Short answer: a digital marketing agency charges in one of five ways: a monthly retainer, a fixed project price, an hourly rate, a share of your ad spend or a fee tied to results. We found no official average fee. Our monthly plans start at $950.00 for social media content, $1,250.00 for Google or Meta ads plus $500.00 setup, and $1,500.00 for SEO. Ad spend, software and sales tax come on top. If you hire instead, median pay in the Miami area in May 2025 ran from $61,870.00 a year for a graphic designer to $135,870.00 for a marketing manager, before benefits.
Five ways agencies charge
An agency can mix two or three of these. How an agency charges says as much as the amount: it decides what happens when the work grows, or when results take longer than planned.
| Model | What you pay for and when it fits | Ask before you sign |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | A set amount of work each month, paid in advance. Fits work that repeats: ads, SEO, social media | What each month includes, the minimum term and the notice to cancel |
| Project | One job at a fixed price, for example half up front and half at delivery. Fits work with an end: a website, a logo, a tracking setup | How many rounds of changes, and what upkeep costs after launch |
| Hourly | Time, sometimes with a minimum and billed in blocks. Fits when you have people to do the work and need advice, a review or training | The minimum, the size of each block and whether you get written notes |
| Share of ad spend | A percentage of what you spend on ads, alone or on top of a flat fee. Fits large budgets, or budgets that change a lot from month to month. For ads, see PPC management pricing | Whether there is a floor or a cap, and who decides to raise the budget |
| Results | A fee per lead or per sale, or a share of revenue. Fits when the agency handles the whole path from ad to sale and a lead is easy to define | What counts as a valid lead, how duplicates and spam are handled, who owns the data and who pays for the ads |
Each of our services starts at a set price: monthly, per project or per hour. On the PPC Starter plan, ad spend above $5,000.00 a month adds 10% of the excess to the fee, as the price factors table below shows.
We found no survey of full-service agency fees that publishes its sample, its method and its figures. The ones that do cover a single service, such as SEO: our article on SEO pricing compares two of them. The government does publish how agency prices move. The Producer Price Index for advertising agencies, which tracks changes in what US agencies charge, was 1.2% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier. That figure is still preliminary.
Source: BLS, PPI industry data for Advertising agencies, not seasonally adjusted: 152.859 in September 2025 and 154.619 in September 2026 (preliminary), read October 22, 2026.
What the fee usually leaves out
A quote can look cheap because part of the cost sits somewhere else. Ask for this list in writing before you compare two agencies:
- Ad spend. Google and Meta charge your card for clicks and views, and the agency's fee is a separate bill. What a click costs depends on your industry: see what Google Ads cost in Miami and what Facebook ads cost.
- Software. The email platform, the post scheduler, the CRM and call tracking each have their own price. Ask whose name they're in: if they're in yours, they bill you directly and stay with you if you change agencies. Our article on email marketing cost lists what four email platforms charge.
- Hosting and domain for your website, paid to the provider you choose.
- Photo and video shoots. If a plan includes posts, ask who provides the photos and clips. With us, a half-day shoot is an extra at $1,400.00.
- Sales tax. Our prices don't include it. Where Florida applies it, it goes on the invoice.
Add these up for each proposal. A low monthly fee with most of them billed apart can end up costing more than a higher fee that includes some.
What makes one quote higher than another
Two agencies can quote very different amounts for what sounds like the same service.
| Factor | Why it changes the price | In our pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | Each ad platform needs its own campaigns, ads and tracking | The PPC Starter plan runs one platform, Google or Meta. If you don't know which comes first, read Google Ads vs Facebook Ads |
| Ad spend managed | A bigger budget means more campaigns to watch and test | The Starter fee covers up to $5,000.00 a month of ad spend under management; above that, we charge 10% of the excess. With $9,000.00 of ad spend: $1,250.00 + $400.00 = $1,650.00 that month |
| Languages | Each language is another text to write, check and approve | Ads, posts, emails and reports cost the same in English, Spanish or both. On a website, the second language adds $500.00 to a landing page and $250.00 to each page of a business website |
| Content volume | Every post, video and article takes hours to plan, make and publish | Content marketing Starter has 8 posts a month, and an extra 1,000-word article is $400.00. For the market, see what social media management costs |
| Reporting | More reports a month take more hours | PPC: a weekly summary on WhatsApp. SEO: a monthly report |
| Contract length | A minimum term lets the agency spread the setup work over several months | PPC: 3 months, then month to month. SEO Starter and content marketing: month to month. To leave, 30 days' written notice |
| Locations | Each location adds a Google profile, pages and listings | More than three locations get a custom quote |
Our figures: pricing page, read October 22, 2026.
An agency or your own team
The other way is to hire your own team. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes what employers pay each occupation, by metro area. Three occupations cover a large part of what an agency does, websites aside: one plans the marketing, one plans campaigns and reads the metrics, and one designs.
| Median pay a year, May 2025 | Miami area | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing managers BLS 11-2021 | $135,870.00 | $166,790.00 |
| Market research analysts and marketing specialists BLS 13-1161 | $78,990.00 | $78,760.00 |
| Graphic designers BLS 27-1024 | $61,870.00 | $62,960.00 |
| The three together Our sum of the three medians | $276,730.00 | $308,510.00 |
Source: BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area and United States. Gross pay of employees, without overtime or benefits. What each occupation does, in the paragraph above, comes from its BLS definition.
Those figures are pay only. At private employers nationwide, benefits in management, professional and related jobs add about 46 cents for each dollar of pay: $24.82 an hour on top of $54.06 in wages in June 2026. The three Miami medians come to $23,060.83 a month before benefits, software and training.
An agency plan is not a full team, so the comparison isn't one to one. Ours sells a set amount of work: ads, SEO and social media content together start at $3,400.00 a month, plus the $500.00 ads setup. That price includes the $150.00 a month we take off each extra monthly service when you have an active PPC plan. The work is limited to what the plan includes, and nobody from the agency sits in your office. You still need a person who approves the work, knows your customers and answers the leads.
Source: BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, private industry, management, professional and related occupations (table 4). The 46 cents and the monthly figures are our calculations.
What our plans cost
These are the starting prices on our pricing page today, with the names it uses. Each Starter plan lists the work it includes. Growth and Pro plans cost more and do more, and we walk you through them on a call. Web design is different: all three of its prices are public, and the table shows them.
| Plan and what it covers | Starts at |
|---|---|
| PPC Google Ads or Meta Ads, one platform. Minimum of 3 months | $1,250.00 a month + $500.00 setup |
| SEO Google Maps and local SEO. Month to month. See local SEO pricing | $1,500.00 a month |
| Content marketing 8 posts a month on Facebook and Instagram. Month to month | $950.00 a month |
| Web design A landing page. A business website costs $4,500.00 and a bilingual one $8,500.00 | $1,500.00 one time |
| Branding Logo, palette, fonts and a short brand guide | $2,000.00 one time |
| Automation Tracking and lead follow-up: Tag Manager, GA4, the Meta pixel and Google Ads conversions | $1,500.00 one time |
| Consulting Billed in 30-minute blocks after the first hour, with written notes | $200.00 an hour |
| Marketing audit Credited in full if you sign a plan within 30 days | $500.00 |
Source: our pricing page, read October 22, 2026. Prices before sales tax.
If you aren't sure which plan fits, the marketing audit comes first. It looks at your ad accounts, website, Google Business Profile and measurement, and we contact your business twice as a new customer would. You get a written report in 5 business days.
Frequently asked questions
How much do marketing agencies charge a month?
We found no official average: the government tracks how agency prices change, not what they are. Ours start at $950.00 a month for social media content, $1,250.00 for ads on Google or Meta plus a $500.00 setup, and $1,500.00 for SEO. With any agency, ask what a month includes: how many ads, posts, pages and reports.
What is a marketing agency retainer?
A fixed monthly fee for a set amount of ongoing work, such as campaigns, posts or SEO tasks, often paid in advance, as ours is. It suits work that repeats every month. Before you sign, check what each month includes, the minimum term, the notice to cancel and what happens to work you don't use.
What does a digital marketing package include?
It depends on the agency, so read the list, not the name. A package can bundle two or more services, such as ads and social media, with a set number of each. Ad spend, software, shoots and sales tax can be extra. With us, each extra monthly service costs $150.00 less when you also have an active PPC plan.
Do agencies charge a percentage of ad spend?
Some do, alone or on top of a flat fee. The fee then grows with your budget, which suits large budgets or ones that change a lot. Ours is a monthly fee that covers up to $5,000.00 of ad spend on Starter, plus 10% of the excess. You pay Google and Meta directly.
Is hiring in-house cheaper than an agency?
Not when you need several skills. In the Miami area, median pay in May 2025 was $135,870.00 a year for a marketing manager and $78,990.00 for a market research analyst or marketing specialist. Nationally, benefits add about 46 cents per dollar of pay in these jobs.
Before you sign with any agency
Get these answers in writing, whoever you hire:
- Who owns the ad accounts, the website, the domain, the tracking and the email list?
- What does each month include, and what does extra work cost?
- Which costs are billed apart: ad spend, software, shoots, tax? Is there a markup on anything the agency buys for you?
- How long is the minimum term, and how much notice do you give to leave?
- Who writes the version in your second language, and does it cost more?
- Which report do you get, and how often?
If your business is in Miami, our page “Digital marketing agency in Miami” shows how we work with businesses that sell in English and Spanish.
