Performance Marketing
2026-10-01 · 10 min read
Sapun Lamichhane
Founder & CEO of Arcetis
In 2026 NPR terms, agency management fees in Nepal sort into honest bands. A single managed channel — SEO only, or social media only — typically runs about Rs 15,000 to Rs 60,000 per month. A multi-channel programme that runs paid ads, SEO, and content together usually lands around Rs 30,000 to Rs 80,000 per month and up, depending on scope. Below roughly Rs 20,000 per month, a programme is almost always spread too thin across too many channels to produce a result worth measuring.
Crucially, those are management fees — what you pay a team to plan, run, and report the work. They do not include the ad spend itself, which is money that goes to Google or Meta, not to the agency. A business running Google or Meta ads needs a separate media budget on top of the management fee, and conflating the two is the single most common reason a Nepal digital marketing engagement disappoints: the ads get starved so the invoice looks smaller.
“The two numbers that decide whether digital marketing pays are the ones most quotes blur together: the agency's fee to manage the work, and the ad budget that actually buys the reach. Confuse them and you will either underfund the ads or overpay for management.”
SEO: a structured SEO programme in Nepal generally starts around Rs 30,000 per month, with competitive local or national campaigns running higher. SEO is a compounding, multi-month investment — the honest version of it does not produce results in week two, and anyone promising rankings by a fixed date is selling a timeline they cannot control.
Social media management: managing a Facebook and Instagram presence — content, posting, community, light boosting — commonly runs Rs 15,000 to Rs 60,000 per month depending on how much original content (photography, video, design) is produced. The gap between the low and high end is almost entirely production volume.
Google Ads and Meta Ads: management fees for paid media typically scale with the media budget under management rather than a flat rate, because a Rs 20,000/month account and a Rs 5,00,000/month account are not the same amount of work. On top of the fee sits the ad spend. A realistic starting media budget for a Nepal SMB is often Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 per month, enough to gather real signal without being wasted.
Content and creative: blog writing, graphics, and video packages range widely — roughly Rs 5,000 to Rs 40,000 per month — and are frequently bundled into the above rather than bought alone.
Three things move a digital marketing quote far more than the channel list. First, how much original creative is produced: a programme where the agency writes, shoots, and designs costs more than one where you supply finished content — and a programme launched with thin or borrowed creative rarely performs, so this cost is real whether or not it is itemised.
Second, whether the work is actually tracked to outcomes. A cheap retainer that reports likes and impressions is cheaper than one that installs proper conversion tracking, connects a CRM, and reports leads and revenue — because the second one takes engineering and discipline the first one skips. The cheaper number often costs more per result.
Third, whether you are hiring management or execution. An agency that plans strategy but hands execution to juniors, or outsources it, quotes differently from one where experienced people run the account. In Nepal's market both exist at similar headline prices, which is why the price alone tells you very little.
A freelancer or a very small shop will usually quote at the bottom of every band, and for a business validating a single channel that can be the right call. What you typically trade away is continuity (one person's availability is the whole service), breadth (one skill set rather than ads plus engineering plus tracking), and accountability if something breaks.
A registered agency costs more because it is a team with process, redundancy, and a paper trail — VAT bills, contracts, and ownership of your own accounts and data. For a business spending real money on ads, that structure is usually worth the premium, because the failure modes of the cheap option — a lost account, an untracked campaign, an unanswered lead — cost more than the fee difference.
Start by separating the two numbers: decide a management scope and a media budget as distinct lines, and protect the media budget — a well-run account with too little spend still cannot buy enough data to optimise. A common, workable first-quarter shape for a Nepal SMB is a management fee in the Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 range plus a media budget of similar size, then scaling what works.
Then judge the quote on what it is tracked to, not its size. Ask any prospective agency exactly what is delivered, how results are measured (leads and revenue beat likes and impressions), and who owns the accounts and data. Arcetis scopes engagements from around Rs 20,000 and prices management against the media budget rather than a flat rate, and every campaign is reconciled against CRM-verified outcomes — because when the money is real, the only honest metric is return, not reach.
Usually not. The management fee pays the team to run and report the work; the ad spend is separate money that goes to Google or Meta. Always confirm which a quote refers to — many Nepal engagements disappoint because the ads were underfunded to keep the invoice small.
Below roughly Rs 20,000 per month of management, effort is usually spread too thin to produce a measurable result. For paid ads, add a media budget on top — often Rs 20,000–60,000/month to start — so the account can gather enough signal to optimise.
Because 'the same service' hides very different work: how much original creative is produced, whether results are actually tracked to leads and revenue, and whether experienced people or juniors run the account. Price alone tells you little — judge the quote on what it is delivered and measured against.
