For too many, working with marketing agencies has become a frustrating cycle of unmet expectations. Agencies promise lead generation and growth but often deliver a disconnected mix of tactics that fail to move the needle. You end up pouring time, money, and energy into these relationships, only to find yourself back at square one, wondering if it’s even possible to get the results you’re after.

Have you experienced this time-wasting spiral?

1) you and your agency settle on a “package” of services; 2) they start producing material that is inaccurate or doesn’t sound like your business; 3) you edit their work yourself, wasting your time and delaying progress; then 4) the agency offers to throw in more services to appease you – only to give you more content that needs editing…

You have reasonable expectations, but they aren’t getting met. It doesn’t have to be this way. You just need a different approach. I am going to show you the five strategies necessary for picking the right agency and maximizing the results you get from them.

1. You Need an Equal in the Agency

Picture an old fashioned sailing ship – the kind with multiple masts and dozens of square sails. That’s your business. Lots of moving parts and you are the captain working to steer the whole thing toward your goals.

Your contact person at a typical marketing agency (once you’ve signed up) is like a junior officer. He or she knows how to bark instructions to raise or lower the sails on a single mast.

But winds shift, currents change, and storms gather. When business conditions change, or when marketing results don’t meet expectations, can that “junior officer” recommend adjustments that may even include stopping or starting activities within your business?

Probably not.

So why do most agencies bring in an equal to sell you, but then assign your account to a “junior officer?”

Partnering with the right marketing agency starts with finding one that offers you an equal—a senior-level collaborator who works to understand your goals and commits to helping you make them real, not just get you to sign up, then hand you off. 

2. Treat the Agency Like Your VP of Marketing

Expect Them to Take Ownership of the Entire Marketing Plan—Not Just Tactics

Ever had a marketing project, like building a new website, drag on and on – way beyond the timeframe that was promised? This is an all too common reality.

Whether they admit to it or not, most agencies see themselves as a web development team or digital advertising experts – tacticians who deliver certain pieces of an overall marketing effort.

And they see YOU as the one responsible for feeding THEM what they need to do their work. Plus, they expect you to coordinate how their marketing tactics get translated into actual business growth. In other words, they see you as the VP of Marketing.

To combat this, think of the ideal agency as not just a team of marketers, but as a complete marketing department, including a VP to take the burden off of you. This means you should expect them to:

• Understand your business: Become experts in your customers, competitors, and market landscape.
  
• Collaborate on campaigns: Work closely with you and your sales team to ensure leads convert into revenue.
• Measure results: Provide clear, consistent reporting and insights that inform better decision-making.
• Manage the process: Oversee every component of the marketing plan, including elements they don’t directly execute.

If your agency won’t own these responsibilities, then the burden of being the VP of Marketing will still fall on you.

Here’s the ultimate question – would you hire your agency contact as your own VP of Marketing if you could?

3. Insist on a Customized Engagement Model—Not Pre-Built  Insist on a Customized Engagement Model—Not

Pre-Built

Your Agency’s Agreement Should Serve Your Business Interests

How do you feel about signing a long-term contract with a vendor that hasn’t yet proven itself to you? Less than ideal. If you’re unsatisfied with a service, why should you be stuck with it? And how do you feel about being forced into a pre-built package? Wouldn’t it feel better to just get exactly what you want?

Long-term contracts and pre-built packages are both just for the benefit of the agency.

Don’t let them lead you down this path. Instead, demand a flexible, customized engagement model.

Here’s how it should look:

• Tailored services: Services should meet your specific needs. Whether you have an in-house person managing social media or require support with cold-calling scripts, the right agency will adapt their approach to fit your market and business model.
• Ramp-up period: Allow 90 days for the agency to immerse themselves in your business to assess what’s working, what’s not, and learn about the value you deliver. After all, how can they prescribe a marketing solution without first diagnosing the situation?
• Ongoing flexibility: After the ramp-up, require the flexibility to terminate with a 30-day notice. This ensures your agency is always motivated to perform and retain your trust.

This will keep the focus on results and make adapting to changing business conditions easier.

4. Get Them to Own the To-Dos, Not You

Your Employees Don’t Assign You Tasks, Why Should Your Agency

The right agency should act like a department within your company, taking full responsibility for actions and outcomes.

When an agency packages their services like we describe above, they end up requiring you to contort your business to provide them what they need when they need it.

This is why you end up hearing things like “…we are waiting on content from your team,” or “you never got back to us about _____” from your agency.

Meanwhile, your own marketing department would take responsibility for: interviewing one of your employees to get the information needed for the next blog post, scheduling a 15 minute meeting to present a new ad graphic and get feedback (vs. endless email chains!).

Your agency should behave the same way. Here’s what you should expect:

• You provide direction and insight: Contribute your business expertise to help shape campaigns and priorities
• They handle execution: The agency should drive all tasks, from creating content to managing campaigns, while only relying on you to contribute at a high level and connect them with members of your team who are needed for support or collaboration

This approach allows you to stay focused on running your business while the agency delivers measurable results. Don’t accept an arrangement where you’re left doing the heavy lifting.

5. Manage Your Part in 3 to 5 Hours Per Month

Your time is best spent on strategy and leadership—not micromanaging marketing efforts.

By limiting your involvement to around 3 to 5 hours per month (the right 3 to 5 hours), you can ensure your agency and team step up to their responsibilities.

You may think this is impossible. What we’ve found is that once the above elements are in place, it’s totally possible.

Here’s how to structure your role:

• Monthly marketing meeting: Dedicate 60 minutes to participating in a marketing meeting that your agency counterpart runs. In this, they’ll review recent performance and you’ll share business updates..
• Connection and support: Prioritize connecting the agency with internal resources, like sales team members or subject matter experts, as needed.
• Review and approval: Allocate 30-60 minutes weekly to approve content or provide high-level feedback on campaigns.

By setting these boundaries, you’ll stay informed and aligned without becoming a bottleneck. This also ensures the agency remains accountable for driving progress.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As you can see, with the right elements in place, you can finally escape the frustration of churning through marketing agencies.

Rethink how you approach these relationships. Demand a senior-level collaborator who builds your marketing plan, owns the execution, and treats your growth as their priority. Insist on a customized, results-driven engagement model, and limit your time investment to focus on what you do best: running your business.

It has been my passion to figure out how to work with service businesses in such a way as to become the last marketing agency you will ever need. I find it more rewarding to truly participate in the success of a handful of companies than to build a large (probably impersonal) agency. That scale is just not for me, and it’s not what I think many smaller businesses need.

The right agency won’t just change your marketing—we’ll develop into a long-term partner with a vested interest in your business success. Choose wisely.