Why We Are Moving to a Hybrid Outcome Model

For most of my career, marketing has been sold and bought in one of two ways. Either a flat retainer that has no real connection to results, or a fully performance based fee that puts an agency's income at the mercy of variables well outside their control. Neither has ever sat entirely comfortably with me, which is why we are building something different at Method and Worth.

The problem with a straight day rate

A day rate is honest and straightforward, and it will always be the foundation of how we work. It pays for expertise, time and strategic thinking, and it protects both sides from the temptation to chase short term wins at the expense of long term brand health. But on its own, it does not reward the work that produces an outstanding commercial result any differently to the work that simply gets the job done.

What a hybrid model changes

Our hybrid outcome model keeps the day rate as the base. On top of that, once the foundations are properly in place, we agree a set of commercial outcomes with a client and take an additional commission when we genuinely help deliver them. It is not a replacement for good strategic work. It is a way of sharing more directly in the value that work creates once it starts landing.

The caveats that make it work

This only works with clear boundaries. We only move to this model once the foundations, brand, strategy, tracking, are already in place, because you cannot fairly reward outcomes you have no reliable way of measuring. We agree the outcomes and the decision making process behind them with the client up front, not after the fact, so there is never a disagreement about what counts as success. And we are honest about the parts of a result that sit outside marketing's control entirely, because taking commission on outcomes we did not meaningfully influence would undermine the whole point of the model.

Why foundations come first

This is also why we never lead a new relationship with this model. Every client starts with a proper diagnostic phase, because a hybrid fee structure built on shaky foundations just creates disagreement further down the line. Get the foundations right first, and a model like this becomes a genuinely fair way for both sides to benefit from good work.

If you want to understand where your own marketing foundations currently stand, let's talk it through properly.

Get in touch at methodworth.com/contact to arrange a conversation, or take the free diagnostic at methodworth-diagnostic.netlify.app first if you'd rather start there.