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Uplift Systems vs hiring a marketing agency
Agencies charge contractors $1,000 to $2,500 a month and most of it goes on people, reporting and account management rather than the thing that makes your phone ring.
| Typical agency | Uplift Systems | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $1,000 to $2,500 | $147 or $297 |
| Setup fee | $500 to $3,000 common | None |
| Contract | 6 to 12 months typical | None |
| Who you speak to | An account manager | The person who built it |
| Response time | Ticket queue | Same day |
| Missed call text back | Sometimes, as an add-on | Included |
| Review automation | Usually extra | Included |
| Reporting | Long PDF nobody reads | Google Analytics and call tracking on your own site |
| Ad spend | On top, plus 10 to 20% management | On top, flat fee on Growth |
| Lock-in | 6 to 12 month contract | Month to month |
The honest version
A good agency is worth the money at a certain size. If you are running serious ad budgets, operating in several markets, or you need a team that can produce video and creative, $1,500 a month is a reasonable price and you will outgrow me. The problem is that most contractors paying agency rates are not getting an agency's worth of work. They are getting a template site, a monthly report, and an account manager who has forty other clients. If that is what you are paying for, you are overpaying by about ten times.
Common questions
What does an agency do that you don't?
Scale and specialism. A real agency has a paid media specialist, an SEO team and designers, and they can run six-figure ad budgets properly. If you are spending $10,000 a month on ads, you want that team and you should not hire me.
Is $147 too cheap to be any good?
It is cheap because we are lean and specialised, not because the work is thin. We built the platform, so there is no licence fee being marked up and passed on to you.
What if something goes wrong?
Fair question and you should ask it. You can export your customer list at any time, and we will hand over your content if you ask.
Do you lock me into a contract?
No. Month to month on both plans. The reason agencies use twelve-month contracts is that months one to three do not show results, and I would rather solve that by being cheap enough that you can wait.
Twenty minutes and you'll know if it's worth it.
You'll see a live account, not a slide deck. If it isn't right for your business we'll tell you on the call.
Book a 20-minute call