Is Your Agency Partner Raising Red Flags?

Trusting an agency partner with your organization’s marketing or fundraising is a big decision — one that can sometimes cause unnecessary heartache if the partnership isn’t a good fit. When things seem off, you might wonder if this is “just how agencies work” or question whether your expectations are too high. 

Here are some red flags to watch for when working with an agency. If you’re experiencing these challenges and your partner isn’t amenable to change, it might be time to look for a new agency. 

1. Lack of Transparency

An agency partner that isn’t fully transparent is never a good sign and should raise an immediate flag of concern. As a client, you should always expect full transparency related to your program, especially in these areas.

Your Program Performance

Whether for a digital advertising program or direct mail, reporting should be incredibly detailed. It should provide clarity on what’s driving performance, including insight into the audience, channel and creative execution. No data point is off the table.

Your Advertising Account

If your agency partner isn’t setting up your search or social campaigns within accounts your organization owns and has full access to, you have every right to push back. 

Total access and ownership to ad accounts across any channel ensures your team has complete historical performance data, information and insights to reflect on. This is critical so that down the road, when or if your partnership ends, you have full access to everything. There’s nothing an agency partner should refuse to show you within an ad campaign. Ever.

Your Pricing and Deliverables

No matter the channel, your pricing should be highly detailed regarding program elements. Of particular note is what portion of the budget is going to things like services/fees, postage, media spend and markup.

2. Limited Team Access and Contact

Your organization’s team should be introduced to the entire agency team that will be working on your business very early in the relationship. There will undoubtedly be team members who generally remain behind the scenes once the work starts, but you should expect to meet and know the names of everyone touching your account. 

It’s common in many agencies to have certain team members as the main points of contact for specific aspects of the account. However, your agency should never prevent you from reaching out to anyone.

3. No Ownership of Assets Created on Your Behalf

All the agency's work for you should be yours to keep. There should never be a situation where you cannot access any data or assets you’ve paid for as part of your contracted program. This topic should be clarified in your contract or master service agreement (MSA) with the agency partner.

4. Lack of Approval

Your agency contract should give your organization complete approval over all work created on its behalf. This includes:

• Copy and creative executions across any channel.
• Detailed plans.
• Budgets and program scope.

An agency partner's role is to advise you on what they think will work best for your program based on their expertise and results from past efforts. However, they shouldn’t launch anything you did not explicitly approve of, nor should they refuse to listen to your feedback or direction. 

They may push back a little if they think the direction will negatively impact campaign performance. (This is a good thing!) Ultimately, though, it’s your call because you’re paying for the work.

5. No Flexibility

Things change. It’s the nature of the business. Your agency partner should be flexible and willing to change your plans based on the results.

Your contract should clearly state the degree of flexibility. Certain things, like deadlines, may not always be flexible based on business rules or external vendors, depending on when the change is requested. However, the agency should never refuse to explore a program change.

Ultimately, trust your gut. Dig deeper if something is telling you the partnership doesn’t feel right. Consider having a frank discussion with your partner to get back on track. Working with an agency is a significant investment your organization should be comfortable with.

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.