Paying an agency to run your ads?
Find out in 2 days if your marketing agency is wasting your money.
I go through your agency’s work by hand. Then I show you in writing where the money leaks, and how the same budget could bring in more. It’s free.
For UK businesses whose marketing costs £3,000+ a month. No logins needed, and your agency never hears from me.
I ran a UK agency for 6 years. I don’t sell ad management, so I’m not after your agency’s job.
Choosing a marketing agency?
Find out in 2 days which proposal is worth signing.
Send me the proposals and any draft contracts before you sign. I’ll say which one I’d sign, and which terms to get changed first. It’s free.
No call needed, and no agency hears from me.
I ran a UK agency for 6 years and know how proposals get written. I don’t sell ad management, so I won’t be pitching against them.
Google Ads · prepared by the agency
Another strong month. Conversions are up again and costs are down.
The report said 61 conversions. Only 9 were enquiries.
The other 52 were people who opened the contact page and left.
- ‘£66 per conversion’ was really £556 per enquiry. Add the £1,000 fee to the £4,000 of ads, then divide by the 9 real enquiries.
- ‘Clicks up 23%’ hid £2,200 spent on people who were never going to buy. Most searched for ‘jobs’, ‘free’ or ‘DIY’, and the rest were miles outside the area the business covers.
- ‘Another strong month’, yet nobody had touched the account for 7 weeks. The £1,000 fee was paid anyway.
- A dedicated account manager
- Full transparency on every pound
- Flexible terms, no long tie-in
- Results-focused reporting
Management fee £1,000 a month, on a £4,000 ad budget
It promised full transparency, then kept the ad account.
The contract left the ad account in the agency’s name. If you leave, its history stays with them.
- ‘A dedicated account manager’, but the contract names nobody, so your account could go to a trainee in month 2.
- ‘Flexible terms’ turned into a 12-month minimum with 3 months’ notice, in the small print.
Now picture the same £4,000 aimed at people looking to buy.
Your agency can put this right. It needs someone to show it what to change, then check that it did.
About 80 recommendations, the critical ones first.
That’s my average, with 5 or 6 critical. Each comes with the reasoning and step-by-step instructions.
AuditExample account · Google Ads · October
This account is wasting money.
83 recommendations, 6 of them critical
Critical 1 of 6
The ad account is in your agency’s name
- What it costs you
- If you leave, the account’s history stays with the agency, and the next one starts from nothing.
- What has to change
- Move the account into your company’s name, then give the agency access to it. The steps are on page 4.
Critical 3 to 6 follow, then 77 more recommendations.
You also get ideas for earning more from the same spend, including a few that go beyond ads.
Why free? So you can judge my work before paying for anything. I charge for checking your agency every month, with my recommendations.
In 2 days you’ll know which proposal I’d sign.
Proposal checkExample · 3 agencies
- Agency A
- Sign, after 2 changes
- Agency B
- Avoid. The ad account stays in their name.
- Agency C
- Fine, but £400 a month dearer for the same work.
Before you sign with Agency A
- Name the person running your account in the contract.
- Put the ad account in your name from day one.
I write every check myself, in plain English.
Why free? So you can judge my work before paying for anything. Once you’ve signed, I charge for checking the new agency every month, with my recommendations.
Your part takes about 2 minutes.
Answer 4 questions
About a minute, with no card or login.
Forward your agency’s latest report
A PDF or their email. You get the address after the form.
Your audit lands within 2 days
By email. There are no sales calls.
Answer 4 questions
About a minute, with no card or login.
Forward the proposals and any draft contracts
PDFs or the original emails. You get the address after the form.
My answer lands within 2 days
By email. There are no sales calls.
I lost clients to agencies that over-promised.
I ran a UK agency for 6 years and saw the bad practice from the outside. Agencies write their own reports, and most clients have nobody to check them against the account. Now I do that for them.
In 12 years of marketing I’ve managed more than £12M of ad spend. Plenty of agencies earn every penny, and if yours does, I’ll tell you.
I’ve also written a free 61-page guide to what agencies hide.
Get the free guideYou’ll get my name before you pay for anything, on a video call or in writing.
Want your agency checked every month? It costs from £600.
‘In my experience, they all seem to come pretty strong out of the gates, then drift to more of an “autopilot” engagement level.’
With Monthly marketing supervision, I check each report from your agency against the live account. I also keep an eye on the general state of your marketing and look for opportunities nobody has taken, the way a good marketing director would.
Then we plan the next steps together. My recommendations go beyond the ads, to your marketing as a whole and the business behind it.
Once you’ve signed, Monthly marketing supervision starts with the new agency’s first report, checked against the live account. I also keep an eye on the general state of your marketing and look for opportunities nobody has taken, the way a good marketing director would.
Then we plan the next steps together. My recommendations go beyond the ads, to your marketing as a whole and the business behind it.
| 1 ad platform | £600a month |
|---|---|
| 2 or 3 platforms | £1,000a month |
| 4 or more | £1,500a month |
Google Ads counts as one platform, and Meta, covering Facebook and Instagram, as another. Every 3 months you also get a full review of the whole account.
The 3-day promise
Every report gets checked within 3 days of reaching me. If I miss that, you get £100 from me. I work 7 days a week, which is why I can promise it.
No contract to sign, and one email cancels it. Any paid work starts with a video call or written confirmation.
Picking an agency rather than checking one?
I’ll read the proposals before you commit and tell you which one I’d sign. It’s free.
Already paying an agency?
I’ll check its work for free and show you in writing where the money goes. It’s for businesses whose marketing costs £3,000 or more a month.
Your agency won’t hear about this from me.
No agency will hear about this from me.
Will my agency know I’ve asked you?
With just the report, it has no way of knowing. If you add read-only access, it may notice an extra user on the account, but it never hears from me.
Will the agencies find out?
No. I never contact them, and nothing I do shows up on their side.
Do you need logins to my ad account?
No. Last month’s report is enough for an audit. With read-only access, which can’t change anything, I can also see what was changed and when, and every search you paid for.
Do you need anything besides the proposals?
Send the draft contracts too if you have them, because I read those first.
Is any of this done by software?
No. I write every audit and every check myself, for the business it’s about.
What if my agency turns out to be good?
Then you’ll get that in writing too, with the evidence, plus ideas for earning more from the same budget.
What if every proposal looks fine?
Then I’ll name the one I’d sign and what to ask for in the contract.
Why are there no reviews here?
This service started recently, so there aren’t any yet. My free work is the fairest test of what I do, and it’s yours to keep.
Who isn’t this for?
Businesses spending under £3,000 a month on marketing. Anyone who wants their ads run for them, which is an agency’s job, or who wants to hire a marketer. I don’t check SEO either.
Who isn’t this for?
Anyone who wants their ads run for them, which is an agency’s job, or who wants to hire a marketer. I don’t check SEO either.
What happens to what I send you?
It’s used for the work you asked for and nothing else.
Get the audit before you pay the next invoice.
It’s free, and it’s in your inbox within 2 days.
P.S. Is your contract up for renewal? Then get the audit now. You’re in the strongest position to ask for changes before you sign the next one.
Get the proposals checked before you sign anything.
It’s free, and you’ll have my answer within 2 days.
P.S. Signing soon? Send the proposals today. Changes are easiest to ask for before anything is signed.
Not ready to send anything? Put these 3 questions to your agency this week.
Not ready to send anything? Ask each agency these 3 questions.
- How many of last month’s conversions were real enquiries/sales, and what did we pay for each, your fee included?
- Last month, which changes did you make to the account, and when?
- Is the ad account in our name, and who has admin access?
- Who exactly will work on our account, and how long have they done this work?
- Whose name will the ad account be in, and what happens to it if we leave?
- How will you count an enquiry, and can we see the raw numbers?
If the answers come back vague, send me the report.
If the answers come back vague, send me the proposals.
Get your free audit
Free, and back within 2 days.
Thanks.
Now forward your agency’s latest report to the address below. A PDF is fine, or forward the email it arrived in.
info@themarketingwatchdog.comYour audit follows within 2 days of it reaching me. Can’t find the report? I’ll email you within a day to say what else works.
Thanks.
My free audit is for businesses whose marketing costs £3,000 or more a month, so I’ll read your details and reply within a day.
Meanwhile, here are 3 questions to put to your agency, whatever you spend.
- How many of last month’s conversions were real enquiries/sales, and what did we pay for each, your fee included?
- Last month, which changes did you make to the account, and when?
- Is the ad account in our name, and who has admin access?
Who’s behind this site?
I ran a UK agency for 6 years and have spent 12 in marketing. In that time I’ve managed more than £12M of ad spend.
My name stays off this site on purpose. You’ll get it before you pay for anything, on a video call or in writing, and you can ask me whatever you like.