8 Marketing Agency Red Flags to Watch Out For
Most people talk about red flags as they relate to relationships — the things to look out for as deal breakers and glaring warnings that help you avoid being in an unhealthy situation. You can also apply red flags when it comes to agency relationships, too! As a small business owner it’s your right to have a healthy and productive work relationship with service providers you hire, including your marketing agency partner.
VVITCH is proud of our mission as a human-centered digital marketing agency that has built solid relationships with our clients, which leaves them with guidance and support at the end of each project — but also a certain level of respect for their personhood.
With that cultivated experience between us and our clients, we offer you these 8 red flags to watch out for when considering working with a marketing agency.
1. They Don’t Have a Contract
Everyone knows you have to get things in writing! When considering a marketing agency, pay attention to whether they have a contract ready for you once the statement of work details are ironed out.
Why are contracts important? Contracts protect both parties and having one is a sign of a solid business. When you have a contract with a marketing agency make sure it includes information about the services you’ll receive, the time frame in which the services will be completed, the total costs, and contact information for both parties.
Always remember to ask any questions you have about the contract before you sign.
2. They Don’t Communicate Clearly or Thoroughly
Communication is the best way to have a solid relationship in any area of your life. There is no reason as a business owner you should accept working with a marketing agency that doesn’t have effective communication with you as a potential or existing client.
It’s important to know you can share feedback openly with your marketing agency, which is why open and honest communication is critical. How do you know if your communication is in the toilet with your agency? Great communication looks similar to the following things:
Use of consistent methods of communication — at VVITCH we use email with our clients. You shouldn’t be getting random texts if you normally communicate via email.
Respect of client working hours and personal time — you’re not paying your agency to take more time away from you. They should never be contacting you during your off hours unless you’ve previously agreed upon it.
Provide clear expectations of feedback timelines ahead of time so you never feel surprised by a deadline. This is another sign that they respect you and your time — and know how to keep a project moving.
Offer detailed instructional videos in addition to written communication for those who process information better in that format. Not everyone processes information the same way and accessibility matters.
If you feel like you’re being disrespected by your agency, we want you to feel empowered to speak up! You always deserve to be treated with respect, especially by the people you hire to help grow your business.
3. They Don’t Have Processes In Place
Trust the process is a popular saying for a reason! You have processes for your small business, so too should the marketing agency you decide to work with for your brand’s needs.
Working with an experienced agency means that you gain the benefits of everything they’ve learned from past clients and projects. With clear processes in place it signifies that your chosen agency is an experienced agency.
If they don’t have a process in place for the services you want to hire them for, it’s possible that they haven’t taken on a project like that before. Please know that doesn’t mean that they can't do a great job, but beware if they market themselves as being a pro at that specific thing.
A great agency looks at every pain point in a project as an opportunity to create new processes to ensure that things go smoothly next time. When you see a healthy balance of this with an agency you’ve hired then you can rest assured they care about growing and scaling just as much as you do with your own business.
4. They Promise You’ll Go Viral
We cannot stress enough how much “going viral” is not the key to success — so much so that this fourth item about agency red flags deserves a special call out.
While it’s possible to see trends and methods for reaching social media success, it’s simply not possible to promise specific results such as going viral overnight or having products sell out in 30 minutes.
Instead, work with an agency that has proven success with their clients and can share a quality case study of that success. Even better, if that agency has repeat clients who returned for other services that complemented their previous projects, you know you’re working with one that has hit metrics the client wanted.
Additionally, it’s important to work with an agency that focuses on content strategy, because having one viral video likely won’t lead to followers and conversion if there isn’t a strong strategy already in place.
5. They Don’t Use Data to Make Decisions
Years of experience in the industry doesn’t always mean you can trust your gut when making decisions. As a small business owner this is likely not news to you, and so it shouldn’t be to the agency you’re working with either.
Instead of relying solely on experience, it’s important to make sure decisions are backed up and informed by real data. Data points that inform the decisions made by your marketing team might include your engagement rate on social media, the most popular content on your website, or where site traffic is being sourced from — such as from a different website or from search engines like Google.
As people connected to our devices 24/7, we often get into the habit of creating a certain type of content, but as trends change those old methods might become less effective. In this case, data allows us to pivot quickly and to see which other types of content are performing better.
A quality agency will understand this and know how to test new approaches for you because they’ve made data-based decisions with other clients.
6. They Gatekeep Knowledge
Gatekeepers only restrict others and themselves from growing. At VVITCH, it’s our goal to help educate you and empower you with info about how to market online.
In addition to educational blogs, such as this one, we also make an effort to ensure that our clients walk away from each project with a good understanding of how to utilize their new tools and resources when promoting their business.
This can include things such as guidance on how to use brand marks, education and explanation on why certain decisions were made throughout the process, or instructional videos on how to make updates to their websites.
The interest in supporting you as a client shouldn’t stop once the project is over.
7. They Don’t Allow You to Make Changes on Your Own
Something we unfortunately see quite often is web and marketing agencies that create websites, but don’t allow the client to make updates to the website on their own. This is a way to hold you hostage to working only with them again and we feel that’s manipulative, especially if you’re someone with the interest and skills to do it yourself.
Websites are meant to be updated on a regular basis. We provide instructional videos for our clients on how to make updates to their website in the hopes that this will empower them to keep their site current.
VVITCH is always happy to make updates if clients need help, but we know not every client has the money to invest into ongoing site maintenance. That’s why we feel this is a critical thing to offer to small business clients.
A mindful agency will recognize there is no reason to try to milk a client for every penny when that client is a small business owner just like them.
8. They Don’t Stay on Top of Current Trends in the Industry
There is a reason why it’s called a profession — marketers should know what the latest trends are as well as the technical products and platforms that help make those trends possible.
The world of digital marketing is changing every day, and in the last few years we’ve seen a major shift to video content to market your business on social media.
VVITCH expects trends to continue to shift in the next few years, and we’d be doing our clients a disservice if we didn’t stay on top of those trends and shifts.
An agency that can’t tell you about a trend you raised to them or have more knowledge about than they do is likely not the right agency for your business.
We hope these 8 red flags are helpful and useful for you as you consider new marketing agencies or re-evaluate your current agency partner.
Work With Us
Our team has worked in tech and digital marketing for more than 10 years, both in corporate settings and as small business owners ourselves. We offer multiple services across strategy, branding and design, web design and build, and social to small business like yours every day!
You can contact us to learn more about our work and why we might be the agency for your brands’ needs.
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Meet the Authors:
Jen Siomacco - Founder and UX Designer
Jen has worked in technology, marketing, and publishing for ten years. After years as a CX/UX designer in the corporate world, Jen co-owned an independent wedding magazine prior to starting VVITCH Digital Agency. Now, after years in both the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds, they are committed to helping small businesses grow into revolutionary brands.
Brittinee Phillips - Copywriter
Brittinee has worked in marketing for a little over ten years. She has a passion and talent for storytelling. Brittinee's philosophy is that storytelling is the most integral part of the consumer and product experience, which is why she makes it a focal point in her approach to product and brand messaging.
