Month-to-month marketing contracts let you stop any time, keeping the agency accountable every single month. Lock-in contracts tie you in for 6 or 12 months regardless of results. For most tradies, month-to-month is the safer option — the agency has to earn your business every month, not just in week one.
Before you sign with a marketing agency, the contract length matters more than most tradies realise. Lock-in or month-to-month affects your risk, your leverage, and what happens to your data if the results are not there.
What a lock-in contract actually means
A lock-in contract — typically 6 or 12 months — means you keep paying the management fee regardless of performance. If the agency delivers poor results in month two, you are still committed for months three through twelve. Leaving early usually triggers a break fee, and in some arrangements your ad accounts and data stay with the agency when you go.
Why agencies use lock-in periods
Most agencies cite the time it takes to ramp a campaign as the reason for lock-in — and it is true that Google Ads needs a few weeks to gather conversion data and SEO takes months to compound. The honest version of this argument is about 3 months; anything beyond that is mostly about protecting revenue, not your results.
The real risks of a long contract for a tradie
- You stay paying even when results are poor, because the break fee makes leaving costly.
- The agency's urgency to perform drops sharply once you have signed.
- Some agencies run your ad accounts in their own name, so you lose your account history and conversion data if you leave.
- A 12-month commitment is a long time in a trade business — your budget, trade mix or plans can change a lot in a year.
What month-to-month means in practice
Month-to-month means you can stop with 30 days notice and walk away with your accounts, your data, and your conversion history intact. It also means the agency has to earn your business every single month — which is the incentive structure that works in your favour. Scalepoint is month-to-month with no lock-in, because an agency confident in its results does not need to trap you.
The right test: ask any agency "If I leave in three months, what do I keep?" The correct answer is "everything — your accounts, your data, your rankings." If the answer is evasive or conditional, that is your answer.
What to check in the contract before you sign
- Notice period — is it 30 days, and does it start from your request or a fixed date?
- Account ownership — are Google Ads, Meta and analytics accounts in your name, with you as the owner?
- Break fee — is there a penalty for leaving early, and how is it calculated?
- Data portability — do you keep conversion history, call recordings and lead data if you leave?