A quote of a monthly figure for digital advertising is unreadable until it is split. You are paying for media, for the people managing it, for producing the creative, and often for tooling. Those have different sizes, different escalations and different value to you, and two quotes with the same total can be very different purchases.
Media is what reaches the customer
This is the only part that buys attention, and it is set by the auction: what your competitors bid, how relevant your ads and pages are, and how much demand exists. Cost per click varies by orders of magnitude between categories, and quality affects what you pay for the same position. Ask what proportion of your total goes to media, because a package where most of the money is fees is buying you very little reach.
Management is the fee for running it
Charged as a percentage of spend, a flat monthly fee, or a hybrid. Percentage models are common and poorly suited to small budgets, where the percentage cannot fund the weekly work, and to very large ones, where it overpays. Ask what hours the fee buys, who does them, and what the floor is. A fee with no described work behind it is unreviewable.
Production is per asset and recurs more than expected
Advertisements need making, and the platforms consume creative faster than most budgets assume, particularly in video and social. Agree how many assets are included, what a new one costs, and who owns the source files. Creative fatigue is a real cost driver, and a plan with no production budget produces a campaign that decays.
Technology is the line that quietly compounds
Analytics, call tracking, landing page tools, feed management, creative platforms and reporting dashboards each carry a subscription, and some are resold at a margin. Ask which are in the fee, which are billed on, and which are in the agency's name rather than yours. These are small individually and add up, and they are the ones that become hard to replace.
Questions people ask about digital advertising cost
What should we spend to start?
Enough to gather data at your cost per click, which in most categories means a few hundred clicks a month. Below that you are guessing, not testing.
Is a percentage fee unfair?
Not inherently, but it rewards spending. Ask for a floor and a description of the work, and consider a flat fee at small budgets.
Why did our cost per click rise?
Usually competition, seasonality or a drop in relevance. Ask for the auction insights and quality diagnostics rather than accepting the market as an explanation.
How do I compare two quotes?
Force both onto the same four lines: media, management, production, technology, with the deliverables under each.