🥗Agency Red Flags To Watch Out For 🚩

Hey there, and welcome back for another bite to chew on

We hope you’re having a great week thus far and are killing your to-do lists like an absolute savage.

In this week's newsletter, we’ll talk about something that is equally loved and hated.

… or maybe, rather: something that DTC founders just love to hate on (oops)

Anyway, we’re talking about agencies.

Specifically, we want to talk about:

- How to find an agency that’s right for YOU

- How do you vet an agency

- Red flags to watch out for when hiring an agency

Why should you listen to us about this?

Well, fun fact: We built our own 7-figure marketing agency before building Obvi.

So we’ve been on both sides of the table - and because we no longer have that agency, we aren’t biased.

Quick disclaimer: When talking about agencies, we refer to marketing-related agencies (i.e., media buying, creative, CRO, design, branding, etc

Before we dive into this week’s newsletter, we just wanted to take a quick moment to share our newest free resource.

It’s built together with our CRO partner, Endrock, and it’s about how you find the right free shipping threshold.

This is a super important topic for DTC brands that is rarely talked about.

If you follow the content in this free resource and implement it, it’ll have a significant impact on your business.

Don’t get fooled by big logos & awards

It’s easy to get fooled by agencies who have worked with big-name brands and won multiple awards.

But if you’re on this newsletter, chances are those agencies might not be the right fit for you.

Why?

Because the way you do any form of marketing/creative/branding work for a 10-figure household brand is not the same as you would for a 7-figure brand

It’s just two completely different sports.

So, that's the first lesson.

Don’t get fooled by big logos and awards.

It’s typically NOT what you need.

Here’s the second lesson

BIGGER is not always BETTER

Although some may argue that bigger agencies have more clients, more knowledge, more manpower, etc

…And they can therefore do better work for your

We have just NOT found that to be true.

There are two logical reasons for this:

1) As an organization grows, it needs to build standardized processes.

They’d also need to hire a mix of senior managers and junior executors.

As a result of this, the quality of the work the client receives typically decreases (at least, if you are just a one-of-many client)

2) If you are not among the agency's biggest clients, it makes logical sense for them to spend less time on you and prioritize others.

So here’s our learning:

Working with boutique agencies > Working with big agencies with many employees.

Because you get:

Better service, directly from the top experts in the company (maybe even the founder)

A custom solution instead of a standardized one

More care… because you matter more to their business

How do you vet an agency?

I don’t know a single founder who hasn't been burned by an agency before…

But, most of the time - it’s the founder’s own fault.

Because they were probably lazy in the diligence process.

Here are two good tips for vetting your agency (don’t skip these, for god’s sake)

1) Contact the founder of the brands they say they’ve worked with and get them on the phone

Don’t send an email.

Nobody will tell you if somebody is sh!t on an email.

Because people might be afraid that it can trace back to them and damage their reputation

Instead, get them on the phone - and let them pour out their actual thoughts.

2) Speak to the person who’ll be running your account's day-to-day operations.

Salespeople are typically good at promising the world.

But it’s easy to promise if you are not the one who’ll be executing it.

Therefore, remember to speak with the person who’ll be working on your account and assess their competence level as well.

If you only assess the founder/salesperson competence level, you’ll be in for a surprise sooner or later.

The biggest red flags (if you see these, then run away - fast!)

Okay, so below, we’ve created a list of the biggest red flags when it comes to agencies (based on our experience)

You may not agree with all of them, but hey - that’s life…

1. If an agency says they can do EVERYTHING (email, sms, ads, design, media buying, CRO), then they probably can’t do anything (at an excellent level)

2. If the agency’s clients are confidential, run away.

3. If the binding period is +6 months, run away.

4. If they are flexing how much money they make on Twitter, run away. Fast

5. If they are testing without a clear structure, run away (if media buying)
   

Tbh, there are probably a lot more that we can add to this list.

But we actually want to hear your thoughts.

Respond to this email with the biggest red flag in an agency, and let’s make a nice list to post on Twitter

Also, we really want to create a list of agencies that founders recommend (for all types of services)

So if you have an agency partner you’ve been working with, that you can recommend, then reply to this email and we’ll make a list of the top ones (mentioned most frequently)

Tool of the week

Who do I need to hire to build an app for my brand?

We’ve been asked this question hundreds and hundreds of times.

And actually…

You don’t really need to hire anyone.

We were pretty shocked initially, too.

But building an app is easier than you’d think.

It took Ash a solid week to get our entire app up and running.

And the reason is that TapCart has made it super easy for brands to get up and running with their app in no time.

So, there’s no more excuses not to build a mobile app for your brand.

It makes sense financially, and it makes sense from a time/value perspective too.

PS: If you tell them that we sent you, you will get up to 2 months free