How to Price Marketing Services: Fixed Scope vs. Hourly

Paul Boards · 2026-10-23

Pricing by scope means charging a fixed fee for a defined package of deliverables, such as 12 posts and one report per month. Pricing by the hour means charging for the time actually spent, at an hourly rate calculated from the agency's costs. Both methods depend on the same data point: how much time each type of deliverable really takes. Without that number, scope pricing becomes a guess and hourly pricing becomes an argument.

Which one to use depends on the type of work. Repetitive, predictable deliverables work well on a fixed scope. Exploratory work, consulting, and projects with lots of uncertainty tend to work better hourly or with a block of hours. This guide shows how to calculate each.

The starting point: your cost per hour

Before setting any price, find out what one productive agency hour costs. The basic calculation:

1. Add up total monthly costs: salaries with payroll taxes and benefits, owners' draws, tools, accountant, overhead, fixed taxes.
2. Calculate productive hours for the month: the team's contracted hours minus internal meetings, sales, admin, and time off. At many agencies, the billable share is well below total hours; measure yours instead of assuming.
3. Divide total cost by productive hours. The result is your cost per hour, with no profit.
4. Add margin and taxes on revenue to arrive at your billable hourly rate.

Illustrative example: an agency with monthly costs of R$ 40,000 and 400 productive hours has a cost of R$ 100 per hour. If it wants a 25% margin and pays about 15% in taxes on invoices, its hourly rate needs to be above R$ 160. These numbers are only there to show the math; use your own.

How to price by the hour

Hourly billing is transparent and protects the agency from requests that grow without warning. In return, it requires reliable time tracking and reports the client can understand.

Common formats

• Ad hoc hours: you bill whatever was used that month. Good for one-off consulting.
• Hour bank (retainer hours): the client buys, for example, 30 hours a month. Anything over is billed separately, and the contract defines whether unused hours roll over.
• Rate by role: different rates for strategy, creative, and execution.

What hourly billing requires

Time logged per task, not per day. If the copywriter logs "8 hours on client X," nobody knows whether that went to the blog or the captions. With a timer on each task, the time report shows hours by client, project, and person, and that document can go out with the invoice.

How to price by scope

A fixed scope is easier to sell: the client knows what they'll pay and what they'll get. The risk sits with the agency, which absorbs the difference if a deliverable takes longer than expected.

Step by step

1. List the deliverables by quantity and format: posts, articles, reports, meetings, campaigns.
2. Estimate hours for each deliverable using real historical data, including review, approval, and revisions.
3. Add up the hours and multiply by the hourly rate.
4. Add a buffer for the unexpected, proportional to how uncertain the client is.
5. Set limits: number of revision rounds, approval turnaround, what's out of scope.

Package sizes

Many agencies organize scope into tiers, such as S, M, and L, with increasing numbers of deliverables. In Scrumboards, each client record lets you log scope in S, M, and L sizes, which helps the team know what's been contracted without opening the contract.

Good pricing starts with measurement. Start the timer on your tasks and find out what each deliverable really costs. Start tracking hours per task

Sample scope calculation

Imagine an architecture firm hires the agency for Instagram and one blog article a month. Based on history with similar clients, the estimate looks like this (illustrative figures):

That's 29.5 hours a month. At the R$ 160 hourly rate from the earlier example, the package comes to R$ 4,720. Adding a 10% buffer for the first few months, the proposal lands at about R$ 5,200. The account management and approvals line is the one most often left out of estimates, and it's the one that varies most from client to client.

Comparing the two methods

The hybrid model

A common combination is a fixed scope for routine work plus an hour bank for extra requests. A dental practice client, for example, might have 16 posts a month in scope and 6 hours a month for requests like a poster for the reception area or a website tweak. When the bank runs out, the agency lets them know and quotes the additional work.

This model cuts down on "is that included?" conversations because there's a clear place for requests outside the package.

How to revisit pricing with data

Pricing doesn't end with the proposal. Every quarter, compare estimated hours with logged hours for each client. Three situations come up often:

• The client uses more than budgeted: revise the scope, the number of revision rounds, or the price at renewal.
• Revisions above what was agreed: the revisions report shows whether the problem is the brief, slow approvals, or the client changing their mind.
• The client uses less: your margin is healthy, but it's worth checking that quality is holding up.

A management system with hours and reports by client makes this comparison easier because time is already linked to the task, the project, and the client.

Mistakes that kill your margin

• Calculating the hourly rate with total hours instead of productive hours.
• Estimating scope without counting meetings, revisions, and approval time.
• Not adjusting rates on older contracts.
• Accepting extra requests without logging them.
• Copying another agency's prices without knowing their costs.

Frequently asked questions

Which method is better for a small agency?

A fixed scope is usually easier to sell. Start there, but track hours from the first month to calibrate your price.

Should I show the client the time report on a fixed scope?

It isn't required. Internally, it's essential for knowing whether the contract is profitable.

How do I price a new client with no history?

Use history from similar clients and add a larger buffer in the first few months, with a review built into the contract.

Should ad spend be part of the price?

Ideally, keep fees separate from ad spend. Media management can be billed by scope, by the hour, or as a percentage, depending on the contract.

How often should I raise prices?

At least once a year, using an index set in the contract, and whenever the scope changes.

Measure before you change your price

The best pricing is the kind you can defend with your own agency's numbers. Opening a free account and tracking hours by client takes just a few minutes. To see what each plan includes, check out the pricing table and explore the time and revision reports.