An audit or a strategy project is often the first paid work an agency does for a client, and the price sets the tone for everything after it. Price it too low and the client expects a cheap retainer; too high without explanation and they never sign. Here is a way to price it that you can defend line by line.
Step 1: Scope it before you price it
Two audits can differ tenfold in effort. Pin down the scope in writing before any number:
- Which platforms, and how far back: three platforms over six months is a different job from one over a year.
- Organic only, or paid as well. Paid needs access to the ad accounts and a different skill.
- How many competitors to benchmark, and which.
- What the client gets: a report, a presentation, a workshop, a 90-day plan.
- Whether a full strategy follows, or is a separate project.
Step 2: Know what the market shows
Price lists are rare, but a few are public. Giraffe Social Media in the UK prices audits from GBP 750 before VAT, covering organic, paid, creative and influencer activity plus competitors, delivered as a report and presentation in two to four weeks. Statusbrew, in 2024, put a basic social strategy at USD 500 to 1,500 and a premium one at USD 1,500 to 3,500 and up. These are the floor of the market, not a ceiling.
For a UAE reference point, Dubai agency RedBerries publishes retainer ranges of AED 2,500 to 5,000 a month for 8 to 12 posts, AED 6,000 to 15,000 with video, ads and bilingual copy, and AED 16,000 to 45,000 and up for enterprise work. An audit that leads to a retainer at the upper end of those ranges is worth pricing seriously. There is no credible published survey of UAE agency day rates, so do not anchor on numbers you see quoted online without a source.
Step 3: Work out what a day of your time costs
Take the full monthly cost of the people who will do the work, salary plus visa, insurance and gratuity, and add their share of rent and tools. Divide by the days they can realistically bill. Here is an example, not a market rate: a strategist who costs AED 30,000 a month all in, with 18 billable days, costs about AED 1,670 a day. To make a 50% gross margin, you need to charge about AED 3,330 a day for that time.
Step 4: Estimate the days, then price the outcome
List the work and the days it takes: pulling and cleaning the data, reviewing content, benchmarking competitors, writing the findings, preparing and running the workshop. Multiply by your day rate to get your floor. Then ask what the audit is worth to the client: the budget it will redirect, the retainer it informs. Price at or above the floor, as a fixed fee for the outcome, not as hours.
Here is a sample quote from a sample agency, made with Wiro's free quotation generator: a three-platform audit with three competitors, plus a findings workshop and a written 90-day plan, at AED 13,000 before VAT, half on signing and half on delivery, valid for 30 days.
Step 5: Protect the price
- Quote a fixed fee with the scope beside it. When the client asks for a fourth platform, the scope shows it is extra.
- Ask for half upfront. It confirms the client is serious and pays for the time you spend before the first meeting.
- Keep strategy separate from the audit. An audit finds the problems; a strategy decides what to do about them.
- If you want the retainer, credit part of the audit fee against the first month rather than discounting the audit.
Price the decision the audit informs, not the hours it takes.
A well-priced audit does two jobs: it pays for itself, and it shows the client how you think before they commit to a retainer. Both are worth more than the few thousand dirhams a cheap audit would save them.
