About The Spend Report

A digital marketing publication for operators. What to spend on, how to spend it well, what is changing in the channels you use.

Who runs this

Forrest Motz runs The Spend Report. Operator on the buy side of paid media for the last decade. The publication exists because the existing operator-press options sell access, not honesty, and the listicle space for agency hiring rewards whoever pays for placement, not whoever actually performs.

The intent is straightforward. Concentrate enough honest coverage of one search intent (how do I evaluate, hire, and manage a paid ads agency) that operators arrive here before they arrive at a sales pitch. Expand outward into the other pillars only after the first intent is credible.

Editorial decisions sit with the editor. Once the full-time content lead is hired in the months after launch, articles will publish under that person's byline and the "Editorial Team" attribution is retired. The masthead updates with every named contributor.

What we cover

The Spend Report covers what to spend on, how to spend it well, and what is changing in the channels operators use. Our audience is anyone who runs paid ads, SEO, email, AI marketing tools, or pays agencies to do those things for them.

The brand promise: if you read The Spend Report regularly, you spend marketing money better than you would otherwise.

At launch, we cover paid acquisition: Google Ads, Meta Ads, Amazon PPC, TikTok Shop ads, and attribution. The first 12 articles all answer one question: how do you evaluate, hire, and manage a paid ads agency? Channel strategy, analytics, SEO, AI for marketing, and operator skills follow in the months after launch.

Editorial standards

We write for operators, not for advertisers. Every claim is backed by either anonymized operator data we have access to or by cited public research. When neither is available, the article says so rather than dressing up an opinion as data.

How a piece moves from draft to published

An operator who has done the work writes the draft. For agency-hiring pieces this means someone who has hired, managed, and fired agencies, not someone who has read about it.
A second operator reviews for accuracy on numbers, claims, and process steps. Disagreements get footnoted, not flattened.
The editor reviews for voice, structure, and the standards on this page. Anything that reads like advertising copy gets pulled.
The pre-publish check runs. Frontmatter must be complete, internal links must be present, alt text must be on every image, and a list of banned phrases is blocked at the regex level.

Updates and corrections

When an article is updated materially after publish, the change is noted at the top of the article and the updated date is changed. Factual corrections are noted at the bottom with the original claim, the corrected claim, and the date.

Byline policy

Articles publish under the byline "The Spend Report Editorial Team" while the publication is small. Once the full-time content lead is hired, articles publish under named bylines and an author bio appears with each piece.

How we make money

The publication is a business. Three revenue streams are possible. Two are active or scaffolded for v1, all are disclosed on the page where they appear.

Newsletter and content subscribers (planned, post-launch). Eventually a paid tier with deeper benchmarks and operator interviews. Not live in v1. Free coverage is not gated behind any future paid tier.
Newsletter sponsorships (planned, post-launch). A single sponsor slot per issue, clearly labeled. Sponsors do not influence editorial selection. Not live in v1.
Lead routing to vetted agency partners (scaffolded, inactive in v1). When a reader fills out the operator quiz or a calculator email gate and their profile matches a partner agency's audience, we share the submission with that partner. This is independent of editorial coverage. Listicle rankings cannot be bought. Any partner who is also a ranked agency has that relationship disclosed in the listicle entry before the rank is read.

Affiliate links to tools (not agencies) sometimes earn a commission. Affiliate links are marked. The publication does not adjust rankings based on which partner pays the highest commission.

Until those streams turn on, the publication is funded by Swayze, LLC out of operating profit. No outside investors, no editorial obligations to anyone.

How we rank agencies

The same rubric applies to every agency listicle on the site. Listicles link to this section as their disclosed scoring methodology.

What "best" means in our listicles

"Best" is bounded by the listicle's scope. "Best Google Ads agencies for DTC brands" ranks agencies that work with direct-to-consumer brands on Google Ads. An agency that is excellent for B2B SaaS is not penalized for being out of scope; it is left off the list and may appear on a different listicle that fits.

Scope is declared in the first paragraph of every listicle: revenue range, vertical, primary channels, and any other inclusion criteria.

Scoring rubric

Each ranked agency is scored on four dimensions. The scores add to a 100-point total. The listicle ranks by total score, with ties broken by track record.

Track record (30 points). Documented results with clients in the listicle's scope. Case studies, public outcomes, references. More recent results weighted more heavily.
Operational fit (25 points). Team size, retainer structure, and account ownership match the operator profile the listicle is written for. A boutique built for $50k MRR clients does not score well on a $5k MRR listicle and vice versa.
Specialization depth (25 points). How concentrated the agency's work is in the listicle's primary channels. A Google Ads agency with 80 percent of its revenue from Google Ads scores higher than a generalist that does Google Ads as one of ten services.
Transparency (20 points). Public pricing, public client roster (where permitted), reporting cadence, and ownership disclosure. Opaque agencies score lower regardless of other strengths.

Data sources

Public: agency websites, case study libraries, press releases, reviewer platforms like Clutch and G2. Direct: interviews with agency principals, references from current and former clients, anonymized data shared under NDA. When public and direct conflict, the direct source wins. When two direct sources conflict, the listicle notes the conflict.

Conflicts of interest and business relationships

Agencies cannot pay for a ranking. Sponsorships exist elsewhere on the site and are labeled "Sponsored." A sponsorship by an agency on one part of the site does not influence that agency's rank on a listicle. Any business relationship between The Spend Report and a ranked agency is disclosed in the listicle itself, at the top of that agency's entry, before the rank is read.

The publication routes some captured lead data to vetted partners. When a ranked agency is also a recipient of captured lead data, that fact is disclosed in the listicle. The data routing is independent of editorial rank.

When rankings change

Listicles are reviewed quarterly. A ranking changes when enough new evidence accumulates that the score on one of the four dimensions has moved by 5 points or more. We do not retroactively re-rank past listicles when the rubric itself is updated; the updated rubric applies to the next listicle review cycle.

Reader corrections

If you have information that would change a ranking, email editor@thespendreport.com with the agency name, the listicle, and the evidence. Confidential sources are honored.

Lead capture and data use

When you submit your email through a quiz, calculator, or lead magnet, we use that email to send you the result and a short series of follow-up emails. Some submissions are also shared with vetted agency partners when the submission matches the partner's audience. Sharing happens server-side and is described in the privacy policy. You can unsubscribe from all of our emails at any time.

Contact

Editorial: Story tips, corrections, interview requests, general feedback: editor@thespendreport.com
Advertising: Newsletter sponsorship, sponsored content, placement inquiries: ads@thespendreport.com. Sponsorship does not influence editorial coverage.
Partner agencies: To be considered for future listicles, send your agency profile, a recent case study, and a reference list to partners@thespendreport.com. Inclusion is editorial; we do not accept payment for a ranking.
Privacy: To update or delete data we hold about you, email privacy@thespendreport.com. We respond within 30 days, sooner where required by law.

Publisher

The Spend Report is published by Swayze, LLC. The publication is editorially independent of all advertisers, affiliate partners, and ranked agencies. Inquiries about the publication can be sent to editor@thespendreport.com.

When we make a factual error, we correct it. The correction is noted at the bottom of the article with the original claim, the corrected claim, and the date of correction.