How we work
A written plan, real numbers, and a team that owns the outcome.
You should never have to wonder what your agency did this month or what it produced. Here is how an engagement with Surge runs, from the first conversation to the monthly report.
The terms, in plain English
No surprises. Here is how we work before you ever talk to us.
Clear scope, honest pricing
Every engagement starts with a written plan: services, deliverables, fees, and the numbers we are accountable for. We map out the most cost-effective way to hit the goal and price it for the real work. Never padded. Work outside the plan is quoted first.
Billed monthly in advance
One invoice on the 1st for the month ahead. Ad spend is billed by the platforms directly to your card, never marked up.
One-time onboarding fee
Covers the setup work: audits, tracking, account cleanup and any builds needed before the monthly work can start.
You own your work
Your website, your ad accounts, your content and your data. Once it is paid for, it is yours, during the engagement and after.
Transparent reporting
A monthly report in plain English plus live status on your shared project board. If we did not do something, you will see that too.
Honesty clause
If something is not working, we will tell you and change course. If we are not the right fit for what you need, we will tell you that too.
The full working agreement is a short document you sign at onboarding. Read the public summary.
From first click to first report
Four steps to start.
01
Apply
Five minutes on our application. It tells us about your business, your goals and your budget so the first call is useful instead of a sales pitch.
02
Fit call
Thirty minutes. We ask hard questions, you ask yours. If we are not the right fit we will say so and point you somewhere better.
03
Plan and onboarding
A written plan with what we will do, what it costs and how we measure it. Onboarding handles access, tracking and the audit work in the first two weeks.
04
Monthly execution
We do the work, you watch it happen on your shared project board, and we review the numbers together every month. The plan adjusts to what the numbers say.
Onboarding
What the first 30 days look like.
Week 1
Access and audit
You hand over logins (or we set them up in your name). We audit the site, tracking, profiles and ad accounts and send you a short, honest write-up of what we found.
Week 2
Tracking and fixes
GA4, Tag Manager, call tracking and conversions get installed or repaired first, so every number from here on is real. Urgent fixes from the audit get done.
Weeks 3 to 4
The plan, then the work
A written plan on your project board: what we do each month, what you will see, how we measure it. Then we start executing against it.
Monthly
Report and call
A plain-English report of what we did and what it produced, plus a call to go through it. We adjust the plan based on the numbers, not the calendar.
Reporting and your project board
You will always know what we did and what it produced.
Two things every month: a report that answers "what did this produce" in plain English, and a 30-minute call to go through it. In between, your shared project board shows what is in progress, what is done and what we need from you, so you never have to ask.
- Every task, deadline and deliverable in one shared board
- Comment, approve and upload files right on the task
- A plain-English report and a review call every month
What we expect from you
It is a partnership, which means you have a part.
A partnership cuts both ways. We cannot do good work for a client who is not around, and we will say so.
- Answer our questions within a few business days. Most delays on a project are waiting on access or approvals.
- Give us real access: website, Google Business Profile, ad accounts, analytics. We will set it up properly in your name if it does not exist.
- Tell us about changes in the business: new locations, new hours, a promotion, a bad month. Marketing that does not know what is happening cannot help.
- Give it 90 days. We show you the trend monthly, but SEO and most paid campaigns need a quarter before judging.
- Pay on time. Invoices go out on the 1st, net 15. Ad spend is on your card so there are never surprises.
Questions people ask before applying
- How do the agreements work?
- Every engagement has a written scope: the services, the deliverables, the fees, and the numbers we are accountable for. The term and the terms are in the proposal, in plain English, before you sign anything.
- Why is there an onboarding fee?
- Because the first month involves setup work that has to happen before the monthly work can: audits, tracking, cleanup, builds. It is priced once, up front, and listed in the proposal.
- Do I own the ad accounts and the website?
- Yes. Everything is created in your name, and anything we build is yours once it is paid for. If you leave, you keep it all.
- How do I know what you actually did?
- Your shared project board logs it: tasks, updates, files, and the things we are waiting on. Plus the monthly report. If a line item is not in there, we did not do it.
- What if it isn't working?
- We tell you, and we change the plan. If we think the problem is something we cannot fix, we will tell you that too, even if it means ending the engagement.