How to Choose a Marketing Agency: The Questions That Show You the Work

Choose a marketing agency by asking every candidate the same short list of questions, then checking each answer for a number or an example you can see for yourself. Start with who owns the accounts, what counts as a result and what you'll pay in total, because those answers are the hardest ones to change after you sign.

What Google says every ad partner owes you

Google publishes rules for agencies that buy and manage Google advertising for their clients. Read them before your first call, because they set a minimum standard that every answer you hear should meet.

Google also tells advertisers what to watch out for. Its guide says nobody can promise your ad a specific position on Google's results, since an auction decides the position again with every single search. It also says advertising has no effect on where your website ranks in the regular results, because the two systems are completely separate.

• Your cost and results. Google's guide says that at a minimum, you have the right to know the number of clicks, impressions and the total cost of your Google ads.
• The real ad cost. When a partner reports your Google ad cost, Google requires it to show the exact amount Google charged, apart from any fee the partner adds.
• The fee, in writing. If a partner charges a management fee, Google requires it to tell new customers in writing before each first purchase and to show the fee on every invoice.
• Your account number. Google requires a partner to give you the customer ID for your Google Ads account when you ask, so you can contact Google directly.
• Your own account. Google requires a separate Google Ads account for each business a partner manages, so your history stays your own.

Bring your own count

Keep your own log of the new customers who contact you, because that log is your independent check on every number a partner shows you.

The log can be a notebook beside the phone or a shared spreadsheet. Write down the date, the person's name and how they say they found you, and keep it going for a full month before you compare it with the report.

If the report shows far more leads than your log does, ask your partner to list exactly what it counts as a lead. If your log shows customers the report missed, ask whether the tracking covers every phone line and every form. Either way, you'll find the gap in one meeting instead of six months from now.

Write the answers down, then read them back

The answers you write down today become the yardstick for next year's review. Read back what the partner said it would do, and then ask what actually happened.

Ask these questions once a year of every partner you have, or any time your board asks whether the work is worth the money. The notes make that conversation specific, because you're comparing promises against results instead of memories.

If you want to see how a review like this looks in practice, our PPC audit checklist walks through each part of an account in the order we check it. Our post on what Google Ads management costs explains the common ways agencies set their fees.

Our own answers

These questions work on us too.

• Ownership: The Google account is in your business name. We build and manage it. If we ever part ways, you keep the account and the call data.
• What you see: your portal lists every call and form your ads bring in, with the time each one came in and what it cost.
• What you pay: every price we charge is on our pricing page, and we bill every 4 weeks, so a year is 13 bills. Your ad spend goes to Google, apart from our fee.
• What we fix first: on paid ads, tracking, then budget, then waste, then bidding, then ads and pages, because each step rests on the one before it. On a Google Ad Grant, putting the full credit to work comes first.

Put us to the test

If you'd like to try these questions on us, book a call with Miguel. Bring the list and ask him all seven, the same way you'd ask anyone else.

Questions people ask

What questions should I ask a marketing agency?

Start with who owns the accounts, what counts as a conversion and what they fix first. Then ask what your ads showed for, what they blocked, what changed last quarter, what they'd do with more or less budget and what they're testing next. For each answer, ask for one example you can see.

Who should own my Google Ads account?

You should. The account belongs in your business name, and you should hold Admin access, because that's the access level in Google Ads that can invite other people and remove an agency's manager account.

What are the red flags when hiring a marketing agency?

Google's own guide for advertisers lists several warning signs. Watch for a partner who won't share your clicks, impressions and total cost, or who promises your ad a specific position on the page. Also watch for a claim that advertising will lift your regular search ranking, or for someone claiming to work for Google without a google.com email address.

How do marketing agencies charge?

Agencies set fees in different ways, so get yours in writing, set apart from your ad budget. Google requires a partner to disclose a management fee in writing before your first purchase and on every invoice. Our Open Spots Search plan is $497 every 4 weeks, plus a $997 setup paid once, or $0 on the 13-cycle plan.

How often should I review my marketing agency?

Review every partner once a year, and any time your board asks whether the work is worth the money. Read back what the partner promised last time, and ask what actually happened.

See how we manage Google Ads accounts

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