Sean Lang Sean Lang

Why do agencies charge for setup and onboarding?

ONBOARDING

To understand why agencies charge for onboarding, you must first understand what it is. In a nutshell - it is the initial collection of information and assets needed for the marketing agency to be successful on behalf of the client. Things like:

  • Billing information

  • Short term & long term goals

  • Key contacts and stakeholders

  • Marketing workflow

  • Team introductions

  • Research

SETUP

Depending on the scope of work involved - that is, number of campaigns, ad groups, ads, unique offers, ad spend budget, etc…it can be a lot of work to properly set up an account with campaigns that are ready to launch. Typical tasks performed in an account set-up:

  • Asset organization

  • Ad copy creation and/or approval

  • Ad creative creation and/or approval

  • Ad creation and approval

  • Audience setup

  • Traffic segmentation

  • Campaign structure setup

  • Tracking pixel validation

  • Bid strategy setup & Budget allocation

And this is all before the campaign can launch! Many items must be set up, checked, and double-checked for accuracy before the campaign can safely see the light of day and begin showing ads to potential buyers.

Taking on a new client can be a costly and time-consuming undertaking for a marketing agency, and it is why it is the industry standard to charge a setup fee. The fee will vary from agency to agency, based on a number of factors including the size of the account being onboarded, the desirability and/or capacity of the agency in question, and the value created by the setup.

Have questions about how we do on-boarding?

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