Best Digital Marketing Agencies in Melbourne

How we ranked Melbourne's digital marketing agencies

We looked at 124 Melbourne businesses that present themselves as digital marketing, general marketing or social media agencies. To be scored, an agency needed at least 20 Google reviews, a working website and a genuine presence in Australia, and 73 passed. The bar is lower than for the trades because an agency's reviewers are client businesses, and there are far fewer of those than households. Groups with several offices count once, through whichever Melbourne office has the best reviews.

The 73 eligible agencies average 4.89 stars, so the star figure by itself tells you little. Our score gives weight to client numbers: a perfect 5.0 from 30 clients scores about 4.67, while a 4.9 from 300 scores about 4.83 and ranks higher. The 10 listed run from 4.86 down to 4.77. Use that order as a starting point, then choose on channel fit, staffing and contract terms. Nobody can pay to move up.

How the score works →

How much does a digital marketing agency cost in Melbourne?

Most agencies charge a monthly retainer for each channel they manage. Published Australian pricing for small and medium businesses sits between $1,000 and $4,000 a month per channel, so search ads plus paid social plus email means three fees, not one. Some larger agencies publish starting fees above $4,000 for a single channel. Quotes are usually exclusive of GST, so confirm that point before you put two proposals side by side.

Advertising spend is separate from the agency's fee and goes to the ad platform, always billed on top. For managing the ads, a flat monthly fee is the most common published model. Some agencies charge a percentage of your spend instead, typically 10 to 20 per cent with a minimum fee. A percentage fee rises whenever your budget does, so ask what extra work a bigger budget buys from the team.

Setup fees are common for new ad accounts, with published figures from $499 to $2,000, and they often surface only at proposal stage. Read the term closely as well. A contract advertised as one you are not locked into can still carry an initial period of three, six or twelve months. Ask for the minimum term, the notice period and every charge made only once in writing before you sign anything or hand over access.

Who owns the ad accounts and the data if you leave?

The cleanest arrangement is an advertising account opened in your business's name, with the agency added as a manager. Google's rules for agencies require a separate Google Ads account for each client, and say the agency must give you that account's customer ID when you ask. If your campaigns sit inside an account only the agency can open, the campaign history stays with them when the contract ends, and a new provider starts from nothing.

Google also sets a reporting floor. You have a right to know, at a minimum, the clicks, impressions and cost of your ads, and the cost reported must be the amount Google charged, without the agency's own fee folded in. Any management fee has to be disclosed in writing before your first purchase and shown on invoices. A monthly report that blends media spend and fees into one figure falls short of that.

• Is the ad account in my business's name, and do I have administrator access from day one?
• Will your reports show the amount paid to the ad platform separately from your management fee?
• Who owns the ad creative, landing pages and audience lists you build for us once the contract ends?
• Which channel is your strongest, and can I speak with a current client you manage on it?
• Who will work on my account each week, and how many other accounts do they look after?

Can a marketing agency guarantee leads or sales?

Under the Australian Consumer Law, any claim a business makes about its services has to be accurate and backed by reasonable grounds, and that covers sales pitches, proposals and testimonials as much as advertisements. A forecast needs solid evidence behind it at the time it is made. It makes no difference whether the agency meant to mislead. The ACCC is plain that these rules also protect one business dealing with another.

So a promise of a fixed number of leads deserves questions about what it rests on. Ask for the past results behind the forecast, in your industry and at your budget. On Google's ad platform no outsider controls placement. Google states that a specific ad position cannot be guaranteed, because position is decided by an auction that reruns with every search, and its agency rules prohibit guarantees of top placement.

You also have statutory guarantees. When a business buys a service costing less than $100,000 including GST, the consumer guarantees apply. The work must be carried out with due care and skill, be fit for purpose and, where no deadline was agreed, be delivered within a reasonable time. Those three tests are worth quoting in writing when campaigns have been neglected, set up carelessly or left running without anyone checking them.

What are the rules for email and SMS marketing in Australia?

The Spam Act 2003 applies to the marketing emails and texts your business sends, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority enforces it. You need the recipient's permission first. Express consent means the person knows and accepts that they will hear from you, and you must keep a record of who agreed, when and how. Inferred consent exists but is narrow, so build the list on people who expressly sign up.

Each message needs a clear unsubscribe option that stays functional for at least 30 days after sending. Requests must be actioned within five working days, with no fee, no login and no demand for extra personal details. Text messages that display a brand name as the sender must use an ID registered on the SMS Sender ID Register, otherwise they are labelled as unverified when they reach the customer's phone.

Hiring an agency does not move the legal risk. Under the Spam Act, the business that sends messages, or causes someone else to send them, is the one that must hold consent, so a supplier's word about a list does not protect you. Be wary of any proposal built on a purchased database. Tracking pixels follow similar logic: the privacy regulator's guidance says a business covered by the Privacy Act stays responsible for the pixels it places on its own website.

Being locked into a contract, and what to do if the relationship sours

Most agency agreements are standard form contracts: the agency's template, offered with little room to negotiate. Since 9 November 2023 it has been unlawful to propose, use or rely on unfair terms in such contracts where the client has fewer than 100 employees or turns over less than $10 million a year. A court can declare an unfair term void, and penalties now apply to the business that wrote it.

The ACCC's examples of terms that may be unfair include clauses that let one party, but not the other, end the contract or change its terms. In an agency agreement, look for a renewal that rolls over unless you cancel inside a short window, fee increases the agency can impose without a matching right for you to leave, and exit charges. Raise them before signing and get the answer by email.

If a dispute cannot be settled directly, the Victorian Small Business Commission handles disputes where at least one side is a Victorian small business, including contract disputes and unpaid invoices. Its preliminary assistance is free. If that fails, mediation costs each party $300 for a session of half a day or $600 for a full day, and the Commission reports that 69 per cent of its mediations succeeded in 2024/25. Keep the contract, monthly reports and emails together from the first day.