Why Agencies Fail Owners and How to Find a Partner That Delivers ROI

Are you looking for a marketing partner or a “one-night stand”? The word partnership implies accountability on both sides.  If either partner comes to the table for a different goal, it’s very likely to end on bad terms. It’s not much different for marketing agencies and small business owners.  Look for and behave as if you are looking for a partnership; you’ll have better odds of finding the right partner.  In contrast, look for and behave like you are looking for a “one-night stand," and that’s likely what you get. 

In my 20 years of experience as an agency owner and freelance contractor, this scenario holds for marketing agencies and small business owners. Hiring a marketing agency should make growing your business easier. For many small and mid-sized business (SMB) owners, it does the opposite.

Budgets get spent. Reports get delivered. The activity looks busy. But revenue doesn’t move.

At DaBrian Marketing, we regularly speak with small business owners who have worked with two, three, or even five agencies and still don’t have a clear answer to a simple question: “Is my marketing driving leads, sales, or revenue growth?”

Let’s dig into what you should be looking for. 

Why aren’t Small businesses and Marketing Agency relationships successful? 

There are a number of challenges between agencies in maximizing the reach, visibility, and revenue generation for small business owners. Some agencies optimize for activities, and not outcomes, and some clients look at activities as justification for what they pay for with an agency. This is different for every client based on their business life cycle. 

For example, take a startup business versus a more mature business. A startup business may not have visibility into the number of leads, sales, cost per acquisition, or lifetime customer value. A more mature business will have the necessary insight into those components, so the distinction between vanity metrics and revenue metrics is uniquely different.

The misalignment between agency KPIs and business goals is often something that requires strong consideration when you're looking to partner with an agency, and I'm working with small businesses. I often see a misalignment of solutions with a client's budget, their competitive landscape, the industry they're in and their expectations.

Let's consider SEO, for example, clients will come to us and say they want to be number one in the search engine results. However, their budget doesn't align with achieving that goal. They have limited insight into the competitive landscape or their market in context with SEO. They're not looking at the industry expectations in terms of what other folks in the industry are doing to match that when people are looking for similar services or an alternative, and it doesn't align with their budget and what they're willing to invest to achieve the goal of being number one in the search engine results.

These are some of the high-level reasons that small business owners and agency relationships are not as successful as they could be.

7 Ways Agency & Small Business Owners Miss the Mark 

1. One size does not fit all strategy
   •  Cookie-cutter packages are not built for an industry, market, or sales cycle.
   •  Misaligned with the budget, competitive landscape, or data.
2.  No Clear Revenue attribution
   •  Inability to tie marketing efforts to leads pipeline or close deals.
   •  Limited internal resources or processes to accurately track leads, pipeline, revenue, or closed deals.
3.  Lack of Industry Experience
   •  Limited visibility into industry best practices
   •  Inability to navigate compliance or buyer journey expectations
4.  Over-Promising and Under-Delivering
   • Aggressive projections without realistic timelines or benchmarks
   • Limited ability to aid the agency in delivering internal information and navigating internal processes or procedures to achieve timelines
5. Poor communication and transparency
   • Confusing reports, inconsistent check-ins, unclear next steps
   • Inconsistent feedback, limited internal visibility, and unclear understanding of the impact on the goals and objectives
6. Platform specialist, not growth partner
   •  We run ads or we do SEO, versus growing revenues
   • You run our ads, or you do our SEO, or how can you help me grow Revenue
7. No sales alignment
   •  Marketing generates leads, sales can't close, or worse, never follows up
   •  No internal tracking mechanisms to follow the process of leads, sales, close, and/or follow-ups (CRM or even a spreadsheet)  

Why Small Businesses Need a Different Kind of Agency Partner

Small businesses have business restraints. They have limited budgets, lean teams, and they have faster ROI expectations. They are focused on what they do best, which is make a product or deliver a specific service. They are not marketing subject matter experts.

The importance of prioritization over volume is critical for small businesses.  Proven strategies within their industry segment give them confidence and trust in the person providing services. Data to reinforce what's happening in their space and align it back to their terminology is also valuable to keeping things simple and communicating clearly.

Small businesses need an agency that is focused on small and or mid-sized business partners. I personally prefer small to mid-sized businesses. They genuinely need our help. They want our guidance. Don't have the resources or technology to execute it because it is expensive. And, they don't have these long net terms like many enterprise businesses. 

What a True ROI-Driven Agency Actually Does

• Competitive landscape, Industry changes, Market changes, and existing customer base

• Revenue targets, profit margins, customer value, sales capacity

• Demand generation, lead qualification, conversion rate optimization, etc. 

• CRM integration, lead scoring, intent-based data, and automatic follow-up

• Cost per lead, cost per acquisition, pipeline value, ROI, forecasting 

• Testing, iteration, and  budget reallocation toward what converts

What Success Looks Like With the Right Partner

It's like any successful team or marriage, it requires teamwork, collaboration, communication, and progress toward the common goal. When SMBs work with the right marketing partner, they gain:

• Predictable lead flow
• Improved lead quality
• Clear ROI visibility
• Strategic guidance tied to growth

With the right partner, marketing becomes a revenue driver. Not a line item expense!

Need Guidance: 

If you’re serious about ROI, start by evaluating whether your marketing partner is accountable to your business goals, not just their deliverables.