How to Choose and Review Your Marketing Agency
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Without Wasting 12 Months and a Chunk of Your Budget
Most marketing agencies don’t fail because they are bad.
They fail because they are asked to execute without direction.
That may sound uncomfortable, but it is true.
In many SMEs, an agency is brought in as the answer to stalled growth, inconsistent leads or frustration with “doing marketing but not really knowing why”. The agency is expected to fix it.
But no agency can outperform a confused brief.
Marketing is not a magic pill. It is an amplifier. If your positioning is unclear, your audience undefined and your commercial priorities fuzzy, an agency will simply amplify that lack of clarity.
This article is for two types of business owner:
Those considering hiring a marketing agency.
Those already working with one and quietly wondering if it is really working.
First: What an Marketing Agency Is (and Isn’t)
Agencies absolutely have a place.
At their best, they are exceptional at:
Creative production
Website design and build
Paid media such as Google Ads
Technical SEO
PR and media relationships
These are specialist skills. Deep, technical, or connection-led skills.
What agencies are not responsible for is your commercial direction.
They are not your board.They are not your internal leadership team.They are not the owner of your positioning.
That responsibility sits inside your business.
We work with agencies all the time. We value them. In fact, for many of our clients, we appoint and manage agencies on their behalf because that is where their strengths lie.
But agencies need direction.
Just like your sales team does. Just like your operations team does.
Before You Hire a Marketing Agency, Be Honest About This
Ask yourself:
Are we crystal clear on who our primary target audience is?
Do we know how we genuinely differ from competitors?
Has that been tested externally, not just assumed internally?
Do we know what success looks like commercially?
Do we know exactly what we need an agency to do?
One of our clients, Helen at Streamlion, was very clear on this distinction. She understood that a marketing plan is not the same as a marketing strategy.
That difference is critical.
A plan says what you will do. A strategy says why you are doing it, who it is for and what it is meant to achieve.
If you skip the strategy, the agency will default to activity.
And activity without positioning is expensive noise.
The Mistakes SMEs Commonly Make
1. Hiring When Desperate
Desperation rarely leads to strategic clarity.
If pipeline is flat and pressure is high, it is tempting to “just get someone in”. But urgency often leads to poor briefing and unrealistic expectations.
No agency can produce miracles in 90 days if the foundations are wrong.
2. Providing Woolly Briefs
Many founders are not clear on:
Their target audience
Their competitive landscape
Their proposition
What they actually need the agency to deliver
To be fair, agencies don’t always help themselves. Some will accept vague briefs rather than push for clarity.
But if the input is vague, the output will be too.
3. Expecting the Agency to “Do Marketing”
Marketing supports sales. It does not replace it.
An agency can generate awareness, leads and credibility. Your business still has to convert those leads. If internal sales processes are weak, marketing alone will not fix that.
4. Switching Agencies Instead of Fixing Direction
If three agencies haven’t delivered, the common denominator might not be the agencies.
That is not anti-agency. It is practical.
Repeatedly changing suppliers without addressing internal clarity simply resets the clock.
A Real Example: When the Problem Wasn’t the Agency
We were asked to review an existing agency relationship where the owner felt everything was going wrong.
The agency was “not delivering”. The owner was frustrated. Trust had broken down.
On review, several things became clear:
The brief had been unclear from the outset.
The agency had been expected to deliver far more than the retainer realistically covered.
Reporting was inconsistent.
Deliverables in the contract were not all being completed.
In another case, we discovered that traffic had fallen by half over the course of a year and neither side had properly spotted it. Only when an in-depth review was conducted did the underlying issue become clear.
The issue was not malicious intent.
It was lack of oversight, clarity and accountability.
Once expectations were reset and direction clarified, performance improved.
What Good Looks Like
If you are working with a good agency, you should be able to say:
They understand our company inside out.
Their work clearly speaks to our target audience.
We receive regular reporting — both macro trends and detailed activity.
We can see commercial movement, not just impressions.
They admit mistakes and course-correct.
They work as part of our team, not in isolation.
Take CN Glass as an example. With proper strategic oversight and the right technical specialists in place, website leads increased significantly and the business successfully shifted towards more commercial work.
The difference was not simply “new agency equals better results”.
It was clarity of direction, better briefing and active management.
Similarly, Panthera moved from founder-led chaos to structured, mature marketing that reflected their growth ambitions and Absolute Architecture saw sustained growth over six years through strategic positioning and disciplined execution.
In each case, the breakthrough came from strategic clarity first, then tactical delivery.
The Role of an Outsourced Marketing Department
This is where many SMEs misunderstand the structure.
An agency executes.
An outsourced marketing department:
Sits inside the business.
Works alongside the board.
Defines positioning.
Clarifies commercial objectives.
Supplies strong briefs to agencies.
Manages performance.
Reviews results.
Focuses on revenue, not vanity metrics.
We are not an agency alternative.
We work with agencies to do what they do best — creative, technical, specialist delivery.
Our role is to ensure they are set up to succeed and held accountable for outcomes.
If You Are Considering Hiring an Agency
Do not start with “Which agency should we use?”
Start with:
What problem are we trying to solve?
What does success look like commercially?
What foundations do we need to put in place first?
If you skip this stage, you are not choosing an agency.
You are buying activity.
If You Already Have an Agency
Ask yourself:
Are we clear on what they are accountable for?
Are we reviewing performance regularly?
Are we seeing commercial impact?
Have we given them what they need to succeed?
If you are unsure, it is time for a structured review.
What next?
If you are unsure whether your marketing agency is delivering what it should, don’t switch providers yet.
Start with clarity.
We offer a structured Agency Audit conversation where we review:
Your current foundations and positioning
The clarity of your brief and objectives
The reporting and performance framework
Whether the agency is set up to succeed
You will leave with a clear view of what needs tightening — internally, externally or both.
Book an Agency Audit Conversation.
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