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SOW template · Marketing retainers

Performance Marketing Retainer Statement of Work Template

A monthly retainer SOW with deliverable caps for channels, ad variants, landing pages and reports, plus a rollover rule, so account managers stop giving away extra work every month.

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Monthly retainer, 6-month minimum term6 deliverables · 6 exclusions
Performance Marketing Retainer SOW.docx Parsed
6
Deliverables
6
Exclusions
1 per variant
Revision rule

Marketing retainers · Exclusion rule

Media spend, which is paid by the client directly to the platforms.

Ambiguity fix

Agency will manage all paid advertising.

Agency manages Google, Meta and LinkedIn campaigns with monthly spend up to $150,000.

Best for

Paid media agencies running Google, Meta and LinkedIn campaigns on a fixed monthly fee.

Retainers creep one variant at a time. A client asks for five more ad versions for a weekend promo, a new landing page for a webinar, a custom report for the board. Each request is reasonable and none of it is in the fee. This template sets monthly caps by deliverable, defines what happens to unused capacity, and gives account managers a simple rule: over the cap means a change order or a trade.

Copy any clause block below into your own SOW. Numbers, appendix names and tools are placeholders drawn from a typical engagement, so replace them with the counts from your proposal. Every clause is written to be read by a client, not used against one.

§ 2

Deliverables

Count everything. A deliverable a client cannot count is a deliverable a client can expand.

  1. 2.1Management of paid campaigns on up to 3 channels (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads) with monthly media spend up to $150,000.
  2. 2.2Up to 24 new ad creative variants per month across channels, using client-approved brand assets.
  3. 2.3Up to 2 new landing pages per month built in the client's existing landing page tool.
  4. 2.4Weekly performance summary by email and one monthly report with a 45-minute review call.
  5. 2.5Monthly testing plan with up to 4 structured A/B tests.
  6. 2.6Conversion tracking maintenance for existing tags and events.
§ 3

Exclusions (out of scope)

Name what the engagement does not include. These are the lines your PMs will cite most often.

  1. 3.1Media spend, which is paid by the client directly to the platforms.
  2. 3.2Channels not listed, including TikTok, programmatic display, Amazon Ads and affiliate programs.
  3. 3.3Video production, photography and original illustration.
  4. 3.4New tracking implementations, server-side tagging and CRM integration.
  5. 3.5Custom reports, board decks and analysis outside the monthly report.
  6. 3.6Organic social management and SEO.
§ 4

Revision limits

Each creative variant includes one revision round. Landing pages include two revision rounds. Unused variants and landing pages do not roll over to the next month, except where the delay was caused by the agency.

§ 5

Acceptance criteria

Acceptance needs a measurable test and a window. Without both, delivery never formally ends.

  1. 5.1Creative and landing pages are accepted at client approval or launch, whichever comes first.
  2. 5.2Monthly deliverables are accepted on delivery of the monthly report unless the client raises a gap within five business days.
§ 6

Client assumptions & dependencies

Tie each dependency to a date so a late input has a known effect on the schedule.

  1. 6.1The client approves creative within two business days so campaigns can launch on schedule.
  2. 6.2Media spend above $150,000 per month triggers a fee review.
  3. 6.3Brand assets, offers and promotional calendars are shared at least 10 business days before launch.
§ 7

Change control

Requests above any monthly cap, new channels and work listed as excluded are changes. The account manager offers two options in writing: a one-off change order at the Schedule 1 rate, or a trade that removes an equal amount of planned work from the same month. Recurring overages for two consecutive months trigger a retainer tier review.

These clauses are drafting guidance written from agency delivery practice. They are not legal advice. Agencies should have final MSAs and SOWs reviewed by counsel, especially for liability, IP, payment and termination terms, which this template does not cover.

Ambiguity check

The phrases that turn into free work, and what to write instead.

These are the vague lines we see most often in marketing retainers SOWs. Each one sounds reasonable at signature and becomes a dispute three months later.

Ambiguity check1 vague term flagged

Before

Agency will manage all paid advertising.

Safer rewrite

Agency manages Google, Meta and LinkedIn campaigns with monthly spend up to $150,000.

Why it matters: "All paid advertising" includes any channel the CMO reads about next quarter.

How to adapt it

7 steps from template to signed SOW.

A template saves drafting time. The protection comes from replacing every placeholder with the real counts, names and dates from your engagement.

  1. 1

    Read the Performance Marketing Retainer SOW end to end and mark every number, appendix and named tool that does not match your engagement.

  2. 2

    Set caps from the last three months of actual output, then price the tier.

  3. 3

    Write the rollover rule plainly. Clients ask about it in month two.

  4. 4

    Add the trade option so account managers have a non-financial yes.

  5. 5

    Tie a spend ceiling to a fee review so growth in spend grows the fee.

  6. 6

    Run the ambiguity check: search your draft for words like all, any, ongoing, as needed, unlimited and timely, and replace each one with a count, a list or a date.

  7. 7

    Have your counsel review the final MSA and SOW before signature, then load the signed SOW into TWINJAM so every request is checked against it.

Editable Word file

Get the Performance Marketing Retainer SOW as a DOCX.

Every clause on this page in one formatted document, with numbered sections, appendix placeholders for your counts and a one-page change order form to attach to the SOW.

  • 17 numbered clauses
  • Revision and change control language
  • Change order form with hours and rate fields

Performance Marketing Retainer SOW.docx

Editable Word file with appendix placeholders

One email with the file, then The Profitable Agency newsletter. Unsubscribe in one click.

Related templates

Client asking for something outside the SOW already? Use a change order script to raise it warmly.

Signed the SOW? Let TWINJAM hold the line.

TWINJAM turns these clauses into boundary rules, flags Slack and Jira requests that cross them, and drafts the change order with the clause already cited.

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