Marketing Agency Audit – Driving the Success of Your Brand

When it comes to enlisting the support of multiple agencies, collaboration and compliance are essential to the success of not only your marketing campaign but your company’s overall brand.

Managing several different marketing agency relationships can feel like a juggling act. It is critical to make sure these agencies are not duplicating efforts and more importantly, that they are complying with service and budget requirements. However, dedicating the necessary resources to monitor your agency relationship for contract compliance and conducting detailed audits is a challenge.

Corcentric can help. Our marketing agency audit specialists will establish the proper procedures to regularly monitor billing and performance, implementing the necessary controls that allow for complete visibility into the allocation of your marketing budget.

We’ll deliver an experienced team dedicated to performing the needed detailed assessment of your advertising agencies including:

• Contract Reviews
• Compliance Testing
• Fee Reconciliation
• Full Media Audit
• Risk Assessments
• Agency Relationship Management

A core component of any agency audit is a thorough review of contract and Statement of Work (SOW) language to identify areas of improvement in your current agreements. For marketers with long-standing relationships with agency partners, contracts may have often been renewed several times resulting in outdated contract language. One of the best ways to ensure your agreements contain the most relevant and up-to-date contract language is to perform a benchmark against industry standards. Through our extensive database and robust market intelligence, our experts provide an actionable benchmark report comparing your current agreements to others in the market and provide recommendations for improvements.

Through our internal databases, market intelligence, and research, we provide a comprehensive auditing process which includes the following steps:

• Review of contract language to assess audit opportunity
• Reconciliation of agency fees through invoice and reporting analysis
• Detailed assessment of staffing plans
• Evaluation of compliance measures based on current contract terms
• Benchmarking of agency compensation structure
• Review of agency’s management procedures, particularly when handling media investments
• Analysis of the agency’s media monitoring processes (recoveries owed by the agency in the form of media credits, rebates, billing errors, etc.
• Recommendations for increasing controls and delivering greater transparency
• Assistance in the implementation of performance standards and monitoring mechanisms

Recognizing that marketers often view their agencies as true partners, we approach the auditing process collaboratively. We work with your team to identify the agencies best suited for an assessment and conduct a thorough audit without disrupting your relationships.
Beyond the evaluation, our marketing sourcing experts serve as an extension of your team, working closely with you to identify areas of improvement to ensure your marketing dollars are well spent.

Corcentric understands the nature of agency relationships, as well as the value an advertising audit brings to your organization. Our marketing sourcing experts have the experience and expertise to help you implement best-in-class agreements centered on financial stewardship and performance measurement.

Speak with an advertising agency management expert today to learn more about the value of an agency audit.