Marketing Agency Invoice Template
Agency invoices go sideways when $2,000 of ad spend and a $3,500 retainer sit in one blob and someone in finance decides your fee is $5,500. Keep the retainer, the pass-through media budget, and one-off campaign work on separate lines and the invoice gets approved instead of questioned.
Bill in your currency, give each workstream its own line, and download a PDF your client's finance team can process without scheduling a call.
Tip: in the print dialog choose “Save as PDF”.
INVOICE
#INV-0001
Issued: —
Due: —
From
—
Bill to
—
| Description | Qty | Price | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | 1 | $3,500.00 | $3,500.00 |
| Ad spend (pass-through) | 1 | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 |
| Landing page campaign | 1 | $1,200.00 | $1,200.00 |
Subtotal$6,700.00
Tax (0%)$0.00
Total$6,700.00
Invoicing tips for marketing agencys
- Label ad spend as pass-through. Otherwise someone compares your "fee" to another agency's and wonders why you're so expensive.
- Bill retainers at the start of the period and variable work in arrears, once you know what actually ran.
- Reference the campaign or PO number. Finance teams match invoices to POs, and one without a number tends to sit in a queue.
Frequently asked questions
- Should ad spend be on the agency invoice?
- It can be, as long as it's clearly labeled as pass-through media cost so no one mixes it up with your service fee. Some agencies invoice it separately to keep things even cleaner.
- How do agencies bill retainers?
- One line for the retainer covering the period, then separate lines for any out-of-scope project work. That second part is where scope creep finally gets paid for.