01
Startup in rapid scaling
Actual budget €5K, will reach €30K in 90 days. Worth starting early with the right setup.
Why €15K/month is the real threshold in performance marketing.
The €15K/month threshold isn't arrogant. It's protective. I work on a fixed fee based on account complexity, not a percentage of budget. Below this threshold, the math doesn't allow enough expert hours to bring you real savings that justify the cost. Above the threshold, the math works: I can allocate 20-30+ hours monthly and recover at minimum double my cost through savings and improved ROAS. Here's the full analysis, with the real exceptions and what to do if you're below.
1. The foundation
Why a threshold exists.
Performance marketing isn't like SEO or organic social. It's a system with 3 mandatory inputs: media budget, management budget, tracking infrastructure. If any one of them falls below a critical level, the whole system collapses.
The threshold isn't arbitrary. It's math.
2. My fee
How my fee works.
My fee isn't a percentage of your budget. It's fixed based on your account complexity. Four tiers:
- Tier 1 — Focus: €1,000/month + VAT, from 20 hours monthly. 1-2 platforms, simple eCommerce or Search-only services.
- Tier 2 — Standard: €2,000/month + VAT, from 35 hours monthly. 2-3 platforms, mid-size eCommerce, complex tracking.
- Tier 3 — Scale: €3,000/month + VAT, from 55 hours monthly. 3-5 platforms, large eCommerce or complex B2B.
- Tier 4 — Enterprise: €4,000+/month + VAT, from 80 hours monthly. Multi-market, multi-brand, very large scope.
The cost covers both:
- Ads management — campaign setup, daily optimization, A/B testing, account restructure, weekly reporting
- Documentation — industry and competitive research, in-depth account audit, strategic planning, written strategy, decision log
Most consultants and agencies sell only ads management. Documentation gets priced separately or not done at all. I include it because without it, ads management is just blind execution.
Why a fixed fee instead of a percentage of budget? Because percentage creates a structural conflict of interest — the agency earns more when you spend more, regardless of whether that spend brings results. With a fixed fee, we're aligned: I earn the same whether your budget is €15K or €30K, as long as account complexity stays the same.
Full details on the pricing page.
3. Below threshold
Why €5K/month doesn't work.
The concrete calculation: a client with €5,000/month in ad budget wants to work with me.
The minimum tier (Focus) is €1,000/month + VAT. If we agreed to work on a €5K budget, my fee would represent 20% of what you spend on ads. Disproportionate — even with excellent results, optimization recovery doesn't cover this cost.
The recovery math: on a €5K media budget, average pre-optimization ROAS is probably 2-3×. Competent optimization can improve ROAS by 30-100%. That means €1,500-€5,000 in monthly savings or additional revenue — in the best case, you recover my fee. In the worst case, you pay without ROI.
Plus, at €5K budget there simply isn't that much room to optimize in absolute terms. Maybe 2-3 campaigns, 100-200 SKUs, limited audiences. Tier 1's 20+ hours monthly is far more than what the account contains.
That means for you, paying €1,000 has no real upside. And for me, the tier doesn't make economic sense. Neither party wins.
4. Above threshold
At €15K/month the math works.
Now the same math at €15,000/month media budget:
- Tier 1 (Focus): €1,000/month + VAT = 6.7% of budget
- From 20 hours monthly of dedicated expert time
- Ads management + documentation both included
20+ hours monthly allow:
- In-depth monthly audit of all campaigns
- Bidding restructure and data-driven optimization
- Continuous A/B testing across creative, audiences, landing pages
- Server-side tracking implementation, custom attribution
- Product feed optimization for eCommerce
- Weekly call with the client
- Written strategic documentation: what we're doing, why, what we're measuring
The recovery math at €15K budget: competent optimization can improve ROAS by 30-100% in the first 3-6 months. That's €4,500-€15,000 in monthly savings or additional revenue — at minimum double my cost, often 5-10×. The math works for both sides.
On larger budgets, the tier goes up based on complexity, not absolute spend. A client with €30K budget on 1 platform stays on Tier 1. A client with €15K budget on 4 platforms + 2 markets moves to Tier 2. You pay for complexity, not for spend.
5. Exceptions
The real exceptions.
There are situations where the €15K threshold doesn't apply directly.
02
Very high margins
Premium services, B2B SaaS with high LTV — €5K media generates €50K profit. The math works differently because the absolute margin per client is enormous.
03
One-shot audit
Not monthly, but a single engagement from €500 + VAT, scope-dependent, to clean up the account, after which the client manages independently or with another team.
For all other cases below €15K, I don't work with you. I refer to other practitioners: good freelancers I know personally, talented juniors, or training for the client's internal team.
6. Real patterns
Three patterns from real clients. Anonymized.
eCommerce · Fashion
Pattern A — eCommerce that came with €4K budget
A fashion brand, started in 2024. Their ad budget was €4,000/month running through Google Smart Shopping. Google-reported ROAS: 3.2×. Real ROAS, after cleaning attribution: 1.8×.
The problem was classic: tracking was counting assisted conversions as direct conversions. Smart Shopping campaigns were "performing well" because the platform was attributing sales from organic and direct traffic to itself. In reality, the campaigns were generating 1.8× ROAS — profitable, but barely.
My recommendation: don't work with me now. Scale the budget when ROAS consistently hits 4×. I referred them to a freelancer I know at €600/month. Six months later they came back with €18,000/month budget. Now we work together.
Services · UK
Pattern B — UK agency with small retainer
A UK services company paying an agency £800/month for "PPC management" on £6,000/month ad budget. They'd been working with the agency for 2 years. ROAS was stagnant, conversion rate slowly declining.
Diagnosis: the agency had no expert time for the account. All campaigns were running on uncontrolled Performance Max. Tracking had been broken for a year — a conversion event was firing twice for every transaction. The platform was "seeing" double conversions, optimizing for them, while the real cost per conversion was double what the dashboard showed.
Solution: I didn't take the client. I suggested they terminate the agency, move accounts to a more serious agency with a real retainer (£2,500+/month) and increase their budget to £10K+/month. They did both. ROAS doubled in 4 months. £800/month for £6,000 in ad budget doesn't mean you're being economical — it means you're paying for a service that doesn't exist in the form promised.
eCommerce · RO
Pattern C — the €25K client who didn't want to pay properly
A large eCommerce business, €25,000/month ad budget. They offered me €1,000/month for "complete performance marketing". Their math: they wanted to pay 4% of budget, instead of 12-15%.
I declined. Not because €1,000 isn't enough in absolute terms — but because the percentage is wrong for the work required. At €1,000/month I'd have 5–7 hours/month for an account that needs 25+ hours/month. I'd deliver mediocre work, they'd be unsatisfied, I'd lose my reputation.
They went to an agency that accepted. Eight months later they came back: ROAS down 30%, account structure wrecked, three Performance Max campaigns cannibalizing branded search, tracking half-functional.
Now we work together at a normal percentage. The first 3 months were repairs. If they'd come to me directly, they'd have saved 8 months of losses and the cost of the repair work.
7. Conclusion
The threshold protects both sides.
The €15K threshold isn't arrogant. It's protective. It protects the client from paying for a service that can't genuinely be delivered. It protects the expert from burning their reputation on work that was never going to go well.
There's a saying in the industry: "any client is a good client if they pay". False. A client with insufficient budget is a client you'll work hard for, deliver little to, and waste both time and reputation on. Selectivity isn't a luxury — it's strategy.
Performance marketing works under one condition: the resources — media budget, management budget, tracking — must be at the level required for the system to function. Below a certain level, there's no optimization possible. There's only spending money with the illusion that "work is happening".
If you're below €15K/month in ad budget and reading this: don't be discouraged. Build the budget. Focus on ROI before scale. Use good freelancers, or learn yourself. When you cross the threshold, come back.
If you're above €15K/month and paying an agency that doesn't allocate a real expert to your account, the math above tells you exactly what you're doing wrong. Ask your agency how many hours per month they actually work on your account. The answer will tell you everything you need to know.
Above the threshold and want to talk?
Apply for a 30-min call. I don't sell wasted sessions — on the first call you see exactly if we're a fit.
Apply for a call →