Introduction:
With great marketing power comes great marketing responsibility. Unfortunately, not all marketing agencies and internal marketing departments abide by this philosophy. Some take shortcuts that often lead to mediocre results in both paid and organic (unpaid) marketing efforts. In this three-part blog series, we’ll explore common “smoke and mirrors” tactics marketing agencies use without their clients knowing – and what your business can do to identify, challenge and rectify these practices.
Scope of Work (SOW) Delivery Failures
While it may seem obvious, we can’t stress enough the importance of thoroughly reading and understanding a marketing agency’s master contract and Scope of Work (SOW). These deliverables are contractual promises—regardless of the individual(s) ultimately assigned to manage your account. If an agency makes account management or talent changes, it is their responsibility to fill any gaps and ensure deliverable deadlines are met. They must also keep all associated documents on file in accordance with the contract terms. Why do we suggest this?
Because it’s astonishing how lackadaisical some agencies can be when it comes to proper documentation of how and when contractual promises were fulfilled by specific deadlines. Our recommendation for businesses working with agencies is to review and audit the master contract and SOW at least once every six months. Hard deliverables – such as documents, quantifiable performance benchmarks, creative assets, reports, and work completed within a fixed timeframes – should be accessible to your key stakeholders upon request throughout the duration of the contract.
An exception to this would be if the agency is not contractually obligated to store deliverables once they’ve been provided to the client. However, even in this case, since the agency typically bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that the work product was delivered on time and in full.
Most marketing agency contracts include a clause that allows the agency a grace period to rectify any breach of contract. If the breach cannot be resolved within this period, there should be a clause allowing the client to terminate the contract without penalty. If no such clause exists, we strongly recommend against signing the contract.
If a marketing agency fails to meet contractual promises – whether due to gross negligence or internal mismanagement – we suggest you retain the right to terminate the contract immediately and find an agency that honors its contractual obligations.
Design & Creative Shortcuts
If your company works with an agency for design services, now is a good time to audit their creative deliverables with your internal stakeholders. Many marketing agencies have adopted a creatives retainer model, offering design services on a monthly recurring basis. This model typically includes a set number of deliverables with a revision clause.
Here are four key areas to assess when evaluating the quality of your marketing agency’s creative and graphic design services:
Brand Guideline Adherence: Ensure your creative deliverables follow your company’s brand guidelines, including typography, color schemes, and other design elements specific to your brand identity. Consistent adherence is essential for maintaining brand integrity and recognition.
Design Quality & Frequency: Ensure your creative deliverables follow your company’s brand guidelines, including typography, color schemes, and other design elements specific to your brand identity. Consistent adherence is essential for maintaining brand integrity and recognition.
A/B Optimized Creative: In marketing, continuous testing and optimization are the skys to maximizing performance – and creative assets are no exception. If your agency uses the same template images without A/B testing or iterative improvements – whether for paid media, social posts, or your company website – they are failing to help you achieve the highest return on ad spend (ROAS) and return on marketing investment (ROMI).
Design Evolution: Over time, even the best designs can become stale. Just as consumers appreciate new trends in fashion or automobile models, they also respond positively to fresh, modern marketing creatives. A good design team will proactively suggest creative refreshes while adhering to your brand guidelines. Creative designers who consistently deliver high-quality work are valuable – but those who also help shape the evolution of your brand’s design are exceptional and worth keeping.
Part 1 Conclusion:
Contracts can be long and tedious but being stuck with an underperforming agency for an entire year is far more cumbersome. If your business is considering signing with a marketing agency and parts of the contract or scope of work seem vague, ask for clarification. Request that any verbal explanations be formalized in writing.
Your business deserves the best. Fine-tuning a contract and scope of work is the most effective way to ensure accountability and a strong partnership with your agency that fosters meaningful growth for both entities.
We recommend establishing a regular internal audit process with key marketing stakeholders and someone with expertise in both legal and marketing language that can act on your behalf in such assessments. This proactive measure will help uncover any contractual ambiguities and potential agency failures and will potentially help you avoid incurring costly early termination fees if things don’t work out.
