Before you sign with a marketing agency, ask five things: who actually does the work day to day, what exactly is included in the monthly scope, who owns the ad accounts and data, how results get reported, and what happens if you leave. Those five answers predict everything else.
Sales calls are built to sound good. Your job is to force specifics. Strong agencies answer with names, numbers, and documents. Weak ones answer with adjectives. Here are the questions by theme, each with the answer you want and the answer that should end the call.
Key Takeaways
- Ask for names and workload, not job titles. “A dedicated team” means nothing until you know who touches your account and how many clients they carry.
- Ad accounts, pixels, domains, and analytics must live under your business, not the agency’s. This is the most expensive mistake small businesses make.
- Get the scope in countable units: campaigns, creatives, posts, calls per month.
- Define what success looks like at day 90 before you sign, and what happens if it is missed.
- Read the exit clause first. Notice period, termination fee, and offboarding steps show how confident they really are.
Scope: What Am I Buying Every Month?
Most conflicts trace back to a vague scope. “Social media management” can mean twelve posts and daily community management, or four posts scheduled by an intern. Force the number.
- What deliverables do I get each month, in countable units?
Good answer: “Two campaigns live at all times, six new creatives, twelve posts, one strategy call.”
Red flag: “Full service digital marketing, whatever your business needs.” That is a mood, not a scope. - What is explicitly not included?
Good answer: A written exclusions list: video production, photography, web development, paid tool licenses.
Red flag: “Everything is included.” You will find the exclusions later, on an invoice. - Who writes the strategy, and how often is it revisited?
Good answer: A named strategist, a documented plan inside 30 days, a formal review every quarter.
Red flag: Strategy gets “built as we go.” - What do you need from me each month?
Good answer: Approvals within 48 hours, access to sales data, one hour of your time.
Red flag: “Nothing, we handle it all.” Agencies that need nothing from you deliver nothing that fits your business.
Then ask to see the real deliverable, not a case study: a redacted monthly report from a live client. Our guide on how to vet a marketing agency covers the full checklist.
People: Who Actually Does the Work?
The most common switch in this industry is not fake results. It is the senior person who sells the account and vanishes in week two.
- Who will be on my account, by name and role?
Good answer: Names, roles, and who to contact for what.
Red flag: “You get our whole team.” A team with no names is nobody. - Will the people on this call be the people doing the work?
Good answer: “No. I sell. Here is the strategist who runs it, let me put her on the next call.”
Red flag: A yes that never appears in writing. - Is any of this subcontracted or handled offshore?
Good answer: Honest disclosure. Offshore teams are fine when disclosed and managed.
Red flag: Hesitation, or a denial you later disprove by checking who logs into your accounts. - How many other clients does my account manager carry?
Good answer: A real number, usually five to fifteen depending on scope.
Red flag: “That varies.” It varies because it is thirty.
Pricing: What Does It Cost, and What Triggers More Cost?
The quoted number starts the conversation. What you want is the full cost of year one, including everything outside the retainer.
- Is the fee flat, hourly, or a percentage of ad spend?
Good answer: A flat monthly fee, or a hybrid with a stated cap.
Red flag: A percentage of ad spend with no ceiling. That rewards spending more, not earning more. - Is my ad budget included in the fee?
Good answer: “No. The fee is management. Media spend is billed to your card by Meta and Google.”
Red flag: Blended pricing where you cannot see how much actually reached the platforms. - What is the setup fee, what costs extra, and when does the price increase?
Good answer: A setup fee tied to real deliverables, a price list for out of scope work, and a written clause on annual adjustments.
Red flag: “We will figure it out.” You will, in month four, at a rate you did not choose.
Still calibrating the numbers? Compare against our breakdown of digital marketing agency cost before you negotiate.
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Reporting: How Will I Know It Is Working?
- What does success look like at day 30, day 90, and day 180?
Good answer: Numbers tied to your funnel: cost per qualified lead, lead volume, payback period.
Red flag: Impressions, reach, and engagement as the headline metrics. - Do I get a live dashboard or a monthly PDF?
Good answer: A live dashboard plus a monthly call where a human explains what changed and why.
Red flag: A deck of screenshots sent on day 12 with no commentary. - How do you connect a lead to the channel that produced it?
Good answer: A tracking plan: conversion events, call tracking, CRM integration, form source fields.
Red flag: “The platform reports it.” Platform numbers are self graded homework. - What happens if we miss target two months running?
Good answer: A written escalation: diagnostic review, revised plan, exit option without penalty.
Red flag: “Marketing takes time.” Sometimes true, always convenient.
You should also be able to measure the outcome yourself. Our guide on how to track marketing ROI walks through the setup.
Ownership: Who Owns the Accounts and the Creative?
This is where small businesses lose the most value, and they usually find out on the way out.
- Will the ad accounts be created under my company?
Good answer: “Yes. You own the Business Manager, the ad accounts, the pixel, and Google Ads. We get partner access.”
Red flag: “We run it through our account, it is more efficient.” Efficient for them. You leave with no history, no pixel data. - Who owns the creative, copy, and landing pages after we part ways?
Good answer: You do, in writing, including source files.
Red flag: A license that expires with the contract. - Do I get admin access to everything, today?
Good answer: Yes on day one: analytics, domain, hosting, CRM.
Red flag: View only access, or credentials held as a retention tactic.
Exit: What Happens If I Leave?
- What is the term and the notice period?
Good answer: Month to month after a 90 day ramp, with 30 days notice.
Red flag: Twelve month lock, automatic renewal, 90 day notice window. - Is there an early termination fee?
Good answer: None, or a modest fee tied to unrecovered setup work.
Red flag: The full remaining contract value due immediately. - Can I speak with a client who left you?
Good answer: Yes, plus a documented offboarding checklist for access and file transfers.
Red flag: Only handpicked, currently happy references, and no offboarding process at all.
The Six Answers That Decide the Deal
| Question | Why It Matters | Answer You Want To Hear |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work day to day? | Results depend on the operator, not the closer who sold you. | Named people, their roles, and a call with them before you sign. |
| What is in scope this month? | Vague scope becomes underdelivery you cannot dispute. | Countable deliverables plus a written exclusions list. |
| Who owns the ad accounts? | Account history and pixel data are the real asset being built. | Everything sits under your business, agency gets partner access. |
| How is performance reported? | Vanity metrics hide months of wasted budget. | Live dashboard, cost per qualified lead, monthly call with analysis. |
| What costs extra? | The retainer is rarely the total annual cost. | A price list for anything outside the core scope. |
| What happens if I cancel? | The exit clause reveals how the agency keeps clients. | Short notice period, no punitive fee, documented handover. |
How To Run the Conversation
Send the questions in advance. An agency that answers well in writing will answer well in a meeting, and you end up with a document you can compare across finalists. Ask every agency the same questions in the same order, then score the answers instead of the vibes. Building the shortlist first? Start with how to choose a marketing agency.
Watch how they handle the hard questions, not only what they say. Defensiveness about ownership or reporting is information.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many agencies should I talk to before signing?
Three is right for most small businesses. One gives you no comparison, five turns into weeks of calls. Ask all three the same questions in writing, then compare answers side by side instead of comparing proposals, which are designed to look different on purpose.
Should I sign a twelve month contract?
Not on a first engagement. A 90 day initial term followed by month to month is fair to both sides. It gives the agency time to build tracking and gather data, and gives you a real exit if delivery does not match the pitch. Long locks protect the agency.
What if the agency will not answer the ownership question directly?
Treat it as a no. Account ownership is a yes or no, and any competent agency answers in one sentence. If the response turns into an explanation about efficiency or internal systems, assume your accounts will be built inside theirs and you will leave with nothing.
How fast should I expect results?
Paid search and paid social can produce leads inside 30 days, but the first 90 days are mostly tracking, creative testing, and finding the offer that converts. SEO takes six to twelve months. Any agency promising fast results in every channel is guessing.
Bring These Questions to a Real Conversation
The right agency will not flinch at anything on this page. At OCA11 we answer all of it on the first call, in writing, before price comes up. To test that, book a meeting with our team and bring the toughest question on your list.
