Questions to ask a digital marketing agency
Hiring a digital marketing agency is a big decision for a small business. You are trusting someone else with your online presence, and often paying a significant monthly fee. The problem is that the industry is full of jargon, vague promises, and agencies that are better at selling themselves than delivering results.
Asking the right questions before you commit will help you separate the agencies that will actually help your business from the ones that will waste your money.
1. Can you show me results for businesses like mine?
This is the most important question. You do not want to see case studies from massive national brands or e-commerce companies if you are a local plumber or salon. Ask for examples of businesses that are similar to yours — same size, same industry, same type of customer.
Look for specific numbers: "We helped a plumber in Leeds go from 5 enquiries a month to 25" is far more convincing than "we improved their online presence."
If they cannot show you relevant examples, they may not have experience with businesses like yours.
2. What exactly is included in the monthly fee?
Agency pricing is often opaque. A monthly fee of 500 pounds might include website management, SEO, social media, and advertising — or it might include one blog post and a monthly report.
Get a clear, written breakdown of:
- What work will be done each month
- How many hours of work that represents
- What is and is not included
- What costs extra (ad spend, additional content, design changes)
If they cannot give you a straight answer, that is a red flag.
3. How will you measure success?
Any good agency should be able to tell you exactly how they will measure whether their work is making a difference. The metrics that matter for most small businesses are:
- Number of enquiries or leads generated per month
- Phone calls from the website or ads
- Google rankings for your target keywords
- Website traffic from organic search
- Cost per lead if running paid advertising
Beware of agencies that talk about "impressions," "reach," or "engagement" without connecting those to actual business outcomes. You do not pay your bills with impressions.
4. Do I own my website and content?
This is crucial. Some agencies build your website on their own platform, meaning if you leave, you lose everything. Others retain ownership of content they create for you.
Make sure the contract clearly states that you own your website, your domain name, and all content created for your business. If you decide to leave, you should be able to take everything with you.
5. What is the minimum contract length?
Some agencies lock you into 12 or 24-month contracts. That is a long time to be committed if things are not working out. Look for agencies that offer monthly rolling contracts or short initial terms (three months maximum) with the option to cancel.
If an agency insists on a long contract, ask yourself why. Is it because they are confident in their results, or because they know you will want to leave before the contract ends?
6. Who will be working on my account?
In many agencies, the person who sells to you is not the person who does the work. Find out who will actually be managing your account, their experience level, and how accessible they will be.
Ask:
- Will I have a dedicated account manager?
- How often will we have check-in calls or meetings?
- What is the response time if I have a question or issue?
Small businesses often do better with smaller agencies or freelancers where you deal directly with the person doing the work, rather than large agencies where you are passed between junior staff.
7. How do you handle Google Ads budget?
If the agency is managing paid advertising for you, be clear about how the budget works:
- Is the ad spend separate from the management fee?
- How much of my budget actually goes on ads vs management?
- Will you have access to the Google Ads account?
- What happens to the account if you leave?
You should always own your Google Ads account. If the agency sets it up under their own account, you lose all the data and history if you leave.
8. Can you explain your SEO approach?
SEO is a common service but it is also one of the most commonly oversold. Ask the agency to explain, in plain language, what they will actually do to improve your Google rankings.
Good answers include: optimising your website content for local keywords, improving your Google Business Profile, building local citations, earning genuine backlinks, and creating useful content.
Bad answers include: "We have a proprietary system," "We cannot share our methods," or anything that sounds deliberately vague. If they cannot explain it simply, they either do not understand it themselves or they are using questionable techniques.
9. What happens if it is not working?
Ask what their process is if results are not meeting expectations after three or six months. A good agency will have a plan for this — reviewing strategy, adjusting tactics, and being transparent about what is and is not working.
A bad agency will blame the algorithm, tell you to be patient indefinitely, or try to upsell you on additional services.
10. Can I speak to current or past clients?
References are the best way to verify what an agency claims. Ask for two or three businesses you can speak to — ideally ones that are similar to yours. When you speak to them, ask:
- Did the agency deliver what they promised?
- How responsive are they?
- Did you see a measurable increase in customers or enquiries?
- Is there anything you wish you had known before signing up?
If an agency refuses to provide references, walk away.
The bottom line
The digital marketing industry has its share of good operators and bad ones. The agencies that deliver real results for small businesses will have no problem answering these questions openly and honestly. If you feel like you are being sold to rather than helped, trust that instinct and keep looking.
Your money is better spent with someone who understands your business, communicates clearly, and measures success by the same metric you do: more customers.