Paid advertising pricing | Wollongong
Paid ads pricing, no surprises.
Five clear management tiers. One full-service retainer. The actual numbers, what's included, and where every dollar goes. Built for businesses ready to stop wondering what their ads really cost.
$20M+ in tracked ad spend since 2021
Brands that got the full breakdown.
From Wollongong trades to global ecommerce. Every brand sees the same tiered fees, the same line items, the same monthly invoice format.
What you're actually paying for
Six line items, every dollar tracked.
Some agencies bundle ad spend and management into one fat invoice. You can't tell what's the platform's cut and what's theirs. You'll see every line separately, every month.
Ad spend
The money that goes directly to Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn or YouTube. Never touches your agency's bank account.
Management fee
The recurring fee for running campaigns — per platform, per month. Scales with your ad spend tier. No hidden percentage cuts.
Onboarding
One-time setup before any campaign launches. Audience research, pixel installation, tracking, account structure, ad copy and compliance.
Creative
Static ad graphics, video edits and conversion-focused copy. Included in the retainer. Quoted as add-on when on management only.
Reporting
Looker Studio dashboards plus monthly written breakdowns of what's working, what's not, and what's changing next month. Not a data dump.
Strategy
Funnel reviews, A/B test plans, channel reallocation and scaling decisions. The actual thinking behind the spend. Retainer-only.
The reason you're on this page
Why does agency pricing feel so murky?
Most agency invoices are designed to make the maths impossible to do. Yours shouldn't be one of them.
Percentage cuts buried in the contract
Some agencies skim 10 to 20% off your ad spend as their fee. The bigger your spend, the bigger their cut. Your wallet pays for their growth, not yours.
12-month lock-in for "the strategy"
A year of fees committed up front, with cancellation clauses that cost you another month's retainer to walk away. Strategy shouldn't need a prison sentence.
Ad spend bundled with the management fee
One invoice, one big number, no breakdown. You can't tell if your $5k bought $4k of ads or $4k of agency time. Comparing quotes becomes impossible.
Surprise charges for things you assumed were included
Creative? Extra. Reporting? Extra. Strategy call? Extra. You started at $2k a month, three invoices later you're at $5k and nothing's actually changed.
What you get instead
Pricing that earns the invoice.
Three rules the pricing follows. None of them are flexible, because the moment they bend, transparency leaks.
Every line on the invoice has a name and a number
Ad spend separated from fees. Management fees separated from creative. Creative separated from onboarding. No bundles, no rounding, no surprises.
Fees grow with your spend, not your stripe
Management is tiered, not percentage-based. Spend $2k or $20k, the fee is set by the tier band, not a slice of your budget. The bigger you scale, the better the value.
Month-to-month on management, 3 month min on retainer
Management has no contract — pause, switch platforms, leave any month. Retainer needs 3 months because building a strategy on a 30-day clock is theatre, not work.
The full pricing matrix
Pick your tier. Read the receipt.
Five management tiers based on your monthly ad spend. One full-service retainer. All fees plus GST, all per platform.
Fees are per platform, per month, plus GST. Onboarding is a one-time setup quoted separately and required before any campaign launches.
Two ways to work together. Pick the fit.
Management is for short-term tests and single-platform runs. Retainer is for everything else.
Paid ads management
Best for short-term campaigns or single-platform tests. Flexible. No lock-in contract.
- Tier-based management fee per platform
- Campaign setup, monitoring and weekly optimisation
- Monthly performance dashboard
- Creative and strategy quoted as add-ons
- Pause, switch or leave any month
Paid ads retainer
Ideal for brands serious about scale. Full-service. All platforms, all included.
- Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok ads management
- Ongoing optimisation, reporting and strategy
- Creative, graphic design and minor video editing
- Landing page CRO support, competitor analysis
- Direct strategist access, ad-hoc support included
Before any campaign launches
Onboarding earns its setup fee.
Every account starts with a one-time onboarding. Strategy, tracking, creative, compliance. No campaigns launch until the foundation is solid.
Throwing money at Meta without prep is like trying to run a marathon in thongs. You'll burn out before the first water station.
What onboarding includes
- 01 Business and audience discovery Deep dive into your goals, offers, target market, competitors and unique value proposition.
- 02 Platform setup and integrations Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn and CRM accounts configured. Tracking, pixels and conversions firing.
- 03 Creative and copy development Ad graphics, video edits and conversion-focused ad copy, written and ready to test.
- 04 Landing page optimisation Reviewing or creating landing pages to maximise conversions from your ad traffic.
- 05 Compliance checks Campaigns and creative checked against platform policies and Australian advertising regulations.
Pricing FAQs
Smart questions about the maths.
The fine print and the follow-up questions, answered before you have to ask.
What is the minimum ad spend to work with Aesthetic?
There's no hard minimum on management. We recommend at least $1,500 per month in ad spend to see meaningful data and traction. Below that, the platforms can't optimise effectively no matter how good the campaign is.
Why isn't the management fee a percentage of ad spend?
Percentage fees mean the bigger your spend, the more you pay an agency, even if their workload doesn't grow. Tiered flat fees mean you pay for the management complexity at your spend band, not a cut of your budget.
What's the difference between management and the retainer?
Management covers running campaigns on one platform — setup, monitoring and weekly optimisation.
The retainer is full-service across all platforms with strategy, creative, landing page support, competitor research and direct strategist access included.
Why does the retainer have a 3-month minimum?
Strategy needs runway. Month one is usually onboarding, testing and baseline. Month two is optimisation and scaling what works. Month three is when results compound.
Anything shorter is theatre, not strategy.
Is there a contract or lock-in for management?
No. Management is month-to-month. Pause, switch platforms or leave any month with a single email. We earn the next month by delivering this month.
How much should I budget for ad spend itself?
Small businesses typically run $1,500 to $5,000 a month. Mid-sized companies sit at $10K to $50K. The right number is whatever's enough to hit your target customer acquisition cost.
The full cost guide breaks this down by industry and platform.
What's the onboarding fee, exactly?
A one-time setup covering audience discovery, platform configuration, tracking installation, creative and copy development, landing page optimisation and compliance checks. Quoted per scope based on platforms, complexity and creative volume.
Do I pay separately for each platform?
On management, yes. Each platform has its own tier-based fee.
On retainer, all platforms are included in the single monthly fee from $4,000.
Can I switch from management to retainer later?
Yes. Most clients start on management for one platform, prove the model, then move to retainer as they scale. No transition fee, just a new agreement and a 3-month commitment from the start of the retainer.
What happens if I pause my ads for a month?
On management you pause the fee with the campaigns.
On retainer the monthly fee continues during the 3-month commitment regardless of whether you spend, because strategy work doesn't pause.
Do you charge extra for creative on management?
Yes. Creative on management is quoted separately based on volume and format. Creative is included on retainer up to a reasonable monthly cap.
How does invoicing work?
Monthly invoices issued at the start of each month. Net 7 terms. Ad spend is paid directly to the platforms from your card or account, never through us, so you have full transparency over what the platforms charged versus what we did.
Do you offer performance-based pricing?
No. Performance-based fees create perverse incentives: agencies chase vanity metrics they can hit instead of building real campaigns. Flat fees mean we work on what your business needs, not what makes our invoice fatter.
Are agency fees worth paying at all?
Depends. If you're spending under $1,500 a month and have time to learn the platforms, DIY can work.
Above that, an agency typically returns more than its fee within 60 to 90 days through better targeting, creative testing and conversion tracking. Read the full comparison.
The cost article
Read the full breakdown.
Industry CPC ranges, platform-by-platform pricing, monthly budget benchmarks by business size and how to spot agency invoice red flags. The deep-dive article that ranks for paid advertising cost in Wollongong.
Paid advertising pricing | Wollongong
Ready to talk numbers?
A free 30-minute call with a Wollongong paid media specialist. No pitch, no pressure. Bring your spend, your platform mix, your monthly target. Leave with the exact tier and fee that fits, even if you don't end up working with Aesthetic.