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4 reasons why you should have a marketing contract?
Choosing the right marketing agency or marketing consultant can be a challenging task! But, once the right agency is found, it might be very tempting to move forward and start working. However, before availing of such services, it is essential to take some time and sign a contract with the agency. With a contract in hand, both parties can be clear about their roles and responsibilities.
What is a marketing contract?
A marketing contract is a legally binding document signed between the marketing agency (or marketer, or independent contractor) and the client (or company) who wants to avail of the marketing services.
It is also known as a joint marketing agreement. This contract sets forth all the terms and conditions under which the marketing agency will help the client or company to market their goods or services to potential customers.
These marketing services can either be traditional marketing (using print, broadcast, or outdoor advertising) or digital marketing (through online platforms, like social media marketing or search engine optimization), or both. All of this depends on the client and their requirements.
What are the important elements of a marketing contract?
When a marketing agency agrees to provide a set of marketing services to the client, it becomes essential that both parties should have a brief knowledge of what they should expect from each other. Having a marketing contract will help streamline all the terms and conditions that both parties agree to. While signing a contract, both parties should be aware of some basic terms of this agreement, those are:
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The contract should identify parties and include all the related details
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It specifies the services that the client should get
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It sets out clear and detailed payment terms
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Explains the roles and responsibilities of both parties
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Maintains confidentiality
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Briefs about how to resolve disputes
Benefits of having a marketing contract
Having a marketing contract in place makes sure that everything is clear between both parties and prevents the chances of misunderstandings. With a marketing contract in hand, the marketing agency can be assured that the payment will be made on time, and the client will be assured that the work will be delivered on time.
Apart from this, there are other benefits of signing a contract, and those are:
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Defines the services: Usually, all the services provided by the marketing agency are listed in a contract. This helps both the client and the agency get a brief idea of the client’s services.
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Expectations and responsibilities: A contract is not just about the terms and conditions. It also clearly states both parties’ responsibilities and the expectations they should have from each other.
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Payment terms: All the payment terms and methods are mentioned in a contract, making it easy for both the marketing agency and the client to know about the amount, when to make the payment, and how to make it.
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Business relationship: A prior written consent helps to establish a better relationship between the marketer and the client. Even if there is any miscommunication, a contract will guide the parties to know how to resolve the problem and, if needed, how they can take suitable legal action.
How should you draft a marketing contract?
A contract contains a variety of terms that helps to protect the interest of the parties in it. Except for certain standard clauses, the rest of the terms vary depending on the type of contract. Similarly, a marketing contract also includes certain clauses that can be new and tricky to understand. Below are such elements (or clauses) that are important in a marketing contract.
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Scope of work: This clause specifies all the marketing services that the marketer or the marketing agency should provide to the client or company. It talks about marketing plans, strategies, creative concepts, marketing materials, and deliverables for marketing campaigns.
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Timeline details: The timeline is an important element included in a marketing contract. The marketing agency or the marketer might not have exclusive rights to provide their marketing services to the same client for lifelong. This clause specifies the effective date of the contract and the timeline to deliver the agreed-upon work by the marketing agency.
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Payment: This term clarifies the overall amount that the client should pay to the marketing agency. It can be a monthly payment or a per-service payment. It also talks about the payment methods, how many business days it will be made, and other important details.
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Exclusivity: Under this clause, the marketing agency or the consultant will get the exclusive rights to sell or market the client’s product or service to the customers. Sometimes, it clarifies that no other agency will be hired to market the same product or service following the contract’s stipulated period.
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Proprietary information: It specifies that all the confidential information and trade secrets that the marketer or the client might be exposed to in their business tenure should not be disclosed to a third party.
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Cancellation: A cancellation is helpful when either party wants to cancel the contract before the agreed period. It outlines the terms under which the contract can be terminated and how the outstanding work should proceed.
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Intellectual property rights: This clause talks about the intellectual property that the marketing agency possesses. According to this term unless it is mentioned in the contract the intellectual property will remain in the interest of the marketing agency.
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Limitation of liability: Under this clause, no party is liable for injury, accidents, or damages (usually, lost profits or revenue) of the other party under this contract.
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Relationship: It gives a brief description of the client and the marketer’s relationship like they can't form an employee-employer relationship or a joint venture or partnership under the contract.
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Severability: If any provision of this agreement is held invalid or unenforceable by the court, according to this clause the remaining provisions of the contract will remain in full force and effect.
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Miscellaneous: Apart from the above clauses, certain terms should be present in a marketing contract and those are the governing law (like under which applicable laws of the state the contract is enforceable), force majeure, and waiver.
Effective ways of using a marketing contract
A marketing contract is a legal document that can be used as leverage during difficult times. Here are a few effective ways of using a marketing contract that helps secure the business relationship:
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A client can follow up with the marketer from time to time
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The client can easily raise any query and the agency has to respond to it
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Under the terms of the contract, the marketing agency can suggest effective ways to achieve the goals
Use Revv for marketing contracts
Drafting a contract or using legal help for this, can be an expensive and hectic task. Agencies and marketers might end up, spending more time on contract drafting than using it effectively in planning for the client’s project.
To help agencies in such situations and streamline the documentation process, Revv has pre-drafted and easily customizable marketing contract templates. These marketing agreement templates can also be built from scratch according to the client’s or marketing agencies’ requirements.
All the templates at Revv have an in-built eSignature option that can be signed by multiple users at a time, from any place and any device in the world.
Not just that, using Revv, payment methods can be integrated directly into the templates. The marketer has to add the payment block in the document, integrate it with either Stripe or PayPal and send it for acceptance. Once the payment is made, it will reflect in the concerned person’s or agency’s Stripe or PayPal account.
To avail more such features, signup for Revv and start using it!