Marketing and Agency Spend Optimization

A curated collection to control marketing and agency spend (creative, paid media services, PR, production, agencies-of-record) with an operator-safe system: scope clarity → acceptance → utilization → pass-through discipline → invoice QA → renewals/RFP leverage.

This collection is bottom-line first:

• stop scope creep and surprise overages
• avoid paying for work that wasn’t accepted
• make retainers measurable and renegotiable
• control pass-throughs with evidence and approvals

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Who this is for

• Marketing leaders who want to protect budget without slowing execution
• Finance/procurement teams managing agencies and recurring retainers
• Anyone stuck in “agency invoices don’t map to anything”

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How to use this collection

Follow in order:

1. install controls (SOW, acceptance, pass-through rules, invoice standards)
2. quantify retainer utilization fast
3. run a leakage cleanup sprint (scope creep + unsupported charges)
4. if you’re re-bidding or resetting scope, run the agency RFP + SOW kit

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Recommended foundation (optional but helpful)

• Contract Repository & Clause Extraction Copy Pack (contract-repository-clause-extraction)
• Renewal Control Copy Pack (renewal-control)
• Invoice Integrity Copy Pack (invoice-integrity)
• Disputes + Credit Recovery System (disputes-credit-recovery-system)

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All Marketing and Agency resources (recommended order)

1) Marketing and Agency Spend Controls Kit

Slug: marketing-agency-spend-controls-kit
Make deliverables enforceable, track retainers, control pass-throughs, and set invoice standards.

Type: Starter Kit
Time: 60–90 min

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2) Marketing Retainer Utilization Calculator

Slug: marketing-retainer-utilization-calculator
Quantify utilization, unused value, and effective hourly rate to support renegotiation.

Type: Calculator/Tool
Time: 10 min

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3) Marketing Scope Creep + Agency Leakage Playbook

Slug: marketing-agency-scope-creep-leakage-playbook
Run a 2-week cleanup sprint: invoice-to-deliverable mapping, overage controls, dispute-ready templates.

Type: Playbook
Time: 30–45 min

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4) Marketing Agency RFP + SOW Kit

Slug: marketing-agency-rfp-sow-kit
Force comparable bids and build enforceable SOWs with clear acceptance and pass-through rules.

Type: Starter Kit
Time: 60–90 min

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Definition of Done

• invoices map to accepted deliverables/campaigns
• retainers are monitored and right-sized
• pass-throughs are pre-approved and receipt-backed
• scope changes require explicit approvals
• agency spend becomes explainable and controllable