Guides
10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Digital Marketing Agency
Before signing, ask about relevant results, reporting, who's actually on your account, account ownership, the first 30/60/90 days, contract terms, what's included in the price, how they use AI, what happens if results miss target, and what's outside their control. A confident agency answers all ten specifically. A weak agency gets vague on at least two or three of them and that's exactly where to push.
A sales call is designed to make you feel confident. These ten questions are designed to test whether that confidence is backed by anything. Ask them in the discovery call, before you see a proposal — the answers tell you more than any pitch deck will.
Key Takeaways
- Ask specific questions on data ownership, account staffing, and cancellation policies before signing.
- Vague or defensive answers to targets, reports, and AI usage are major red flags.
- A confident agency is clear about what they control and what is outside of their scope.
1. “Can you show me results for a business like mine?”
Good answer:A specific example — similar industry, size, or challenge — with a real business outcome attached (leads, revenue, bookings), not just a traffic percentage.
Red flag:Generic case studies with no comparable context, or results stated in vanity metrics only (“we tripled engagement”).
2. “How do you measure success, and can I see a sample report?”
Good answer:A report built around metrics tied to your business — cost per lead, conversion rate, revenue influenced — shown to you, not just described.
Red flag:They avoid sharing a real report, or only offer screenshots they can't fully explain.
3. “Who exactly will work on my account?”
Good answer: Specific names and roles, with an offer to meet the actual account team before you sign.
Red flag: Only the salesperson is available to meet, and the delivery team stays a mystery until after contract signing.
4. “Will I own my accounts, data, and assets?”
Good answer:Unambiguous yes — your Google Ads account, Analytics, CRM, and any creative assets are set up under your ownership with the agency granted access.
Red flag:Anything other than a clear “yes, it's yours.” If they hesitate here, walk away — this is the one question with no acceptable gray area.
5. “What does your process look like in the first 30/60/90 days?”
Good answer: A specific breakdown — discovery and audit first, strategy next, execution after that, with milestones you can check against. (We've actually published our own walk-through of this exact process: What Happens in the First 30 Days?)
Red flag: High-level answers that sound like they could apply to any client, or anything you could already read on their homepage.
6. “What's the contract length and cancellation policy?”
Good answer: A reasonable initial term (often 3–6 months to allow real results to show), then month-to-month, with a clear, fair process to part ways.
Red flag:A 12-month lock-in with steep cancellation penalties, or a policy they can't explain clearly on the spot.
7. “What's included in the price, and what costs extra?”
Good answer:A clear breakdown — management fee vs. ad spend, what tools are included, what triggers an extra charge.
Red flag:Vague pricing that shifts depending on the conversation, or “let's discuss that after you sign.”
8. “How does your team use AI in day-to-day work?”
Good answer:Specific examples — AI assisting with bid optimization, content drafts that get human editing and fact-checking, data analysis support with a clear sense of where a human is still making the actual decisions.
Red flag: Vague answers, or an obvious over-reliance on AI output with no real editorial process behind it (this matters even more now that AI search engines are evaluating content quality directly).
9. “What happens if we don't hit our targets?”
Good answer:A specific, honest plan — what gets diagnosed, what changes, at what point a strategy gets revisited.
Red flag:Defensiveness, or a vague “we just keep going” with no checkpoint.
10. “What's outside your control?”
Good answer:Honest scope-setting — for example, “we own lead volume and cost per lead, but your sales team's follow-up speed and close rate are outside what we control.”
Red flag:An agency that claims responsibility for everything, including outcomes they genuinely can't influence. This usually means they'll also take credit for results they didn't drive — and have an excuse ready when they don't.
