Why published pricing is rare
Agencies avoid publishing rates because scope varies and because a low number attracts enquiries they cannot serve profitably. The effect is that a business owner cannot find out what anything costs without sitting through a discovery call.
We publish indicative ranges for the same reason we publish this article. Somebody deciding whether they can afford help should be able to find that out in five minutes.
What the money is actually split between
Two separate lines that frequently get quoted as one, which is where confusion starts.
- Media spend, which goes to Google or Meta and never touches the agency
- Management fee, which pays for the people doing the work
- Tooling, sometimes included in the fee and sometimes not, worth asking about
- Production, meaning creative, video and landing pages, often quoted separately
Rough monthly ranges in this city
These are indicative and they move with category competitiveness. Legal, real estate, healthcare and education sit at the expensive end of the auction, so the same management effort supports a much larger media budget.
- Google Business Profile and local SEO only: mostly time, with management from around Rs 15,000
- One paid channel run properly: roughly Rs 40,000 to Rs 1,00,000 all in
- Multi-channel with SEO and content: Rs 1,00,000 upward, depending on scope
- A website build: a fixed-fee project, sized on templates rather than pages
The in-house crossover
Digital marketing is at least four skill sets: paid media, SEO and content, creative, and analytics. A capable generalist with four to six years of experience in Mumbai costs roughly Rs 70,000 to Rs 1,20,000 a month, and covers one of those four well.
Below about Rs 3,00,000 in total monthly marketing budget, an agency is usually cheaper and better, because you cannot hire enough seniority to cover all four. Above it, in-house becomes viable provided somebody senior can direct the work. The step most businesses skip is the hybrid in between: in-house execution with senior strategy bought from outside.
What to ask before signing anything
- Are the ad accounts created under my ownership, and do I keep access if we part ways
- What is included in the fee and what is billed separately
- Who specifically does the work, and how many accounts do they carry
- What does the monthly report say beyond the numbers, meaning what changed and why
Key takeaways
- Media spend and management fee are separate lines and should be quoted separately
- Below roughly Rs 25,000 total, put the money into Business Profile and site speed instead
- Insist on owning every account before any work begins