Every always asks us “how much does a PPC agency cost?”, to which we explain that it depends on many factors such as but not limited to their location, their size, the type of work they’re offering (services, strategy, or both), and how senior they are.
We crunched the numbers that came back from our survey to find the answer for you to begin with though. The way to interpret this data is to remember that these are averages and a starting point for a conversation, but depending on how you pull the levers a firm will be more or less expensive. We have tried to slice and dice the data for you so that you can see how this happens on average.
But once again, it will depend on the factors listed above. An agency based in New York City will usually cost more than an agency in Kalamazoo, Michigan simply because of the average price of talent.
So let’s look at the data.
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Interesting takeaways from this section:
A quick caveat that we only noticed after putting together this section is that we did not specify in the survey whether this was client spend or the firm’s take from the project for project minimums and monthly retainers. So, the data for those sections should be viewed directionally.
First let’s look at the average rates of PPC firms worldwide.
Here are the PPC firm worldwide hourly rates, for all company sizes:
The raw data:
Hourly Rate | Count of Average hourly rate | All firms offering PPC |
Under $50 | 14 | 9.21% |
$51-$100 | 36 | 23.68% |
$101-$150 | 44 | 28.95% |
$151-$200 | 37 | 24.34% |
$201-$300 | 17 | 11.18% |
$301-$500 | 2 | 1.32% |
$501+ | 1 | 0.66% |
N/A | 1 | 0.66% |
Here are the project minimums that the PPC firms across the world reported that they take:
The raw data:
Project minimum | Count of Single project minimum | Percentage of total |
Under $1,000 | 39 | 25.66% |
$1,000-$1,999 | 43 | 28.29% |
$2,000-$2,999 | 24 | 15.79% |
$3,000-$3,999 | 8 | 5.26% |
$4,000-$4,999 | 4 | 2.63% |
$5,000+ | 24 | 15.79% |
Do not accept one-time projects | 3 | 1.97% |
No minimum | 7 | 4.61% |
Here are the single project minimums for PPC firms worldwide, based on company size:
That chart is a bit busy, so here is the raw data:
Project minimum | 1 (solo practice) | 2-5 | 5-10 | 11-20 | 21-50 | 51+ |
Under $1,000 | 35.00% | 43.24% | 23.08% | 7.14% | 11.54% | 9.09% |
$1,000-$1,999 | 30.00% | 32.43% | 46.15% | 28.57% | 26.92% | 9.09% |
$2,000-$2,999 | 15.00% | 5.41% | 15.38% | 28.57% | 26.92% | 13.64% |
$3,000-$3,999 | 2.50% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 14.29% | 7.69% | 13.64% |
$4,000-$4,999 | 2.50% | 2.70% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 3.85% | 4.55% |
$5,000+ | 7.50% | 5.41% | 15.38% | 14.29% | 15.38% | 50.00% |
Do not accept one-time projects | 0.00% | 5.41% | 0.00% | 7.14% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
No minimum | 7.50% | 5.41% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 7.69% | 0.00% |
The interesting takeaways in this section are:
Here are the PPC firm worldwide monthly retainer rates as reported by our 152 respondents:
The raw data:
PPC firm worldwide monthly retainer minimum | ||
Row Labels | Count of Monthly minimum budget | PPC firm worldwide monthly retainer minimum |
Under $1,000 | 45 | 29.61% |
$1000-1,999 | 38 | 25.00% |
$2000-2,999 | 26 | 17.11% |
$3000-3,999 | 16 | 10.53% |
$4000-4,999 | 4 | 2.63% |
$5,000+ | 12 | 7.89% |
No minimum | 11 | 7.24% |
Interesting takeaways include:
Here are the average rates for US and UK PPC firms.
The raw data:
Hourly Rate | Count | PPC firm US |
Under $50 | 2 | 2.25% |
$51-$100 | 12 | 13.48% |
$101-$150 | 31 | 34.83% |
$151-$200 | 29 | 32.58% |
$201-$300 | 12 | 13.48% |
$301-$500 | 2 | 2.25% |
$501+ | 0 | 0.00% |
Here are the average hourly rates for UK PPC firms:
The raw data:
Hourly Rate | Count | PPC firm UK |
Under $50 | 2 | 7.69% |
$51-$100 | 15 | 57.69% |
$101-$150 | 5 | 19.23% |
$151-$200 | 3 | 11.54% |
$201-$300 | 1 | 3.85% |
$301-$500 | 0 | 0.00% |
$501+ | 0 | 0.00% |
UK PPC firms need to charge more!
Now let’s look at average PPC agency rates.
Here are the worldwide PPC agency average hourly rates:
Raw data:
Hourly Rate | Count | PPC agency hourly |
Under $50 | 11 | 9.82% |
$51-$100 | 19 | 16.96% |
$101-$150 | 38 | 33.93% |
$151-$200 | 29 | 25.89% |
$201-$300 | 12 | 10.71% |
$301-$500 | 1 | 0.89% |
$501+ | 1 | 0.89% |
Here are the reported project minimums for the PPC agencies in our dataset, of which there are 112:
The raw data:
Row Labels | Count of Single project minimum | PPC agency worldwide project minimum |
Under $1,000 | 25 | 22.32% |
$1,000-$1,999 | 31 | 27.68% |
$2,000-$2,999 | 18 | 16.07% |
$3,000-$3,999 | 7 | 6.25% |
$4,000-$4,999 | 3 | 2.68% |
$5,000+ | 21 | 18.75% |
Do not accept one-time projects | 3 | 2.68% |
No minimum | 4 | 3.57% |
Here are the US PPC agency project minimums from our dataset:
The raw data:
Row Labels | Count of Single project minimum | PPC agency project minimum |
Under $1,000 | 12 | 17.39% |
$1,000-$1,999 | 18 | 26.09% |
$2,000-$2,999 | 14 | 20.29% |
$3,000-$3,999 | 4 | 5.80% |
$4,000-$4,999 | 1 | 1.45% |
$5,000+ | 15 | 21.74% |
Do not accept one-time projects | 3 | 4.35% |
No minimum | 2 | 2.90% |
Interesting takeaways from this section are:
Here are the worldwide PPC agency retainer minimums from our 112 respondents:
The raw data:
PPC agency worldwide monthly retainer minimum | ||
Row Labels | Count of Monthly minimum budget | PPC agency worldwide monthly retainer minimum |
Under $1,000 | 32 | 28.57% |
$1000-1,999 | 28 | 25.00% |
$2000-2,999 | 19 | 16.96% |
$3000-3,999 | 13 | 11.61% |
$4000-4,999 | 4 | 3.57% |
$5,000+ | 11 | 9.82% |
No minimum | 5 | 4.46% |
Here are the US PPC agency monthly retainer minimums as reported by our 69 respondents:
The raw data:
Retainer minimum | Count of Monthly minimum budget | US PPC agency monthly retainer minimum |
Under $1,000 | 15 | 21.74% |
$1000-1,999 | 18 | 26.09% |
$2000-2,999 | 13 | 18.84% |
$3000-3,999 | 9 | 13.04% |
$4000-4,999 | 3 | 4.35% |
$5,000+ | 9 | 13.04% |
No minimum | 2 | 2.90% |
Interesting takeaways include:
US PPC agencies are, from our data, more expensive than the worldwide averages.
Now let’s look at PPC consultant rates worldwide and US specific.
Here are the PPC consultant worldwide hourly rates from our dataset containing 40 PPC consultants:
The raw data:
Hourly Rate | Count | PPC consultant hourly rates |
Under $50 | 3 | 7.50% |
$51-$100 | 17 | 42.50% |
$101-$150 | 6 | 15.00% |
$151-$200 | 8 | 20.00% |
$201-$300 | 5 | 12.50% |
$301-$500 | 1 | 2.50% |
$501+ | 0 | 0.00% |
Here are the PPC consultant worldwide project minimums, of which there were 40 respondents:
The raw data:
PPC consultant worldwide single project minimum | ||
Row Labels | Count of Single project minimum | PPC consultant worldwide |
Under $1,000 | 14 | 35.00% |
$1,000-$1,999 | 12 | 30.00% |
$2,000-$2,999 | 6 | 15.00% |
$3,000-$3,999 | 1 | 2.50% |
$4,000-$4,999 | 1 | 2.50% |
$5,000+ | 3 | 7.50% |
No minimum | 3 | 7.50% |
Here are the US PPC consultant projects minimums from our dataset, in which there were 20 respondents. Thus, we are showing the raw numbers here instead of percentages:
The raw data:
US PPC consultant project minimums | |
Single project minimum | Count |
Under $1,000 | 4 |
$1,000-$1,999 | 7 |
$2,000-$2,999 | 4 |
$3,000-$3,999 | 1 |
$4,000-$4,999 | 1 |
$5,000+ | 1 |
No minimum | 2 |
Here are the PPC consultant worldwide monthly retainer minimums from the 40 respondents in our dataset:
The raw data:
PPC consultant worldwide monthly minimum | ||
Monthly retainer minimum | Count of Monthly minimum budget | PPC consultant worldwide monthly minimum |
Under $1,000 | 13 | 32.50% |
$1000-1,999 | 10 | 25.00% |
$2000-2,999 | 7 | 17.50% |
$3000-3,999 | 3 | 7.50% |
$5,000+ | 1 | 2.50% |
No minimum | 6 | 15.00% |
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