Most New Zealand businesses working with a marketing agency pay somewhere between $3,000 and $15,000 per month on a retainer, depending on scope. Project work typically runs from $5,000 for a focused piece of work (a website audit, a campaign build) up to $50,000 or more for a full rebrand or website. Hourly rates across the industry generally sit between $120 and $250 per hour. If an agency won't give you numbers in this ballpark until the third meeting, that tells you something too.
That's the short answer. The longer answer, and the more useful one, is that what you pay matters far less than what the money is actually buying. Here's how to read agency pricing like someone who has seen behind the curtain.
Agencies in New Zealand typically charge in one of four ways.
Retainers get a bad reputation because businesses sometimes feel they're paying for invisible work. The fix isn't avoiding retainers. It's insisting on a scope document that states exactly what is delivered each month, and a report that shows it.
The most common mistake isn't overpaying. It's spreading a small budget across too many channels. $3,000 a month doing one thing well nearly always outperforms $3,000 a month doing five things badly.
Ask three agencies to quote the same brief and you might get $4,000, $9,000 and $18,000 a month. The variation usually comes down to four things:
When comparing quotes, never compare the monthly figure. Compare the deliverables, the seniority of the people doing the work, and how success will be measured. A cheap retainer that produces nothing is the most expensive option on the table.
Agency fees usually exclude advertising spend (your Google and LinkedIn budgets are separate and paid to the platforms), software subscriptions (email platforms, CRM, SEO tools, sometimes passed through at cost), photography and video production, and website hosting. A realistic total marketing budget counts all of it, not just the agency line.
Work backwards from value, not forwards from cost. If your average customer is worth $50,000 over their lifetime, a $6,000-a-month programme needs to generate roughly one to two additional customers a year to break even, and everything beyond that is profit. If your average customer is worth $800, the maths is very different and your channel mix should be too. Any agency worth hiring will happily walk through this calculation with you before you sign anything.
Is there a minimum budget where an agency makes sense? Below roughly $2,000–$2,500 a month, most agencies can't deliver meaningful ongoing work, and you may be better served by a freelancer or a one-off strategy project you execute in-house.
Should I expect a lock-in contract? Three to six month initial terms are normal because marketing takes time to work. Twelve-month lock-ins with no exit clause deserve scrutiny.
Do agencies negotiate? On scope, yes. Most will shape a programme to a budget. On rate, rarely, and heavy discounting is usually a sign the work will be handed to the most junior person available.
Why won't some agencies publish pricing? Usually because pricing is scoped to each client. Fair enough, but they should still give you an honest range in the first conversation. Evasiveness about money at the start rarely improves later.