Frequently asked questions

Everything you might want to ask.

No jargon, no “it depends”. Real answers on pricing, contracts, timelines, and how each service works. If your question isn’t here, just ask us.

Working with us

How fast can a digital marketing agency in India actually start working on my brief?
Most briefs go live within 14 days. Some inside a week. We’re small — there’s no committee, no approval ladder, no kickoff that takes three meetings.
What if we don’t like the first round of work?
We rework. No charge, no “that’s out of scope” emails. The first revision is baked into how we price, because it should be.
Do we need to sign a long contract with you?
No. Month-to-month for retainers (SEO is the one exception, with a 3-month minimum). One-shot for projects. If we’re not earning the next month, you shouldn’t have to pay for it.
Are you only an Indian agency, or do you work internationally?
We’re based in India and most clients are too — but we’ve shipped for brands in Singapore, Dubai, and the UK. The work travels.
What kinds of clients do you not take?
We’re picky about who we work with. If your goal is “make me go viral” without a real product behind it, we’ll politely pass. We don’t take work we can’t be proud of.
Why is the agency called SocialMocktail?
Because most agencies make you feel like you walked into a wine tasting without knowing the vocabulary. We’d rather pour you something refreshing and explain exactly what’s in it.

Pricing & contracts

How much does it cost to work with SocialMocktail?
It depends on the service, but we publish real starting numbers instead of hiding behind “it depends”. Social media from ₹40,000/mo, paid media and influencer from ₹50,000/mo, email from ₹35,000/mo, SEO from ₹65,000/mo, brand identity from ₹85,000, websites from ₹45,000, and a fixed-fee marketing audit at ₹45,000. You get an exact quote before anything starts.
Are there setup or hidden fees?
No setup fees and no surprise line items. Retainers are a flat monthly fee; projects are a fixed quote. With paid media and influencer work, ad spend and creator fees are passed through at cost with no markup.
Do you lock me into a long contract?
No. Retainers are month-to-month with 30 days’ notice. The one exception is SEO, which has a 3-month minimum because it genuinely doesn’t move faster than that. Projects are one-off.
How do you take payment?
Monthly in advance for retainers; projects are typically split into a deposit to start and a balance on delivery. You get a proper invoice every time.
Can we start small and scale up?
Yes, and most clients do. Start with one service or a single audit, see whether you like working with us, and add from there. We’d rather earn the expansion than lock you into a big bundle on day one.
What’s the lowest-risk way to start?
A one-off marketing audit at ₹45,000. You get a written, prioritised plan you can act on with or without us — the cheapest way to find out if we’re worth a retainer.

Social Media Management

Is there a lock-in contract for social media management?
No. It’s month-to-month with 30 days’ notice. We earn next month by being useful this month — if we’re not, you leave. Most clients stay because the work is good, not because a contract traps them.
How quickly can you start?
Usually within a week of the brief and account access. The first two weeks are setup — voice, content pillars, a 30-day calendar — then we publish.
What do you need from us to begin?
A short brief, access to your social accounts (handled through a password manager, never plain text), your logo and brand assets, and one person who can approve content. That’s it.
Which platforms do you manage?
Instagram, LinkedIn, and X/Twitter are our core. We’ll tell you honestly if a platform isn’t worth your time rather than charge you to post into the void.

More about Social media →

Influencer Marketing

How do you find the right creators?
We shortlist on real engagement and audience fit, not follower count. A 15k-follower creator whose audience actually buys beats a 500k account with an inflated media kit. We check the numbers before we spend your money.
Is there a lock-in contract?
No. Campaigns are scoped per campaign, or month-to-month for ongoing programmes. You’re never locked in.
Do you handle creator payments and contracts?
Yes. We negotiate, contract, brief, and pay creators, and we keep usage rights clear so you can run their content as paid ads later. You get one invoice, not twenty.
How do you measure whether it worked?
Trackable links, promo codes, and platform analytics — not screenshots of likes. We report reach, engagement, clicks, and where possible, sales attributed to each creator.

More about Influencer marketing →

Brand & Identity

How long does a brand identity take?
Most identities take 3–5 weeks depending on scope — discovery, direction, design, and a usable toolkit. We don’t drag it out to look busy.
What do I actually get?
A logo system, colour, type, and a practical brand guide your team can actually use — plus the working files. Not a 90-page PDF nobody opens.
Is this a one-off project or a retainer?
Brand identity is a fixed-scope project, not a retainer. You own everything when we’re done. Many clients then move onto monthly content or social, but there’s no obligation.
Can you refresh our existing brand instead of starting over?
Often yes. If your brand has equity worth keeping, we’ll evolve it rather than throw it away — and we’ll tell you honestly which parts are working.

More about Brand and identity →

Websites & Landing Pages

How long does a site take to build?
A focused landing page is usually 2–3 weeks; a fuller site, 4–8 depending on pages and content readiness. We give you a real timeline up front, not a hopeful one.
Will I be able to edit it myself?
Yes, if you want. We’ll build on a CMS (usually Webflow or WordPress) and hand over a site you can update without calling us. If you’d rather not touch it, we’ll maintain it.
Do you write the copy or just design?
We can do both. Good landing pages are written and designed together — handing a designer finished copy, or a writer a finished design, is how pages end up flat.
Is it built to convert, not just look nice?
That’s the whole point. We build around one clear action per page, fast load on Indian mobile networks, and analytics so you can see what’s working.

More about Websites →

Paid Media

What’s the minimum ad budget to work with you?
We generally start with brands spending at least ₹1,00,000/month on media. Below that, the maths rarely justifies a managed service — and we’ll say so.
Is there a lock-in contract?
No. Paid media is month-to-month. If the numbers don’t work you can stop, though we’ll usually ask for 2–3 months to get past the learning phase.
How is your fee structured?
A flat monthly management fee, not a percentage of spend. We don’t profit from talking you into bigger budgets — our incentive is your return, not your bill.
When is paid media the wrong answer?
When your offer, landing page, or product-market fit isn’t ready. Ads amplify what you have; if the foundation leaks, we’ll tell you to fix that first instead of taking your money.

More about Paid media →

Content & Creators

What kind of content do you produce?
Short-form video, photography, and graphics built for Instagram, LinkedIn, and ads — the formats that actually perform, not generic stock.
Do you shoot in-house or use creators?
Both. We have a production setup and a creator network, and we pick whichever gets you better content for the budget. We’ll be honest about which suits you.
Is there a lock-in contract?
No. Content production is month-to-month or per project.
Can you turn one shoot into many posts?
Yes — that’s the efficient way to do it. One good shoot day can feed weeks of posts, ads, and stories. We plan for that, not one-and-done.

More about Content production →

SEO & Analytics

How long until I see SEO results?
Realistically 3–6 months for meaningful movement, which is why we run a 3-month minimum. Anyone promising page one in 30 days is selling something we wouldn’t buy.
Is there a lock-in contract?
A 3-month minimum, because SEO genuinely doesn’t move in 30 days. After that it’s month-to-month. We don’t trap you in annual contracts.
Do you guarantee rankings?
No — and you should walk away from anyone who does. We guarantee the work, the method, and honest reporting. Google decides the rest.
Do you cover AI search like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews?
Yes, by default. Showing up in AI answers needs schema, llms.txt, and citable content structure. We build for both classic search and AI answer engines.

More about SEO and analytics →

Email & Lifecycle

Which email platform do you work with?
Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and the common Shopify-friendly tools. If you’re already on one, we’ll work in it rather than force a migration.
Is there a lock-in contract?
No — email and lifecycle work is month-to-month with 30 days’ notice.
Which flows do you set up first?
Usually welcome, abandoned-cart and browse-abandon, and post-purchase — the flows that earn money while you sleep — before we touch one-off campaigns.
How do you measure success?
Revenue per recipient, flow revenue, and list health — not vanity open rates. We report what email actually contributes to sales.

More about Email and lifecycle →

Marketing Audits

What exactly do I get from an audit?
A written, plain-English report of what’s working, what’s wasting money, and a prioritised list of what to do next — yours to keep and act on, with or without us.
How long does an audit take?
Two weeks from the point we have access. We don’t drip-feed it to look thorough.
Do I have to hire you afterwards?
No. The audit is a fixed-fee, standalone product. Plenty of clients take the report and run it themselves — that’s a perfectly good outcome.
What do you look at?
Your channels, spend, analytics, website, content, and positioning — wherever the money and the leaks actually are.

More about Marketing audits →

Still have a question?

We’ll write back within 24 hours, honestly, with whether we can help.

Pour us a brief