Guide · C27
Calculate the full cost of a marketing initiative
Which costs should be included before making a trade-off?
Direct answer
Full cost adds external spend, internal time, coordination, validation, software, dependencies, rework and contingency.
01Compare initiatives using a consistent cost convention.
02The rule, the evidence and the next review date stay visible.
How to use this
Move from the question to the deliverable.
Which costs should be included before making a trade-off?
Compare initiatives using a consistent cost convention.
Full-cost calculation
Calculation · SQ-07
From €18,000 invoiced to €74,206 of full cost
External cost is only part of the commitment. Internal workload, coordination, validation, tooling and contingency must be costed under the same convention.
Illustrative worked case: production and launch of a demand-generation campaign.
- 01Break down
Separate external spend, internal days, tooling, coordination and risk.
- 02Value
Apply a consistent loaded daily rate to each role.
- 03Provision
Apply the contingency to the base actually exposed.
- 04Normalise
Compare full cost against the useful unit of result.
Full-cost breakdown of a campaign
The gap between invoice and full cost changes the order of priority whenever initiatives draw on different teams.
Full cost = external + Σ (days × daily rate) + tooling + contingency| Component | Assumption | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| External production | Approved quote | Fixed price | €18,000 |
| Internal production | 48 days at €650 | 48 × 650 | €31,200 |
| Coordination | 12 days at €780 | 12 × 780 | €9,360 |
| Expert validation | 6 days at €900 | 6 × 900 | €5,400 |
| Tools and data | Temporary licences | Fixed price | €3,500 |
| Contingency | 10% of €67,460 | 67,460 × 0.10 | €6,746 |
| Total | 92 expected opportunities | Sum | €74,206 |
01The external invoice accounts for only 24% of the full cost.
02Full cost per expected opportunity is €807.
03At a constant conversion rate, any alternative must be compared on that same unit cost.
Fictional case, excluding tax. Daily rates must reflect the organisation’s own financial convention.
Coherence controls
Minimum conditions before validation.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
Usable deliverable
Full-cost calculation
Explore the decision further with an interactive control, or start from a structured template to produce your deliverable.