7 Marketing Red Flags: How to Decide if You’re with the Wrong Marketing Agency

If you aren’t getting enough value from your marketing dollars, it might be time to find a new agency, but sometimes that’s easier said than done.

You don’t want to play leapfrog searching for the right fit—we get it! It’s vital to identify whether you can achieve better results with your current agency or whether you need to make a change. 

How can you tell if a marketing agency is a bad match for your company?

We created this article highlighting seven marketing red flags to help identify if it’s time to move on.

1. The Agency Isn’t Willing to Learn Your Business

Great digital marketing strategically aligns your company’s strengths with your target audience’s pain points. 

Every company is unique, and it takes special care and attention to stand out from your competitors. An agency may create cookie-cutter messaging because it doesn’t take time to understand your company’s unique qualities. If so, it will reflect poorly on your results and is probably a strong sign that it’s time to move on. 

This red flag is especially pertinent for franchise, multi-location, and enterprise businesses. Your marketing team must understand your company’s critical operational differentiators to maximize each location’s online presence along with the core business.

“The agency doesn’t understand their business or take the time to understand their business. In conversation, this can be apparent through questions that are easily answered through the main pages of their website.”—Justina Amerson, Digital Marketing Director

Learn more about the positive impact the right B2B marketing agency can make.

2. Content Quality Isn’t Improving

Every digital marketing agency will research keywords that provide a competitive opportunity to gain visibility in search engine results. But keywords alone aren’t enough. One of the essential qualities of a good marketing agency is showing that they understand your voice and your industry.

Agencies should write content for your target audience to discover, read, and share with others.

“Every time we’ve moved agencies it has been for performance-related reasons. Mostly it was as simple as too much money being spent with not enough conversions to justify it. Other problems for us have been with wastage – lots of irrelevant keywords with Google Ads for instance.” James Lazar, Oakwoods Outlet

If your agency churns out mundane articles, you won’t stand out enough to sufficiently gain rankings that move the needle. 

3. The Agency Avoids Conflict

Our experts at Big Leap have seen it so many times. Other agencies try to hide bad metrics and avoid having tough conversations with clients. You can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge, so if you’re not getting the facts—good or bad—it’s time to move on.

Every strategy comes with challenges. A good agency will take the appropriate route (even if it’s harder) to reach your marketing goals. 

4. The Agency is Disorganized

Marketing teams “who document their strategy are 313% more likely to report success” than those who don’t.

Disorganization is usually a symptom of other marketing red flags. You want an agency to be driven, organized, and compelled to pursue your interests. Disorganization usually goes hand-in-hand with other warning signs you’re working with a bad marketing agency, like apathy or a lack of initiative.

“It is important to find a marketing agency that has the right balance of experience, expertise, and size. If an agency is serving too many customers simultaneously, they may not give the required attention to your product because they have too much on their plate.” Krittin Kalra, Writecream

5. They Provide Poor-Quality Reports

If your agency doesn’t provide monthly reports filled with hard data on its performance like clockwork, it’s a sign that other details might be slipping through the cracks. 

Maybe they’re not following through with the hard work required to improve your online presence. But, just as important, the quality of data in reports is your compass that guides the marketing vessel forward in the right direction.

Reports must consistently remain on schedule, and the metrics must include the data your company needs to know. Fostering transparency in reporting is how to build long-term trust. 

6. The Agency Doesn’t Stay Current on Industry News

Change truly is the only constant in digital marketing. Google and other search engines constantly update their search ranking algorithms.

“A client switched to Big Leap because their last agency kept blaming Google algorithm updates for lack of results. The agency wouldn’t take any responsibility for solving issues that actually were under their control. My client was tired of hearing excuse after excuse without being offered any original ideas or solutions.” —Julie Snow, Content Strategist, Big Leap

If your agency doesn’t monitor every trend, your rankings may likely take a hit. The right agency will track algorithm shifts and take necessary action to safeguard your online performance and campaign objectives. 

7. There’s a Misalignment in Values

There’s nothing worse than wasting a client’s time and money. We know we can only give you our best if we “get you” and can live up to our end of that partnership.

I would put more emphasis on cultural fit when making hiring decisions. It’s important all team members share the same values and work ethic in order to create a cohesive team.”—Sam Cohen, MyFreeOCR

At Big Leap, we’re passionate about the importance of being the right partner for our clients. We’re on the journey together, meaning if we believe our team isn’t the appropriate fit for your business, we’ll say so. 

Do you need more ideas to ensure you’re choosing the right marketing partner? We created this article to help you ask all the right questions.

Moving from One Agency to Another Without Losing Momentum

Do any of these marketing red flags sound familiar? It’s probably time to find the right agency.

Moving from one agency to another can be draining and discouraging. We understand. You want to avoid losing time and money but avoid the hassle of finding the best long-term team. Keep these tried and true tips from our digital marketing leaders in mind:

“Anything related to project management should be shared right away (i.e., roadmaps, what’s been done, what’s liked/disliked, what needs to change). This conversation should happen before signing on so it’s a seamless transition without any downtime. Some agencies will sign a contract upon onboarding saying they will provide everything needed to a new agency should a change happen.” —James Straatman, Big Leap

“One of our law firm clients worked with a previous agency for about 1-2 years. When their point of contact left and their movement plateaued, they decided to look elsewhere. The client became interested in Big Leap when our team walked through all the potential areas they can improve. They also felt more comfortable knowing we had the dev resources to help manage their website.” —Justina Amerson, Digital Marketing Director, Big Leap

Find the Right Digital Marketing Partner for Your Business

Hopefully, these marketing red flags have helped you assess whether you’re with the right partner for your online marketing journey. If you’re not experiencing these issues and are happy with the results, we salute you and wish you nothing but success!

But if these red flags resonate, we encourage you to read the full article to learn more. Want to see if Big Leap is the appropriate partner for your team? We’d love to hear from you today!