Insight · Working with agenciesBOFU
What a performance marketing retainer should include
The short answer
A performance marketing retainer should buy you a defined team, a defined scope and a defined way of working: who runs your accounts, how many tests and creatives you get, what tracking is maintained, how results are reported and how decisions are made. If a proposal says "account management" without saying what that includes, ask.
Pricing models — fixed retainer, percentage of spend, hybrid — are compared in retainer vs performance-based pricing, and typical Indian ranges are on our pricing page.
What a good retainer covers
- Strategy — a channel plan by funnel stage, targets from your economics (break-even ROAS, target CAC) and a 90-day roadmap
- Media management — campaign builds, budgets, bidding, audiences and day-to-day optimisation on the agreed channels
- Testing — a defined testing cadence: how many tests a month, across creative, audiences, offers and pages
- Creative — a stated number of new ad concepts per month, with hooks and formats for each placement
- Landing page support — fixes and new pages, or recommendations for your team to build
- Tracking maintenance — conversion events, Conversions API, offline conversions and UTM rules kept healthy
- Reporting — a weekly scorecard and a monthly review, with blended numbers such as MER first
- Access to people — named strategist, specialists and response times
Questions that turn "management" into a scope
- Which channels are included, and is any channel "best effort"?
- How many new creatives or concepts per month, and who makes them?
- How many landing pages or page changes?
- What tracking work is included after setup?
- How often do we meet, and who attends?
- What is the response time for urgent issues?
- What reports do we get, and what's in them?
What is usually extra
| Usually included | Often priced separately |
|---|---|
| Campaign management and optimisation | Ad spend (paid by you to the platforms) |
| Static and simple video ad variations | Photo and video shoots, studio days |
| Landing page recommendations or light edits | New websites and major redesigns |
| Ongoing tracking maintenance | Initial server-side tracking or CRM integration builds |
| Reporting and calls | Influencer and creator fees |
| Strategy and testing | Marketplace account management at large scale |
None of this is a rule — some agencies bundle more — but it's what to clarify before signing.
Who does the work
The fee pays for people. Ask who runs the account day to day, how senior they are, how many other accounts they handle, and who reviews their work. A lower retainer that buys a junior with forty accounts is usually more expensive in practice than a higher one with a senior lead and clear specialists. At PMG a lead strategist owns results end to end, supported by platform, creative, SEO, CRO and analytics specialists — see how we work.
Ownership and money flow
Your ad accounts, pixels, analytics, CRM and creative files should be in your name, with the agency given access. Ad spend should be billed by Google, Meta and other platforms directly to you. This keeps your data and history safe if you ever change agencies, and keeps the agency's fee separate from media. See switching agencies without losing your data.
Comparing two retainers
Two quotes at ₹80,000 and ₹1.5 lakh a month are hard to compare on price alone. Compare them on:
- Scope — channels, creative volume, pages, tracking
- People — seniority and time allocated
- Process — testing cadence and reporting
- Targets — the outcome metric each commits to working towards
- Expected cost per profitable customer — fee plus media, divided by customers or qualified leads at the target efficiency
Mistakes to avoid
- Signing for "management" without a written scope
- Ad spend routed through the agency's own accounts
- No stated creative volume on Meta and YouTube
- Reports that only show platform ROAS
- Long lock-in periods with no performance review
A sample scope schedule (illustrative)
| Item | Included per month |
|---|---|
| Channels | Meta and Google Search, Shopping and Performance Max |
| New ad concepts | 8 concepts, each with 2–3 hooks and placement formats |
| Landing pages | 1 new page or 3 page revisions |
| Tests | At least 4 structured tests, logged with hypotheses |
| Tracking | Maintenance of pixel, Conversions API, GA4 and offline conversions |
| Reporting | Weekly one-page scorecard; monthly review deck |
| Meetings | 30-minute weekly call; 60-minute monthly review |
| Response time | Same working day for urgent issues |
The numbers will differ for every business. What matters is that they're written down, so both sides know what "good service" means.
How scope should change over time
The first three months usually weigh heavily on setup: tracking, account restructure and the first creative sprints. Later months shift towards testing, creative volume and scaling. A good retainer is reviewed quarterly so the scope follows what's working — more creative if Meta is scaling, more pages if conversion is the bottleneck, a new channel once the core economics hold.
Signs a retainer isn't working
- You can't say what was delivered last month
- Reports change format or metrics to look better
- Creative volume quietly drops
- The person you met in the pitch never appears
- Questions about results get answers about activity
Frequently asked questions
What is a typical performance marketing retainer in India?
It depends on channels, creative volume and complexity. Focused one-channel engagements often start in the tens of thousands of rupees a month; full-funnel engagements cost several lakhs. See our pricing page for market ranges.
Is creative included in a retainer?
Often a set number of ad variations is included; shoots, creator fees and large productions are usually extra. Get the number in writing.
Should the agency pay for ads and bill us?
Usually not. It's cleaner for platforms to bill you directly, from accounts you own.
What's the minimum term for a retainer?
It varies. Shorter terms with a clear review point are fairer for new relationships. Ask for notice periods in writing.
How do we know the retainer is worth it?
Track the agreed business metric — MER, new-customer CAC, cost per qualified lead — against the baseline before the engagement started.
Can we start with a smaller scope?
Yes. Many businesses start with one or two channels and expand once results are proven. A clear scope makes that easy to adjust.
Do retainers include strategy work?
They should. Strategy — targets, channel mix, testing plans — is part of what you're paying for, not an optional extra.
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