Short answer. Put the contract next to what the agency actually did last year. Work that comes back every month in the same way, such as reports, newsletters and product copy, can often run inside your own business. Work that is new every time, such as a campaign idea or a brand story, is better left with the agency. Decide before you sign. After the signature it is fixed for another year.
Why this moment matters
An agency contract is rarely looked at again. It runs out, a proposal arrives with a small increase, and whoever is busy signs. That's understandable. The agency knows your business, the work gets done, and finding a new agency takes time.
Still, the renewal is the only moment when the question is cheap to ask. During the year you have a running contract. After the signature you have another one. In the weeks before, you have a choice.
What is actually in an agency contract?
Almost every annual contract mixes two kinds of work.
Work that comes back. The monthly report. The newsletter. Social posts on a fixed schedule. Product copy for new items. A report on the ads. This work follows the same steps each time, with your data, in your tone.
Work that is new every time. Coming up with a campaign. Repositioning a brand. Preparing a trade fair. A difficult conversation with the press. This work needs people who think along with you, and that is what an agency is rightly paid for.
The trouble is that both sit on the same invoice, at the same rate. You pay for the recurring work as if it were new every time.
Four steps before you sign
1. Ask for an overview of what was delivered. Not a proposal, a list: what did the agency deliver last year, how often, and how much time went into it. A good agency has that overview. If you don't get it, that is an answer too.
2. Put each item in one of two columns. Recurring or new every time. If in doubt, ask whether the work was done the same way last year as this year. If the answer is yes, it is recurring.
3. For each recurring item, look at what bringing it in-house would take. Who in your team would follow it up? What data is needed, and is it already in your own systems? Could an assistant prepare it while someone in your team checks and sends it? Sometimes the answer is no. Then the item stays with the agency, and that's fine.
4. Negotiate on what is left. With a shorter list, the conversation with your agency changes. You ask for a contract for the work the agency is genuinely good at. Many agencies prefer that work too.
What you build in-house should be yours
If you bring recurring work in-house, check who owns it. If it runs in a tool in a supplier's name, you have replaced one invoice with another. The question to ask whoever builds it: are the settings, the documentation and the access in my name? Can I continue with someone else later?
If the answer is yes, you pay once to build it and then only to maintain it. That is what we mean when we say our invoice is the last one of its kind.
When you should just sign
Not every renewal deserves this exercise.
- If the agency mainly delivers new work and little repetition, there is little to bring in-house.
- If nobody in your team has time to follow up an assistant, you are only moving the problem.
- If the contract is small, the exercise costs more than it returns.
In those cases, sign, and look again next year.