Nobody in this industry publishes prices, which leaves you guessing whether a quote is fair. This is what the work actually costs in Switzerland, what pushes the number up and down, and what a suspiciously cheap offer usually means.
The three shapes a quote comes in
A monthly retainer is the common one. You agree a number of posts and filming days per month and pay the same amount each month whether that month was busy or quiet. It suits businesses that need a feed to keep moving.
A project fee covers something with an end. A launch, a website, a set of films for a campaign. You know the total before it starts and there is nothing to cancel afterwards.
A day rate buys someone with a camera for a day. It is the cheapest per hour and the most expensive per result, because the thinking, the editing and the posting are usually still yours to do.
If a quote does not say which of these it is, ask. Retainers that quietly behave like day rates are the most common source of arguments six months in.
What moves the number
Travel. A studio based in Luzern filming in Luzern costs less than the same studio filming in Bern, because a day becomes a day plus four hours of driving.
Languages. One language is one set of captions. German and French and English is three sets of captions, three sets of covers, and someone who can actually write in all three. It roughly doubles the writing effort and does not double the price, but it moves it.
Photography as well as video. Different discipline, often a different person, frequently billed separately even when it happens on the same day.
Whether paid budget is managed. Running ads properly means setting up tracking, watching it daily and reallocating spend. Some studios include it, some charge a percentage of spend, some do not touch it. This is the line that varies most between quotes that otherwise look identical.
How many people are involved. Two people who film, edit and write costs less to run than an account manager, a strategist, a videographer, an editor and a media buyer. It also produces a different kind of work. Neither is automatically better value.
What a filming day actually produces
The single biggest thing that decides whether a price was good is how much usable material comes out of one visit. A well-planned day with a shot list agreed in advance produces about a month of posting. A day where everyone works out what to film on arrival produces a week, and you pay for both the same.
What a cheap quote usually means
It is not always bad. A new studio building a portfolio will undercharge deliberately, and if they are good you get a bargain for a year. Ask to see a full month of a real account rather than a showreel, and ask how long they have been running.
More often, cheap means one of four things. The filming is offshore or stock and only the editing is local. The posts are scheduled but nobody replies to comments or messages. The contract counts posts rather than filming days, so you get twelve posts cut from one visit six months ago. Or the price excludes the ad budget and the ad management, and you discover that after signing.
The thing to compare is never the monthly figure on its own. It is the monthly figure next to the monthly output and the list of what is not included.
What to ask before you agree to anything
How many filming days a month, and how long is a day. Half days are common and rarely stated.
How many finished pieces, and in what formats. Twelve posts can mean twelve reels or twelve photos with a caption.
Who writes the captions. If the answer is vague, it is you.
Is replying to comments and direct messages included. For a clinic or a salon this is where the bookings actually come from, and it is the most commonly excluded item.
What is the notice period. Three months is normal. Twelve is a warning.
Who owns the footage and the account. Both should be yours, in writing.
Why almost nobody publishes a figure
Partly because the same brief genuinely costs different amounts. A salon in Hochdorf wanting four films a month is not the same job as a company in Zug wanting the same output in three languages with a managed ad budget behind it.
Partly, honestly, because a public price invites comparison on the one axis where a small studio cannot win against an offshore content farm. The answer to that is not secrecy, it is being clear about what is included, which most agencies could do and do not.
What you should refuse to accept is a quote where the monthly number and the monthly deliverables are not written on the same page. If a studio will not put those two things next to each other, you have learned something useful.
Doing it yourself instead
Worth saying plainly. If you or someone on your team can film, edit, write and post every week, alongside running the business, you should. A phone and good light beats a badly run agency.
Most owners manage about six weeks. The reason to pay someone is not that they are more creative than you. It is that the work still happens in the weeks when you are busy, which is every week that matters.
Where we sit
We are two people in Lucerne, Toby Ubajaka and Yanira Cuesta, working across Zürich, Zug, Basel and Bern. We quote after a call rather than from a price list, because the honest number depends on the things above. There is a test video before you commit to anything.
Common questions
How much does a social media agency cost per month in Switzerland?
It depends on filming days, number of languages, whether photography and ad management are included, and how far anyone has to travel. Ask for the monthly figure and the monthly deliverables on the same page, and ask what is excluded.
Is a retainer or a day rate better?
A retainer if you need a feed that keeps moving and you want the thinking done for you. A day rate if you already know what you want made and have someone to edit and post it. Day rates look cheaper per hour and usually cost more per result.
Should the ad budget be separate from the fee?
Yes, and it should be clear which is which. Money spent with Meta or Google is not the same as money paid to the agency, and a quote that blurs them makes it impossible to judge either.
What is a normal notice period?
Three months is standard in Switzerland. Longer than six is worth questioning, particularly if there is no break clause for underperformance.
Why will nobody tell me a price on the phone?
Because the honest answer needs to know how often you want to film, in how many languages, and whether ads are involved. A studio that quotes before asking those questions is quoting a number they will revise later.
