Checklist
The questions to ask a marketing agency before you sign
About the team
Who is on our account day to day, and what else is on their plate?
Seniority on the pitch call means nothing if the work is delegated after signing.
Which parts of the work are done in-house and which are subcontracted?
It tells you who you can actually reach when a deliverable needs to change.
How long have the people assigned to us been with the firm?
Continuity on your account depends on the stability of the team behind it.
Who is our single point of contact, and who covers when they're out?
One named owner and one named backup is the difference between answers and silence.
Can we meet the people who will do the work before we sign?
You learn more from a working session with the doers than from a polished pitch.
About scope and process
What exactly ships in month one, and what ships in month three?
Dated deliverables turn an abstract retainer into something you can hold to account.
What do you need from us each week for the work to stay on schedule?
Engagements stall on client-side inputs as often as agency-side capacity.
How does a request move from idea to live — who approves what, and when?
Knowing the approval path up front prevents surprises about who signs off on what.
What happens when a deliverable slips, and how are we told?
How a firm handles a miss is more informative than its plan for everything going right.
Which tools and accounts will the work run through?
The tooling answer determines what you can see directly and what you have to ask for.
About reporting
Can we see a sample report from a current engagement, with the client details removed?
A real artifact shows what you will actually receive, not what a template promises.
Which metrics will you report on, and how do they connect to revenue?
Metrics chosen before the work starts are harder to reframe once results arrive.
How often do we get a report, and is there a live dashboard?
Cadence sets how quickly you can catch something that isn't working.
Who walks us through the numbers, and can we ask questions in that meeting?
A report nobody explains is data; a conversation about it is a decision.
How do you report a period where the results were poor?
Asking in advance establishes that you expect the bad months to be reported too.
About pricing structure
Is this a retainer, a project fee, or hourly — and what does that number cover?
The pricing model determines what counts as included and what becomes an extra.
What specifically triggers a change in scope or fees?
Written triggers are the only reliable protection against budget drift.
Are media spend, software, stock, and production costs inside or outside the fee?
Pass-through costs can change the real monthly number substantially.
How are hours or deliverables tracked, and can we see that record?
Visibility into effort makes the invoice reviewable rather than a matter of trust alone.
What are the payment terms, and how do fees change at renewal?
Renewal pricing is easier to negotiate before you sign than after you depend on the work.
About ownership and exit
Who owns the ad accounts, analytics properties, and domains we use?
Ownership of the accounts decides whether your history is portable.
Who owns the creative files, source files, and copy produced for us?
Finished files without source files limit what anyone can do with the work next.
What notice period is required to end the engagement, on either side?
The notice term defines how quickly you can change course if fit turns out wrong.
What does offboarding include — access transfer, documentation, a handover call?
A written handover step prevents a gap between one provider and the next.
Are there exclusivity, non-solicit, or non-compete clauses we should know about?
These clauses shape your options long after the engagement itself ends.