Trade marketing agencies: what a monthly retainer should get you

For £300 to £750 a month, a trade marketing agency should tell you each month how many enquiries it brought in, where they came from, how many you won, and exactly what it did. If it can't show leads and won jobs after three to six months, it isn't paying. Google's own advice: no one can guarantee a top ranking.

What are trade firms paying agencies?

Between £300 and £750 a month, among the firms we spoke to this year. About 8 of 28 raised marketing spend they didn't trust, and the figures were consistent.

None of that is a reason to give up on marketing. It is a reason to know what you're buying.

How many jobs does an agency need to win you?

Divide the monthly fee by the profit on an average job. That's how many extra jobs a month the agency must bring in to pay for itself.

Three extra enquiries a month that you can trace to the agency's work is a fair test. If you can't tell where enquiries come from, you can't run this test, which is why tracking comes first.

What should £300 to £750 a month get you?

Specific work you can see, and a report that links it to enquiries. Use Google's own questions for hiring an SEO as the starting point.

Google says a good SEO will want to understand your business, your competitors and how customers find you, and will explain every change they make. It also warns against anyone who promises a guaranteed number one ranking, claims a special relationship with Google, or is secretive about what they're doing.

What should you ask for in writing?

A monthly report with the same headings every month. Send this to your agency now. A good one will agree; one that won't is telling you something.

Hi name,

From this month, could you send a short report by the 5th of each month with:

1. What you did last month: pages, posts, ads, Google Business Profile updates.
2. Enquiries by source: website form, calls, Google Business Profile, social media.
3. Spend on ads, if any, and cost per enquiry.
4. What you plan to do next month and why.

I'll add the jobs we won from those enquiries so we can both see cost per won job.

Can you also confirm in writing that business name owns the domain, website, Google Business Profile and ad accounts, and that you'll hand over logins if we stop working together?

Thanks,
your name

What are the warning signs?

Guarantees, secrecy and lock-in. The pattern we hear most from trades is a monthly fee, a vague report and nothing they can link to an enquiry.

Other signs to act on: the agency owns your website or domain, there's a 12-month contract with no performance review, reports show impressions and followers but never enquiries, or the agency pitches unrelated services every month. A roofing and cladding firm owner in Ireland paid a "systemise your business" consultant he later called a spoof: the same test applies to any adviser on a retainer.

If social posts are part of the deal, see social media for trades and TikTok for tradespeople. On your own account, your posts don't usually need an "#ad" label, according to the ASA, as long as your business name is clear.

Should you do marketing yourself instead?

Do the free basics yourself whatever you decide: a complete Google Business Profile, a review request after every job and quick replies to every enquiry. Google says a Business Profile is free and works for businesses that visit customers. Pay an agency only for things you can't or won't do, and judge it on enquiries.

Often the cheapest improvement is answering faster. Paying £450 a month for enquiries you reply to the next evening wastes most of it. Read how fast to reply to an enquiry and compare agency spend with lead sites like Checkatrade.

Common questions