By Metridata Editorial Team · Updated October 2026 · 6 min read · Paid Ads
More companies in Europe, North America and the Gulf now hire performance marketers in Africa. The usual reasons are lower fees, English-speaking teams and working hours that overlap with the UK and Europe. Nairobi is two to three hours ahead of London depending on the season, and seven to eight hours ahead of New York. The harder part is knowing what to ask before you sign, because a cheap agency that cannot show you what a lead costs is expensive in practice.
1. How will you measure results?
Ask which number the agency reports first. Good answers are cost per lead, cost per booked call or cost per sale. Weak answers are impressions, reach and clicks, which are easy to grow without bringing in a single customer. Ask to see a sample monthly report before you commit.
2. Whose accounts are they?
Your Google Ads and Meta ad accounts should be in your name, with the agency added as a manager. If the agency owns the account, the campaign history and audience data leave with them when you do. Also confirm that ad spend is paid straight to Google or Meta from your own payment method. Agencies that collect your ad budget and pass it on add a layer of cost and risk.
3. What does the contract say about leaving?
Month-to-month terms with 30 days notice are common and reasonable. Be careful with 6 or 12 month lock-ins on a first engagement. Performance marketing needs a few weeks of data before anyone can judge it, so a short, clear trial period protects both sides.
4. How do you pay, and in what currency?
Ask for invoices in your own currency or in US dollars, and check which payment methods the agency accepts. Fees should be separate from ad spend on every invoice, so you can see exactly what you are paying for management and what is going to the platforms.
5. What happens to personal data?
If your campaigns collect names, emails or phone numbers from people in the UK or EU, the rules of those regions follow the data. Ask how the agency stores lead data, who can see it and whether it will sign a data processing agreement. A clear, specific answer matters more than a long one.
What management costs
Prices vary widely. Published rates from agencies in the US and UK commonly start in the high hundreds of dollars a month for small accounts and rise from there, or take 10 to 20 percent of ad spend. At Metridata, management for international clients starts at $450 a month for one platform and $750 a month for Google Ads and Meta together. There is also a hybrid option of $450 plus 12 percent of ad spend for budgets of $3,000 a month and above. We recommend ad spend of at least $1,000 a month per platform, paid directly to Google or Meta.
How to start
Start with a short call. Tell the agency what a customer is worth to you, how many leads you can handle each week and what you have tried so far. A good agency will tell you honestly whether paid ads make sense for your business yet. If you would like to talk it through, our performance marketing and paid media service page has the details, and you can book a free 20-minute strategy call from here.
