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The Essential Guide to Marketing Paperwork (Including Acronyms!)

Discover essential terms and techniques for small businesses working with agencies and creative partners

Published on October 14, 2020

Business is full of paperwork. And the world of media, marketing, and advertising is no exception. 

At MediaSparkline, we develop custom advertising solutions to help small businesses save money and increase marketing effectiveness. 

However, without the proper orientation to the business of marketing, digital marketing can be more challenging than needed.

So for small businesses considering seeking to level up their digital advertising, let’s dive in to the exciting world of paperwork. 

Before we dive in, it’s important to note: While MediaSparkline offers a variety of services for small businesses, we do not offer financial or legal advice and recommend anyone reading this post consult with a Certified Public Accountant or Attorney before entering into business affairs.

For marketing professionals, we hope this serves as a helpful launching pad to further develop your project management practice. 

Brief

“Did we receive a brief that more clearly articulates the client’s needs?”

Briefs take many forms, but most are simple summaries of what, specifically, a client needs to accomplish in the context of a campaign or specific business objective.

Typically, a brief is developed to codify the idea, which is helpful as a north star for guiding the project from start to finish, as well as an asset to share with potential vendors or service providers.

In most cases, a brief accompanies some sort of Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and is the first step in the “pitching” or “shopping” process that will eventually conclude with the awarding of work. 

A typical brief includes the name of the project (sometimes a code name), the high-level description or goal of the project, project stakeholders, a budget, important due or delivery dates, the desired deliverables or format the respondent must adhere to, and then various collateral or supporting documents that help provide context for the recipient, such as market data and case studies.

In many cases, a brief and a Response for Proposal (RFP) are one in the same, and are often “responded to” with a “deck.” 

Request for Proposal (RFP)

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a formal document submitted by a client to a cohort of possible vendors to provide an estimate for a certain set of services.

Typically, an RFP is a hybrid of a brief, but likely includes more tactical details like KPIs and Budget.

An RFP is typically the first outward facing document a business may send to potential third parties, so a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) may also accompany the RFP.

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is an agreement to contain the details of the project with anyone outside of the primary project stakeholders.

An NDA is typically executed when third parties are introduced to the project, either to execute a specific deliverable or to consult on a specific topic that may have proprietary, strategic, competitive, or time-based sensitivities, such as breaking news.

Master Services Agreement (MSA)

The Master Services Agreement (MSA) defines rules of engagement between two distinct business entities.

Within the MSA, the basic service offerings and rules of engagement are defined, along with various boilerplate operational protocols that may include billing terms, ownership of intellectual property and work, key stakeholders, and the overall timeframe of the engagement. 

Client Services Agreement (CSA)

The Client Services Agreement defines the rules of engagement between two business entities.

This is an abstraction from the MSA, which includes specifics for entities living underneath that entity. 

As an example, if a large holding company is engaging with another large holding company, an MSA may be drafted and codified first before a CSA is created. A CSA often assumes the terms and conditions outlined in the MSA.

Scope of Work (SOW)

A Scope of Work (SOW) outlines the details of a project between client and vendor.

At a minimum, an SOW typically includes a summary of the project, the project deliverables, and the project schedule — including details on billing and pricing.

An SOW is effectively a blueprint for a project and is subject to amendments and addenda (usually referred to as Change Orders) at the discretion and mutual agreement to each stakeholder.

Purchase Order (PO)

A Purchase Order (PO) is the formal declaration that the client wants to do business with you.

Following formal approval of the SOW, you would typically procure a formal PO.

Once the SOW is formalized and signed by both parties, a formal PO will be issued based on the terms of the SOW. 

Invoice

An invoice is a formal document prepared by a vendor or service provider and delivered to a client requesting payment for services rendered.

Within your SOW,  you’ve likely created an invoicing schedule, which outlines the specific amounts and dates when you can ask the client to pay you money.

Within your Master Services Agreement (MSA), you’ve likely outlined payment terms, such as 50/50, Net 30, or payable upon signature. 

Automated Clearing House (ACH)

The Automated Clearing House (ACH) powers nearly all business to business transactions.

By providing a business checking account number and routing number, business partners can automatically send and receive payments electronically.

Certain businesses are comfortable with automated billing, while others would prefer to cut a check.

In either case, ACH payments are becoming more and more important to making business easy. 

Out of Pocket (OOP)

Out of Pockets (OOPs) will likely be leveraged in different contexts depending on the company you work for and the client with which you engage. 

Within the context of an agency, you may have to leverage resources that lie outside of your agency’s dedicated human resources. For instance, if your client wants to build a mobile app but you have mobile developers on staff, you may have to leverage a vendor or freelance developer, in which case a bespoke scope of work will be created. This is how 99% of agencies operate. 

Using OOPs, you can contract this third party resource at their specific rate, and track that budget separately from your own headcount. 

In a more simple example, OOPs can be applied to Travel and Meals, understanding a certain amount of each may be required to execute on the project in its entirety.

OOPs are funds not directly applicable to the labor you are responsible for executing, but are managing as needs arise throughout the project. 

Change Order (CO)

A Change Order (CO) is an amendment to the primary SOW. COs are issued if additional budget, time, or resources are required to execute against specific deliverables within the SOW, or if new items not previously listed or itemized in the SOW are needed.

Change Orders are typically submitted in the same format as the original SOW. You can’t have a CO without first having a SOW in place.

Insertion Order (IO)

Insertion Orders (IO) are specific to media, but are important to understand for anyone in marketing (as most projects have a media buy associated with them).

Within the context of purchasing media or advertising, IOs document the details of media placements and typically include: budgets, goals, placements, inventory, and parameters around serving and reporting.

Time and Materials (T&M)

In the context of a proposed Scope of Work (SOW), billing can be contextualized based on the time — hours of labor — and materials — the fungible assets — used to produce the work product.

Agency of Record (AOR)

The Agency of Record (AOR) is a term used to describe the overarching exclusive relationship between an agency and a client.

As an example, an AOR relationship between a creative agency and an advertiser may help contextualize the scope of the relationship and services to be delivered within the context of the agreement.

Terms of Service (ToS or ToU)

Does your digital advertising campaign involve some sort of engagement with consumers? Capturing email addresses? Taking selfies? Using branded hashtags? Chances are you need a Terms of Use page.

The Terms of Use (ToU) is the document no one thinks of until the last minute, but is something that is typically required for most “digital” executions where user data is being captured or stored, or if the user should be aware of any “fine print” within your contest/promotion/offer.

Sweepstakes and Contents, for instance, have very specific rules and regulations, and must be bonded in certain states no later than 30 days prior to the launch date. The best case, in this case, is to start documenting your user experience and user flow at the beginning of the project, incrementally building and refining as more detail is captured, with the idea to submit the terms to legal at a specified milestone date laid out in the project plan. 

In most cases, ToU are baked in to website Privacy Policies.

1099-MISC

Nearly every business leverages vendors, contractors, and third-parties to execute projects and various tasks.

Form 1099-MISC, a government form that must be filed for non-employee compensation, is the official way to account for each non-employee person to whom you have paid during the year to perform services.

As an example, a business owner has a specific need to develop a new website. The business owner can either hire a web developer as a full time employee (FTE) or contract a third party web developer.

Form 1099-MISC must be supplied for non-employee compensation of $600 or more and must include fees and commissions for services performed or any other form of compensation, such as prizes or awards. 

Form W-9

Form W-9 is a government form used to request a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) from the third party or vendor for whom a service has been rendered and income has been paid.

Typically, a W-9 is submitted and received prior to any business engagement and is a formality for properly “doing business” with a third party or non-employee. 

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