Is a performance marketing agency worth it for a small business?

The short answer

For a small business, a performance marketing agency is worth it when it makes the money you already spend work harder, not when it asks you to spend more. If you're already running Google Ads or an affiliate program, a good agency should find the spend that isn't bringing in new customers and move it to spend that is. The same budget then buys more customers.

It isn't worth it yet if you haven't launched a program. An agency like SocialLynx improves programs that are already spending. With nothing running, there is nothing to make more efficient, and you'd be paying someone to find out whether the channel works at all.

Signs an agency would pay for itself

• You spend on Google Ads or affiliate every month, and you can't say how much of it brings in new customers.
• Your reports count every sale the same, with no line between new and returning customers.
• Branded search, where people type your name and you pay for the click, is a large share of your Google Ads spend.
• Most of your affiliate sales come from coupon, deal or cashback sites.
• Whoever runs the channels does it on top of another job, so nobody has time to test what is working.

When it isn't worth it yet

• You haven't launched Google Ads or an affiliate program. Start the program first, then get help improving it.
• Your spend is so small that a better account wouldn't change much in money terms. The more you spend, the more a small efficiency gain is worth.
• You're a startup still looking for product-market fit, or a SaaS company. SocialLynx doesn't take either.
• You want a monthly deck more than a better account.

Small business isn't the same as startup

SocialLynx looks at stage, not size. A small brand with a program that is already spending is a fit, even if its budget is modest. What it doesn't take is a business that hasn't launched a program yet, because its work is finding waste in spend that already exists.

That focus comes from one of the co-founders. Before SocialLynx, Tanner Lawman spent 11 years at a large marketing agency, where he saw smaller clients treated like a number on a spreadsheet. SocialLynx was built so every dollar of a client's budget works as hard as it can, whatever its size.

How to tell if the cost makes sense

Don't compare the agency fee with your ad spend. Compare it with the waste the agency finds and the new customers it adds. If part of your budget is paying for customers who were already coming, moving that money is where the fee gets earned back.

The way you pay matters as much as the amount. SocialLynx is open to being paid on performance, with a starting fee or minimum, so most of the fee follows the result you agree on up front. It works month to month, so there is no long-term contract. If an agency needs a long contract to keep a small client, ask why.

What it has looked like for smaller businesses

The Event Rental Guys, a local event rental business in Oradell, New Jersey, needed more booked leads from search. SocialLynx runs its Google and Bing Ads alongside SEO and local search. Organic leads rose 190%, and the business added $40K in revenue in six months. The CEO said SocialLynx makes it "easy for us to stay focused on running the business while they handle the marketing."

MTM Event Rentals, another event rental company, needed a steady flow of leads and a stronger presence online. With SocialLynx handling lead generation and its online presence, it tripled its revenue in one year.

How fast you'll know

A small business can't wait a year to find out whether an agency was worth it, and it shouldn't have to. Google Ads shows value inside a week, and certainly within a month. An affiliate program takes about two months, because the old setup has to be unwound and rebuilt with top-of-funnel publishers first. SocialLynx says so up front.

Questions to ask any agency before you hire it

• Will you report new customers separately from returning ones?
• Do you test whether my branded search and affiliate spend is incremental?
• How is your fee set, and how much of it depends on results?
• How long is the contract, and what happens if I want to leave?
• Will you tell me about waste in channels you don't run?

Where to start

SocialLynx starts every engagement with a free audit of your Google Ads, your affiliate program and the rest of the budget. You see where spend is buying customers you already had before you agree to anything, which is the cheapest way for a small business to find out whether an agency is worth it.