February 21, 2023

Digital Marketing Agreement

This article has been written by Ms. Anchita Niranjan Chavan, a 3rd year BLS LLB student at Oriental College of Law, Navi Mumbai.

INTRODUCTION- 

A digital marketing contract is a legally binding agreement between you, the marketer, and your client. One of them is offering their goods and services in the market while the other is the one who would market or promote these goods in the market. It outlines the responsibilities of both parties while protecting the rights of each person. It is a finalized legal agreement between the client and a freelancer. A digital marketing platform is a solution that supports a variety of functions within the realm of marketing over the internet. Creating a digital marketing agreement is essential to protect your rights and the rights of the person you are allowing to promote your product. All in all, a digital marketing agreement is your safeguard towards doing a job well and within your expected boundaries. Digital marketing helps reach a wider audience with the least amount of effort and money. It also provides a more direct channel of communication with the target customers, which helps build better relations with them and eventually leads to an increase in conversions. Digital marketing is also a great way to retain existing customers. Word-of-mouth plays a significant role in digital marketing.

Along with protecting your rights and interests, you’ll be able to set out all your key responsibilities within the contract.  It will outline the responsibilities of you and the client, what the scope of work is, liability and dispute resolutions, intellectual property rights, access to confidential information, termination criteria, and much more. One of the most essential documents a marketer would need is a marketing agreement. Marketing refers to activities undertaken by a business to promote its goods and services in the market. To get your online marketing initiatives off to a good start, make sure you focus on the following foundations of a successful digital strategy. There are different types of digital marketing methods, but the most effective ones are content marketing, SEO, SEM, social media marketing, email marketing, and pay-per-click marketing. Scaling advertisements is easy. Engagement lasts longer than conventional marketing

ILLUSTRATION- Suppose, ABC is a custom clothing company that sells its products at different outlets across the U.S. The company’s management team decides to sell its offerings via a website to increase its customer base and generate more revenue. Hence, the company invested a substantial amount in formulating and implementing an effective digital marketing strategy, which primarily focused on SEO, website, content, and social media marketing. This strategy increased the company’s sales by 70%.

CHALLENGES FACED WHILE DRAFTING A MARKETING AGREEMENT-

While drafting a marketing agreement several challenges are faced. Some contracts are easy but comes with challenges. Below are the challenges faced while drafting a marketing agreement.

  • Relationship between the parties 
  • Price and payment 
  • Allocation of risk
  • Changes 
  • Confidentiality 
  • Notice 
  • Formulating a time frame
  • Subject- specific documentation.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF DIGITAL MARKETING AGREEMENT-

A marketing agreement does not have a clearly defined structure because of its creative nature. But there are certain essential elements that every marketing agreement must-have.

  • DEFINING THE LEGAL NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF BOTH THE PARTIES- This must be the most important element while  making a contract. You need to specify who the agreement is between each and every time. And both parties must be listed by their proper legal names and addresses.
  • CONTRACT DURATION- It’s a compulsion to mention that on which date the contract officially began and when or does it end. 
  • SCOPE OF WORK- There should be a proper understanding between the parties no confusion should be created between the parties. The scope of work should be discussed as per the needs of both parties, all queries must be solved.  
  • BUDGET AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE- The budget and payment schedule should be made for the reference as well as for the proof. It includes, total amount to be paid and how the payment is to be delivered, are these payments refundable. 
  • BREACH OF CONTRACT- A breach of contract is a violation of any of the agreed-upon terms and conditions of a binding contract. If either of the party breached a contract than he should be agree upon the terms and conditions which will be mentioned in the contract. It can result in an immediate termination of the contract with no refunds. 
  • TERMINATION CLAUSE- This generally occurs when one of the party violates any of a clause in an agreement. The penalties are given upon the parties who have terminated the agreement. It terminates the business when someone fails to perform the required result. 

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING A DIGITAL MARKETING- 

  • Know your audience
  • Use trial and error method
  • Keep tract of data

TYPES OF STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTED IN DIGITAL MARKETING-

  • Search Engine Optimization or SEO
  • Search Engine Marketing or SEM
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Pay-Per-Click Optimization
  • Content Marketing
  • Influencer Marketing

NEED OF A MARKETING AGREEMENT-

  • To draw the terms and conditions in written it is important to make an agreement rather than just discussing about the contract. 
  • Agreement is needed to show the interest among the parties. Written document is must to make an agreement.
  •  It clears the confusion of the parties in written and explain all the terms and what they expect from each other it also clarifies the scope of work between the parties and try to have a consistency  in the work.
  •  It is less time consuming. Proper deadlines are mentioned regarding the work or payments which ensures efficiency.
  •  It provides safety and legal protection to the parties if either of the parties defaults the agreement. 
  • Marketing agreements goes a long way to create trust and faithfulness in the minds of the parties in an agreement. 
  • It also provides penalties if either of the parties fails to perform its work or goes against the agreement.  

CONCLUSION- 

A marketing agreement is clearly a very essential legal document that must clearly define what each party would do and how they will do it. By setting out clear rules and expectations that each party has, it enables all the parties to run their practice peacefully and not fall into costly disputes. Before drafting a brand new  agreement  the parties should make sure that the agreement meets their desires and necessities and permits their growth. The research and practice of digital marketing is improving with the advancement of technology. The advancement in technology fosters multifaceted opportunities and at the same time poses unprecedented challenges for the marketers. A simple marketing agreement is less complex and easy to form as it doesn’t require too many details except the expression of the consent by the client. However, on the contrary digital marketing agreement has quite a few minor clauses to be understood in a better way. Therefore, understanding these digital marketing agreements become all the way more important. This means creating your digital marketing contract template in a manner that contemplates and reflects rapid changes. 

REFERENCES- 

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