How to choose a marketing agency for creators: read the paperwork before you hear the pitch

A creator choosing between agencies might ask, in words made up for illustration: "What can I ask to see, before I sign, that tells me more about my channel's numbers than the pitch does?" Ask for the paperwork, and read it for what it shows rather than what it promises. A pitch shows how well an agency talks; its documents show how it works. Your name is on every post and your audience is the asset, so the numbers and labels in those documents carry real weight. We wrote the four extracts below for this article, each with deliberate faults; none comes from a real client or agency.

A page from a monthly report

Illustrative extract: "March: channel views 410,000, up 38 percent. Subscribers gained 3,900. Watch hours 6,100. Source: agency dashboard."

Read it line by line. The views line is not false, only blended. YouTube says the public view count is the total of views paid as ads and views gained organically (YouTube Help), so a rising number can be partly bought. The corrected line splits it, for example 262,000 organic and 148,000 from ad campaigns, with spend and cost per new subscriber beside them.

The source line is the second fault: "agency dashboard" names nothing you can check, and each figure should name YouTube Analytics or Google Ads. That matters because YouTube says some variance between Google Ads, YouTube Analytics and the public watch page is expected (YouTube Help).

Watch hours are the third. One route into the YouTube Partner Program asks for 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months (the other uses Shorts views), and YouTube lists ad campaigns among the sources of watch hours that do not count (YouTube Help). A headline 6,100 could leave you well short, so the corrected page gives qualified watch hours their own line.

Then ask how subscribers were gained. YouTube says page traffic found to be artificial will not be counted and can lead to strikes on your account (YouTube Help). In the US, the Federal Trade Commission's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, published in the Federal Register in August 2024, makes it an unfair or deceptive practice to buy fake indicators of social media influence, such as followers or views, that you knew or should have known were fake and that materially misrepresent your influence for a commercial purpose (16 CFR 465.8). On frequency, ask for a monthly page with a short call explaining the movement, at minimum.

A course launch ad and its approval note

Illustrative extract: "Ad 14, course launch video, with a student saying she earned back the fee in three weeks. Approved."

The claim is in the ad and the evidence is nowhere. A results claim can come back on you. In the US, the FTC's Endorsement Guides say an ad featuring one customer's results on a product's key attribute will likely be read as showing what buyers generally achieve (16 CFR Part 255). Without substantiation, the ad should disclose the generally expected result, and the Commission's testing found that neither "Results not typical" nor a stronger disclaimer adequately reduced the impression (16 CFR Part 255). The corrected note lists what is on file: the student's written permission, her sales record, and the typical result across all buyers for the same period, shown on screen. The Guides are interpretation, not statute, and the FTC says practices inconsistent with them may lead to corrective action (16 CFR Part 255).

The second fault is "Approved" with no name. The Guides say advertising agencies and similar intermediaries may be liable for their roles in creating or disseminating endorsements they know or should know are deceptive (16 CFR Part 255). An agency that shares that exposure has every reason to add "Claim checked by [name] on [date]. Creator approved on [date, time]."

The clause that decides how you leave

Illustrative extract: "This agreement lasts 12 months and renews for further 12-month terms unless cancelled in writing 90 days before renewal. The agency receives a percentage of all sponsorship income the creator earns during the term and for 24 months afterwards."

Read the term, the notice and the renewal first, because they set what a wrong choice costs. This one locks you in a year at a time. A fairer version lets either side end it on 30 days' written notice after the first three months. Every figure here is invented. For retainer against project, see our post on retainers and projects.

The commission line is the creator-specific fault. A share of all your sponsorship income, for two years after you leave, ties the agency's pay to deals it may never have found. A narrower version pays only on sponsorships the agency introduced and that you sign within 60 days of the end date. Finding deals is also, we believe, a different job from marketing your channel and courses. California's Labor Code defines a talent agency by the activity of procuring, offering, promising or attempting to procure employment or engagements for an artist, and says nobody may carry on that occupation without a licence from the Labor Commissioner (section 1700.4, section 1700.5). Whether you count as an artist under that definition is a question for a California lawyer. We cite California only because it is the statute we could check at source, so ask a lawyer about your own state or country, and ask any agency to write down which activity it performs.

A record of who signed off a post

Illustrative extract: "Week 12, post 3, Instagram Reel featuring a sponsor. #ad in the hashtags after See more. Line 'I use this every day' added by the agency. Approved by the agency team."

Three of its four lines need correcting. Posts go out in your name, so the record should show your approval and the label checks. In the UK, where a brand pays an influencer or the influencer has any personal or commercial connection to the brand, content featuring it must be obviously identifiable as advertising, a requirement of consumer protection law enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority and Trading Standards (ASA and CAP guidance). The ASA says it is likely to expect at least a prominent "ad" label upfront, not buried in hashtags or behind "See more" (ASA and CAP guidance). The corrected record reads: ad label first in the caption and spoken in the opening line.

Posts about your own course count too. The ASA says an influencer promoting their own brand or products falls within the CAP Code, and that the rules apply equally to advertorial, affiliate and own-brand promotion (ASA and CAP guidance). It also says content with an affiliate link or code counts as advertising (ASA and CAP guidance). On YouTube, sponsorships and endorsements must be flagged with the paid promotion button, which adds a disclosure label at the start of the video (YouTube Help). So the record should also note any affiliate code in the description and, for any YouTube version, the paid promotion box ticked.

In the US, the Endorsement Guides say a connection the audience does not reasonably expect, and that might materially affect an endorsement's credibility, must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously (16 CFR Part 255). They also say an endorser who claims to use a product must have been a bona fide user (16 CFR Part 255). So "I use this every day" is a check only you can confirm, and an agency writing in your voice should not publish it without your word. The record should end with your confirmation and your approval, each with a date and time.

You may not need an agency yet: a freelance editor or a part-time manager may be enough for a creator whose income is mostly sponsorships.

We have worked on Antonio Palmucci's YouTube channel since late 2017, and the case study describes a retainer that runs from strategy and production to paid promotion. That is background on our work, not one of the four documents above. The same mix of content production and paid acquisition runs through our marketing for creators and course creators.

Send the same email to every agency on your shortlist

Subject: Four documents before we talk

Hello [name], I am choosing an agency for my [channel or courses]. Before a call, please send: a sample monthly report that splits views and subscribers into organic and paid and names each figure's source; one approved ad with its sign-off record; your standard contract, including the minimum term, notice period and any commission on sponsorships; and the sign-off record for one sponsored post. Please also list any outside services you use to gain subscribers or views. Redacted examples are fine. I am sending this same request to every agency on my shortlist. Thank you, [your name]

Send the email above to your shortlist first; for anything its replies leave unclear, tell us about your business.