Guide
How to choose a marketing agency
Short answer
Choose a marketing agency by checking who owns the ad accounts and data, what metric they report on, whether they work with your competitors, what the contract term is, and who actually does the work. An agency that reports impressions instead of leads, or that owns your ad account, is a risk regardless of how good the pitch is.
Most bad agency relationships are predictable from the first call. The warning signs are structural, not stylistic, and they show up in the answers to five questions.
These are the questions we would ask if we were hiring an agency, including the ones that are uncomfortable for us to answer.
The method, step by step
- 01
Ask who owns the ad accounts and the data
Meta and Google accounts should be created under your business, with the agency added as a partner. If the agency owns the account, you lose all campaign history the day you leave, which is exactly why some agencies structure it that way.
- 02
Ask what metric appears at the top of the monthly report
Leads, cost per lead, booked jobs and map pack position are useful. Impressions, reach and clicks are not, because they can be bought cheaply while the phone stays silent. If the first slide is a reach number, that is the answer.
- 03
Ask whether they work with your direct competitors
One client per niche per market area is the only honest arrangement in local marketing. Two competing clients in one city means the agency is bidding against itself with your money.
- 04
Ask about the contract term and the exit
A fixed initial term of about 90 days is reasonable, because paid media and local SEO do not produce a fair read faster than that. A 12 month lock with no performance review is not. Confirm in writing that you keep the accounts, the data and the creative on exit.
- 05
Ask who does the work and who you talk to
Find out whether the person pitching is the person managing, whether execution is offshore or in house, and who your named point of contact is. There is nothing wrong with outsourced delivery, but you should know before you sign, not after.
- 06
Ask for proof you can verify
Named clients, real screenshots with dates, and a reference you can call. Anonymous case studies with round numbers are unverifiable by design.
Key points
- You should always own your Meta and Google ad accounts; the agency is added as a partner.
- An agency that leads its reporting with impressions or reach is hiding the lead numbers.
- One client per niche per market area prevents an agency from bidding against itself with your budget.
- A 90 day initial term is reasonable; a 12 month lock with no performance break is not.
Last updated 2026-08-23.
FAQ
Common questions
Management fees for local service businesses typically run from about 1,000 to 5,000 dollars a month depending on scope and number of locations, separate from ad spend. Any agency that quotes before auditing your account is guessing.
Percentage of spend creates an incentive to increase spend rather than to improve efficiency. A flat monthly fee tied to scope aligns better with your interests.
Ninety days. Paid campaigns need a few weeks to exit the learning phase, and local SEO changes take one to three months to show in map pack position. You should still see weekly numbers throughout that period.
Guaranteed rankings, agency owned ad accounts, long contracts with no exit, reporting built on impressions, refusal to name clients, and taking on two direct competitors in the same market.
Tell us what your cost per booked job is. We will tell you if we can beat it.
Twenty minutes, no deck. If we are not the right fit we will say so on the call.