Ad Budget and Pricing Levels
How much should you spend on ads, and what does it cost to have them managed? Here is what each monthly budget level can realistically do, rough lead counts from published industry data, and our management fee in plain numbers.
Ad spend and management are separate
Ad spend is what you pay Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn or YouTube for clicks, views or leads. It goes on your own card, straight to the platform. Management is what you pay a person or agency to plan, build, test and improve the campaigns.
Keep them separate in your head and in your accounts. If an agency pays the platform for you and bills you one combined number, you cannot see what the ads really cost. With us, you always can.
What each monthly ad budget gets you on Google
Rough lead counts use the middle half of published industry averages for Google search ads.
| Monthly ad spend | What it covers | Rough leads a month at typical Google lead costs | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 a month | One Search campaign on 5 to 15 high-intent keywords in a tight radius, with call and lead tracking. | 5 to 11 | Proving an offer before spending more. Often better as a one-time setup you run yourself. |
| $1,500 a month | Search campaigns for your top 2 to 3 services, call assets, location assets and a negative keyword program. | 17 to 35 | A single-location local business that wants steady weekly leads. |
| $3,000 a month | Full Search build by service and area, a call-only or LSA test, and room for one Performance Max test. | 35 to 71 | Growing local businesses, multi-service companies and ecommerce stores with proven products. |
| $5,000+ a month | Search, Performance Max or Shopping, YouTube remarketing and offline conversion import from your CRM. | 59 to 118 | Multi-location brands, franchises, B2B companies and stores scaling past one market. |
Lead counts divide each budget by $42.15 to $84.20, the middle half of average Google search cost per lead across 23 industries in WordStream by LocaliQ Google Ads Benchmarks (2026; data Apr 1, 2025 to Mar 31, 2026). Your own cost per lead can sit outside this range.
What each monthly ad budget gets you on Facebook and Instagram
Rough lead counts use the middle half of published industry averages for Meta lead campaigns.
| Monthly ad spend | What it covers | Rough leads a month at typical Meta lead costs | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 a month | One lead campaign on Facebook and Instagram in one town or ZIP cluster, one offer, 3 to 4 ads. | 12 to 27 | Proving an offer before spending more. Often better as a one-time setup you run yourself. |
| $1,500 a month | A prospecting lead campaign plus retargeting, 6 to 8 ads in rotation, one A/B test a month. | 38 to 82 | A single-location local business that wants steady weekly leads. |
| $3,000 a month | Separate offers for new and returning customers, English and Spanish ads, steady creative refresh. | 77 to 164 | Growing local businesses, multi-service companies and ecommerce stores with proven products. |
| $5,000+ a month | Several audiences and offers in parallel, structured creative testing and CRM-based lookalikes. | 128 to 274 | Multi-location brands, franchises, B2B companies and stores scaling past one market. |
Lead counts divide each budget by $18.20 to $38.96, the middle half of average Facebook lead campaign cost per lead across 14 industries in WordStream by LocaliQ Facebook Ads Benchmarks (2026; data Apr 1, 2025 to Jun 30, 2026). Your own cost per lead can sit outside this range.
How our management fee works
Management is a flat monthly fee that covers ad spend up to a set level, plus a one-time setup for the audit, tracking fix and first creative. Above that spend level the fee grows with a small percentage of the extra spend, so you always know the number before you approve a bigger budget. Your ad spend goes on your own card, paid directly to the platform, never through us, and you own every account, pixel and audience. Ask for a quote and we send the exact figures in writing within 48 hours.
Estimate leads and cost per customer
Pick your industry and platform. We use the published average cost per lead for that industry.
Which level fits you
Launch kit
For budgets under about $1,500 a month, where a monthly fee would be a large share of the total.
- Account audit and tracking fix
- First offer, campaign and ads built
- Hand-off call so you can run it
- Optional check-up after 30 days
Managed
For $1,500 to $5,000 a month in spend on one or two platforms.
- Everything in the launch kit
- Weekly optimization and A/B tests
- New creative every 2 to 3 weeks
- Weekly report and monthly call
Managed plus
For $5,000 a month and up, several platforms or several locations.
- Everything in Managed
- Offline conversions from your CRM
- Per-location or per-product reporting
- Quarterly plan and holdout tests where budget allows
Every level includes English and Spanish ads when your customers use both. You own every account.
How to pick your first budget
A simple way to set a starting budget that is neither too small to learn nor too big to risk:
- Find your break-even cost per lead: average profit per new customer times your close rate. A $1,000 profit and a 20% close rate means you can pay up to $200 a lead.
- Compare it with the published average for your industry in our cost per lead table. If the average is well under your break-even, ads have room to work.
- Budget for at least 20 to 30 leads a month at the average cost per lead, so you have enough data to judge. For a $70 average, that is about $1,400 to $2,100 a month.
- Hold that budget for 60 days, then scale what produced customers and cut what did not.
Get a budget plan for your business
Tell us your goal, your market and your current spend. We usually reply within an hour and send a written plan within 48 hours.
Prefer to talk? Call 1 (800) 858-1639 or email info@madmonkey.media.
Questions about ad budgets and pricing
What is the minimum ad budget you work with?
We manage accounts from about $1,500 a month in ad spend. Below that, a one-time setup you run yourself usually gives you more for the money, and we can check in after 30 days.
Do I pay the ad platforms or do you?
You do. Your card is on your own ad accounts and the platforms bill you directly. We never mark up ad spend.
Why a flat fee instead of a percentage of spend?
A flat fee up to a set spend level means we have no reason to push your budget up. The percentage only applies to spend above that level, where more campaigns, creative and testing are needed.
Is there a contract?
No long contract. Management runs month to month with 30 days notice. We ask you to judge the program on day 60 numbers, because the first weeks are spent fixing tracking and learning.
What is not included?
Ad spend itself, filming days on site and new websites or landing page builds, which we quote separately. Edits to existing landing pages and ad creative from your photos and video are included.
How much should a small business spend on ads?
Enough to buy 20 to 30 leads a month at your industry's average cost per lead, so you can judge results. For many local businesses that means $1,500 to $3,000 a month to start.
Plan your ads with real numbers
Free guides from our paid advertising team, built on published 2025 and 2026 industry data.
Our advertising process
The 8 stages we run on every account, from audit and tracking to reporting.
Read the guide →Cost per lead by industry 2026
Sortable Google and Facebook benchmarks for 20+ industries, with sources.
Read the guide →Facebook vs Instagram vs Google
Seven ad platforms compared on cost, intent and fit, including LSA, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Read the guide →