5 Signs it’s time to say goodbye to your marketing agency

As you sit there looking out into the marketing abyss that is your small business, You ask yourself the question. Is it time to fire my marketing people and get some new ones? Wether you have that internal person in your organization that just ended up running your social media marketing because they said they could or, you are at the level where you can actually afford quality marketing advice and production. It’s ok to move on and try new things to achieve better results for your business.

Finding the fix that leads to results can often be as easy as replacing the person or company doing the job for you.

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Marketing agencies

Marketing agencies are all set up to maximize profit at every possible level, and that’s ok. How far your agency is willing to go for you as a client depends on what they ultimately want for their pocket vs. producing actual results for you. It could be that when your business started out with them, they drove results. Products were selling. Website traffic and conversions were up. Facebook pages likes were through the roof. They were hungry. Then, one day, the results just dried up.  Just like other businesses, agencies struggle with finding good people who possess the necessary skills to deliver. As time goes on, their priorities and circumstances might change, often negatively impacting your bottom line. To make matters worse, at this time their fees normally go up and your results go waaaaay down. Not good. Definitely a red flag if the agency consists of a Canva subscription, no experience to speak of, and your credit card number for boosting purposes. 😉 RUN 🏃‍♀️

The Freelancer

Some of the greatest people I have ever met or worked with in my years in the radio and music industry are freelancers. Free spirited, creative, and giving of their time and efforts for the most part for a reasonable price with the obvious exception to the rule of the odd jerk here and there. I must admit a little bias toward freelancing. It’s a great way to maintain freedom and make money. It’s a bit like starting a business but not fully committing. Depending on the freelancer you are currently working with, or even how long you have been working with them, could be tantamount to being married for 25 years. I know you love em and they’ve done great work  for you in the past, but those boosted mothers’ Day posts just don’t sell the cupcakes they used to in the past. Things have changed. Whatever the reason might be. If it’s a freelancer you choose. Change em up every now and again. It will serve your business well.

The Seo agency

People who work in SEO agencies are like cross fit people. You don’t have to ask them what they do. They tell you way before you ask them. Seo is the answer to everything. You need this and this, and you can always buy a bigger package but the absolute entry level to rank first on Google should cost around $1500 per month starting. Look, I am not saying Seo is not important. Just don’t let these kinds of agencies use scare tactics on you like you can’t survive without them! If you have a solid content plan with your website and social media plugged in, you can get some pretty decent results all by yourself. Slippery slope. Tread carefully but start with your website.

The friend

When social media came about, it caught a lot of businesses with their pants down. However, in 2023, you do feel that most businesses are set up with some sort of social media marketing, which is still the lowest barrier to entry. Can you believe that a newspaper ad in BC for a local costs $700? For what exactly is what I would like to know, but that’s a conversation for another day. No matter what size your business is, if you have a buddy running your brand online, you could run into a number of issues that could impact you and your business negatively. Perhaps it’s even worse, and the friend is also a business partner who ends up posting something questionable. In my experience, friends almost never work out in this space, but there are exceptions. Tread carefully. Look for red flags and follow your gut.

The media salesman

I don’t want to be disparaging to this part of the media whatsoever. I was a part of this world for all of my career on commercial radio, but we can all see that the world has changed. Covid fast forwarded things 10 years for sure, but things like commercial radio, newspapers, magazines, traditional cable news networks, and pay per view television are all shrinking. These industries are shrinking because of the internet. People have many more options to get the news and the music and get whatever they want whenever they want. They want to live the, whatever they want, whenever they want life. Every media salesman out there today and the people they work for know their days are numbered! They act accordingly by offering you massive discounts for your radio and TV ads whilst now pushing their new ‘Digital’ agencies on you like they’re the experts. It’s predictable and sad. I would be wary of anybody using the word DIGITAL in their name whilst simultaneously claiming to be a cutting-edge agency! Literally waiving red flags out of all the office windows. Don’t get me wrong. I still believe there is a place for radio and other old media like billboards, but it has to be done in a strategic and targeted way that leverages new media. Be vary wary of any media spend that you can not measure!

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