Who Owns Your Digital Assets?

In today’s digital age, your marketing assets are the lifeblood of your business. These assets are the key to building your online presence, tracking your success, and reaching your customers. But here’s the million-dollar question: Do you really own these marketing assets, or does your digital marketing agency? It’s surprisingly common for businesses to lose access to their assets after working with an agency. In this post, we’ll cover the essentials of digital asset management and how to safeguard your business. We’ll dive into what marketing assets are, which accounts you must have access to, and best practices for working with marketing agencies.

What are Marketing Assets?

Marketing assets are the data, images, videos, and accounts related to your business’s marketing efforts. Think of them as the building blocks of your online presence. Without direct ownership, you’re putting your business at risk. Digital marketing assets range from your website and social media accounts to email platforms and customer data. Each type of content plays a unique role in your overall marketing strategy. Legally, you’re likely entitled to ownership of each account, but here’s the catch—social media platforms won’t mediate disputes between you and your agency. So, it’s crucial to ensure you have control from the get-go.

The Importance of Digital Assets Ownership

Owning your digital assets is essential to your marketing strategy. Whether it’s a website, product images, or customer data, these assets are the foundation of your brand’s online presence. They help elevate your visibility, engage with your audience, and drive sales across various platforms. Imagine building a successful business and realizing you don’t have access to the tools that got you there. Scary, right?

You own your business—why wouldn’t you own your marketing assets? Allowing an agency to retain primary ownership of your digital accounts can make you vulnerable. If things go south, you could lose access to valuable data that took years to build, like website traffic analytics, ad performance metrics, and lead tracking information.

Here’s a non-comprehensive list of critical marketing assets:

• Website and Other Web Properties
• Product and Brand Images
• Email Platforms
• Brand Assets and Design Elements
• Facebook Ad Accounts
• Google Ads Accounts
• Customer Data
• Google Analytics

By retaining control over these assets, you can continue to refine and improve your business over time, no matter which marketing agency you choose to work with. At LMH Agency, we believe in full transparency. When you work with us, you own your marketing assets, get honest reporting, and control the account. You can log in and check the specific metrics that matter to you straight from the source. Are you interested in seeing how we’ve helped other clients? Check out our Case Studies for successful projects we’ve delivered.

Best Practices for Digital Assets Management

Managing your digital marketing assets while working with an agency can be tricky. Even if your previous agency had good intentions, transferring ownership correctly can be time-consuming. Worse, if the agency can’t or won’t cooperate, you may lose valuable performance data and brand recognition. Recreating assets from scratch isn’t just costly; it’s time-consuming.

So, how can you ensure your business properly owns its digital marketing assets? Here are some best practices:

Website Access

Your website is the face of your business online. Regardless of where your domain was purchased, you should always own it. Keep track of the email addresses used for login and protect your passwords. Work with your website developers to transfer domain ownership to you if needed. Auto-renewal is crucial—missing a renewal can lead to losing your domain altogether.

If you’re considering changing agencies, make sure future developers and marketing partners are willing and knowledgeable enough to ensure proper domain ownership. If not, that’s a red flag. At LMH, we’re one of the most trusted digital marketing agencies for businesses, offering custom website design and management services. We are WPEngine partners, providing high-quality website design and management services. We run rigorous quality checks and work directly with your team to verify your website is accurate, secure, and of the highest quality possible. Learn more about our web design services.

Google Analytics Access

Google Analytics is a treasure trove of data that shows how well your website performs. However, many Google marketing products, including Google Analytics, require a Google account. It’s common for clients to find that their former marketing partner structured multiple Google Analytics properties within the same account, which Google does not recommend. At LMH, we work with former partners to transfer the property into its account.

Clients should be admins at the account level, and LMH remains an account-level admin during our partnership. You risk losing historical data like top pages, traffic sources, form submissions, purchases, and session durations if you don’t know who created your Google Analytics account and property. It’s crucial to be the admin of your own Google assets. LMH ensures you are. Need help setting up a Google Analytics account? We’ve got you covered. As admins, we configure all the necessary settings to keep your data safe and accessible.

Google Ads Access

A Google Ads account can be a goldmine of historical data that helps optimize your ads for the best results. To safeguard your account, grant agency access through a Manager Account. This hierarchical level is higher than the ad account and allows access to multiple employees. Share your account number with the agency so they can send a request to manage your account.

Your internal employees should also be admin users on the account. If you need to remove an old marketing partner’s access, add the new one first. Setting up a Google Ads account by an agency can cause issues with billing and “payment profiles,” but LMH aims to avoid such complications with a proper initial setup. If you lose access to your Google Ads account, LMH can set up a new account with the correct configurations, including access, billing, account structure, and conversion tracking. We are certified Google and Yelp partners, offering quality services. Learn more about our Paid Ads Management services.

Facebook Ads

Managing assets within Meta’s ecosystem can be one of the most complex parts of gaining access to new clients. Meta Business Manager is your go-to platform for organizing Facebook and Instagram assets. Instead of managing access on the asset level, manage it within the Business Manager. Reflect on who set up the Meta assets to track down access.

Once you locate the current administrator, guide them through adding a new admin, who can then remove the previous one. Document how to access these assets for future reference. Most issues arise due to Meta’s confusing interface, but rest assured—LMH is a Meta Business Partner Agency and is always available to help you navigate the platform.

Lead Tracking

Owning lead-tracking data is crucial when working with a digital marketing agency. Clearly outline who owns the lead tracking data and has admin access in your agreement. Establish guidelines for sharing, storing, and using this data.

A proprietary lead tracking tool allows you to control your leads and view reports whenever needed. LMH is a responsible marketing agency with a proven track record of helping businesses grow. We provide detailed reports and visualizations to help you understand performance. Plus, we ensure proper management and safeguarding of sensitive customer data, complying with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Learn more about our pricing plans tailored to different budgets.

Protect Your Marketing Assets with an Award-Winning Agency

At LMH Agency, we understand the importance of protecting your digital assets. As one of the 2024 Best Rated digital marketing and advertising agencies, we employ best practices for each platform with your best interests in mind. This means setting up accounts, creating websites, running ad campaigns, and tracking leads in a way that preserves your ownership and full access. We correct any access errors made along the way and assist in recovering existing accounts whenever possible so you can build on your existing data.

LMH Agency offers comprehensive digital marketing and traditional advertising services to help you grow your business. Explore our home services digital marketing solutions for more details.

Let’s Work Together to Secure Your Success

At LMH Agency, we want our clients to love working with us and partner with us for the long term. We also want you to be successful with any marketing partners in the future. That’s why we help you build and grow with your existing accounts rather than forcing you to start over. If you’ve been struggling with creating new accounts or getting access, our experts are here to help you get set up for success.Not sure where to start? We’ll help you find the best digital marketing strategies that fit your goals and budget. Contact us for appointments and guidance on the best digital marketing solutions in the industry.