---
title: "An Open Letter to the VP Choosing Between Tinuiti and Wpromote: Get the Number in Writing"
description: "Before choosing between Tinuiti and Wpromote, ask what each will commit to in writing, who carries the risk if it misses, and what you keep if you leave."
url: "https://groas.com/post/an-open-letter-to-the-vp-choosing-betwee"
image: "https://pub-87da24ecbbfc4c3bad6875f3aa013712.r2.dev/generated-images/f3892be4-0589-4938-b5e9-19487f491af4.png"
published: "2026-10-13T05:30:32.213Z"
modified: "2026-10-13T15:41:25.088Z"
---

October 13, 2026 · 11 min read

# An Open Letter to the VP Choosing Between Tinuiti and Wpromote: Get the Number in Writing

[Alexander PerelmanHead Of Product @ groas](https://groas.com/author/alexander-perelman)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-433793253/)

![Two towering identical agency proposal binders loom over a single contract page whose 'TARGET' line is left blank, a fountain pen waiting beside it.](https://pub-87da24ecbbfc4c3bad6875f3aa013712.r2.dev/generated-images/f3892be4-0589-4938-b5e9-19487f491af4.png)

In this article

1. [Read the commercial terms before the capability slides](#read-the-commercial-terms-before-the-capability-slides)
2. [Score who carries the risk, not who has the bigger deck](#score-who-carries-the-risk-not-who-has-the-bigger-deck)
3. [Send these five questions before Friday](#send-these-five-questions-before-friday)
4. [The reply you want is boring](#the-reply-you-want-is-boring)
5. [If neither commits, test a different arrangement](#if-neither-commits-test-a-different-arrangement)

If you are the VP with Tinuiti on one tab, Wpromote on the other, and a CFO asking which one will move pipeline, ask both agencies the same question before you compare another slide: **What number will you commit to in writing before I pay, and what happens if you miss?**

I have sat on your side of that meeting. I have also sat on the other side, writing the footnotes. Both decks will look good. That is the problem.

You were asked to compare capability: who runs search, social, and retail media; who has the better analytics layer; who staffs the bigger team. At your size, that comparison barely matters. Both firms run complex multi-channel accounts for a living. What decides whether the next 12 months work is whether either one will name a pipeline or CPA target, define how you will measure it, and put a consequence in the contract if it misses. If neither will, you are not buying performance. You are buying time.

## Read the commercial terms before the capability slides

Open both decks and you will see the same shape. Full-funnel media under one roof: paid search, paid social, SEO, and marketplaces, with analytics stitched across the lot and a proprietary platform name on top. Tinuiti will point to scale: it calls itself the [largest independent full-funnel agency in the U.S., with $4B in media under management and more than 1,200 employees](https://tinuiti.com/about/news/tinuiti-drives-full-funnel-brand-and-performance-growth-with-largest-ever-client-cohort-at-the-super-bowl-and-2026-winter-olympics/). Wpromote will point to its challenger positioning and a [client base that is 90% enterprise](https://clutch.co/profile/wpromote), built around strategy, media, creative, and data.

I am not knocking breadth. At your spend level, you need it. But when two enterprise shops both sell integrated media and measurement, the capability slide cannot pick your winner. I used to help write those slides. We knew the buyer would compare logos and headcount while the commercial terms sat on page 28. Read page 28 first.

Then read the scope beside it. A list of services tells you what an agency _can_ do. The contract tells you what it has agreed to do for you, what you will pay while it does it, and what recourse you have if the work does not produce the result you hired it for. Those are different documents in the same PDF. Only one will help in month four.

## Score who carries the risk, not who has the bigger deck

You were asked to score capability. I would score risk instead. Both teams can build a multi-brand structure, run Performance Max beside brand and non-brand search, and connect that work to social and retail. **What differs is who carries the cost when qualified pipeline stays flat.** On a standard retainer, that person is you.

Third-party profiles list Tinuiti with a [$10,000-plus minimum project size and an hourly rate of $100 to $149](https://clutch.co/profile/tinuiti). Industry pricing benchmarks describe [percentage-of-spend fees of 10% to 20%, with 15% the most common, and enterprise retainers of $25,000-plus](https://solidhq.com/ppc/ppc-agency-pricing-models/). Wpromote does not publish a rate card, but its listed [minimum project size is higher, and its client base is overwhelmingly enterprise](https://clutch.co/profile/wpromote). None of those listings tells you the price of _your_ proposal. They do tell you why the fee structure deserves more attention than another diagram of the service team.

Here is the mechanism I learned running accounts under that model. With a percentage-of-spend fee, the fee grows when spend grows, even if efficiency falls. Cut $2,000 in wasted spend and the agency also cuts the fee it earns on that $2,000. A flat retainer removes that particular incentive and creates another question: how much experienced attention will your account actually get? A pricing breakdown warns that [a low retainer can change who does the work, so you should ask who is actually in the account](https://solidhq.com/ppc/ppc-agency-pricing-models/).

I used to tell clients the senior team would stay close after onboarding. I was wrong about how often that held once the next new logo needed selling. Neither fee model proves an agency will waste your money. Neither proves it will protect it. **If the fee does not move when pipeline moves, get the people, the target, and the remedy in writing.** Otherwise, the capability comparison barely matters.

![Two agency proposal binders beside a blank page for a pipeline commitment](https://pub-87da24ecbbfc4c3bad6875f3aa013712.r2.dev/generated-images/ca211522-831d-4c9c-884c-e4af2e2c09a0.png)

## Send these five questions before Friday

Copy the questions into one email and send the same version to both leads. Judge the replies you receive in writing, not the confidence of the person who talks through them on a call. You need answers you can return to when spend is out the door and pipeline is not.

### 1. What number will you commit to before I pay?

Ask for a baseline, a target, a date, and a measurement method. Is the target qualified pipeline, closed-won revenue, or cost per acquisition? Say which one you need. Do not let a proposal quietly swap in leads or clicks because those numbers are easier to improve.

For pipeline-driven work, that means connecting bids and budgets to SQLs and closed-won revenue, then reporting cost per SQL rather than stopping at lead volume. A [pipeline-driven paid-media checklist](https://www.growthspreeofficial.com/blogs/best-b2b-saas-marketing-agencies-that-run-pipeline-driven-paid-media-abm) makes that distinction for a reason: a form fill and an accepted sales opportunity are not interchangeable. If the agency proposes [ROAS or CAC instead of qualified pipeline](https://solidhq.com/ppc/ppc-agency-pricing-models/), make it explain how that choice answers your CFO’s question.

A useful reply can fit in a sentence: from X to Y by day 90, measured this way. You can debate whether Y is realistic after someone writes it down. You cannot negotiate with six pages designed to avoid it. **No baseline, target, date, and method means no commitment yet.**

### 2. What happens if we are short in month four?

This is the skin question. A retainer plus a quarterly business review means you pay the same fee whether pipeline hits or misses. Ask what fee is at risk, whether work continues without charge, and who decides whether the target was met. Ask the agency to point to the contract language, not a promise made over lunch.

I used to soften this conversation with talk of learnings and market headwinds. Ignore that version of me. A missed target can teach you something, but a lesson does not pay for itself merely because the team puts it on a slide. **You want one line: if we miss by this much, we do this.**

If the agency will not write that line, at least you know what its proposal offers: services and review meetings, not an outcome commitment. That is a commercial choice you can take to the CFO. It should not be disguised as a capability score.

### 3. Who is in the account on a Tuesday at 2pm?

Names, not titles on an org chart. Who sets bids and budgets? Who mines search terms? Who rewrites ads? How many other accounts does each person carry, and how much time will each spend in yours? The practitioner checklist I trust says to ask for the all-in cost, [who does the work, and what happens when spend doubles](https://solidhq.com/ppc/ppc-agency-pricing-models/).

I learned why the hard way. The pitch team you meet in week one is rarely the team you get in week nine. That does not make the delivery team bad. It makes the handoff worth inspecting before you sign. Ask who owns decisions when performance slips, who can make a change without waiting for the next meeting, and who will explain that change to you afterward.

A senior name on a slide is not the same as a senior person in the account. **Get the Tuesday roster and the work each name owns.** If they cannot name the people, you are buying capacity you cannot verify.

### 4. How will you tell a buyer from a form-filler?

This question tests whether the target in question one can survive contact with your CRM. If an agency optimizes to lead volume, the system will find more volume. If it uses SQLs and closed revenue, it has a better signal for what a buyer looks like. Your team and the agency need the same definition of qualified before either side starts celebrating a lower cost per lead.

Put that definition in the email. Specify what counts as an accepted SQL in your CRM, where qualified pipeline is recorded, and how the agency will use those outcomes when it changes bids and budgets. A vendor reporting [cost per SQL and pipeline velocity rather than only CPL or CTR](https://www.growthspreeofficial.com/blogs/best-b2b-saas-marketing-agencies-that-run-pipeline-driven-paid-media-abm) is at least looking at the work you hired it to improve.

A reply built around impressions, click-through rate, or raw MQL count tells you how month six will read. The charts may look lively. Your sales team may still be staring at the same thin list. **Agree on the qualification rule before you agree on a performance target.**

### 5. What do I own if I leave?

Ask where the account lives, who owns the data, and what you retain on day one after exit. The rule I use now is simple: the account, conversion history, and audience lists live in a business manager you own, with the agency as manager. Practitioners flag [agency-owned ad accounts as a walk-away risk because you can lose history and remarketing on exit](https://solidhq.com/ppc/ppc-agency-pricing-models/).

I lost a remarketing pool that way once when a client moved. The new agency started from zero while the old one kept the learning. You do not need to repeat that experiment to appreciate the contract clause. Ask for the account arrangement and an exit list in writing before spend starts. **Ownership is the part of the proposal that outlives the relationship.**

## The reply you want is boring

A good answer is specific enough to challenge. For example: baseline $4.2M in marketing-sourced pipeline last quarter; target $5.4M by day 90; measured in Salesforce on SQLs your team accepts. Then come the names of the people in the account each week, the fee at risk or work owed if the number misses, and an itemized list of what you keep on exit. Those figures are an example, not a target I would set for your business. The point is that every term can be checked.

A bad answer is a paragraph about partnership, agility, and _full-funnel synergy_, followed by no number, no names, and a quarterly business review where the same charts return with new dates. If you want a longer account-level check, read the [head-to-head on ownership and execution cadence](https://groas.com/post/tinuiti-vs-wpromote-for-complex-google-a) alongside the [enterprise breakdown on attribution to revenue](https://groas.com/post/tinuiti-vs-wpromote-for-enterprise-googl). The question underneath both is the one I asked when I managed accounts: who touched what, when, and why?

Keep the two email replies together. If procurement says no vendor will put a number in writing, the replies give everyone something more useful than another scorecard: the actual terms each vendor was willing to offer. In month four, when someone asks why pipeline moved or did not, you will want the answer on the page you signed, not buried in a QBR recording.

## If neither commits, test a different arrangement

If both replies come back polite and number-free, do not sign a 12-month retainer just to find out what happens. That is an expensive way to learn what you already suspect. Run a smaller test in which the target and the consequence come first.

Say you spend $20k a month and your last quarter produced 140 accepted SQLs. You might ask a vendor for a page that says 140 to 196 in 90 days, how those SQLs will be counted, and what it owes you if the result lands at 150. The numbers are illustrative. The discipline is not: write down what success means before anyone can rename the outcome afterward.

The [90-day sprint at groas](https://groas.com/for-businesses) takes that commitment-first approach. You pay up front against one written target: **40% more sales and leads from Google and ChatGPT Ads, 40% more visibility across Google and AI answers, or both together**. Each sprint is one flat fee, paid once up front and quoted on the fit call. If the agreed number misses, the team keeps working without charge until it hits. You also get a weekly report listing every bid, keyword, budget, page, and fix, with the reason behind it.

That is not the same as a promise to hit your particular pipeline or CPA number. If pipeline or CPA is what your CFO needs, ask groas to define how its stated target connects to that number before you pay, just as you would ask Tinuiti or Wpromote. The advantage of the sprint is that a target, a measurement period, and a consequence are part of the offer. You should still make sure they are the _right_ target and consequence for you.

You do not need a third capabilities meeting to break the tie. Put the two replies side by side on one page: target, date, measurement rule, names in the account, consequence of a miss, and what you keep if you leave. If one agency answers clearly, that matters more than a thicker logo slide. If both answer with process and partnership language, test the commitment-first model for 90 days before you hand either one 12 months of retainer.

I kept accounts where the work was good and the contract was soft. Good months got presented. Flat months got explained. The fee never moved. Do not let the next year turn on a deck when the decision belongs on the signature page.

![A VP comparing agency proposal decks with a single commitment page](https://pub-87da24ecbbfc4c3bad6875f3aa013712.r2.dev/generated-images/560cbf7a-df8e-4442-8244-5f7df7fffe0c.png)

Sincerely, someone who used to write those decks’ footnotes

## Frequently Asked Questions

### When choosing between Tinuiti and Wpromote, should I compare capabilities or something else?

Both firms run complex multi-channel accounts for a living, so a capability comparison barely decides the outcome at enterprise spend levels. What matters more is whether either agency will name a pipeline or CPA target, define how you will measure it, and put a consequence in the contract if it misses. Without that, you are buying time, not performance.

### How does a percentage-of-spend agency fee create a conflict of interest?

With a percentage-of-spend fee, the agency's fee grows when spend grows, even if efficiency falls. If the agency cuts $2,000 in wasted spend, it also cuts the fee it earns on that $2,000. A flat retainer removes that incentive but raises a different question: how much experienced attention your account will actually get.

### What should I ask an agency to commit to in writing before signing?

Ask for a baseline, a target, a date, and a measurement method, and specify whether the target is qualified pipeline, closed-won revenue, or cost per acquisition. A useful reply fits in one sentence, such as from X to Y by day 90, measured a certain way. No baseline, target, date, and method means no commitment yet.

### What should I ask an agency about what happens if performance targets are missed?

Ask what fee is at risk, whether work continues without charge, and who decides whether the target was met. Ask the agency to point to the contract language rather than a verbal promise. You want one line in writing: if the target is missed by this much, the agency does this.

### How do I find out who will actually be working on my agency account?

Ask for names, not titles: who sets bids and budgets, who mines search terms, who rewrites ads, how many other accounts each person carries, and how much time each will spend on yours. The pitch team you meet in week one is rarely the team you get in week nine. If they cannot name the people, you are buying capacity you cannot verify.

### Why does the definition of a qualified lead matter before setting an agency performance target?

If an agency optimizes to lead volume, the system will find more volume, but a form fill and an accepted sales opportunity are not interchangeable. Agree on what counts as an accepted SQL in your CRM, where qualified pipeline is recorded, and how the agency uses those outcomes when it changes bids and budgets. Agree on the qualification rule before you agree on a performance target.

### What should I own if I leave my marketing agency?

Ask where the account lives, who owns the data, and what you retain on day one after exit. The recommended arrangement is that the account, conversion history, and audience lists live in a business manager you own, with the agency as manager. Agency-owned ad accounts are a walk-away risk because you can lose history and remarketing on exit.

### What should I do if both agencies refuse to put a performance number in writing?

Do not sign a 12-month retainer just to find out what happens. Run a smaller test in which the target and the consequence come first, for example a 90-day arrangement with a written target, a defined measurement method, and a stated obligation if the result misses. Write down what success means before anyone can rename the outcome afterward.

## Pay For Results, Not For Hours

Businesses buy the outcome, agencies resell it, and groas answers for it either way.

[See If You Qualify](https://groas.typeform.com/to/xC1bQNUT)

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