What your retainer covers, and what happens when you ask for more.
Your agreement has a Schedule A. That schedule is the whole scope. This page explains how we read it, what is always included, what is quoted separately, and how a request outside it gets handled. Three minutes.
Schedule A is the scope
Your agreement lists the deliverables we owe you each month in Schedule A: which ad accounts we manage, how many creatives, how many posts, which platforms, what reporting, what calls. If a line is in Schedule A, we deliver it every month without being asked. If it is not there, it is not in the retainer, whatever was said on a sales call or in a deck. That is deliberate. It protects you from paying for vague promises, and it protects us from unlimited "social media management".
Two rules that follow from that:
- Unused scope does not roll over. A creative or post allocated to March and not used in March is not credited or carried to April. If you know a month will be quiet, tell us before it starts and we can bring forward a piece of work that would otherwise sit in a later month.
- We decide the method, you decide the outcome. Which platform features, which tools, who on our side does what: that is ours. What the ads say, what the offer is, whether a creative goes live: that is yours.
Always in scope
Whatever your engagement type, these are included and you never need to ask:
- One revision round per creative. Every creative, post or plan we send comes with one round of changes as standard. Send the changes as one numbered list and we fix them. A second round on the same piece is a new piece of work. Your agreement states the number of rounds that applies to your account; where it says more, the agreement wins.
- The monthly report. Delivered in the first week of the month for the previous month, as a PDF on its own thread. See Reports.
- The review call. A 30 to 45 minute call to walk through the report, booked by Stephen when you ask for it. Written report first, call second, so the call is about decisions and not about reading numbers aloud.
- A weekly written check-in while campaigns are live: what is running, what changed, what we need from you.
- Fixing our own mistakes. A typo, a wrong link, a creative that does not match the facts you gave us: fixed at our cost, no revision round used.
- Responding within two working days on any thread, Monday to Friday, Europe/Malta hours. BLOCKED emails the same day. See Contact.
Quoted separately
These are the requests that most often arrive mid-month with "can you also". They are all things we do, and none of them sit inside a standard retainer, so they are scoped and quoted on their own:
| Request | Why it is separate |
|---|---|
| A new channel (adding Google Ads to a Meta retainer, adding LinkedIn, TikTok, email) | New account, new tracking, new creative formats and new reporting. Priced as its own line. |
| Event campaigns (a launch night, a trade fair, a pop-up) | Event page, partner co-hosting, ticket link, geo-targeted ads and a compressed timeline. See the event brief. |
| Print and signage (posters, menus, van wraps, banners, business cards) | Print-ready files, bleed, colour profiles, printer liaison. We work in Figma or InDesign for print, not Canva. |
| Website builds and rebuilds, new pages, locality pages, online galleries | Website work is expressly excluded from a marketing retainer. It runs as a project with its own phases and sign-offs. |
| Extra shoots and shoot days | Crew, kit, travel and edit time. Quoted per day. |
| Recruitment ads | A different audience, different landing page, applicant reporting and a fixed run. |
| Video edits beyond the plan (extra clips, re-cuts for a new format, subtitles in another language) | Edit time is allocated per plan. More clips means more edit hours. |
| Newsletters and email campaigns | Template build, list setup, platform access and a per-edition cycle. |
| Group or sister-company work (a second brand, a second page, staff email signatures) | Your agreement is with one company for one brand. A second entity is a second scope. |
| Rush work | Anything needed inside the normal lead time means bumping the queue or working late. It carries a rush fee, and only your named approver can approve one. We never invoice a rush fee without telling you first. |
Also outside every retainer, as your agreement states: media spend of any kind, public relations, legal or regulatory advice, sales calling and closing, hosting and maintenance unless you have a web retainer.
How a request outside scope is handled
Send it anyway. We would rather hear the idea and price it than have you sit on it. This is what happens:
- You send the request by email, ideally as a brief. Subject line pattern below. See Requests for what a good brief contains.
- Stephen replies in writing within one working day with one of three answers: it is in scope and here is the date; it is quoted as an add-on, here is the quote; or it is scheduled into next month's scope in place of something else.
- If it is a quote, you approve by email. A one-line "approved" on the thread is enough. Work does not start before that line.
- Add-ons are invoiced before delivery unless we agree otherwise in writing. Once the invoice is settled the work is scheduled and the date confirmed on the thread.
There is one other model for clients who want to keep the work in-house: we direct, your team implements. We write the tracking brief, the setup guide and the audience plan, and your people execute. It is slower, and on that model the retainer clock starts when we actually touch the campaigns.
How ad budget changes are made
Your ad spend is yours, paid on your card, and you set the ceiling. How we move within that ceiling follows one rule: we never raise a budget by more than 25 to 30 percent at a time. A bigger jump resets the platform's learning phase and results get dearer, not cheaper. When cost per lead or cost per purchase is healthy and you have the cash flow, we step it up every couple of weeks until we reach the ceiling you set. When cost per result rises, the answer is usually new creatives, not more money, and we say so in the report.
To change your ceiling, reply on the report thread with the new monthly figure. Increases are applied on the next step-up. Decreases are applied within two working days, and we tell you what we expect that to do to results. If you need ads paused, say "pause" and they are off within the hour.
How design add-ons are structured
Print, signage and one-off artwork follow a standard shape, so the quote is never a surprise:
- Priced per artwork. The first artwork carries the concept work. Each additional artwork in the same family is priced lower, because the thinking is done.
- Revision rounds included. The quote states how many. Further rounds are quoted.
- What you receive. The working file and a print-ready PDF, so any printer can use it and you are not tied to us.
- Deposit before work starts. A portion on your purchase order or approval, the balance on delivery. The first concept date is set from the day the deposit lands.
- What we need from you before print. Your pick of the concepts, the exact URL and phone number that go on the artwork, and a written "approved for print". Once a file has gone to the printer, changes are a new artwork.
Retainer reviews and repricing
- Quarterly, in writing. Every quarter we look at what you have been receiving against Schedule A. If the account has quietly grown beyond its scope, we tell you and propose one of two fixes: reprice, or trim the scope back to what you pay for. We never discount, we adjust scope instead.
- Annual adjustment. Your agreement sets an increase on each anniversary of the start date. It is automatic, stated in the agreement, and can be waived in writing for a given year.
- Renewal. Your agreement runs for its initial term and then renews automatically for a further term unless either side gives written notice before the end, with the notice period stated in the agreement. We send a reminder ahead of each renewal date so it is never a surprise.
- Changes to scope mid-term are made in writing, signed by both sides. Email is enough for approving an add-on; a change to Schedule A itself needs a signed variation.
Common questions on this page
Is this included, or is it extra?
Check Schedule A of your agreement. If the line is there, it is included. If you are not sure, send the request and Stephen answers in writing within one working day with in scope, quoted, or next month. You will never be billed for something you did not approve.
Why don't I see our ads as posts on our Facebook page?
Because they are paid ads, not posts. Ads run only to the audience we target and never appear on your page timeline. Organic posting is a separate scope line; if it is not in your Schedule A we do not post to your page. Many clients ask for the folder of ad images so their own team can post them organically, and we are happy to share it.
Can we do organic posts too, since you are already making the creatives?
Yes, as an organic social line in Schedule A with a monthly post count, or as an add-on. Scheduling, captions, community management and reporting are different work from running ads, which is why it is a separate line rather than something we absorb.
What is a rush fee and who can approve one?
A rush is anything needed inside the normal lead time, typically "by tomorrow". It means we drop the queue or work late, and that carries a fee, which is quoted before we start. Only the named approver on your account can approve a rush, not a colleague, and we never invoice one without telling you first.
We only need logos. What are brand guidelines for?
An asset folder gives you files. Guidelines give you the rules: how the logo is used and not used, the colour system, typography, imagery style. Any designer, printer or developer you ever hire works from it, and you keep it for life. If you only need the files, say so and we scope only the files.
Wireframe, design, development: who does which?
A wireframe is the skeleton, the boxes on the page with no styling. Design is the flat visual of every page, in mobile and desktop sizes, which you approve. Development is the code that makes it work. On website projects we quote design per page; development is either ours or your existing developer's, stated in the quote.
Can we give you a bucket of hours for small website changes?
Yes. For clients with a steady trickle of small web tasks we quote a monthly bucket of hours. Tasks are logged against it and you see the balance in the monthly report. Unused hours in a bucket follow the same rule as scope: they do not roll over unless the quote says so.
Why did you not just double the budget when things were working?
Because a doubling resets the learning phase and the platform trusts the account less, so the cost per result goes up. We step up by 25 to 30 percent at a time, every couple of weeks, until we hit the ceiling you set. A static budget is the biggest growth killer; a doubled one is the second biggest.
We changed the offer after approving the creatives. Is that a new round?
Yes. Once creatives, landing page and automations are built around an offer, a change to the offer changes all three. Tell us as early as you can, and we will quote the rework or fit it into next month's scope.
Stuck? Email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with a screenshot of the whole window.