Before the pen comes out.
Nobody reads a marketing agreement carefully at the point of signing, because at that point everybody likes each other. The clauses are written for the day that stops. Read these beside your own contract, not instead of it.
Tick every line, or ask why not.
Notice: the length, the method and the window
A ninety-day notice that must be served before an anniversary is one week a year in which you are allowed to leave.
Notice runs both ways, equally
If they can leave in thirty days and you need ninety, the contract has told you how the relationship is valued.
Email counts as written notice
If the document does not say so, assume it does not, and ask for the sentence that does.
The ad account sits in your business portfolio
Meta offers no self-serve way to move an account between portfolios. Partner access keeps it yours and still gives them the keys.
The page, the pixel, the analytics and the domain are named as yours
The domain is the asset people lose most often. Silence on ownership favours whoever holds the login.
Access is returned on termination, in writing
One sentence: on the last day, here is exactly what you receive and when. Ask for it before the first invoice.
The creative is assigned, not merely licensed
In the United States, paying for creative does not make it yours by default. Look for the word assignment, not just work made for hire.
The carve-outs are the reasonable kind
A portfolio licence for the agency is normal. Keeping the concept, the templates and the project files while you licence the exports is not.
Renewal rolls monthly, never into a fresh term
A year that quietly renews for another year is the trap. A rolling month is an agency that has to keep earning you.
A written reminder before the renewal date
It costs an honest agency nothing and removes the trap entirely. An agency that refuses has told you why.
Exclusivity does not stop you hiring in-house
Your own capability should never be a breach. Category exclusivity on their side, for a defined market and period, is the fair version.
No minimum term, or a setup fee instead
A minimum term converts their investment risk into your lock-in. If one is unavoidable, put a break clause with a review point inside it.
Their obligations are as precise as your payments
Exact payment terms on your side against deliverables described as ongoing support on theirs is a one-sided document.
A lawyer has read it
The cheapest line item in the engagement, and the only one that reads the clauses for the day everybody stops liking each other.
Where Drifted sits · thirty days’ notice, in writing, either side, any time · the account and the page stay yours · creative assigned to you · no auto-renewal · no client exclusivity · no minimum term
driftedmarketing.com/tools · free, no email required · we run an agency, not a law firm: take advice before signing
No deck. No discovery theatre. One metric, one date, in the contract.