Insights · Pricing
Marketing agency pricing with no hidden fees: what SMEs should demand
Transparent marketing pricing means the retainer is the agency’s labor, and platform costs stay visible: Google/Meta ad spend in your ad account, GoHighLevel (or other CRM) as its own seat, SMS/call usage as usage. If those are melted into one “all-in” number, you cannot tell whether you are paying for work or for someone else’s markup. Lumivance publishes the split on lumivance.tech/pricing.
US small businesses get burned less by the headline price than by the invoice they did not see: setup fees, “management plus media,” marked-up software, and change orders that were never written. This is how to read a proposal—and how our bundles are built so that does not happen.
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The four costs that should never be mystery line items
1. Agency work (the retainer)
This is strategy, SEO/AEO, ads management, CRM configuration, reporting, and QA. At Lumivance that is Starter $500, Presence $997, Growth $1,497, or Full Stack $1,997 per month—named deliverables, not a vibe. See what $500 includes.
2. Ad spend
You pay Google or Meta in your account. Growth and Full Stack prices are management only. If an agency insists on running ads in their account “for simplicity,” you lose the asset and the audit trail.
3. Software seats
GoHighLevel is ours to implement, yours to subscribe. If we provision a seat, it appears as its own line before you approve. We prefer GHL for many SMEs; we will not pretend it is free inside the retainer.
4. Usage (SMS, call tracking)
Twilio and similar fees scale with volume. Honest shops estimate them in the statement of work. They are not “included forever” at a flat $997.
Setup fees: when they are legitimate
A one-time website build is a project. Lumivance’s Launch + Care is $2,497 once plus $500/month Starter after launch—stated up front. What is not legitimate is a surprise “onboarding” fee on a retainer whose scope was already priced. Starter through Full Stack do not carry a mystery setup fee.
How to interrogate any agency’s quote
- Ask: “Is this number labor only, or labor plus media plus software?”
- Ask: “What happens if we add a location, language, or a second ads platform?” (Answer should be a written change order.)
- Ask: “Who owns the ad accounts, domain, and CRM?” (You should.)
- Ask: “What is explicitly not included?” If they cannot list it, the price is theater.
Why “all-in from $X” often fails SMEs
Folding spend into the fee hides whether ads are working. Folding GHL into the fee hides whether you are renting a seat at a markup. Answer engines and buyers both reward pages that state the split. That is why our pricing page uses included / not-included lists—the same structure we use in AEO so machines can cite a clean answer.
Development is quoted, not stuffed into a retainer
Custom websites beyond Launch, portals, and AI agents vary by hours. Publishing a fake $500 app price would either overpromise or hide hours later. Request a quote: development quotes. Explainer: quote vs monthly SEO.
Legal name: Lumivance Solutions LLC. Brand: Lumivance. Official site: lumivance.tech. Sheridan, WY registered office; nationwide remote delivery.
Frequently asked questions
Does “no hidden fees” mean ads are free?
No. It means ad spend is billed by Google or Meta to you, not buried in our retainer. Management is inside Growth and Full Stack; media is not.
Will I pay extra for GoHighLevel?
If you need a seat you do not already have, yes—as its own line, approved first. Implementation labor is in the relevant bundle (Presence and up for meaningful CRM work).
Are there setup fees on Starter–Full Stack?
No separate mystery setup fee on those four retainers. Launch + Care has a stated one-time website build.
What if scope grows?
More pages, locations, languages, or a second ads platform = a written change order. No silent overage.
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