What are red flags when hiring a marketing agency?

The biggest red flags are guaranteed rankings or results, the agency owning your ad accounts or website, long contracts with no way out, vague answers about who will do the work, and reports that show activity but not customers or sales.

Who should own my Google Ads and Facebook ad accounts?

You should. The accounts should be created in your business's name, with the agency given access as a user or partner. That way you keep your data and history if you ever change agency.

How long should a marketing agency contract be?

For a small business, a short first commitment of one to three months, or a monthly rolling contract with a reasonable notice period, is usually safer than a 12-month lock-in. Longer agreements can make sense once you have seen results and trust the agency.

How soon should I expect results from a marketing agency?

Paid ads can bring visitors within days, but it often takes weeks to tune them well. Search engine optimisation and content usually take months. A good agency gives you a realistic timeline and tells you what they will measure along the way.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Marketing Agency

Before you hire a marketing agency, ask who will own your accounts, what exactly is included in the price, how long the contract runs and how you can leave, who will actually do the work, and how results will be measured and reported. The answers tell you more than any sales deck. Watch especially for guaranteed rankings, agency-owned accounts and long lock-in contracts: those are the most common red flags.

Below are 14 concrete questions, grouped by topic. For each one you get why it matters and what a worrying answer sounds like. Print it, bring it to the meeting, and take notes.

Why ask questions at all?

Most agency meetings are sales meetings. That is normal, and it does not mean anyone is being dishonest. But a pitch is designed to show strengths, and your job is to find out how the agency works on an ordinary Tuesday, three months in, when nobody is selling anymore.

The good news: good agencies like good questions. A clear, relaxed answer is a positive sign in itself.

If you have not decided whether an agency is the right choice at all, start with our comparison of marketing agency vs. DIY vs. AI.

Questions about ownership and access

1. Who will own the ad accounts, analytics and website?

Why it matters: your Google Ads account, Meta ad account, Google Analytics, Google Business Profile, website and domain hold years of data and history. If the agency owns them, switching agency can mean starting from zero.

The right setup is that accounts are in your business’s name, and the agency is given access. Google Ads lets you invite users and choose their access level, and Meta lets you give a partner access to assets in your business portfolio.

Red flag: “We set it up in our account, it’s easier that way.” Or vague answers about whether you can take the account with you.

2. If we stop working together, what do I keep?

Why it matters: this is the same question from the other direction, and it catches things like ad copy, images, landing pages and website code.

Red flag: the agency keeps the website, the images or the campaigns, or charges a fee to “release” them. Get the answer in writing.

Why it matters: you should be able to look at your own ads and numbers any time, without asking.

Red flag: “You’ll get our monthly report, you don’t need access.”

Questions about price and contract

4. What exactly is included in the monthly price?

Why it matters: “marketing” can mean anything from one campaign to a full team. Ask for a list: which channels, how many posts or articles, how many hours, how often ads are checked.

Red flag: a single number with no description of what you get for it.

5. Is ad spend included, and how is your fee calculated?

Why it matters: most agencies charge a management fee, and you pay Google or Meta separately for the ads. Some charge a percentage of ad spend. Both are normal, but you need to know which, because a percentage model means the agency earns more when you spend more.

For a sense of what different parts of a budget typically cost, see how much marketing costs for a small business.

Red flag: you cannot tell how much of your money goes to ads and how much to the agency. Or the agency pays the ad platforms and invoices you with a markup you cannot see.

6. How long is the contract, and how do I get out?

Why it matters: many agencies ask for 6–12 months. That gives them time to do the work, but it also locks you in if it is not working.

Red flag: a long lock-in with no exit clause, automatic renewal you have to remember to cancel, or high fees for ending early. A reasonable alternative is a short first period, then monthly rolling with one to three months’ notice.

7. Are there setup fees or extra costs I should know about?

Why it matters: setup fees, extra charges for new ad creatives, website changes billed by the hour, and tool costs passed on to you can add a lot.

Red flag: “That depends”, with no example numbers.

Questions about the work and the people

8. Who will actually work on my account, and how experienced are they?

Why it matters: the person in the sales meeting is often not the person doing the daily work. Ask to meet them, or at least know their name and role.

Red flag: no clear answer, or your account is handled by “the team” with nobody responsible.

9. How many clients does each account manager handle?

Why it matters: this tells you how much attention you will get. There is no perfect number, but you should be able to ask.

Red flag: reluctance to answer at all.

10. Can you show examples of work for businesses like mine?

Why it matters: experience with your type of business (local services, online shops, restaurants) and your market or language is valuable. Google suggests asking about experience in your industry and your country or city in its own guide, Do you need an SEO?.

Red flag: only big-brand logos and no examples close to your size. Or case studies with impressive percentages but no context about starting point or budget.

Questions about results and reporting

11. What results can I realistically expect, and when?

Why it matters: ads can bring visitors within days, while search engine optimisation (SEO: improving how your site shows up in Google search) usually takes months. A good agency gives you a timeline and explains what is uncertain.

Red flag: guaranteed rankings, “page one in 30 days” or guaranteed sales. Google states plainly that “no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google”. Anyone who does is either guessing or doing something risky.

12. What will you measure, and how is it connected to my business?

Why it matters: clicks and impressions (how many times your ad was shown) are easy to report but do not pay your bills. Ask how they will measure conversions, that is, the actions you care about: calls, bookings, form submissions or sales.

Red flag: reports full of reach, impressions and “engagement”, but nothing about customers who actually got in touch.

13. How often will we talk, and what does a report look like?

Why it matters: ask to see a sample report. Is it something you can understand in five minutes? Does it say what was done, what happened and what comes next?

Red flag: a 30-page PDF of charts with no explanation, or no regular contact at all.

14. Will you ask before making big changes?

Why it matters: you know things the agency does not: a busy season, a staff shortage, a product you are about to stop selling. Changes to budget, targeting or what you promise customers should not happen without you knowing.

Red flag: “Just trust us, we handle all of that.”

Quick checklist for the meeting

Bring this list and tick off each point:

Red flags at a glance

What you hear	Why it is a problem
“We guarantee first place on Google”	Nobody controls Google’s results.
“The account is in our name”	You risk losing data and history if you leave.
“12 months minimum, auto-renews”	You are locked in even if it does not work.
“Our reports show reach and engagement”	Those numbers can look good without any new customers.
“Don’t worry about the details”	You lose oversight of your own marketing and money.
“We have a secret method”	Good marketing is explainable. Secrecy often hides shortcuts.

After the meeting

Compare at least two or three agencies using the same questions. Write down their answers right after each meeting, while you still remember the details. Then ask for the agreement in writing before you sign, and check that it matches what you were told, especially on ownership, notice period and what is included.

If an agency mostly runs your ads, it also helps to understand the basics yourself. Our guides to Google Ads for small businesses and Facebook and Instagram ads for small businesses explain the essentials in plain language.

Where Pufflo fits

Many of these questions are about trust: who owns what, who decides, and whether you can see what is being done. We built Pufflo, an AI marketing service for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), around the same principles: your accounts stay yours, nothing changes without your approval, and everything the AI agents do is logged where you can see it. Plans start at €49 a month excl. VAT, and if you start during the launch period you get 50 % off the first three months. See pricing to get started.