Thinking About Switching Marketing Agencies? Here Are 8 Signs It's Time

The full article can be found on the Hearst Bay Area blog. See it here.

When agency relationships are healthy, they can be highly profitable.

But, if you have not done your due diligence in the vetting process, you may start to see some red flags that make you wonder if things are progressing as they should be.

If you are starting to feel that the relationship you’ve built with your agency isn’t benefitting your business anymore, here’s how to know if it’s time to make a switch.

Should You Fire Your Marketing Agency? 8 Signs It’s Time

If after you’ve answered the above questions but are still not sure whether making a change is a good idea, here are 8 sure fire signs that it’s time to say goodbye.

1.    There are Constant Issues with Communication

As with any relationship, communication is key.

Without open lines of communication and regular check-ins, misunderstandings can arise, and strategies can become misaligned.

Also, if your agency contact is unable to clarify the work that they are doing in a way that makes sense to you, you are not going to feel comfortable when they make recommendations or suggest changes to the marketing plan.

Consistent issues with communication are the main killer of client-agency relationships because these complications lead to distrust.

Communication is a two-way street.

If you don’t make yourself available to discuss strategy and provide feedback to your partners, they might not be focused on the things that you want them to be focused on. Conversely, if your agency is ghosting you at times when you need them the most, this is a huge red flag that something is wrong.

2.    Your Agency is not Transparent with You

Along the same vein as communication, transparency in this sort of relationship is extremely important for building and maintaining trust.

Your agency should be transparent in what work they are doing for you, what they are billing you for, and in their reporting on their results.

3.    Your Agency Doesn’t Understand Your Business or Industry

If after several months of working with an agency, they still don’t know your business, brand, customer, or industry, it’s time to send them packing.

It is a bad sign if your agency can’t understand and address the nuances from one audience to the next, and even worse if they don’t know how to properly market your specific set of products or services.

4.    They’ve Implemented a Poor Strategy

When your agency explains its strategy to you, does it make sense?

Does their strategy align with your ultimate business goals?

…Do they…gulp… have a strategy?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you’re in trouble.

Having a strategy is the first step before launching a marketing initiative and having a strategy that makes sense to you and is in line with your company objectives is something that cannot be compromised.

5.    Their Output is Getting Sloppy

Since an agency is an extension of your brand, sloppy work is a no go. If you are experiencing missed deadlines and consistent mistakes (typos, grammar errors, mixed up ad creative, off-brand comments on social media, etc) in their work, this has a direct effect on how your audience perceives your brand.

Save yourself from a potential reputation management nightmare and head for the hills.

6.    Consistent Missing of Goals

Is your agency consistently over-promising and under-delivering?

Every agency will make mistakes, have an off day and upset a client at some point in their partnership. That is just the occasional cost of doing business 

However, if your agency is consistently off the mark with their creative, missing their targets and not achieving their goals, it might be more than a one-off conversation can handle. If their work is continually lackluster, show them the door.

7.    Minimal Reporting

Your agency should report their findings to you on a pre-defined schedule in order to measure what’s working, what’s not and regularly offer new ideas to shift the strategy. Reports should also demonstrate the work being done to fulfill contractual responsibilities.

When you review your agency’s reports, does it provide the information you need to understand ROI? Can you justify the cost of working with the agency?

If your reports feel void of the valuable information you need to make decisions about your marketing, or your agency isn’t providing them frequently enough, this is a big cause for concern.

3 Signs You Shouldn’t Switch Agencies Just Yet

While you may be experiencing an uncomfortable bump in the road in your agency relationship, switching from one vendor to another is not always the best answer. There are costs involved with changing agencies, and several instances where working through the rough patch or considering a different approach might make more sense.

1.   New Management

Every agency has experienced this at some point.

Their main point of contact and champion within an organization has left the company for whatever reason, and the new CMO has a different agenda, which means the agency of record is the first thing to go.

If you are the new decision-maker joining the team, don’t automatically assume that booting out the current agency is the best decision, even if you have prior relationships with agencies that you enjoyed working with.

It is in your best interest and the interest of the company to do a fair and reasonable audit of the current agency’s work before firing them. If you find any of the above listed red flags during your auditing process, then you can make the informed decision to bring in new talent.

2.   Impatience and lack of trust

Many clients simply don’t allow the agency enough time to run their tests and adapt their strategies before forming a negative opinion about an agency’s performance.

Sure, the agency is responsible for setting expectations and providing accurate estimations of the results you can expect as the client. But at the beginning of any project, not all of the information is always immediately available, which can lead to predictions that are not 100% correct, and result in a misunderstanding that may never be resolved.

3.   High Expectations, Low Budget

Another problem that a client might run into is a mismatch in price versus results.

The fact is that an agency is a business – they don’t have unlimited resources to spend on your project. Their output is directly related to your input. If you have a small budget, they will work with it to the best of their abilities, but you can’t expect massive results.

The idea is that you will start with a smaller budget, and it should grow over time as your business scales out. Your agency expects your budget to increase so that they have more to work with to generate the results you expect.

But if you expect your website leads to grow from 2 per month to 200 per month, you better have the budget to invest, otherwise, you are going to be disappointed. Small, stagnant budgets don’t often excite agency partners to go above and beyond.

If you are truly committed to marketing and excited by it’s potential, spend what you can afford and plan to increase your budget as your business grow, otherwise, don’t bother with an agency.

You might be able to see a few stars along the way, but your agency can’t land you on the moon without rocket fuel.

Ready to Start Vetting New Partners? Read This First:

As you know, vetting and hiring a new agency can be a challenging experience.

If you’re located in the Bay Area (or even if you’re not), I’ve created a list of some of your best options (aside from Hearst Bay Area, of course) if you are looking for a place start.

But be discreet, and don’t talk trash about your current agency because not only do rumors spread quickly in the agency world, you’ll come off looking like an impossible client, which is a bad way to begin any relationship.

Also, making a switch means wiping the slate clean and enlisting in a new beginning, which will require a large investment of upfront time and effort.

And while maintaining a good client-agency relationship is less hassle than transitioning from one vendor to another, too many companies stay in a failing relationship far longer than they should, due to fear.

Sure, there are many potential complications that may arise, and there will likely be costs as a result of the shift.

But at the end of the day, if your business goals aren’t being met, you’re bleeding money.

And “bleeding” is not a state that any person, or organization, wants to be in.

Looking for more on this topic? Read the full post here.