Top 3 Marketing Agency Scams/Ripoffs

When you hire a marketing agency, you need to ensure that you are getting your money’s worth and aren’t being fooled into signing a contract that takes advantage of your lack of knowledge. Here are the top three marketing agency scams to teach you what not to do and help you make the right decision.

1. We can make you the “1st Result on Google”

Nobody in marketing can guarantee anything. These types of extraordinary promises are false because you can’t be sure of the actions of a target audience. Good agencies have their feet on the ground and focus on developing an effective SEO strategy rather than making empty promises. So, if an agency tells you that they’ll procure immediate results, or that they can get you to be the top search result because they have a “priority submit” with Google, it’s a strong red flag.

2. One Size Fits All

A proposed marketing strategy should be specifically tailored to your company and situation. A template marketing strategy won’t be effective because every business has a different model and needs a unique strategy that will cater to their strengths and build on their weaknesses. If they present a proposal that isn’t customised to your business, chances are, they’re after your money, not rooting for your success.

3. Lack of transparency

Some marketing agencies will assume their clients are oblivious to terms and strategies and will take advantage of this by providing very few details whilst promising grand results. If they aren’t being specific about procedures, timelines, and costs, it might be worth a little investigation. For example, we discovered that TopBuzz, a video marketing company,  took advantage of the fact that most people don’t read the “terms and conditions agreement” to hide the fact that as soon as a client gives them a video, TopBuzz owns the rights to the video forever. Don’t let them leave you in the dark. Good communication is key to a healthy working relationship between any marketing agency and their clients.

These are just three of many ways a marketing agency can take your money and not deliver.

If you want to learn more about marketing agency scams and how to avoid them, join us on July 31st, 2018 for our seminar How To Hire A Marketing Expert (When You Aren’t One)