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Paid acquisition · Budgets

What online advertising actually costs

Almost nobody publishes prices in French, so the question comes up on calls and everyone loses time. Here are the real ranges, and above all how to separate what goes to the platform from what goes to the agency.

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brands served
80+
brands served
years of expertise
6
years of expertise
avg. ROAS
4.2x
avg. ROAS
revenue generated
$12M+
revenue generated

The two amounts people always confuse

  • The media budget
    It goes straight to Google or Meta, from your card. You set it, you change it whenever you want, and it never passes through us.
  • Management fees
    The human work: strategy, creatives, reading the dials, weekly decisions. Our floor is $2,950 per month.
  • The percentage on ad spend
    Above a certain volume, a variable share is added to the floor. It aligns our interests as the budget grows.
  • Card and processing fees
    Always passed to the client, never absorbed. It is written in the agreement, with no surprise on the invoice.

The thresholds that matter

  • 01
    Around $50 a day, the learning floor
    Below that, platforms do not gather enough events to exit the learning phase and every decision becomes a guess.
  • 02
    Around 50 events per week per ad set
    That is Meta's own threshold. An account that never reaches it cannot be optimized, only watched.
  • 03
    A Search click above $20 changes the math
    In Quebec marketing and professional services, clicks often pass $20 and can reach $50. You need a margin that carries it.
  • 04
    A full month before judging
    An underfunded two-week test answers no question. Budget the time to learn, not only the time to spend.
This page helps if…

We work with you if…

We turn down ~60% of requests, because we want to deliver real results and that requires the right fundamentals on your end.

Qualify my project
  • You are building a budget and want real orders of magnitude
  • You are comparing agency proposals and want to compare the same thing
  • You wonder whether your current budget is enough to learn anything
  • Someone promised you a result without ever mentioning a minimum threshold

Frequently asked

The questions we get most before kicking off.

What does Google Ads management cost in Quebec?
Our fees start at $2,950 per month, plus a percentage of ad spend above a certain volume. Media budget is on top and goes straight to Google. We give the exact number after the audit.
What does a Meta Ads agency charge?
The Quebec market runs from roughly $1,000 to over $10,000 a month depending on what is included. The gap almost always comes from creative production: an agency that does not produce them costs less and leaves you the most decisive work.
Does the ad budget pass through you?
No. Your card sits in your ad account and you pay the platform directly. You keep control, visibility and history, even if we stop working together.
Why a $2,950 monthly floor?
Because below it we cannot do the work that makes advertising profitable: verifying measurement, producing creatives, reading the dials weekly. An underfunded engagement produces a poor result and a poor experience on both sides.
Is a long commitment required?
Plan a minimum of three months so learning can happen and we can judge on something other than noise. Beyond that, the commitment depends on what we build together.

Ready to talk growth?

Book 30 minutes with us, or send a message if you'd rather walk us through your project in writing.

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We turn down about 60% of requests. If we take you on, it's because we can deliver.