Agencies
12 questions to ask your marketing agency before you renew
Renewal is when you have leverage. Twelve plain questions about results, people, ownership and contracts that separate good agencies from vague ones.
By Nick Willitts · · 3 min read
Agency contracts tend to renew quietly. The invoice keeps arriving, the monthly report keeps landing in your inbox, and nobody stops to ask whether the arrangement still makes sense. Renewal time is the one point where you have real leverage, so it's worth using.
I spent years on the agency side. These are the questions I'd want a client to ask me, because the good agencies have clear answers and the weak ones get vague very quickly.
About results
1. What did we get for the money this year?
Not activity. Results. Ask for the number of calls, enquiries, bookings or sales that can be traced back to the work, and what they were worth. If the answer is a list of tasks completed, that tells you something.
2. Which of those would have happened anyway?
Branded searches (people typing your business name into Google) usually come from word of mouth, not marketing. If most of the "wins" in your report are people who already knew you, the agency is taking credit for your reputation.
3. What didn't work, and what did you stop doing?
Every honest year of marketing includes things that didn't pay off. An agency that can't name any is either not testing anything or not telling you.
4. What's the one number you'd want me to judge you on next year?
Agree it now, in writing. It should be something that matters to your business, like qualified enquiries per month, not impressions or followers.
About the people
5. Who actually does the work on my account?
The person who pitched you is often not the person doing the work. Ask for names, roles and how much of their time you get each month.
6. What happens when my account manager leaves?
Turnover in agencies is high. Ask how knowledge about your business is written down and handed over, so you don't pay for someone new to learn it all again.
7. Is any of the work outsourced?
Outsourcing isn't automatically bad, but you should know if your content, links or ad management are being passed to someone else, and whether you're paying a margin on top.
About ownership
8. Whose name are my accounts in?
Your domain, website hosting, Google Analytics, Google Business Profile, Google Ads and Meta ad accounts should all be owned by your business, with the agency given access. If they're in the agency's name, fix it before you renew.
9. If I leave, what do I take with me?
Get a clear answer on the website, content, ad accounts, campaign history and reporting dashboards. "We'll sort it out at the time" is not an answer.
About the contract
10. What's the notice period, and why that long?
Twelve-month lock-ins protect the agency, not you. Month-to-month with 30 days' notice is common, and it keeps everyone honest.
11. Exactly what's included in the monthly fee?
Ask for a list of deliverables and hours. "SEO" or "social media management" on an invoice can mean almost anything.
12. What would you do differently if you were starting from scratch?
This is my favourite. A good agency will have a sharp answer, because they've been thinking about it. A weak one will defend the status quo.
What to do with the answers
You don't need to fire anyone because an answer was weak. Often the best outcome is a better-run relationship: a clearer goal, a simpler report and a contract that fits. But if you're getting vague answers to most of these, it's worth a second opinion before you sign again.