Marketing Performance Management
Marketing agency partners are essential for growth. We’ll help you choose the right ones and manage them to their best performance.
The Big Number
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Agency Satisfaction
“Just 8% of companies are “very satisfied” with their agency partners.”
– Marketing Week, 2016
Agency profits are not always aligned with your profits. Some agencies focus on long-term retainers for commodity services they sell to you at a premium. We’ll help you manage your agency partners to ROI-based performance so that you get the performance you’re paying for.
Common Agency Management Challenges
As a business owner or marketing leader, it’s not always easy to trust your instincts about agency partner performance. After all, marketing is complicated and there are few clear standards. However, if you find yourself asking questions like these, your agency partner may not be giving you the performance you deserve.
The ROI of your agency partner spend is uncleare.
Many marketing agencies inundate you with metrics to obscure poor performance. A common mistake they make is reporting ROI in terms of sales results, rather than profit. If your agency doesn’t’ understand, or report, accurate ROI, it’s time to get them on the same page.
They try to sell you software you don't need.
Many agencies are paid hefty commissions for selling you high-end marketing software. In some cases, you end up paying premium prices when solutions 80% – 90% cheaper would meet your needs.
They're focused on tasks, not performance.
Many marketing agencies try to lock you in with long-term retainers for work they can source at commodity costs while billing you premium rates. Effective agency partners tie their compensation to the results they deliver for your business.
Their invoices are vague.
If seeing a single line item on your monthly invoices from your agencies concerns you, it should. Good agency partners are eager to show solid deliverables on their invoices to that you know you are getting value.
Exaggeration in Reported ROI
Mini Case Study:
Misleading ROI Reporting
A common mistake agencies make is reporting ROI based on sales rather than profit. The agency partner of a recent client made this error and exaggerated ROI by 12X. The ROI they reported (based on topline sales) was 398%. The actual ROI (based on profit) was 32%. When this happens, agencies think they are delivering greater value than they are and may not be as driven to continuously improve their performance. In addition, they undermine credibility and trust with their client.
Our Agency Evaluation Process
When you work with Revenue Refinery, our team of experts applies the following five-step process to make sure you have the right marketing resources and that they are performing at their best to deliver strong ROI:
Performance Benchmarking
We’ll tell you how the results your agency partner is delivering compare to industry benchmarks.
Cost Benchmarking
We’ll determine whether your agency’s pricing model and rates are within an acceptable range based on regional averages.
Partner Selection
If your current agency is not delivering strong ROI, we’ll help you select and onboard a new partner from our network of high-performing agencies.
Benefits of Having a Well-Managed Agency Partner
We’ve created a system to benchmark and manage marketing agency vendors so that you get superior performance at a reasonable cost.