We're not going to invent percentages and pretend we audited the industry. Every agency splits its fee differently. What's useful is knowing what a retainer can be paying for, so you can ask.
What a retainer can include
A retainer may fund several kinds of work: account management, project management, senior oversight, the overhead that keeps a team running, the cost of winning new clients, and the people producing the actual work. Some of that coordination is genuinely useful.
The problem isn't that these roles exist. It's when you can't see how much of what you pay reaches the work itself, and nobody offers to show you.
When time is the product
When billing is based on time and the work isn't visible, it's hard for you to judge whether a task took two hours or ten, or why. That's a reason to ask for defined units of work and visible output, whoever you hire.
Questions that cut through
- Who works on my account, and what are they responsible for?
- What shipped last month? Show me the work, not just the summary.
- What does a defined unit of work cost — a page, a campaign, a video?
- What happens if I leave? What does the contract say about accounts, assets, and data?
A vendor with good answers will welcome these questions.
Optimus plans are published with prices and monthly quantities. Custom marketing fees are agreed in writing before work begins.