The Questions to Ask a Marketing Agency Before You Hire One

Most "questions to ask an agency" lists online were written by agencies, and they tend to include only the questions their own kind can answer comfortably. This one's aimed at the places agencies get slippery. Each question comes with what a straight answer actually sounds like, so you can tell the difference while you're sitting across from them.

There's also an Australian resource almost nobody points you to. The Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman publishes its own guide, "Getting the most out of your digital marketing service provider," with a printable checklist. I've lined these questions up with it, so you're not just taking my word for any of it.

"Who owns the ad account, and what happens to it if we part ways?"

This is first because it traps the most people. Some agencies run your ads inside their own account, so when you leave, you leave with nothing, no data, and none of the audience you paid to build. One owner put it bluntly in a review: when you leave, "YOU OWN NOTHING." It doesn't have to be that way. Google's own third-party policy requires an agency to set up a separate ads account that represents you. Owning your own account isn't a favour, it's the standard.

"Will I get direct access to my accounts and data, or just the reports you send me?"

Reports can be dressed up to look busy. Direct access can't. If your only window into your own marketing is a monthly PDF the agency made, you've no way to check whether the work is real. One owner only found out the truth by checking the logs and seeing a few minutes of activity behind a full month's invoice.

"What exactly happens when I want to leave?"

Ask this before you sign, not after. This is where the traps live: auto-renewals you didn't notice, notice periods measured in months, penalties for leaving, and in the worst cases, debt collectors. The Ombudsman's checklist says a fair contract should set out a simple exit and a proper handover of your assets, access, passwords and accounts.

"Who will actually be working on my account?"

You're often sold by the sharpest person in the building and then handed to whoever's cheapest. There's nothing wrong with a team, but you deserve to know who's really doing the work, and whether they're stretched across so many accounts that yours becomes an afterthought.

"How will you measure success, and what should a lead cost me?"

This separates the outcome people from the activity people fast. A weak agency talks in clicks and impressions, numbers that look impressive and mean nothing to your bank account. A good one talks in your language.

"Can I speak to a current client and a former client, with nobody from the agency on the call?"

Anyone can produce a happy current client. The revealing word is former. The Ombudsman's own guidance tells you to ask for the contact details of current and former clients, and almost no agency volunteers the second kind. How someone talks about an agency after the relationship ended tells you more than any testimonial.

"What does your guarantee actually commit you to, in writing?"

A guarantee you can't write down in a plain sentence isn't a guarantee. Watch for ones built so the conditions can never be met, like the owner who realised their SEO guarantee could only ever pay out in month 14 of a 12-month contract.

"How do your fees work, and does anything 'free' come with a cost somewhere else?"

You want the whole money picture before you sign, not in a surprise invoice later. Ad spend should go to the platform, not vanish into the agency's pocket, and Google's policy actually requires agencies to report your real ad costs separately from their own fees.

"What's not included, and what will you try to sell me later?"

Around half of Australian small business owners surveyed said their provider pushed them expensive or irrelevant services they didn't need. Asking this up front tells you whether you're dealing with a partner or a salesperson.

"Have you worked with a business like mine, and what happened?"

Fair to ask, and the honesty of the answer matters more than the answer itself.

After you've asked

If the answers come back specific and consistent, you've probably found someone worth working with. If they turn vague or pushy, you've just saved yourself a very expensive year.

I built the way I work around passing every one of these without blinking, because they're the same questions I'd ask if I were the one hiring. If you'd like, bring this list to a free teardown of your funnel, ask me anything on it, and get an honest read on your marketing while you're at it. No pitch, and you keep what we find.