Clients suck. Agencies suck. In-house teams suck. Now what?

Howdy Haveaclues!

Hope you’re having a great week and a solid start to August! I’m writing this from a lovely Airbnb overlooking the Hudson River, near Beacon, NY. It’s nice to get away and enjoy some fresh air (and beer!). I love the convenience and action in Brooklyn, but I also love the calm of being surrounded by trees.

Stick around until later in the newsletter, I have something new to announce for ugly ads fans!

Allllrighty, let’s dig to this week’s topic:

The marketing agency/client relationship world is broken.

I’m always hearing from different businesses about how their agency sucks and doesn't do enough for them.

Others tell me about how agencies they want to work with are too expensive.

I also hear from agencies complaining about overly demanding clients with impossible expectations of performance, communication, and education.

I hear brands build in-house teams to save money, but they either hire the wrong person who sets them back for months or they slowly stagnate internally and don’t realize how they’re not able to keep up with trends until it’s too late and they’re desperate for outside help.

So if you’re keeping track that’s:

• Bad agencies suck

• Great agencies are too expensive

• Clients are unreasonable

• Building in-house doesn’t perform as well over time

Do any of these situations hit home for you? Reply to this email and tell me which one! (If you’re reading this, I’d bet you’ve been on either end of at least one of these!)

Since you’ve probably worked at a brand who was unhappy with their agency or at an agency who was overwhelmed by a client, did you ever wish you had a better place to talk to others about this stuff? My problem has always been:

• Twitter is filled with too much chest pounding and isn’t exactly the best place to hold civil, nuanced discussions.

• Facebook Groups are too chaotic and often fueled/led by guru’s trying to sell their methods, and they’re always filled with spam.

That’s why I’m confident you’ll be interested in my first-ever newsletter sponsor: Foxwell Founders.

I’ve been a proud member of Andrew Foxwell’s community (and friend of Andrew’s!) for almost two years and I can easily say it’s my favorite online community I’ve ever been a part of. It’s where I go to talk and listen to others talk about ads, agencies, creative, landing pages, running businesses, and so much more.

It’s ideal place for business and agency owners/leaders, freelancers, consultants, media buyers, creatives, and CRO specialists who want a private place to talk about any and all of these topics.

There’s no spam, no selling, and no anonymous trolls (unless you count me as a troll, sorry!).

There is tons of information/experience sharing, intimate cohorts, group calls, supportive feedback, useful resources, and community events.

I owe Andrew and the Foxwell Founders community a huge thank you for helping me make some amazing friendships and for helping me launch my account audit template.

If this sounds like it might be for you and you want to join me and the rest of the incredible members, click here to get started. You can always try it for a month or two to see how it feels. I’m sure you’ll get a ton of value out of it. If you’re still on the fence and unsure if it’s worthwhile, reply to this email and let me know!

Back to the agency/client ecosystem:

The entire ecosystem has been ruined by the intersection of over-ambitious agency owners and greedy clients: