CRM for marketing agencies: retainers, hours and profit per client
CustomCRM ties each client’s retainer to the hours your team logs, the creative sent for approval and the monthly invoice. You see which clients make you money and which ones you serve at a loss.
- Time tracking tied directly to the retainer
- Creative approvals with full history
- Media budgets rebilled on separate lines
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Companies that work with the CustomCRM team
What problems does a CRM solve for a marketing agency?
A CRM for a marketing agency stops unbilled hours beyond the retainer, feedback lost between email and WhatsApp, and media budgets entered wrong on the invoice. The common cause: your data lives in apps that don’t talk to each other.
Retainers that cost more than they pay
The client asks for one more set of visuals, one more copy variant, one more call. Without time tracking tied to the retainer, you only find out at the end of the quarter that you worked on that account at a loss.
Approvals scattered across channels
The final banner is in an email, the comments are on WhatsApp, and nobody can find the approval given over the phone. When a scope dispute comes up, you have no history.
Media budgets that are hard to rebill
Spend from Meta Ads and Google Ads is gathered every month from different accounts and typed onto the invoice by hand, next to the management fee. One wrong figure means a canceled invoice.
Monthly reports pieced together by hand
The first days of every month go into collecting deliverables, results and hours for the client report. Your account manager does admin work instead of strategy.
What modules does marketing agency management software include?
Agency management software built on CustomCRM has modules for retainers, projects and campaigns, time tracking, approvals, profitability and proposals, with invoicing, contracts and e-Factura (Romania’s national e-invoicing system) included. You pick only the modules your team actually uses.
Clients and retainers
Every client has a defined retainer: included services, monthly hours, management fee and contract term. You get an alert when the package is almost used up.
Projects and campaigns
Campaigns, launches and one-off projects have tasks, deadlines and owners, on a kanban board from brief to delivered.
Time tracking and timesheets
Your team logs time directly on each task, with a timer or at the end of the day, so every hour lands on the right client and project.
- Billable and non-billable hours
- Hourly rate by role or by client
- Timesheet approval by the team lead
Creative approvals
You send visuals, copy and videos to the client for approval straight from the CRM. Every version and every round of feedback stays saved on the asset.
Profitability by client and project
The report puts the invoiced fee side by side with the cost of logged hours. You see the margin by client, by project and by department.
Proposals and upsell
Proposals start from service templates with your standard prices. When a client keeps going over the package, you have the case for a bigger retainer.
Recurring billing and media budgets
Retainers are invoiced automatically on the set date. Media budgets go on lines separate from the fee, with supporting documents attached.
- Recurring invoices per retainer
- Media rebilling on separate lines
- Payment reminders on the due date
Contracts and addendums
The master agreement, the scope addendum for each campaign and any amendments are generated from templates. You get an alert before the retainer renews.
SPV and e-Factura integration
Invoices go automatically to SPV, the online portal of ANAF (Romania’s tax authority), and you see their status in the CRM. Invoices from Romanian suppliers, from freelancers to print shops, are pulled in automatically.
Included in every CustomCRM
- InvoicingInvoices, pro formas and recurring invoices, payments, due dates and reminders.
- ContractsContracts, annexes and amendments generated from templates, with expiry alerts.
- e-Factura (SPV, ANAF)Invoices go automatically to SPV, the online portal of ANAF (Romania's tax authority), status shows in the CRM, supplier invoices come in on their own.
- Documents and permissionsDocument archive, roles and permissions per user, full history on every client.
- Reports and dashboardsSales, payments, productivity and profitability, by role.
- Integrations and APICustomCRM can connect to your accounting software, email, calendar, website forms and ad leads, with an API for any other system.
See these modules on a real example
In a demo we walk you through the full workflow on a case close to your business. Or start with a free one-hour consultation where we review your process.
Prefer the phone? Call +40 729 743 719
What does running a marketing agency with CustomCRM look like?
With CustomCRM, your agency works from lead to payment in one app, and the proposal, briefs, timesheets, approvals and invoice all sit on the client record.
Lead and proposal
The lead comes from your website form or from Facebook Lead Ads and goes straight into the pipeline. The account manager sends the proposal from a template.
Contract and onboarding
Once the client accepts, the contract and the services addendum are generated automatically. The retainer goes live with the agreed hours and fee.
Brief and execution
Briefs become tasks with deadlines and owners. Your team logs time on each task as they work.
Approval
Creative goes to the client, and feedback is saved on each version. Nothing gets published without a recorded approval.
Report and invoice
At the end of the month, you generate the client report and the recurring invoice, with the media budget on a separate line, sent directly to SPV.
Margin-based decisions
You see the margin on every client and decide where to renegotiate the retainer and where to pitch an upsell.
Which other industries does CustomCRM have CRM versions for?
CustomCRM also has CRM versions for service companies, law firms, gyms and spas, construction, recycling, fleet management, real estate, consulting and education. For any other field, CustomCRM builds tailor-made software.
- Services CRMRequests, scheduling, field teams and maintenance plans.
- Legal CRMCases, deadlines, time tracking and billing from hours.
- Fitness & Spa CRMMemberships, check-in, class and therapist bookings.
- Construction CRMBids, progress billing, subcontractors, e-Transport.
- Recycling CRMWeighing, waste codes, collection routes and reporting.
- Fleet Management CRMVehicles, drivers, renewals, fuel and cost per km.
- Real Estate CRMListings, buyer matching, showings, commissions.
- Consulting CRMOpportunities, phased projects, billable hours.
- Education CRMEnrollment, groups, attendance, fees and parent updates.
- Another industry?We build tailor-made software around your process.
CustomCRM for digital marketing agencies
- What it is: CustomCRM for marketing agencies is a CRM and management software for monthly retainers, projects and campaigns, time tracking per client, creative approvals and recurring billing. It connects to SPV (the Private Virtual Space, the online portal of ANAF, Romania’s tax authority) for e-Factura, Romania’s national e-invoicing system.
- Key benefits:
- See the real profit on every client and project
- Retainers are invoiced automatically every month
- Client feedback on creative stays in one place
- Who it is for: digital marketing agencies, social media agencies, performance and PPC agencies, branding and creative agencies, content studios, account managers, agency directors
- What sets it apart: Your team’s logged hours are measured directly against the hours sold in the retainer, so you spot over-servicing on a client during the month, not when you close it.
- Quick verdict: CustomCRM is the right choice for agencies that work on retainers and want to know which clients bring in money and which ones drain the team. At the end of the month, you see the hours logged, the fee invoiced and the media budget rebilled for each client in a single report.
How is an agency CRM different from Excel or a generic CRM?
A generic CRM tracks sales, Excel holds the hours, and CustomCRM ties the retainer, time tracking, approvals and invoice to the same client. If your agency’s process doesn’t match any template, we start from a custom CRM.
| Process | Excel or generic CRM | CustomCRM |
|---|---|---|
| Retainer tracking | Estimated hours in a separate spreadsheet | Hours used against the package, visible during the month |
| Time tracking | Timesheets filled in from memory, not linked to the client | Hours logged per task, linked to client and project |
| Creative approvals | Email, WhatsApp and comments in shared documents | Versions and feedback saved on every asset |
| Media budgets | Amounts copied onto the invoice by hand | Separate rebilling lines, with supporting documents attached |
| Monthly billing | Invoice issued by hand for each client | Recurring invoices generated automatically and sent to SPV |
| Profitability | Calculated at year end, if at all | Margin by client and project, updated from timesheets |
What does the CRM for your agency integrate with?
CustomCRM can integrate with the tools your agency already uses. Leads from Facebook Lead Ads, Google Ads and your website forms go straight into the pipeline, and emails from Gmail or Outlook land on the client record.
For accounting, we connect the CRM with software used in Romania, such as SmartBill, Oblio or Saga. For any other system there is an API, described on the features page.
Repetitive exports from your ad accounts can be handled with RPA automation, and agencies that also sell strategy consulting can use modules from the CRM for consulting firms.
- ANAF SPV and e-Factura
- SmartBill, Oblio, Saga
- Gmail and Outlook
- Team calendar
- Facebook Lead Ads and Google Ads
- Website forms
- Bank statements
- API for other systems
Frequently asked questions about CRM for marketing agencies
How much does a CRM for a marketing agency cost?
CustomCRM pricing depends on the modules you choose and on usage, not on the number of users. You can add designers, copywriters or outside contractors to the account at no extra cost per person. You pay only for the modules your agency uses, and you get an exact quote after the free consultation, where we review how you work today.
Does it integrate with ANAF’s SPV, e-Factura and our accounting software?
Yes, invoices issued from CustomCRM go to ANAF’s SPV automatically, and you see the status of each one right in the CRM. Supplier invoices are pulled in automatically. For accounting, the CRM can integrate with software used in Romania, such as SmartBill, Oblio or Saga, so you never enter the same invoice twice.
Can we move our data into the CRM from Excel or other software?
Yes, we migrate clients, contacts, active retainers and project history from Excel, Google Sheets or the app you use today. Before the import, we clean up duplicates and agree with you on which data to keep. Your team learns the platform in a 1 to 2 hour training session, so the switch runs alongside your current deliverables.
How long does it take to implement an agency CRM?
It depends on the modules you choose and on how much your agency’s process differs from the starting template, so we set the timeline in the free consultation. We deliver in stages. You usually start with clients, retainers and time tracking, then we add approvals, reports and integrations, so your team works in the CRM as early as possible.
Why not a generic CRM or a project management tool?
A generic CRM tracks sales and a project management tool tracks tasks, but neither one ties logged hours to the retainer and the invoice. CustomCRM starts from a template built for agencies and adapts it to your process, so profit per client comes from your daily data, not from exports merged by hand.
How do we rebill media budgets to the client?
You record the media budget separately from the management fee, for each client and campaign. On the invoice it appears on its own line, with supporting documents attached, and the agency commission is calculated using the rule in your contract. The client clearly sees what is platform spend and what is your team’s work.