Don’t Get Stung by a Controlling Marketing Agency

Picture this: For years, you’ve been meticulously curating a digital photo album, pouring your heart into every image. It’s a kaleidoscope of your personal memories – your daughter’s first steps, that breathtaking sunset on your anniversary trip, the last birthday you got to spend with your grandfather.

You’ve invested in this, and feel connected to it in many ways.

Then, a few weeks after Tim Apple introduced the new iPhone, you get to try its new, free, amazing photo app. All you need to do is migrate your photos to their app.

You log in to your photo album and hit the “transfer photos” button. You’re greeted by a cold, corporate message: “This album is the property of Arachnid Images Inc. Access denied.”

Your stomach drops as you realize the truth – all those precious memories, those irreplaceable moments, are locked away behind a digital wall. The platform you trusted with your visual diary now claims ownership of your life’s highlight reel.

You’re left staring at a blank screen, feeling as though someone has snatched away not just photos, but pieces of your very identity.

Now, you might be wondering what a digital photo album has to do with marketing agencies. The truth is, this story isn’t just about family photos – it’s something we literally see almost every month.

Replace “photo album” with “website” or “PPC ad campaigns” or “customer data” and Arachnid Images Inc. with a controlling marketing agency. Suddenly, the story takes on a whole new meaning.

Countless companies have found themselves locked out of their own digital assets, unable to access the very tools and content they’ve invested in to grow their business. Unable to move to another agency when the “old agency” isn’t performing as well as expected.

Don’t let this be you.

At our agency, one of our core values is “Be Just.” This means that we are committed to being fair and accountable in all our interactions, ensuring that we do no harm to our clients’ businesses. This principle is especially important when it comes to the control and ownership of assets.

We believe that every business should have full ownership of the assets they invest in—whether it’s a website, a social media account, or a paid search campaign.

Unfortunately, we often see instances where controlling agencies retain ownership of these crucial assets, leaving businesses vulnerable and dependent. This practice not only hinders a company’s growth but also contradicts the fundamental principle of fairness.

The core value of “Be Just” guides us to ensure that our clients always maintain control over their assets. We provide full transparency in our contracts, granting our clients ownership rights and access to all accounts and data from day one.

This approach not only aligns with our value of doing no harm, but also fosters trust and long-term partnerships with our clients.

When partnering with a marketing agency, it’s crucial to maintain ownership and control of your marketing assets. Failing to do so can lead to significant challenges if you decide to change agencies or bring marketing in-house.

Website Pitfalls

Your website is often the cornerstone of your digital presence. When agencies assert exclusive control over this vital asset, businesses can face severe consequences.

Let’s examine the specific problems that can arise:

Loss of Content and Design:

• Years of carefully crafted content disappears
• Custom-designed layouts and branding elements become inaccessible
• SEO-optimized pages and posts vanish, potentially tanking search rankings
• Media assets like images and videos may be lost

Domain Name Control:

• Businesses might lose access to their own domain name
• Email services linked to the domain could be disrupted
• Transferring the domain can be a complex, time-consuming process
• In worst-case scenarios, companies might have to rebrand with a new domain

Hosting and Server Access:

• Critical site data and databases become inaccessible
• Businesses lose the ability to make urgent updates or fixes
• Security measures and updates can’t be implemented directly
• Performance optimizations become impossible without intermediaries

Content Management System (CMS) Lock-out:

• Companies can’t update their own website content
• Adding new products, services, or blog posts becomes impossible
• Timely announcements or crisis communications are hindered
• Staff can’t be trained on or familiarized with the CMS

Analytics and User Data:

• Historical website performance data is lost
• User behavior insights disappear, hampering future strategy
• Conversion tracking history vanishes
• Compliance issues may arise if user data isn’t properly transferred or deleted

Integration and Plugin Access:

• Custom integrations with CRM or e-commerce platforms may be lost
• Specialized plugins or tools become inaccessible
• API connections to third-party services may need to be rebuilt

SSL Certificates and Security:

• Website security can be compromised during transitions
• SSL certificates may need to be repurchased and reinstalled
• Security protocols and measures may need to be re-implemented

Backup and Version Control:

• Historical backups of the website may be lost
• Version control for content and code changes disappears
• Rollback capabilities in case of issues are compromised

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Implications:

• URL structures may change, affecting search rankings
• Internal linking strategies could be disrupted
• XML sitemaps and robots.txt files might need to be recreated

Legal and Compliance Issues:

• Privacy policies and terms of service may need to be rewritten
• ADA compliance measures might be lost, opening up legal vulnerabilities
• GDPR or CCPA compliance documentation could disappear

Paid Search/PPC Pitfalls

When it comes to paid search advertising, the stakes are high and the consequences of losing control can be severe. What can happen when you’re married to a controlling agency?

Loss of Historical Performance Data:

• Years of valuable insights vanish overnight
• Campaign optimization becomes a guessing game
• New strategies lack the benefit of past learnings
• ROI calculations and budget justifications become challenging

Inability to Access or Modify Existing Campaigns:

• Businesses can’t make timely adjustments to capitalize on market trends
• Seasonal promotions or urgent changes become impossible to implement
• A/B testing and continuous improvement grind to a halt
• Companies lose the flexibility to respond to competitive pressure

Disruption in Advertising Efforts During Transitions:

• Ad campaigns may go dark during agency switches, leading to lost sales
• Competitors can swoop in and capture market share during downtime
• Rebuilding campaigns from scratch leads to inefficiencies and wasted ad spend
• Customer journey continuity is broken, potentially damaging brand perception

Loss of Keyword Research and Ad Copy:

• Years of refined keyword lists disappear
• Carefully crafted and tested ad copy is lost
• Quality Score history, which affects ad placement and cost, vanishes

Absence of Audience Targeting Data:

• Custom audience lists built over time become inaccessible
• Retargeting capabilities are severely hampered
• Lookalike audience potential is diminished

Lack of Control Over Bidding Strategies:

• Optimized bidding strategies, honed over time, are lost
• Companies can’t leverage their own first-party data for smart bidding
• Automated rules and scripts tailored to the business become inaccessible

Owning your Google Ads account, rather than allowing your marketing agency to control it, is crucial for maintaining the continuity and effectiveness of your advertising efforts.

When you lose access to your account, you essentially lose all the historical data that Google’s algorithm has used to optimize your campaigns. This loss can have significant consequences for your advertising performance.

In recent years, as Google has implemented Performance Max campaigns and become even more of a black box, this risk is even more severe.

First and foremost, losing your account means starting from scratch. All your campaigns will re-enter the learning phase as if they were brand new, and performance may suffer initially as the algorithm relearns optimal bidding and targeting strategies. This disruption in optimization can be costly and time-consuming.

The learning phase relies on consistent data to make informed decisions. When you lose access to your account, all the optimizations and learnings from previous campaigns are lost. Negative keywords lists, which help filter out irrelevant traffic, will need to be rebuilt. Additionally, custom audience lists and remarketing data may become inaccessible, further impacting your ability to target effectively.

With a new account, you may experience extended learning phases for all campaigns as Google gathers new data. This can lead to higher costs per acquisition (CPA) during the relearning period and potential budget inefficiencies as the algorithm adjusts to new patterns. The prolonged learning phase can significantly impact your advertising ROI in the short to medium term.

If you’re currently working with an agency that maintains control over your assets, make sure you fully understand your rights and obligations from a legal standpoint. You should feel empowered to discuss your concerns and desire for account ownership with your agency.

Even if you’re happy today, develop a comprehensive plan for how to transfer the assets and data when you leave. It’s better to be safe.

And finally, if things get rocky, don’t be afraid to get legal professionals involved to ensure a smooth transition.

So…how can you make sure you’re protecting your company from a controlling agency? Here are some best practices for protecting yourself:

Establish Clear Ownership in Agreements

When engaging with marketing agencies or freelancers, it’s crucial to explicitly define ownership of all created assets in your contracts. This includes:

• Specifying that all intellectual property developed during the engagement belongs to your company
• Clearly stating that all accounts, data, and assets created or managed on your behalf are your property
• Including clauses that require the transfer of all assets upon contract termination
• Defining the process for transferring ownership of accounts and assets

By establishing clear ownership from the outset, you prevent potential disputes and ensure a smooth transition if you decide to change agencies or bring marketing in-house.

Maintain Admin Access

Always retain administrator-level access to all platforms and accounts used for your marketing efforts. This practice ensures that you’ll have full control over your accounts at all times so you can monitor agency activities and performance directly. You can take action if there are security concerns.

Moreover, you won’t be locked out of your own accounts if the relationship with the agency ends.

Regularly review and update access permissions, and consider using a password management system to securely store and share credentials when necessary.

Use Your Own Accounts

Set up accounts under your company’s name for all marketing platforms, even if an agency will be managing them. This practice:

• Ensures continuity of account history and performance data
• Allows for easier transitions between agencies or to in-house management
• Maintains your brand’s presence and identity across platforms
• Gives you full control over billing and account settings

When working with agencies, provide them with appropriate access levels rather than handing over full control of your accounts.

Document Everything

Keep detailed records of all marketing activities, campaigns, and assets. This documentation should include comprehensive campaign histories (including strategies, targets, and results), detailed inventories of all digital assets and their usage rights, records of all account logins and access credentials, and archives of all reports and analytics data.

Maintaining thorough documentation not only protects your assets but also provides valuable historical data for future marketing efforts and strategy development.

Regular Audits and Reviews

Implement a schedule for regular audits of your marketing assets and accounts. Conduct quarterly reviews of all active marketing accounts and platforms. Make sure you verify that all access permissions are up-to-date and appropriate and check that all owned assets are properly attributed and accessible.

These audits help identify and address any issues before they become significant problems.

Develop a Transition Plan

Create a comprehensive plan for transitioning marketing assets and accounts:

• Outline the steps for transferring account ownership and access
• Define processes for exporting and transferring data and assets
• Establish timelines for the handover of materials and information
• Include provisions for knowledge transfer and documentation of ongoing campaigns

Having a well-defined transition plan in place ensures a smooth handover process if you change agencies or bring your marketing in-house.

By following these best practices, you can effectively protect your valuable marketing assets, maintain control over your brand’s digital presence, and ensure continuity in your marketing efforts regardless of changes in your marketing partnerships or strategies.