Let’s play a quick game: imagine your marketing budget is a bucket of water. Every campaign, every ad, every deliverable is supposed to fill it with ROI. But what if there are holes in that bucket? How much money is slipping away without you even noticing?
Traditional retainer models hide these leaks. Hour-based marketing subscriptions expose them—and plug them fast.
Here are the 5 most common marketing budget leaks we see with new clients (and how Savage fixes them).
1. Paying for Unused Deliverables
With retainers, you pay for a fixed set of outputs—even if you don’t need them. Did you really need five blogs this month? Or three banner ads no one clicks? That’s wasted money.
Hour-Based Fix: Hours can be reassigned instantly. If you don’t need five blogs, reallocate those hours into CRO testing or paid ads.
2. Reporting That Doesn’t Prove ROI
Pretty PowerPoints don’t drive sales. Yet many agencies spend hours crafting glossy reports that look great but don’t prove impact.
Hour-Based Fix: With Lionshare.app, reporting is real-time and actionable. You see where hours went and what ROI they produced—no fluff, just facts.
3. Over-Investing in Low-Impact Tasks
We’ve all seen it: hours spent tweaking banner designs while the sales funnel is leaking leads. That’s not strategy—it’s waste.
Hour-Based Fix: Transparency highlights where time is spent. If too many hours go into low-impact tasks, leaders can redirect them toward initiatives that matter.
4. Endless Scope Creep Meetings
Need to pivot mid-month? With retainers, you’re stuck in renegotiations. Weeks of meetings = wasted dollars.
Hour-Based Fix: Scope flexibility is baked in. Just reassign hours to new priorities, no red tape.
5. CFOs Who Keep Asking Questions
If your CFO keeps asking, “What are we really paying for?”—that’s a leak in itself. Lack of trust drains momentum, credibility, and ultimately, budget.
Hour-Based Fix: With transparent tracking, you can answer any CFO question instantly. Every hour is visible, every spend justified.
Real-World Example
A retail client discovered that 22% of their agency hours were going into reporting and design revisions that weren’t impacting ROI. After moving to hour-based:
- 15% of hours shifted to PPC optimizations.
- CTR improved by 27%.
CFO stopped questioning the budget—and started supporting increases.
Final Word
Budget leaks don’t just cost money—they cost credibility. Hour-based marketing subscriptions ensure every hour, every dollar, and every campaign is accounted for. No more holes. Just ROI.
