Run the numbers
Type your budget. See where it goes.
Pick a budget and a business type. The plan, the split and every channel’s output update straight away.
Indicative monthly plan
Fee, exchange rate, channel split and every cost per lead are labelled assumptions. Edit them below ↓
Where the money goes
Indicative estimates built from published US benchmarks converted to AUD, plus editable assumptions. Not a prediction. Firestarter | firestarter.com.au
The minimum spend line
Where the minimum spend line sits.
Rule of thumb used here: a channel isn't worth running unless it can plausibly produce at least leads a month. Below that you get too little data to learn from, and one bad week wipes out the month. The minimum is that lead count multiplied by the cost per lead. Change the target in the assumptions panel.
Agency fees
What Australian agencies typically charge.
| Service | Typical range (AUD / month) |
|---|---|
| SEO retainer | $1,000 to $10,000 |
| Google Ads management (plus ad spend) | $2,000 to $10,000, or a fee of 10 to 20% of ad spend |
| Meta Ads management (plus ad spend) | $2,000 to $8,000 |
| Standard-level general retainer | $1,500 to $6,000 |
Source: Performance Marketer, "How much is a digital marketing agency retainer in Australia?" (2026). This is one agency publisher's published range, not a regulated survey, so treat it as a guide. The calculator's fee line is an editable assumption (default 15% of budget) and it warns when that falls below these ranges.
Assumptions
Assumptions. Edit anything.
Benchmarks are pre-filled from the sources below. Where no published benchmark exists, the number is our own labelled assumption. Changing business type or exchange rate reloads defaults.
Your assumptions
Every figure below feeds the plan above
Channel assumptions
Non-benchmarked assumptions (no published source)
Methodology
How it’s worked out. What it isn’t.
The method. For each business type we start with a typical channel weighting (our editable assumption), take out the agency fee, then split the rest. Paid channels: clicks = spend / CPC, leads = spend / cost per lead. SEO and content are slower: SEO output is a steady-state estimate that typically takes many months to reach. CRM/email does not create new leads, it converts more of the ones you already have, so it is shown as a percentage lift on other channels. The range shown is a flat +/- band, not a statistical confidence interval.
Honest framing. These are indicative estimates, not predictions. Real results depend on offer, creative, landing pages, sales follow-up and competition. Lead quality and close rate are not modelled.
Sources
- Google Ads CPC, CPL, CTR, CVR by industry (USD, US campaigns, April 2024 to March 2025): WordStream, Google Ads Benchmarks 2025. Used: Home & Home Improvement (local service), Shopping, Collectibles & Gifts (ecommerce), Business Services (B2B), Finance & Insurance (finance).
- Meta (Facebook) ads CPC and CPL by industry (USD, data Feb 2023 to Apr 2024): WordStream, Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2024. Leads-campaign CPL used for local, B2B and finance. Ecommerce uses the traffic CPC ($0.68) with an assumed 2% click-to-conversion rate, which is our assumption.
- Agency fee ranges (AUD): Performance Marketer, Digital marketing agency retainer in Australia (2026).
- SaaS: no comparable published benchmark was found, so SaaS uses the Business Services figures as a proxy. Treat SaaS numbers as rough.
- Currency: the benchmarks are US dollars and US-based. We convert at an editable rate (default 1.50). Australian CPCs can differ from US ones, so use your own account data where you have it.