Agency churn is the default in Metro Detroit, and it is expensive.
We meet Detroit companies constantly who are on their third or fourth agency in five years. Every switch resets the learning curve, the reporting, and the strategy — assuming a strategy ever existed.
Why Detroit engagements fail
- The strategy was never written down. Tactics started in week one. Nobody documented who you sell to, why you win, or what marketing is supposed to produce.
- Lead volume was the only metric. In a market built on manufacturing, trades, healthcare, and professional services, deals take months. Counting form fills tells you almost nothing.
- The senior person disappeared after the pitch. You bought experience and got a coordinator.
- Local was treated as an afterthought. A Detroit business needs to win Detroit, Oakland County, and Macomb County searches. A national template does not do that.
Questions to ask before you sign
1. Who specifically works on my account, and how many hours a month? 2. What does your strategy document look like? Show me a redacted one. 3. How will you report? Show me a real monthly report, not a dashboard screenshot. 4. What happens in month one, three, and six? 5. What would make you tell me to stop spending on a channel? 6. Who owns the ad accounts, the website, and the analytics — me or you?
That last one matters more than people expect. If you cannot walk away with your own accounts, you are not a client; you are a hostage.
What good looks like locally
A Detroit engagement that works usually has three things: a written strategy your leadership team can repeat, a clear split between demand capture and demand creation, and reporting that a CFO would accept.
Final thoughts
The agency question is really an accountability question. Before you evaluate vendors, decide what result would make the spend obviously worth it — then hire against that.