What does a marketing agency do in the first 90 days?

The sequence

The same sequence should run whichever services are in scope. This is the one Black Clover Media commits to in writing:

• →A written scope with the number in it. Nothing starts before it is agreed.Before day 1
• →An audit of what exists, and a baseline recorded.Week 1
• →The fixes that need no debate: listing, tracking, broken pages, the enquiry route.Weeks 1–2
• →The build — site, sequences, shoot, campaign structure.Weeks 2–6
• →First monthly report. Six lines, same order, good month or bad.Day 30
• →A review where the agency tells you what to stop paying for.Day 90

Why the baseline matters most

Everything an agency later claims rests on what was measured before it started. If nobody recorded how many calls, enquiries and orders you were getting in week one, then every improvement reported in month three is a guess dressed as a result. A baseline is cheap to record and impossible to reconstruct — which is why skipping it should worry you.

The review where you are told what to stop paying for

By day ninety there is enough data to say which parts of the scope moved the numbers and which did not. An agency paid on retainer has every incentive to keep the full scope running. Saying “stop paying for this part” costs the agency revenue, which is precisely why it is the strongest trust signal available in the first quarter of a relationship.

What should worry you

No written scope before work starts. No baseline in the first two weeks. A first report that leads with reach and impressions. And a ninety-day conversation about renewing that never once mentions removing anything. None of these is fatal alone; together they describe an agency billing for motion rather than results. The sequence above is the one we commit to — it is on our about page, with the pricing shapes it attaches to.