Pricing
Predictable pricing, published for everyone
Every engagement is flat, itemized, and published before you ever talk to us — so you know exactly what you'll pay and exactly what you get for it. Our rates sit inside the range serious agencies charge. The difference is what comes back: senior work, real measurement, and results you can defend to your board. Most operators start with the $2,500 Paid Media & Setup Audit — and if they start a retainer within 45 days of kickoff, every dollar of it counts toward their first invoice.
Our actual pricing — Paid Media
Published prices. Predictable costs. Outsized results.
You should know what marketing costs before anyone asks for a meeting. Every tier below is a flat monthly retainer with the scope itemized — strategy, execution, and full conversion tracking set up when you start. Your costs stay predictable, and the work is judged in your revenue numbers, not platform dashboards. All tiers run on a 6-month minimum; above $100,000/mo in media spend, you'll be on our Unlimited tier.
The baseline every digital acquisition strategy runs on — your two core channels, run and measured together.
- 2 platforms (e.g. Meta + Google)
- Conversion tracking set up at onboarding
- Cross-platform attribution
- Creative strategy + testing direction
- Monthly report + performance call
Stop counting platforms — we run the right mix, measured per location.
- Unlimited digital platforms — SBA picks the mix
- 2× monthly reporting
- Monthly founder strategy call
- Creative pathway required — yours, or produced with us
- $3,500 setup fee waived
Everything on the menu is on your table — creative consulting, custom dashboards, and priority access.
- Everything in Growth
- Creative consulting + custom dashboard included
- Weekly + custom reporting
- 48-hr async founder priority
- $3,500 setup fee waived
Flat retainers — never a percentage of ad spend. Above $100,000/mo in media spend, you'll be on our Unlimited tier. Setup fee $3,500 (scales with onboarding scope; waived from Growth up). Start a retainer within 45 days of audit kickoff and the full $2,500 is credited to your first retainer invoice.
Not ready for a retainer? Start with the $2,500 Paid Media & Setup Audit — credited to your first invoice if you start within 45 days.
Not a free sales report — a real diagnostic you keep either way. Senior people go through your ad accounts, your tracking, and your per-location measurement, then hand you the fixes in priority order, starting with what to change on Day 1.
Start a retainer within 45 days of audit kickoff and the full $2,500 is credited to your first retainer invoice.
- Tell us about your locations and spendThe form takes about two minutes.
- A short call to understand your situationWe learn how your locations, spend, and tracking fit together, and confirm the audit is the right fit.
- We send the audit quoteKickoff happens on signature. The 45-day credit window starts at kickoff.
The audit credit applies to your first retainer invoice. The $3,500 setup fee (waived from Growth up) is billed separately.
- Your ad accounts — structure, spend, targeting, and what's driving bookings
- Conversion tracking and setup — pixels, server-side events, and where the data breaks
- Per-location measurement — whether every location's results are readable on their own
- A prioritized Day-1 fix plan you keep whether or not you hire us
How much does digital marketing cost in 2026?
Now that you've seen our rates, here's the market context. These are directional benchmarks from published industry surveys — what agencies of different sizes typically charge per channel — so you can judge any proposal, including ours, against the field.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Boutique agency (2–15 employees): $1,500–$3,000/mo · Mid-size (16–75): $3,000–$7,500/mo · Enterprise (76+): $7,500–$15,000+/mo.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Boutique: $500–$1,500/mo · Mid-size: $1,500–$4,000/mo · Enterprise: $4,000–$10,000+/mo.
Social Media Marketing
Boutique: $1,000–$2,500/mo · Mid-size: $2,500–$5,000/mo · Enterprise: $5,000–$10,000+/mo.
Content Marketing
Boutique: $3,000–$6,000/mo · Mid-size: $6,000–$12,000/mo · Enterprise: $12,000–$25,000+/mo.
Email Marketing
Boutique: $500–$1,500/mo · Mid-size: $1,500–$5,000/mo · Enterprise: $5,000–$15,000+/mo.
What the ranges mean
Industry pricing surveys put most agency work at roughly $1,000 to $20,000+ per month, changing with your channels and team skill. The spread happens because old agencies tie fees to your company revenue instead of your actual local costs. Treat these ranges as directional baselines — not quotes — and judge them against your actual location setup.
The pricing models agencies use
Agencies use different billing plans to manage monthly work — and each plan changes the focus of the team. Judging digital marketing pricing means looking at who takes the risk.
Monthly Retainer
Very predictable for the client; focuses on ongoing daily work and aligns goals. The risk: the agency gets lazy if you don't define the tasks clearly.
Project-Based
A flat fee for a single job — works well for tech audits or tool setups, but new tasks can lead to high extra costs and it doesn't help with ongoing campaign tweaks.
Percentage of Spend
Ties the management fee to your media budget. Normal for giant brands, but it creates bad goals — it pushes the agency to spend instead of being efficient.
Performance-Based
Rewards real conversions but is hard to forecast — and it can make teams focus too much on short-term numbers over durable growth.
Red flags in agency pricing
Fees under $750/mo
Too low to buy any expert strategy time — these fees force template work and overloaded account managers.
Spend-based plans
Plans priced as a percentage of your budget can push agencies to waste ad cash — spending becomes the goal.
Free audits
Usually basic computer reports — sales tools designed to lock you into agreements, not diagnostics. Ours costs $2,500 — and credits toward your retainer — because it's a real diagnostic.
Shallow dashboards
Dashboards without deep tracking hide your actual cost to acquire a client. Ask for clear case studies instead — real proof of steady lead delivery.
What actually drives the price
Agency prices vary because scope varies. More channels, more creative, more locations, and harder measurement all add real hours — and who does those hours matters more than anything: cheap, high-volume agencies spread juniors across huge client lists, while high-end shops limit their roster so senior people do the work. We price the way we scope: every tier itemizes exactly what's included, so when the number changes you can point to the line that changed it. That's also the honest answer to build-vs-buy — hiring, training, and keeping an internal team of specialists usually costs far more than a partner who already has them.
- Platform volume — more channels means custom tracking, copy, and creative shapes per channel
- Creative needs — fast-moving local campaigns use up ad designs quickly
- Location count — multi-unit brands need local ad sets, geo-targeting, and split budget paths
- Tracking complexity — linking a click to an in-person visit takes real engineering hours
- Expert time — seasoned planners and founders cost more than junior managers
- Contract length — shorter terms usually cost more per month
Every scope of work we send itemizes the engagement exactly like this — line by line, so the price is never a mystery.
Budgeting per location for multi-location businesses
Running a multi-location brand — whether that's a few clinics or hundreds of gyms — needs a budget structured differently than a single storefront. Most agency setups fail here because they treat every location as its own account: management fees multiply, rollouts slow down, and tracking gaps compound across the network. The fix is structural, not bigger budgets: one parent-child account architecture that keeps brand rules consistent while each location adapts to its market — with a central management fee that stays flat as you add doors.
- Separate local ad spend from central management fees — that split is what keeps costs predictable as you grow
- Weight the budget between brand-level campaigns and local store campaigns deliberately, and revisit it as locations mature
- Tie budgets to revenue and booking data per location, not to a flat number copied across the network
- Structure beats size: the right account architecture saves more than most budget increases buy
“An agency that hides its pricing is telling you the number depends on who's asking. Ours doesn't. The rate is the rate, the scope is itemized, and the work either shows up in your revenue or it doesn't — that's the whole pitch.”
See the digital marketing case study behind numbers like these →
Frequently asked questions
How much does digital marketing typically cost?
Industry surveys put most digital marketing work at roughly $1,000 to $20,000+ per month. Your bills change based on your active channels and creative needs. They also shift based on the number of locations you run. Older agencies often charge more for complex campaigns.
How much should a multi-location business budget for marketing?
Industry rules of thumb put multi-unit marketing budgets around 5% to 10% of gross revenue. The move that matters is splitting local ad spend from central management fees — that split is what keeps management costs flat as you add locations, and it's how a franchise marketing agency should structure your budget from day one.
What is a typical digital marketing retainer?
Published surveys of agency retainers suggest a range of $1,500 to $10,000 a month based on your task list. These fees pay for ongoing campaign management and regular check-ins. They also cover ad text optimization and basic channel tracking. Shorter contracts often cost more.
Do agencies charge a percentage of ad spend?
Many old agencies take 10% to 20% of your monthly media spend as a fee. Super Bad Ads is different. We never charge a percentage of your ad spend — every tier is a flat rate. Above $100,000 per month in ad spend, you'll be on our Unlimited tier.
Why do agencies hide their pricing?
Hidden rates let agencies change their bids based on how big your business is. This keeps agency margins high. It also forces you into pushy sales calls. We publish our rates so you can plan your budget without games.
Are there setup fees?
Yes — at Super Bad Ads, Core carries a $3,500 setup fee that scales with onboarding scope, and it's waived entirely from Growth up. That's in line with what industry surveys suggest agencies typically charge to build clean conversion tracking. The audit credit is separate: it comes off your first retainer invoice, not the setup fee.
What contract length is normal?
Many agencies make you sign a 12-month contract to keep their profits safe. Super Bad Ads is different. We only require a 6-month minimum term. This short term gives our local tracking and campaign loops enough time to work well.
What do I get from the $2,500 audit — and how does the credit work?
About 30 days of senior work on your ad accounts, conversion tracking, and per-location measurement, ending in one read-out with a Day-1 fix plan you keep either way. Start a retainer within 45 days of audit kickoff and the full $2,500 is credited to your first retainer invoice.
Which tier should I start with?
The audit tells you. It shows what your accounts, tracking, and locations need, and the fix plan maps to a tier. Most operators land on Growth; Core is the baseline for running your two core channels, measured together.
Will I hear back?
Every submission gets reviewed — that's a promise. But we're a small boutique agency, and we can't personally respond to every inquiry we get. If your business is a good match for how we work, you'll hear from us personally.
Get started
Ready to See Digital Marketing Pricing Built on Trust?
You've just read our actual rates — no three-call discovery gauntlet to learn a number we already publish. Whether you're the CMO or the one marketer carrying the whole function, tell us about your locations, platforms, and current spend — or start with the audit. If we're a good match, you'll hear from us personally.
Every submission gets reviewed. Flat pricing, published — no percentage of ad spend.