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Marketing Agencies: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

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Introduction

Marketing agencies have evolved significantly over the past few decades. While traditional advertising relied heavily on billboards, print ads, and TV commercials, today’s agencies focus primarily on digital channels. However, despite this shift, many agencies still operate with outdated mindsets and practices. Buzzwords like AI, machine learning, and big data are frequently used, making it difficult to distinguish genuinely effective agencies from those simply skilled at pitching.

A Brief History of Marketing Agencies

The advertising agency has a surprisingly long history. William Taylor established the first recognised advertising agency in London back in 1786. In the United States, Volney B. Palmer opened the first American agency in Philadelphia in 1840, primarily working as a space broker—buying newspaper space at a discount and reselling it to advertisers at a markup.

The industry transformed when N.W. Ayer & Son emerged in New York, shifting from simply selling ad space to offering comprehensive services including planning, creating, and executing complete campaigns. This full-service model became the template for modern agencies.

The 20th century saw rapid globalisation. McCann Erickson (founded 1902) expanded into Europe by 1927 and later into South America and Australia. J. Walter Thompson followed a similar path, while Saatchi & Saatchi (established 1970) rose to prominence through landmark clients like British Airways and Toyota.

The internet era fundamentally disrupted this model. The emergence of advertising technology (AdTech) enabled brands to bypass traditional agencies entirely, running campaigns directly through platforms like Google and Facebook. Today’s agencies compete by developing custom AdTech solutions and leveraging customer data analytics—though many still operate with the same mindset as their space-broker predecessors from nearly two centuries ago.

For a deeper dive into agency history, see The History of Advertising Agency from Avenga.

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Common Problems With Marketing Agencies

Misaligned Goals

One of the biggest issues when working with marketing agencies is misaligned goals. Many agencies measure success by how much of your budget they spend, rather than by meaningful business outcomes such as:

Agencies often lack accountability for your business objectives, treating your account as just another client rather than a partner whose success matters.

Junior Staff Doing the Work

Agencies frequently pitch their services using senior executives, but the actual work is often delegated to junior team members with limited experience. This practice can lead to subpar results and frustration for your business.

Many agencies apply standardised strategies across all clients, regardless of unique business needs or market conditions. Effective growth marketing requires tailored approaches, not generic solutions. If an agency isn’t willing to deeply understand your business and customise their strategy, it’s a clear warning sign.

Long “Testing” Periods

Some agencies ask clients to accept poor results for the first few months, labelling this as a “testing period”. This is unacceptable. Effective growth marketers deliver meaningful insights and measurable results from day one.

Claiming Expertise in Everything

Be cautious of agencies claiming expertise across all marketing disciplines. Growth marketing requires specialised knowledge. Agencies that claim to do everything often lack the depth needed to deliver meaningful results. Instead, look for agencies or consultants with clear specialisation and proven track records in specific areas relevant to your business.

Lack of a Holistic Approach

Effective growth marketing involves optimising the entire customer journey, not just running ads. Agencies that focus solely on ad spend often neglect critical areas such as:

A good growth marketer or agency takes ownership of the entire customer experience, ensuring every touchpoint is optimised to drive conversions and revenue.

Insufficient User Research

Continuous user research is essential for effective growth marketing. Agencies that don’t prioritise user research are essentially guessing. Choose partners who regularly conduct research to inform their strategies, ensuring decisions are data-driven and customer-centric.

Why the Agency Model Is Breaking

The traditional agency model faces an existential challenge. AI tools have fundamentally changed the economics of marketing execution. Tasks that previously required extensive human effort—competitive analysis, content repurposing, reporting—now take a fraction of the time. Work that once required ten people can now be done by three with the right systems.

This shift exposes a critical weakness: agencies built on headcount no longer have a defensible advantage. In-house teams now have access to the same tools and can build their own workflows. The question every business should ask is: what can this agency do that we can’t replicate ourselves?

The old model of outsourcing execution while keeping strategy in-house no longer works either. Marketing environments move faster than annual planning cycles. By the time an agency implements a strategy developed months ago, the landscape has already shifted.

Agencies that survive will need to offer genuine strategic involvement—not just execution. This means senior strategists working directly with clients, flexible engagement models that adapt to actual business needs, and a clear understanding of where AI acceleration adds value versus where human judgement matters most.

For more on this shift, see The Marketing Agency Model is Broken from Ten Speed.

When Hiring an Agency Makes Sense

Despite these common pitfalls, there are scenarios where hiring an agency can be beneficial:

However, keep in mind that acquisition strategies typically have a limited lifespan. Landing pages and ad creatives need regular refreshing, and agencies often struggle to iterate quickly enough to sustain long-term success.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Marketing Agency

Before signing a contract, ask these critical questions to evaluate an agency’s true capabilities:

If an agency can’t confidently answer these questions or hesitates to share relevant data, consider it a significant red flag.

Alternatives to Hiring a Marketing Agency

If you’re wary of agencies, consider these alternatives:

Benefits of an In-House Growth Team

An in-house growth marketing team offers several advantages:

For a helpful visual guide on which marketing activities are best handled in-house versus externally, check out this graphic from MKT1.

How Growth Method Can Help

Whether you choose an agency, freelancer, or in-house team, Growth Method simplifies your growth marketing workflow by combining ideation, experimentation, and analytics in one powerful platform.

As Laura Perrott from Colt Technology Services says:

“We are on-track to deliver a 43% increase in inbound leads this year. There is no doubt the adoption of Growth Method is the primary driver behind these results.”

Growth Method is the only work management platform built specifically for growth marketers. If you’re ready to implement a systematic approach to growing leads and revenue, book a call today.

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