For agenciesAgency economics

How do you pass platform costs on to your clients?

TL;DR

Agencies pass on platform software costs by embedding them into retainer fees, charging a percentage-based management markup, or billing them as transparent technology line items.

Investing in creator management software streamlines agency operations, but deciding how to bill these platform costs to clients requires a clear pricing strategy. Agencies typically use one of three transparent approaches to cover software overhead while maintaining healthy margins.

First, incorporate platform costs into your overall service retainers. By packaging software fees directly into fixed monthly management retainers, software is treated as an operational asset, which lets you position your service as an all-inclusive, hassle-free solution.

Second, apply a percentage-based technology or management markup. Charging a standard media-and-tech management fee (usually 15% to 25%) on total campaign budgets seamlessly covers platform licenses, software tools, and administrative handling.

Finally, bill software access as a direct line-item technology fee. For enterprise clients requiring dedicated logins or white-label portals, itemizing a monthly "Tech & Platform Access Fee" ensures full transparency while fully offsetting your software expenses.

Running this for clients? See how Influentials supports agencies with white-label tooling and multi-brand workspaces.

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