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Published 16 October 2026 · Updated 16 October 2026 · By TMF — The Media Foundry
Hiring a digital marketing agency is a bigger decision than it looks. You are handing over your brand's voice, your ad budget and often the keys to your website and social accounts. A good partner can become an extension of your team; a poor fit can burn months and money before anyone notices. We are an agency ourselves, so read this with that in mind — but these are the questions we would want any business to ask us, and the same ones we would ask if we were hiring. Several of them come straight from Google's own advice on hiring outside help.
Before you talk to anyone: define the job
Write down, in a few lines, what you want the agency to achieve and how you will know it is working. “More leads from Google for our three main services” is a brief. “Grow our social media” is not. Note your rough monthly budget for fees and, separately, for ad spend; who on your side will approve work; and what you already have — brand guidelines, a website, ad accounts, past campaign data. Agencies give far better answers to a clear brief, and you will find it much easier to compare them.
Also decide which disciplines you actually need. Many businesses need a mix of social media marketing, performance marketing and content production, but not every business needs everything at once. If you are unsure where to start, our guide to performance marketing vs brand marketing explains how short-term and long-term activity fit together.
12 questions to ask before hiring a digital marketing agency
About their work
- Can you show me work similar to what I need? Ask for real examples, live links and the context behind them: the goal, the budget range, what they did and what changed. Google's own advice on hiring an SEO suggests asking for examples of previous work and success stories.
- What is your experience in my industry and my city or region? Local knowledge matters for local search, language and cultural cues. Experience in your category is helpful, though a strong process can matter more than an identical client list.
- Who will actually do the work? Ask to meet the people who will plan, design, write and run campaigns, not only the person pitching. Ask whether any work is outsourced.
About results and reporting
- What results do you expect, in what timeframe, and how will you measure them? This is another question Google recommends asking. A good answer ties results to your business goals — enquiries, sales, cost per lead — not just followers or impressions.
- What will your reports show, and how often? Ask to see a sample report. It should explain what happened, why, and what changes next, not just paste screenshots.
- How do you set up tracking? Without proper conversion tracking, nobody can tell which campaigns work. The agency should explain how form submissions, calls or purchases will be measured before money is spent.
About ownership and access
- Who will own the ad accounts, analytics and website? The safe answer is: you do. Your business should own its Google Ads, Meta business assets, Google Analytics property, domain and hosting, and give the agency access as a user. Google Ads, for example, lets account owners grant different access levels — from email-only and read-only through standard to admin — and Google Analytics lets administrators add and remove users by role.
- What happens to our content and data if we part ways? Confirm in writing that you keep your creative files, account history and data, and how handover works.
- Will you share every change you make to our site and accounts? Google lists this among the questions to ask an SEO. Transparency here prevents surprises later.
About process and fit
- What does the first 90 days look like? Ask for a rough plan: research, setup, first campaigns, first review. Vague answers often mean no plan.
- How do we communicate, and how fast do you respond? Agree on a main contact, a meeting rhythm and how approvals work.
- How are fees structured, and what is not included? Ask whether ad spend is billed separately, what counts as extra work, and what the notice period is. Get it in a written agreement.
Red flags to walk away from
- Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed results. Google states plainly that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Paid and social results depend on budget, competition and your offer too.
- Secrecy about methods. Google advises caution with companies that are unclear about what they intend to do. You should understand, in plain language, what is being done for you.
- Agency-owned accounts. If the agency insists on running your ads from an account you do not own, you may lose your history and data when you leave.
- Vanity metrics only. Reports full of reach and likes but nothing about enquiries or sales.
- Unsolicited cold pitches promising quick wins. Google specifically warns about unsolicited SEO emails.
- No disclosure on paid creator posts. If they run influencer work, sponsored content must be disclosed under ASCI rules; see our influencer disclosure guide.
How to compare shortlisted agencies
Shortlist two or three agencies and send each the same written brief. Compare their responses on four things: how well they understood your business, the quality of their thinking about your audience, how clearly they explain measurement, and how comfortable you feel working with the people you met. Price matters, but the cheapest proposal is rarely the cheapest outcome if it comes with poor tracking or locked-in accounts.
Ask each agency for a small, clearly scoped first project — a landing page, a one-month campaign, a content shoot — before committing to a long retainer. It shows you how they work under real conditions. Make sure your website is ready for the traffic, too; our small business website checklist covers the basics an agency will expect.
Agency, freelancer or in-house?
An agency brings a team with several skills and continuity when people are on leave. A freelancer can be cost-effective for one well-defined skill, such as editing or ad management. An in-house hire makes sense when you have a steady volume of work and someone to manage them. Many businesses combine them: an in-house coordinator with an agency for strategy, production and paid media. Whatever you choose, the ownership and reporting rules above still apply.
Questions we are happy to be asked
If you are considering TMF, ask us every question on this page. You can see the scope of each service on our services page; we are glad to walk through how we would approach your brief and how you would own and see everything we set up.