Why I Don't Do Long-Term Contracts (And Never Will)

Ask any agency why they need you on a twelve-month contract and you’ll get the same three answers.

“Marketing takes time to work.”

“We invest a lot up front.”

“It protects both of us.”

Two of them are half true, one is nonsense, and none of them are the real reason.

The real reason

Keeping a client who CAN’T leave is a lot easier than keeping one who can.

That’s it.

Once it’s signed, the reason to be great every month quietly disappears, so month one gets the best people and month seven gets last month’s report with your logo swapped in.

I’ve seen it from the inside.

The clients on rolling terms got the urgency.

The ones locked in got “managed”.

“But marketing does take time”

It does, that half is true.

Getting found on Google builds up over months, and so does a proper customer journey.

No argument from me.

But, the work taking time doesn’t mean you need to be trapped while it happens.

If it’s working, you’ll see it working (more calls, more enquiries, your list growing) and you’ll stay because staying is obviously the right call.

The contract isn’t there for when it works.

It’s there for when it doesn’t.

What rolling monthly actually does

Working month to month is a bit uncomfortable for me, and that’s exactly why it’s good for you, because every month you’re deciding whether to carry on.

So the work has to be visible, because “it’s still building” doesn’t last long when you can leave at Christmas.

The reporting has to be honest, so when a number’s going the wrong way we talk about it and fix it, instead of burying it on slide nine.

And the relationship has to be earned, with no account manager reading from a script.

It changes how you feel about the money as well.

Marketing you’re trapped in, you resent.

Marketing you’re choosing, you pay attention to, and it works a lot better when you’re paying attention.

The bit that makes it possible

This matters more than how you pay.

You have to own everything - your website, your data, your customer list and your accounts.

If leaving whoever does your marketing means losing your website, you haven’t got a supplier, you’ve got a landlord.

Say you’re an accountant and the person who built your site also “owns” the domain.

You want to move on, and suddenly your web address, your email and every link anyone’s ever shared to your site are all sat in someone else’s account.

Everything I build is yours.

No lock-in, no hostages.

Walk away tomorrow and it all keeps working, and it’s precisely because you could walk away that I can’t get lazy.

So what do you get instead?

Before any work starts you get one page in writing that says what’s included, what it costs and when it’s due, and that you own everything.

Monthly work is rolling.

I ask for 30 days’ notice if you want to stop, as a favour, not a term you’re stuck with.

You stay because it’s working.

Your job today

Dig out whatever you signed with whoever does your marketing or your website.

Find two things.

How long you’re tied in for, and who owns your domain name.

If you don’t know the answer to the second one, log in to wherever your domain is registered and check whose name is on it. If you can’t log in, that’s your answer.

Want an honest look first?

If you’re not sure what you’ve actually got, that’s what Your Web Review is for.

I go through your website, Google profile, reviews and socials, record a video of me doing it, and give you the three things I’d fix first.

No big sales pitch.

Get your free Web Review

And if you’d like one short email every Sunday on making your marketing easier, get the Marketing Memo. It’s free.