What is it like to work with a performance marketing agency?

The short answer

Working with a performance marketing agency should feel less like buying a service and more like adding a team that is paid to move one number. With SocialLynx, that happens in four steps: an audit, agreeing the number, moving the spend, and reporting on what changed.

Before you sign: the audit

SocialLynx reads your Google Ads, your affiliate program and the rest of the budget. The audit is free. It shows where spend is buying customers you already had, so you see what would change before you commit to anything.

Step two: agree the number

Before any budget moves, you and SocialLynx settle what counts as a new customer and which KPI matters most. That might be new-customer revenue, incrementality, or another measure you choose. This step matters more than it sounds. An agency that hasn't agreed the number with you will report whichever number looks best.

What you'll be asked for

• Access to your Google Ads account
• Access to your affiliate platform, such as Impact.com, AWIN, CJ Affiliate or Rakuten Advertising
• Access to your analytics platform, so new-customer growth can be measured
• A sense of your margins and goals, so the agreed number reflects profit, not only sales

The first month: move the spend

SocialLynx shifts budget from what isn't bringing in new customers to what is. On Google Ads, that shows value inside a week, and certainly within a month. On affiliate, expect about two months while the old setup is unwound and rebuilt with top-of-funnel publishers. SocialLynx says so up front.

Ongoing: reporting you can use

You get new-customer revenue, incrementality, and a plain account of what changed. Depending on the client, that comes as a weekly performance report or a weekly meeting to plan what comes next. The Event Rental Guys described it this way: SocialLynx makes it "easy for us to stay focused on running the business while they handle the marketing."

SocialLynx is not a fit for brands that want a monthly deck more than a better account. The reporting exists to explain decisions, not to fill a meeting.

Signs an agency relationship is working

• You know what counts as a result, and the report shows it.
• The agency tells you about waste, even in channels it doesn't run.
• Changes come with a reason you can repeat to your team.
• You could leave next month, and you choose not to.

What if it isn't working?

SocialLynx works month to month, with no long-term contract. If SocialLynx isn't what's best for your business, you should move on. That's a fair test for any agency: if it needs a long contract to keep you, ask why.