Ask whether your marketing company works for competitors nearby, who handles each account, how your figures stay private and whether it bids on rivals' names. Pay for exclusivity only when keywords and area overlap closely.

The business down the street

A marketing company has run your AdWords account, your Google My Business listing and your Facebook page for two years. Then a customer mentions that a competitor across town uses the same company.

In a small market this is common. Only a few firms know local search and advertising well, and the ones that specialise in a trade naturally gather clients in it.

Most of the time it does no harm, and the knowledge of your trade is part of what you pay for. Sometimes it is a genuine conflict, and the difference lies in a handful of details.

They are worth settling in writing before anything goes wrong.

What a marketing company knows about you

The second is the most valuable thing in the account. A list of the exact searches that turn into booked work took months of spending to learn, and a competitor would find it very useful.

When sharing a company is fine

Different areas are the clearest case. A company looking after one business in each of several towns brings knowledge of the trade to all of them, and none competes with another.

Different customers can be fine too, even in one town. A firm doing commercial work and one doing homes rarely compete for the same searches.

And some services barely overlap at all. Hosting, listing updates and routine site maintenance give a supplier little that could help a rival.

Bidding on the same searches

AdWords runs an auction for each search. When two businesses in one town bid on the same keywords, each one's bid can raise the price the other pays.

If one company manages both accounts, it is choosing the bids on both sides of that contest. It may hold both down, raise both together, or give one account more attention without meaning to.

None of that is necessarily wrong, but you should know whether it is happening.

Your name in someone else's campaign

Bidding on a competitor's business name as a keyword is permitted in AdWords in Canada, and plenty of businesses do it. Using that name in the ad's own text is a separate matter, with stricter rules.

The question for a shared marketing company is narrower. Ask whether it bids on your name for anyone else, and ask for a written promise that it will not.

Most agree readily, since the same rule protects the other client from you.

Questions to ask

Ask plainly whether the company works for anyone else in your trade within your area, and who on its team handles each account.

Ask who can see your AdWords account, your Analytics and your customer list, and whether that includes anyone working on a competitor's account.

Ask what happens to your ads, data and accounts if the arrangement ends. Accounts opened under your business's own login, with the company given access, stay yours whatever happens.

And ask what the company would do if a direct competitor asked to sign up. A good one has already thought about it.

A worked example

A pet photographer works from a small studio in a converted garage and on location in parks, photographing dogs, cats and the occasional horse in a small city.

For two years a local marketing company had run her AdWords campaign and her Facebook page. In the autumn a client mentioned that another pet photographer in town had started using the same company.

She asked the questions. One account manager handled both studios, both campaigns bid on pet photography searches in the city, and the other studio's campaign had recently added her studio's name as a keyword, at that client's request.

The company removed it the same day and agreed a written rule for both clients: no bidding on each other's names. Each account now has its own manager, and neither manager sees the other's figures.

Exclusivity was offered, for a higher monthly fee and a year's commitment. She declined it for now, and asked for administrator access to the AdWords account from her own Google account, so its history stays with her business.

When exclusivity is worth paying for

Exclusivity means the company agrees not to take on a direct competitor within a defined area, usually for a defined period. It costs the company potential clients, so it usually costs you more.

It is worth it when your marketing depends on a few searches in a small area, where any rival using the same company competes with you directly.

It is also worth it when the company does strategic work for you: planning offers, writing pages, deciding where the budget goes. That kind of knowledge is hard to keep in separate compartments in one person's head.

It is rarely worth it for routine services, or across a large city where two businesses overlap only a little.

Put it in writing

Whatever is agreed belongs in the contract or a short letter: confidentiality of your figures and customer data, no bidding on your name for other clients, separate account managers if both stay, and the terms of any exclusivity.

Define the area and the trade precisely. A clause that mentions competitors without saying who counts as one settles nothing when the question finally comes up.

The counter-case

A company that specialises in your trade often does better work for you because of its other clients, not in spite of them. It knows the searches, the seasons and the questions customers ask.

In a small town, insisting on a company with no clients in your field may leave you with one that knows little about it.

Shared suppliers are normal. Ask the questions, get the answers in writing, and pay for exclusivity only where the overlap is real.

Before the next renewal

  1. Ask who else the company serves in your trade.
  2. Find out who handles each account.
  3. Get a promise not to bid on your name.
  4. Hold the accounts under your own business's login.
  5. Write confidentiality into the agreement.
  6. Define the area and trade for any exclusivity.
  7. Weigh exclusivity against how closely your searches overlap.

Step four protects you whichever way things go. With the accounts under your own login and the company added as a user, the history, figures and ads stay with the business.

Asking what each line of a proposal actually covers is the same habit applied in the quote with one line called SEO.

Frequently asked questions

Is it normal for agencies to serve competitors?

Yes, especially in small markets and among companies that specialise in a trade. It is usually harmless, and their knowledge of the trade is part of what you pay for.

When does it become a conflict?

When both businesses serve the same customers in the same area, bid on the same searches, and the same person handles both accounts and sees both sets of figures.

Can a competitor bid on my business name?

Yes. AdWords permits bidding on another business's name as a keyword. What you can ask is that your own marketing company never does it for its other clients.

What should the agreement cover?

Confidentiality of your figures and customer data, no bidding on your name for other clients, separate account managers if both stay, and the area, trade and period of any exclusivity.

Is exclusivity worth the extra cost?

When your marketing depends on a few searches in a small area, or the company does strategic work for you. Rarely for routine services or across a large city.

Whose login should the accounts be under?

Yours. Open AdWords, Analytics and your listings under the business's own accounts and give the marketing company access, so your history stays with you whatever changes.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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