When it comes to advertising budgets, you need your investment to deliver the highest return. If you’re exploring Facebook ad agency pricing but aren’t sure where to start, this article will explain different pricing structures, monthly fees, and associated costs you can expect to see.
Partnering with an experienced agency ensures your Facebook ad campaigns are researched, developed, and optimized for your brand’s goals and target audience. However, the cost to advertise on Facebook through an agency fluctuates widely based on your brand’s budget and the agency’s price structure.
The cost to advertise on Facebook through an agency fluctuates widely based on your brand’s budget and the agency’s price structure. This guide will help you understand the various pricing models that marketing agencies often charge for Facebook ad management services.
Understanding Facebook Ad Management Pricing Models
Each agency employs a different pricing structure for running Facebook ad campaigns. Quotes vary, depending mostly on your budget and campaign expectations.
Monthly Retainer Fees
Agencies often work on a monthly ongoing basis, so you can expect them to propose a monthly retainer fee (that could either be fixed, or room for fluctuation) to keep up with basic ongoing tasks. Most agencies might charge around £1,000 for monthly retainers, but prices can range all the way up to £10,000 per month – mostly for enterprise clients.
This monthly fee may only include maintenance work like testing, optimizing, and delivering reports on existing campaigns. Other agencies may include creatives, copy, and new campaigns in their monthly fee as a fixed rate depending on the ad budget.
Performance-Based Pricing
Some agencies and consultants charge based on performance. You might not pay for anything until the agency delivers results, and when/if they do, the agency takes a cut of your ROAS.
Make sure to ask how the agency determines performance, what kind of strategy they typically use, and prior results they’ve achieved.
Fixed Fees
A Facebook ad agency might charge a fixed fee to make their services accessible to businesses of every budget.
A fixed monthly fee retainer won’t change, no matter the performance the agency is providing you or the level of monthly ad spend they manage for you.
Percentage of Ad Spend
It’s common for Facebook advertising agencies to charge a percentage-based fee of whatever you plan to spend on ads each month, usually in addition to a monthly fixed fee.
This percentage pricing ensures the agency can devote appropriate time and resources to companies with large budgets of £10,000 to £50,000 or more.
Companies with larger ad budgets need more campaigns, research, testing, and optimizing to deliver the ROAS they expect. The percentage of ad spend pricing is often the best way to maximize your budget while ensuring the agency has an effective strategy (because they know you expect a hefty return).
For example, some agencies might switch to a percentage-based price for budgets over £10,000, allowing them to offer expertise to businesses with smaller budgets while maintaining the resources to serve companies with large budgets too.
Key Factors Influencing Facebook Ad Agency Costs
Prices often fluctuate between agencies because each company requires a unique strategy to pull off successful campaigns.
Some factors an agency may consider in their quote:
- Expertise and strategy: More experience working with Facebook ad campaigns and delivering proven results comes with a higher price tag than someone less experienced.
- Complexity: Enterprise company campaigns, advanced targeting, tracking across several platforms, and creative elements take extra time to perfect.
- Starting point: Existing ad campaigns, audience research, strategy, and creatives can either create more or less work for an agency depending on current results.
- Budget: A company spending £20k per month expects more time, effort & thought than a company spending £1,000. High-budget complex campaigns require more research, configuration, creatives, and reporting.
Do Agencies Charge a Facebook Ad Setup Fee? What’s Included?
It can be common for an agency to charge a setup fee – usually a flat rate reflected in your first month’s billing or invoice. Agencies typically spend about two weeks setting up your strategy and preparing everything to run your campaigns.
Even if you switch from one agency to another, the new agency will need to evaluate your current campaigns to decide what steps to take or whether to start fresh.
Whether the Facebook advertising agency charges an additional setup fee or flat rate for the first month, here’s what they need to do for a new client.
Onboarding & Goal Alignment
Each brand – even those within the same vertical – needs a 100% unique Facebook advertising strategy. An agency needs to understand:
- Your brand’s mission and voice
- How Facebook ads fit into other marketing strategies
- What works/doesn’t work from your existing strategy
Audience & Competitive Research
During setup, a Facebook ads agency must spend time researching your target audience segments and competition to figure out what kind of campaign content, message, ad placement, and targeting will meet your objectives and ROAS.
Creative Development
A bad creative can’t be saved by a well-structured ad account, which is why producing highly converting video ads and static images is critical to the success of any campaign. They also take time and resources to develop.
A mixture of video, images & carousels works best with a researched strategy, which is why a robust ad creative process through both creation and optimization is key. This approach has been shown to achieve strong Facebook Ad CTRs, often beating the average of 1.11%, with some strategies reaching an average of 2.06%.
Account Configuration & Tracking
Configuring your business account, importing your audience, and developing new audience groups all need special care. An agency may also link the Pixel for improved tracking and integrate other marketing campaigns.
Campaign Development & KPI Planning
Aside from creating the campaigns, an agency will plan your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Facebook ads individually, holistic Facebook performance, and in combination with other marketing platforms.
When is the Right Time to Partner with a Facebook Ads Agency?
When considering Facebook ad agency pricing, think about where your business stands and what you need to accomplish by running Facebook ads.
1. New Business with a Significant Budget
While tempting to make do with minimal in-house resources, new businesses or startups that plan to spend at least £3,000 per month running Facebook ads should consider partnering with an agency.
2. Stalled Ad Strategy
Partnering with a Facebook advertising agency unlocks resources, time, and fresh ideas. They can take what works from your existing campaigns and develop creative ways to reach your audience while maximizing the budget.
3. Need for Advanced Expertise
Whether you plan to spend £5,000 or £50,000 on Facebook ads each month, you’ll never see the ROAS you want without the right expertise and adequate time. Experienced agencies already know what works in your industry, so you won’t waste time testing campaigns that don’t work.
4. Bridging In-House Skill Gaps
If your in-house marketing team lacks the experience or time to carry out everything required for successful Facebook ad campaigns, an agency is a smart way to fill the gap. Instead of hiring one Facebook ad expert, an agency gives you access to an entire team for a fraction of the price.
Common Agency Pricing Examples for Facebook Ads
Facebook ad campaigns are complex, and each business requires a unique approach. That’s why many agencies offer flexible rates based on your budget:
- An agency might charge £2,500 per month for budgets under £20,000 per month.
- For budgets over £20,000 per month, it’s common to see a charge of 10% of ad spend.
No matter where your budget fits, a comprehensive agency partnership typically includes:
- A creative testing framework to research and strategize.
- Campaign structure optimization to maximize performance.
- Custom scaling strategies based on proven results for brands like yours.
- Robust reporting so you can understand your campaign performance.
Facebook doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Therefore, many agencies will also run optimized campaigns across your other social platforms – like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram – as part of their service offering.
