What should be in a marketing scope of work?

Short answer: a scope of work should name the deliverables and their quantity, the number of revision rounds, who approves and by when, the price and what triggers a new one, the timeline with client-side dependencies, who owns the output and the accounts, what counts as a pass-through cost, and how either side ends it. If any of those eight is absent, that is the one you will argue about.

The eight, and what goes wrong without each

1. Deliverables and quantity. "Social content" is not a deliverable. "Twelve statics and four 15-second cutdowns, per month" is. Without a number, scope creep has nothing to push against.
2. Revision rounds. Two rounds plus a final amend is the common shape. Unlimited revisions are never actually unlimited; they are just unpriced, and the cost surfaces as slower work.
3. Approver and turnaround. One named approver, one stated turnaround. Most missed deadlines are client-side and undocumented, and then the agency absorbs the blame and rebuilds the cost into the next quote.
4. Price, and what changes it. State the price and state explicitly which events create a new one: added deliverables, a third revision round, a changed brief after approval.
5. Timeline with dependencies. Dates that depend on you receiving product, feedback or legal sign-off should say so on the same line.
6. IP and ownership. Who owns the final files, the working files, and the fonts and stock licences. Say when it transfers — usually on final payment.
7. Accounts and data. Ad accounts, pixels, analytics properties and domains in your company’s name from day one, with the agency granted access. This is the single most expensive clause to have got wrong.
8. Exit. Notice period, what happens to work in progress, and what gets handed over in what format.

The clause people forget

Pass-through costs. Media spend, production, talent, licensing, stock, translation. Agree in writing whether these are billed at cost or with a handling fee, and if there is a fee, what percentage. An unstated handling arrangement is the most common source of an invoice that looks wrong.

A test that takes thirty seconds

Read your current scope and ask: if this agency and I fell out tomorrow, does this document tell me what I get to walk away with? If the answer is unclear, the scope is not finished, whatever else it contains.

There is a scope builder on this site that produces a document with all eight of these in it. It is free, it does not require an account, and nothing is committed until you sign. Build a scope.