article into many post drafts.Choosing, checking, scheduling and replying stays with you — and so does keeping it up. | Basic and ProCampaigner is included in both plans and turns approved source material into short-form content for strategic outreach. |
| Getting other websites to mention youWhen trusted sites link to yours, Google and AI treat you as more credible. The slowest, hardest job on this page. | 8-25 hours a month, or paid placementsFind suitable sites, write to strangers, negotiate, and provide the content.Quality placements are often priced in the hundreds of dollars each; managed campaigns need a meaningful monthly budget. | 6-20 hours a monthAI can draft the outreach emails.The hard part is relationships and judgement — and avoiding the cheap shortcuts Google punishes. | ProStrategic Backlinked Aligned Stories provide managed third-party editorial exposure and contextual corroboration, matched for relevance and brand fit. |
| Paid ads — when you are readyAds on Google or social media. The fastest way to spend money; without a plan, also the fastest way to waste it. | 4-10 hours to set up + weekly checksBuild the audiences, ads and tracking yourself — then fund the ad spend on top.Hiring an ads specialist commonly costs $15-$55 an hour, plus the ad budget itself. | 2-6 hours to set up + weekly checksAI can write ad variations.It cannot watch your budget, judge whether the leads are any good, or fix broken tracking. | ProStrategic Ad Services run small, controlled tests first, so you can learn before committing larger spend. |
| Knowing what is actually workingWithout this, you are guessing — and possibly paying for things that do nothing. | 3-8 hours a monthPull numbers out of five or six different tools, then work out what they mean.Outsourcing reporting to a consultant or marketing manager adds further hourly cost. | 1-4 hours a monthAI can summarise reports you give it.Someone still has to gather clean numbers and decide what to do next. | Built into every planYour live report card shows published and placed activity. You can check it at any time — no login needed. |
A realistic DIY set-up stacks up quickly: platform software, search tools, scheduling, design, website help, AI subscriptions and paid freelancers — before any ad spend. But the biggest cost is usually your own time, and the momentum you lose when the pieces do not join up.
A quick word about AI
AI is a brilliant assistant — not a marketing department
What AI is great at
First drafts, summaries, ideas, and turning one piece of writing into ten starting points.
What AI needs from you
The facts. Without accurate details about your business, AI just produces confident-sounding guesswork — faster.
What AI cannot take over
Connecting the software, publishing, checking claims, watching budgets, and deciding what to do next month. That is the actual job.
Research notes
Where these numbers come from
We researched these benchmarks from public pricing pages and industry surveys in July 2026, and linked them here so you can check them yourself rather than take our word for it.
Next step
Now you know what “doing it yourself” really costs
If you have the time and enjoy this kind of work, DIY can absolutely work. If you would rather have it handled — set up, run, and reported on — compare the plans.
COMPANY
CUSTOMER CARE
LEGAL
Copyright 2026. GNR MEDIA PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Opt In