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I work for a creative advertising agency. I know a lot of people that work for creative advertising agencies. In my time spent hanging out with people from oodles of agencies, I’ve noticed there are a few overarching behaviors that people think of as being contributive to their agency’s success that I have to disagree with. These are three things a creative advertising agency should never do.

Never stick with it.

In the astute wisdom of Kenny Rogers, “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.”

What creative advertising agencies do is a lot of work. Hard work. Constant hard work. But it’s also work we enjoy. If an agency is working with a client and they hate every second of it, something’s wrong. And soon enough, that will show in the work. Like any relationship whose time has come, it’s best for both the agency and the client to sever ties when they know it’s not working, before things start to get ugly.

Never do charity work.

Yes, do work for charities – real charities. Find some good causes and support those as part of your core mission. It’ll get you some good karma. But realize the difference between a charity that relies on the kindness of others to support them, and a business that wants some free work. Outside of literal charities, don’t work for free. Working for free for business clients devalues your work. Your work is valuable – don’t give it away.

Never specialize.

Sure, you can have strong suits but don’t consider yourself a _____ agency. (Fill in that blank with print, digital, whatever specialty area you want.) Let your clients think of you as the Experiential agency or the TV agency or whatever they think you are, but keep reminding them that you are capable of so much more. And keep pushing yourself so you are capable of so much more.

These are the three big pitfalls I think your creative advertising agency needs to avoid. Know of any more? Fill us in below.