I have built and sold two e-commerce companies. Then I started advising brands. What I saw made me want to fix a broken system. Too many businesses find themselves saddled with insufficient marketing support and poor results. This is not a small problem. This weighs on the growth of the entire market.
My opinion is simple: Most marketing agencies fail their clients, and we should stop pretending it’s no big deal. The few who do great work are often only looking for giant clients. The rest of the market is burned. I refuse to accept this as the price of doing business.
The problem no one should ignore
I’ve sat in enough meetings with founders and CMOs to hear the same story. Flashy terrain. Thin strategy. Bad execution. Then a long contract that traps you while the clock ticks. This story repeats itself too often.
“There are 90,000 digital agencies in the United States. 99% of them are full of shit…And the few that are good tend to only want to work with the Fortune 2000.” —Erik Huberman
This sentence may seem harsh. It’s deserved. I’ve looked at plans where the “strategy” was a recycled deck of cards with a new logo. I’ve seen reports that hide the metric that really matters: profitable growth. And I’ve heard owner after owner say, “We gave it an extra month because they promised everything would turn around.” »
Bad marketing isn’t just an unnecessary expense. It’s a waste of time. This delay kills momentum. This costs hiring plans. This distracts the team. For a growing brand, three bad months can set you back an entire year.
Why does this keep happening?
Good agencies look for big mandates. It’s rational for them, not for you. Small brands need to sift through the noise and hope for the best. Hope is not a plan.
There is also a lack of information. Many founders are experts in products and customers, not channel tactics. Agencies exploit this loophole with jargon and vanity measures. Sophisticated dashboards don’t emit cash register noises.
I’ve been on both sides. Before starting Hawke Media, I grew Ellie.com to $1 million in four months. I felt the urgency to quickly obtain real results. This urgency is missing in too many service workshops.
What needs to change
Responsibility must become the norm. Not as a favor. Not after a climb. Contracts must be flexible. The price must correspond to the actual work. Reports should be useful and clear. And the strategy must be adapted and not based on a model.
Expertise must be proven and not argued. Show off the wins. Show failures. Show lessons learned and how they shape the next test.
Some will say, “You get what you pay for.” That’s right, if you’re paying for skill, not theater. Price does not equal quality. Clear thinking and careful execution do the trick.
How to protect your brand now
Here’s a simple filter to avoid costly mistakes. Use it before signing anything.
- Demand a channel-by-channel plan with KPIs and expected deadlines.
- Ask for three client references that match your scene and industry.
- Insist on monthly or short durations with clear exit clauses.
- Where possible, tie part of the fee to agreed milestones or outcomes.
- Demand transparent reporting on revenue, CAC, LTV and margins.
- Make the strategist you meet the person who actually manages your account.
These steps require clarity. They also reveal who is real and who is guessing.
What awesome looks like
A strong partner starts with business goals, not channels. They audit the data. They develop a test plan, prioritize based on impact and confidence, then move on. They tell you what won, what lost and why. They don’t hide the failures. They learn quickly from them.
The right team makes you money. The wrong team is occupying you.
My stand
I didn’t create another agency to add to the noise. I started one to get through it. Flexible contracts. A la carte services. Senior operators directing the work. This is the model I believe in because I have seen what happens without it.
We owe the founders better than canned presentations and apologies. Growth brands drive jobs and innovation. They deserve competent partners, straight talk and results.
Stop accepting bad marketing as normal. Set higher standards. Ask harder questions. Leave faster. Your money and time are too valuable to waste.
Final Thought
If you’re exhausted by broken promises, don’t lower the bar. Raise him. Be rigorous in selection, relentless in measurement, and quick in course correction. There are good partners. Make them prove it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How can a founder know if an agency is the right fit?
Find a personalized plan linked to your goals, real references from similar companies, and direct access to the strategist who owns your results.
Q: What are the warning signs that suggest an engagement is going bad?
Shifting deadlines, vague reporting, a focus on vanity metrics, and constant “it’s about to click” promises without clear test logs or learnings.
Q: Are long-term contracts always a good idea?
Only when performance milestones, exit options and executive attention are guaranteed. Flexibility keeps both sides neat and aligned.
Q: What metrics should be most important for growing brands?
Track revenue, CAC, LTV, contribution margin and payback period by channel. These show whether efforts are generating profitable growth, not just clicks.
Q: How do small teams compete with the budgets of big brand agencies?
Prioritize high-impact tests, quickly eliminate slow losers, reuse winning assets across channels, and work with partners who tie fees to results when possible.
