We hear this a lot. There is a tendency in the advertising industry for agencies to wildly over-promise and under-deliver, especially when it comes to digital and online advertising. If you’re promised quick-results, large percentage-based sales increases or a specific number of leads each week, you’re probably being oversold.

Even the best advertising campaigns and initiatives take time to deliver results, and the very meaning of the word “results” can vary. For instance, if an agency increases traffic in your store, but there is no increase in sales, is the agency doing its job? We would argue they definitely are by bringing in customers. The problem here isn’t the agency, it’s the customer’s in-store experience or perhaps the availability or price or the products being advertised.

Measuring advertising results can be complicated, and promising things that are unrealistic is unfortunately commonplace. So our advice is to ask to speak with some of the agency’s other clients, ask for samples of the types of work you want and ask how the agency is going to measure the results of their work. After all, the entire goal of advertising is to generate potential customers and leads.