How much content marketing costs in Kazakhstan in 2026
Translated from Russian. Prices are in Kazakhstani tenge (₸).
In short
Content marketing in Kazakhstan costs from 300,000 tenge a month for a small business to 1.5 million and up for a large one. That covers content production only. You should budget about the same again for promotion. If you're launching a brand Instagram from scratch, I would budget at least 5 million tenge for the first three months, including production and promotion.
| Segment | Content production, per month | Promotion |
|---|---|---|
| Small business | from 300–500K ₸ | ideally no less than production |
| Mid-sized business | from 500K to 1M ₸ | |
| Large business | from 1–1.5M ₸ |
Benchmarks based on the author's experience for 2026. The real price depends on the industry, goals and formats.
Why prices on the market vary so much
There's a buyer for everything. The market is very diverse and, frankly, overheated with agencies along the lines of “my friends and I run an SMM agency, we handle my dad's restaurant, 300K a month”. You'd think that's the small business segment. But more than once I've seen even large clients call fairly modest estimates “expensive”, pointing to exactly those guys.
You can buy a car for 5,000 dollars or for 50,000. They will be different cars. Content is the same: two proposals for the same task can differ fivefold because there's different work behind them. Some simply publish posts. Others research the audience, write a strategy, bring in industry experts and take responsibility for sales results.
At the same time, what counts as “cheap” varies enormously across the market. For all our expertise, our prices are in line with the market. Sometimes we charge less because we're loyal to the client and understand they have budget constraints. That's normal.
What makes up the price
Any honest content marketing estimate has five parts:
- Planning: research, strategy, content plan.
- Production: copy, design, video, expert input.
- Promotion: social media ads, paid placements, influencers.
- Reporting: metrics, analytics, conclusions.
- Management: a producer or account manager who holds it all together.
Clients most often underestimate promotion. Ideally it takes no less than production. Good content that nobody sees doesn't work.
That's why the agency has no price list for production, only a rate card: our staff rates. Writing copy for HoReCa and for pharma are dramatically different tasks. For the same reason, TELLER has no in-house copywriter who writes “about everything”: I'm against someone who writes about everything without deep knowledge of anything. We work with authors who know their industry; on medical projects, for example, these are doctors who write.
How to tell when cheap turns out expensive
We've had clients who chose the cheapest proposal. It almost never ended well. To avoid this trap, ask a contractor one question: “What will I get if I pay?”
A good agency will answer it before you sign: at the pitch stage it will show a well-argued plan with a visualization of the end result. If all you hear is “we'll run your social media, 12 posts a month”, that's exactly the cheap option that will cost you dearly later.
How much to budget to start
It depends on the goal and the approach, but I do have a few rules.
If your budget is small, don't start with Telegram. Telegram has no algorithmic feed that shows your channel to new people on its own: you have to bring in subscribers with ads, paid placements and collaborations. At the start you need platforms with an algorithm, where content has a chance of organic growth. For example, Instagram, which 13.6 million people use in Kazakhstan, or TikTok.
For Instagram, budget from 5M ₸ for the first three months, including production and promotion. Start carefully: record results every month and optimize.
The most important work happens before the channel launches. That's the content strategy, and it will also take part of the budget. Without it you're paying for content without knowing which business goal it serves.
Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan: how prices differ
We're deliberately cheaper in the Central Asian market than in Russia: the markets differ a lot in purchasing power and tax context. By price level I'd rank them like this: Russia, then Kazakhstan, then Uzbekistan.
That said, production in Uzbekistan can be surprisingly expensive. About four years ago I met a team that shot videos for property developers and learned that an FPV video we shot in Almaty for 100,000 tenge cost them a thousand dollars.
Market context
Kazakhstan's advertising market grew by 6% in 2025 to 143 billion tenge. More than half of it, 75.4 billion, was digital. Within digital, social media is growing fastest: its share rose from 32.5% to 39.3%. Businesses are moving budgets to where the audience is: 80.8% of Kazakhstan's population uses social media.
Key points
- Content production: from 300K ₸ a month for a small business to 1–1.5M ₸ and up for a large one.
- Promotion should ideally cost no less than production.
- Launching on Instagram: from 5M ₸ for three months, including production and promotion.
- With a small budget, start on platforms with an algorithm, not Telegram.
- Strategy first, then content.
Want to know what content marketing would cost for you specifically? Message me on Telegram at @maximfetisov: we'll go through your goal and estimate a budget. Prices for my consultations and strategies are on the Services page.
Sources
- Central Asian Advertising Council: Kazakhstan's ad market in 2025 — 143B ₸, digital — 75.4B ₸ (in Russian)
- Ulysmedia: social media's share of digital advertising rose from 32.5% to 39.3% (in Russian)
- DataReportal, Digital 2026: Kazakhstan — 80.8% of the population uses social media
- NapoleonCat: 13.6 million Instagram users in Kazakhstan
- Telegram: how similar channel recommendations work
