What should an MSP charge for marketing services?
Last updated 1 September 2026
TLDR
Most MSPs price marketing as a fixed monthly retainer per client site, sized to the client's revenue rather than to hours, and structured as a bundled tier alongside their IT services. The workable range for a small business client is typically a few hundred to a couple of thousand per month, with the MSP's margin coming from platform leverage rather than from billable labour.
Key facts
- Hourly billing does not fit marketing work that is continuous and largely automated.
- Per-site monthly retainers are the most common and most defensible structure.
- Bundling with an existing IT agreement reduces churn substantially compared with a standalone marketing contract.
- Margin comes from the gap between platform cost per site and retainer price, so per-site platform cost is the number to watch.
- Setting expectations about timelines in writing prevents most of the disputes that end these engagements.
Retainer, hourly or performance-based?
Retainer. Marketing work under automation is continuous and low-variance in effort, which makes hourly billing both unprofitable and awkward to explain. Performance pricing sounds attractive but shifts risk onto you for outcomes partly outside your control, and it invites arguments about attribution.
A fixed monthly fee per site, reviewed annually, is the structure that survives contact with real clients.
How should the tiers be built?
Anchor tiers to what the client gets rather than to effort: a foundation tier covering technical SEO, listings hygiene and reporting; a growth tier adding content volume and AI visibility; a full tier adding paid ads management and lead identification.
Keep it to three. MSP buyers are already navigating a service catalogue; a fourth option reduces close rate.
How do you protect margin?
Know your delivered cost per site — platform, ad management overhead, and the hours your team genuinely spends on approvals and client calls — and price at a multiple of it that survives a client who calls more than average.
Cap what is included. Unlimited landing pages, unlimited revisions and ad-hoc design requests are where these agreements lose money.
What should you promise?
Deliverables and process, never results. 'Sixty articles a month, weekly technical audit, daily ads review, monthly reporting call' is contractible. 'Triple your leads' is not, and it is the promise that ends relationships.
State the expected timeline plainly: technical fixes show up in weeks, content compounds over months.
Sources
- Helix Agency plan structure — Per-site limits and pricing referenced for cost-per-site calculations.
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