Cardinal Digital Marketing

• Pricing model: Custom-quoted monthly retainer for ongoing digital marketing/advertising management, with contracts defining a maximum monthly fee; may also include media markup. Third-party directories also list project-based minimums and hourly rate bands.
• Starting price: $5,000+ project minimum
• Typical range: $3,000-$15,000/month
• Billing: Primarily monthly fees billed at the end of each calendar month, per the agency’s terms; credit card payments incur a 3% processing fee, and Cardinal states it may charge incremental media markup fees up to 25% on media accounts.
• Contract terms: Contract required/custom quote; one third-party source flags 'Contract: Y', but no public minimum term length was found on Cardinal’s own site.

Cardinal Digital Marketing’s own site does not publish package prices or rate cards, but its Terms & Conditions clearly indicate a monthly-fee contract model and disclose a 3% credit-card processing fee plus possible media markup of up to 25%. Concrete dollar figures were found mainly on reputable third-party directories: Clutch lists a $5,000+ minimum project size and $100-$149/hr average hourly rate, while Carezano lists an estimated $3,000-$15,000/month range and Agency Source also lists $5,000+ minimum project size with $100-$149/hr. Because the monthly range appears to be a third-party estimate rather than a figure published by Cardinal itself, buyers should treat it as directional and expect custom quoting based on scope, budget, and channel mix.

A Cardinal Digital Marketing engagement appears to start with a stakeholder kickoff and information gathering, then move through auditing current campaigns and systems, strategy and KPI definition, technical integrations and campaign build, launch, and an ongoing optimization/reporting cadence. Customer reviews and Cardinal's own onboarding/process materials consistently describe a collaborative, data-heavy workflow with regular updates, approvals before build/launch, and recurring reporting.

1. 1

   Start with a kickoff and stakeholder alignment

   Cardinal begins by getting the main client and agency stakeholders together to meet, clarify roles, and set communication expectations. Their onboarding guide frames this as the kickoff call, and a newer onboarding PDF also says the first call is for primary stakeholders to get acquainted and align on communication.

2. 2

   Complete the questionnaire and share business context

   Next, the client provides a questionnaire and an information dump covering what success looks like, current challenges, reasons for seeking a new partner, and which KPIs matter during the audit. This is how Cardinal collects the business context it will use to shape the engagement.

3. 3

   Audit existing campaigns, systems, and assets

   Cardinal then reviews the client's existing systems, channels, campaigns, and assets rather than immediately replacing everything. Their onboarding material says they assess current campaign goals, performance, and overall health, then decide what should be optimized, retooled, restructured, or sunset carefully to avoid lead loss.

4. 4

   Present strategy, forecasts, and recommendations for approval

   After the audit, Cardinal develops and presents a custom strategy built from audit findings, forecasting/analysis, and client goals, along with recommendations for existing campaigns. Their process materials state that the client reviews and approves this strategy before campaign building begins, and a Clutch review says Cardinal provided a KPI roadmap once the partnership was agreed.

5. 5

   Set KPIs, integrate systems, and build campaigns

   Once the strategy is approved, Cardinal finalizes goals and KPIs, completes system integrations, and builds the campaigns. Their onboarding guide explicitly places integrations and build after strategy approval, and review evidence indicates their measurement setup can include tracking pixels and call tracking to monitor ROI and conversions.

6. 6

   Launch without disrupting what already works

   Cardinal launches the new or rebuilt campaigns after the audit, integrations, and approvals are complete. Their onboarding documents emphasize that they do not 'blow everything up' on takeover; instead they preserve or refine performing campaigns and time any retirements carefully to avoid drops in leads.

7. 7

   Run ongoing optimization, reporting, and strategy reviews

   After launch, Cardinal shifts into continual improvement: monitoring performance, testing and optimizing campaigns, and reporting results on a recurring cadence. Customer review text mentions weekly updates, scheduled calls, and meetings, while Cardinal's onboarding guide lists weekly campaign updates, monthly reports, quarterly strategy reviews/plans, and Quarterly Business Reviews.