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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: you’ve poured hours into managing your own Facebook, Instagram, or Google Ads, but the results don’t seem to reflect the effort. Or maybe you’ve hired someone in-house or worked with a cheaper agency, only to end up wondering where your ad budget went and why your leads haven’t improved. Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing: running profitable paid media campaigns isn’t just about creating ads and pressing “go.”
It’s a complex, ongoing process of optimisation, strategy, and analysis—and that’s where a paid media retainer comes in.
At RedPandas, we specialise in helping businesses like yours turn their ad spend into consistent, measurable growth.
With years of experience managing campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, we’ve developed a proven system that ensures your ad dollars work as hard as possible for you.
In fact, here are some of the results we’ve gotten in the last year:
- Generated $303,622.84 from a $22,911.88 ad spend on Google Ads for Australian Wholesale Oils
- Generated 170+ leads at $13.47 per lead on Meta Ads for Kirana Colleges.
- We reduced the cost per lead from $57 to $19 on Google Ads (66% reduction) for Insight Training And the list goes on.
And the list goes on.
By the end of this article, you’ll have a crystal-clear understanding of what goes into managing your campaigns and whether investing in a retainer is a smart move for your business.
What is a Paid Media Retainer?
A paid media retainer is an ongoing partnership with an experienced agency that manages your digital advertising campaigns month-to-month. Instead of a one-off project or short-term engagement, a retainer ensures your campaigns are consistently optimised and fine-tuned to deliver maximum results over time.
Here’s how it works: you pay a set fee—often based on your ad spend—for the agency to handle everything from creating and running ads to analysing performance and making adjustments. It’s not just about placing ads; it’s about continuously improving them to make sure every dollar works harder for your business.
This model works particularly well for businesses that:
- Want to scale their paid media efforts without hiring or training an in-house team
- Understand that effective campaigns require ongoing expertise, not a “set it and forget it” approach
- Need more time to focus on other areas of their business while trusting an expert team to manage their advertising
Unlike ad-hoc services, where work is done on an as-needed basis, a paid media retainer provides structure, accountability, and a clear roadmap for achieving long-term success.
What Does a Paid Media Retainer Include?
When you partner with RedPandas on a paid media retainer, you’re not just paying for ads to be set up—you’re investing in a comprehensive, data-driven process designed to deliver results.
One of the unique aspects of RedPandas’ paid media retainers is that they’re all-inclusive. Whether your strategy involves focusing on Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram, or a combination of multiple platforms, your retainer covers them all.
We work closely with you to determine the most effective platforms for your goals, and then invest the same level of time, expertise, and effort into managing those campaigns—regardless of where we focus. This means your investment stays consistent while we remain flexible, ensuring that your strategy evolves as your business and market conditions change.
Below is what’s included in our retainer packages, broken down by platform.
Facebook & Instagram Ads Inclusions
Our Facebook and Instagram Ads management is built on a robust optimisation checklist that ensures your campaigns are always performing at their best.
Here’s what we handle:
- Account Setup & Strategy:
- Choosing campaign objectives (e.g., awareness, lead generation, or conversions) based on your business goals
- Conducting audience research to create effective targeting strategies, including custom and lookalike audiences
- Building ad sets with proper segmentation to address different audience behaviours
- Setting up conversion tracking via the Facebook Pixel, ensuring accurate performance measurement
- Ongoing Campaign Optimisation:
- Daily Tasks:
- Monitor campaign delivery to ensure ads are running without issues
- Pause ads that fail to meet performance benchmarks (e.g., low CTR or high CPC)
- Keep an eye on budget pacing to avoid overspending
- Weekly Tasks:
- Test new creatives (videos, carousels, images) to prevent ad fatigue and identify top-performing variations
- Adjust audience targeting to explore new opportunities while refining underperforming ones
- Monitor and tweak bid strategies for better cost-efficiency
- Monthly Tasks:
- Perform a deep dive into campaign performance, analysing key metrics like ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and conversion rates
- A/B test campaign components, including copy, visuals, and audience segmentation
- Present comprehensive reports with actionable insights and recommendations for the next month
- Daily Tasks:
Google & Bing Ads Inclusions
Google Ads requires a different skill set, and we bring a structured approach to managing campaigns on this platform. Our optimisation checklist ensures we leave no stone unturned:
Flexibility Across Platforms
At RedPandas, your retainer covers all major ad platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, and more. We work with you to determine the most effective platforms based on your goals, but no matter where we focus, the work and investment remain the same. This flexibility ensures your strategy evolves with your business while maximising the value of your retainer.
How Does Pricing Work?
You can see our pricing page here, but for quick reference, see the below image:
Here’s a summary of what’s included:
- Small-Medium Businesses (media budgets under $15k/month)
- Included:
- Google & Bing Ads
- YouTube Ads
- Monthly Reports
- Social Ads: IG, TikTok & FB
- Pricing: $5,000 per month + one-time $5,000 onboarding fee
- Included:
- Medium-Large Businesses (media budget $15k-$99k / month)
- Included:
- Everything in Small/Medium
- Content Ads e.g. Taboola!
- Pricing:
- $5,000 / month base fee + one-time $5,000 onboarding fee
- 12% of ad spend up to $29k or 10% of ad spend from $30k-$64k or 8% of ad spend from $65k-$99k
- Included:
- Large-Enterprise Businesses
- Included:
- Everything in Medium-Large
- Enterprise grade programmatic
- Pricing:
- $7,000 per month + one-time $5,000 onboarding fee
- The performance fee for ad spend over $100,000 is based on several factors and the complexities of your account. These fees will be agreed upon before our work commences
- Included:
Should You Invest in a Paid Media Retainer?
The short answer? It depends on what you’re looking for. Here are six reasons why a paid media retainer could be the right choice for your business:
1. Do You Want Expert-Level Results?
Paid media success requires more than setting up ads—it’s about strategy, optimisation, and a deep understanding of each platform. Without the right expertise, your campaigns may underperform, wasting valuable budget. A retainer gives you access to experienced professionals who ensure your ad dollars work harder for your business.
2. Are You Struggling to Find the Time?
Running effective campaigns isn’t a “set it and forget it” process. It takes hours every week to monitor budgets, test ad creatives, analyse data, and adjust strategies. If you’re stretched thin or want to focus on other areas of your business, a paid media retainer can save you time while delivering better results.
3. Do You Want Consistency and Proactive Management?
Ad-hoc services may give you short-term fixes, but they rarely deliver the long-term consistency needed for sustainable growth. A retainer ensures that your campaigns are actively managed, with structured checklists guiding daily, weekly, and monthly tasks to optimise performance continuously.
4. Do You Need Transparent Reporting?
If you’ve ever felt in the dark about where your ad spend is going, a retainer provides clarity. With RedPandas, you receive detailed, transparent reports every month, including actionable insights that show exactly how your campaigns are performing and what’s being done to improve them.
5. Are You Looking for Flexibility?
As your business grows, your paid media strategy will need to evolve. With a retainer, you have the flexibility to pivot between platforms—whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, or others—without worrying about extra costs. Your investment remains the same while your campaigns adapt to your changing needs.
6. Do You Want a Long-Term Partner in Your Growth?
A paid media retainer isn’t just a service—it’s a partnership. At RedPandas, we align ourselves with your business goals and work as an extension of your team. Our mission is to help you achieve measurable success, month after month.
If you want to maximise your efforts on campaigns, a paid media retainer could be the solution you’ve been looking for. If this is something you’re interested in, you can get in touch with us here.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) About Paid Media Retainers
If you’re considering a paid media retainer, you likely have questions about how it works and what to expect.
Here are answers to some of the most common questions we hear from potential clients:
1. How Do I Know if a Paid Media Retainer Will Deliver ROI?
While it’s impossible to ever gurantee ROI because of the market, your sales process, and so many other variables, we can do things to maximise our chances at achieving ROI.
At RedPandas, our approach is entirely data-driven. From day one, we set measurable goals and use advanced tracking tools to monitor performance. Our structured optimisation process ensures every dollar spent is analysed and adjusted for maximum impact, giving you the best possible return on investment.
In saying that, it’s difficult to know whether ROI will be possible without doing an audit of your current accounts. If you’re interested in getting in touch with us, you can do that here.
2. Can’t I Just Manage My Ads In-House?
While managing ads in-house is possible, it requires significant time, expertise, and resources. Many businesses find it challenging to stay on top of constant platform changes, campaign optimisation, and data analysis. A paid media retainer gives you access to a team of specialists who are fully dedicated to your campaigns, freeing up your internal team to focus on other priorities.
If you’re set on building your own in-house team, we actually wrote an article to help you do just this.
3. What Platforms Are Included in the Retainer?
Your retainer covers all major advertising platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, YouTube, and Bing. We determine the best platforms to focus on based on your goals, but the retainer fee remains the same regardless of which platforms we prioritise.
4. How Does Reporting Work?
We provide transparent, easy-to-understand reports every month. These reports include performance metrics such as ROI, conversion rates, cost per lead (CPL), click-through rates, and cost-per-click (among others). More importantly, we provide actionable insights and recommendations so you always know the “why” behind the numbers.
5. How Long Does It Take to See Results?
This depends on your business goals and the platforms we’re working with. However, a good rule of thumb is that it generally takes three months to start to see significant results.
6. Is There a Minimum Contract Term?
To deliver meaningful results, we recommend an initial commitment of at least three months. In saying that, we never have locked in contracts, so although we recommend a three-month commitment, our clients are never locked in this.
7. What Happens If I Increase My Ad Spend Mid-Retainer?
If your ad spend increases to a new tier, the performance fee will adjust accordingly. We’ll always discuss any pricing changes transparently so there are no surprises. You can see the different tiers in the above pricing section or on our pricing page.
8. Why Should I Choose RedPandas Over Other Agencies?
With RedPandas, you’re not just another client. We take a hands-on, partnership-first approach, combining years of experience with a proven optimisation process. But if you want to check out some other options, we’ve made a list of the best paid media agencies here.
So, What’s Next?
Investing in a paid media retainer is about more than just outsourcing your advertising—it’s about setting your business up for sustainable growth with a team of experts who treat your success as their own.
At RedPandas, we bring a proven system of optimisation, transparent communication, and platform expertise to every campaign we manage. Whether you’re just starting out with paid media or scaling up to enterprise-level budgets, our tailored strategies ensure your ad spend drives measurable results.
If you’re tired of wasting time and money on campaigns that don’t deliver, it’s time to make a change.
Want to work with us? You can get in touch here.
