We wanted to know more about how marketing agencies view legal issues, and how they handle them – so we asked them!

In this post, I’ll provide an overview of the research results Toerek Law commissioned to reveal how agency leaders think about “legal”.

We learned a lot about the challenges agencies face and how agency owners and decision-makers prepare, react and respond to legal issues.

We’re grateful for the feedback and ideas from the hundreds of survey respondents who are all busy marketing agency leaders, and to research firm Audience Audit for helping us understand the research and how to use it to help more agencies.

Who: A Snapshot of the Respondents

A survey was taken by 224 marketing agency owners representing a wide range of agency sizes, revenue earnings and breadth of services.

Of the respondents, the majority of respondents owned a marketing, PR or related agency and one-third were non-owner at the senior-level management level.  Most reported being hands-on with the legal affairs of their agency.

What’s most interesting is that three very defined segments of agency leader attitudes emerged among survey takers, which we affectionately nicknamed:  1) Exposed & Anxious (31% of respondents) 2) Proactive & Protective (29%) and 3) Lawyer Avoiders (41%).

Marketing Agency’s Greatest Legal Challenges

Defining a problem is the first step in creating a solution.

The survey asked which legal issues are a challenge and the specific areas of concern for agency decision-makers.

For anyone who has worked in an agency, the challenges identified will sound familiar.  The top three concerns were: 1) Client contracts (64%), 2) Freelancer contracts and/or talent issues (57 %) and 3) Copyright — e.g. right transfers, use of images or properties, copyright infringement (41%).

The secondary legal concerns for agencies included: trademarks/brand clearance and protection, protecting agency intellectual property during business development, and consumer data privacy compliance. Of lesser concern were: social media policy compliance, licensing of our agency’s intellectual property and influencer marketing policy compliance.

Not all marketing agency owners need or want the same thing or know what they need. For example, the “Exposed & Anxious” segment members reported a higher number of issues mainly with client contracts and freelancer agreements than their peers. “Lawyer Avoiders” reported the least amount of legal challenges. Is that because they do not focus on that aspect of their business? Read on to find out.

Most agencies have not retained legal services to address their top business priorities. For example, while client service agreements are the #1 concern for marketing leaders, there’s a large gap in having this critical legal safeguard in place.

Confidence in Avoiding Legal Trouble

One-third of marketing agency owners and leaders said their agency had been party to a lawsuit.  Few say their process is “excellent” for addressing policy compliance, contracts issues, data privacy and trademark and copyright issues

How do their attitudes affect the way agency leaders will deal with these legal concerns?

“Lawyer Avoiders” revealed they are DIYers in managing legal affairs.  They use freelancers more often, boot strap their business and tend to work with an attorney only when it feels absolutely necessary. More often than not, they will use templates and prefer online resources than directly hiring an attorney.

On the other hand, “Exposed & Anxious” agency leaders are quite the opposite. These respondents have a high level of awareness of potential legal matters, believe agency legal issues are getting more complicated, and that their agency may be unprotected. They want more legal advice but aren’t sure they can afford it. They worry that their agency is legally unprepared in some areas and want help filling the gaps in the form of a library of resources, services and other legal tools.

The majority of respondents expect their agency to have to address legal issues in the future. Their top anticipated needs are freelancer contracts or freelance work issues, protecting agency intellectual property during business development efforts and copyright protection and data privacy.

Types of Legal Services & Tools Available

The good news is that nearly 75% of the marketing agency leaders polled understand the need for legal services.  Concerning is that 20% handle issues without using a lawyer and only a small percentage have a specialized lawyer  – intellectual property issues (16%) and marketing law (13%).

Wide ranges of legal resources are being used at varying degrees to manage risk.  These legal tools are obtained in a variety of different ways:  from having a library of legal documents or templates to purchasing legal templates outside of their legal retainer relationships.

The top 3 legal tools used by agencies in the survey are:

1. Employee policy handbooks (used by 57% of respondents)
2. Contracts for independent contractors or freelancers (56%)
3. Employee agreements (53%)

“Exposed & Anxious” respondents are more likely to expect the need to address these legal issues than other segments.

Understanding different attitudes among agency leaders helps us deliver legal services to them in a way that meets their leadership style and preferences, as well as their legal risk profile.

What does this mean for your agency?

• Understanding your view toward agency legal issues is very important to determining the risk profile you’re comfortable with managing for the agency.
• Having access to agency-specific legal tools was a thread that ran through just about all respondents’ feedback. Knowing where to find these resources, and maintaining them proactively, helps your agency no matter what your risk profile.

And there’s more!

Stay tuned for my upcoming podcast interview on The Innovative Agency with AudienceAudit’s own Susan Baier as we talk about the survey results and what they mean for your agency.

Plus – Get Our Special Report

Marketing Agencies’ Greatest Latest Challenges

Want to know more about our learnings from agency leaders like you?

Our customized survey from agencies about the legal issues on their minds, and the ways they handle them, can help you navigate through your marketing agency’s most pressing legal vulnerabilities. It will also help you to evaluate where you stand in comparison to hundreds of your decision-making peers on managing agency legal affairs.

Get your free copy of the Report now!

Have a question about the survey? Reach me at sharon@legalandcreative.com