Extremely Disappointed – No Deliverables, No Accountability
We are a nonprofit foundation that hosts a major music festival—run largely by high school students—so every dollar we spend must directly support our mission. That’s why we were excited to partner with the Student Marketing Agency, whose model claimed to provide real-world marketing experience through students enrolled in or having completed marketing courses. This aligned perfectly with our values, and we were hopeful this would be a meaningful and mutually beneficial collaboration.
Unfortunately, this experience has been nothing short of disappointing and unprofessional.
Since our initial conversation in March, we have received no deliverables from the team assigned to Phase I of our marketing plan. I have had to repeatedly follow up, chase down team members (especially Stephen), re-upload materials, and try—unsuccessfully—to get clarity from Roberto on the social media strategy that was supposed to launch May 1st.
Despite multiple assurances that things were “in motion,” nothing tangible was produced. Our goals, direction, and launch timeline were clearly communicated from the beginning and remained unchanged. Yet no one on their team moved forward with implementing any part of the plan.
Out of concern, I scheduled a call with Kevin, who confirmed what I feared—very little had been done, aside from a couple of vague video posts using our content (which I have still never seen). More troubling was Kevin’s inability to explain how anything could have been created without a solid understanding of our objectives.
We’ve worked with many student-led teams and marketing professionals over the years. We understand learning curves. But this was not a learning curve—it was a complete lack of follow-through, accountability, and basic professionalism. Our festival’s May 1st launch was time-sensitive, designed to build momentum leading into the event. This missed opportunity has placed our ticket sales and outreach efforts at risk.
To date, we’ve paid $503.07 with absolutely nothing to show for it:
• 3/18 – $275.60
• 4/16 – $150.37
• 4/18 – $77.10
Finally, we were forced to send a termination email to Trevor—and to date, we have heard nothing in response. The silence only underscores the lack of professionalism we’ve experienced throughout.
This experience has been frustrating, stressful, and incredibly disappointing. We cannot recommend the Student Marketing Agency, and we sincerely hope they re-evaluate their internal systems before taking on additional clients.
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