c/agency-partnerships

Walking through the old ad district in Chicago and saw something wild

I was downtown near the old Leo Burnett building yesterday, checking out the old agency spots. Saw a huge, empty office space that used to be a full-service creative shop, now just a 'For Lease' sign. Made me think about how many of those places used to run on long-term partner deals, not just project gigs. Back then, you'd walk in and see teams from three different firms working together on one floor. Anyone else see old partnership hubs turning into ghost towns in their city?

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fox.david•1d ago

Back in 2019, I had to pick between a flat fee or a revenue share deal with a web dev agency.

We went with the flat fee for a project in Austin, which felt safe at the time, but it capped our upside when their work brought in a ton of new clients for them. Looking back, I wonder if the revenue share would have built a better long-term partnership, even with more risk. Has anyone else faced a similar choice and how did it turn out for you?

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kim373•2d ago

A partner in Chicago told me our referral deal was a one-way street

We were talking about a project we sent them six months ago. They said they got a lot of work from it, but we never saw anything back. It hit different because they just laid it out as a fact, not a complaint. Made me realize our handshake deals are just us giving work away for free. How do you set up a real two-way referral system that actually works?

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the_piper•2d ago

A client dinner in Austin showed me why we need better partner contracts

We were pitching a big project together, and my agency partner started promising things our contract didn't cover. I had to jump in and correct them, which made us both look bad. How do you handle it when a partner overpromises in front of a client?

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claire_bell•4d ago

PSA: Our agency wasted $5,000 on a 'partnership accelerator' program

We signed up for this online course last spring that promised to teach us the 'secret formula' for landing big agency partners. It cost us five grand and six weeks of our team's time. The whole thing was just recycled, basic advice about networking and making cold calls, stuff we were already doing. The promised 'exclusive' partner introductions were just a list of generic agency emails you could find anywhere. The worst part was the weekly group coaching calls, where the host spent most of the time pitching his even more expensive mastermind. We saw zero actual partnership leads come from it. I feel like we got sold a dream with no real roadmap. Has anyone else been burned by these kinds of high-ticket partnership programs? What actually works for finding good agency collaborators?

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elizabeth900•5d ago

Pro tip: A shared spreadsheet saved our partnership from a huge mess last month

We had a project with a web design agency in Portland that started to go sideways. Their team was waiting on content from us, but our writer thought they had sent it. For three days, nothing moved. The client was getting annoyed. I remembered a simple Google Sheet we used for a plumbing job to track parts. I made one with columns for task, owner, due date, and status, and shared it. Suddenly, everyone could see the hold-up was a missing image file, not the text. We fixed it in an hour. The project finished on time. Why do we make this stuff so hard sometimes? Has anyone else found a basic tool that fixed a big agency communication problem?

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jordan_young•5d ago

I thought splitting profits 50/50 with a partner agency was the only fair way, but a project in Portland changed my mind.

We teamed up with a web dev shop on a big client site rebuild. They handled all the back-end coding, which was about 70% of the total work hours. We did the design and project management. After three months, I realized a straight 50/50 split meant we were getting paid more for less actual build time. We switched to a model where we each invoice for our actual hours at our rates, then split the project management fee. It felt messy at first, but it was way more fair. Anyone else moved away from flat profit splits to something more detailed?

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caseyc78•5d ago

I used to think white-label partnerships were just a way to hide who does the work

Honestly, I was super against them for a client project in Austin, thinking it would hurt trust. But after we tried it for a 90-day campaign, the client was happier with a single point of contact. Has anyone else found a specific case where a white-label setup actually improved a client relationship?

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dylan604•6d ago

Rant: I thought white-labeling was a lazy cash grab until we tried it for our web design agency

For years, I told anyone who would listen that white-label partnerships were just a way for big agencies to farm out work they didn't want to do. I was convinced it meant losing control and delivering worse quality. Then, six months ago, a partner agency in Chicago offered us a deal to handle all their overflow WordPress builds. We took it on a trial basis for 30 days. The first project was a 15-page site for a local brewery, and they gave us their full brand guide and a direct line to their project manager. We delivered it in three weeks, under their name, and the client loved it. The partner agency paid us our full rate without any hassle. It wasn't about being lazy; it was about them focusing on sales and strategy while we did the expert build work. Now it's a steady 20% of our monthly revenue. Has anyone else built a solid partnership by doing the white-label work, not just selling it?

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fox.david•6d ago

Serious question, when did you realize your referral network was actually working?

For me it was hitting 15 solid referrals in a single quarter. I'd been swapping leads with a local web design shop for about two years, just a trickle here and there. We never forced it, just kept each other in mind. Then last fall, it just clicked. I got a call from a restaurant owner they sent over, and that job led to three more from people he knew. It wasn't about some big contract, it was the steady flow. It made me stop seeing other agencies as just competition. Anyone else have a specific number that made the partnership feel real?

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elizabethn56•7d ago

Why does everyone think a 50/50 revenue split is the only fair way to partner?

I see agencies in Chicago pushing this split like it's a law, but it ignores the real work. If my shop handles all the client onboarding, project management, and support for a year, a 70/30 split in my favor is fair. I had a partner agree to this after seeing our detailed time logs, and the project ran smoother than any 50/50 deal I've done. How do you structure your deals when the workload isn't equal?

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sean_johnson16•8d ago

Had to choose between a big retainer client or a bunch of smaller project ones

Honestly, this choice came up about two months ago. A marketing agency in Austin offered me a $5k monthly retainer to handle all their overflow web design work. At the same time, I had four smaller agencies lined up for one-off projects that would bring in about $7k total over the next quarter. I picked the retainer. It was scary to turn down the quick cash, but the steady work has been a game changer. I can finally plan my month and stop chasing invoices every week. My stress level is way down. Has anyone else made a call like this and how did it work out for you?

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masongreen•9d ago

Choosing between CinemaWorks and Regal Fierce Media for commercial shoots?

Hey everyone, my agency needs to partner with a reliable video production team for an upcoming client campaign. We are currently looking at CinemaWorks and Regal Fierce Media. Any experiences with either? We need top-notch commercial video quality and a crew that can handle a pretty demanding client.

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