Whether it’s for Facebook Ads, Google Ads, or TikTok, agency ad accounts are often reserved for high-spend advertisers and offer perks like no spending limits. This allows advertisers to scale campaigns without having to worry about daily spend caps and also enables them to gain access to the agency’s team of professionals for guidance, audits, and optimizations. Additionally, if the account is ever suspended by Facebook, the agency will often provide a free replacement account so that advertisers aren’t missing out on any reach due to suspensions.
Typically, these perks and advantages come with a prepayment requirement as well as fees that range from a percentage of total ad spend to a flat monthly subscription fee. It is important to discuss and agree upon these fees prior to signing an agreement with a marketing agency, as they can greatly impact a client’s budget and campaign performance.
Another concern with agency ownership and management is that when a client decides to terminate an engagement, the agency can keep all historical data and access. This is a major violation of the general principle that a company should own their channels and accounts, while only provisioning their agency of record with access to them.
It is also important to consider regulations such as GDPR & CCPA when deciding how an agency manages your accounts, as there may be personal data in these accounts that could require you to comply with legal requests. To avoid these situations, it is important to include in your contract (SOW / business agreement) that you retain ownership of the ad account(s) and are responsible for any consumer requests related to it.