10 Questions to Ask a Marketing Agency Before You Sign Up
If you’re a trades or construction business owner thinking about hiring a marketing agency, the questions you ask before signing matter more than anything that comes after. Getting this bit right saves you months of frustration and thousands of pounds. Getting it wrong? You already know how that story ends — because half the people reading this have lived it.
These are the ten questions to ask a marketing agency before signing up. They work whether you’re a one-van plumbing outfit or a construction firm turning over seven figures. They work whether you’re talking to us or someone else entirely. And they’ll tell you — very quickly — whether the agency sitting across the table actually knows what they’re doing, or whether they’re just good at selling.
Print this list. Take it to every meeting. Don’t sign anything until you’ve got answers to all ten.
1. Do you have case studies from my industry — with real numbers?
Every agency will tell you they can work with your business. Far fewer can actually prove it. Case studies from your specific industry — trades or construction — are the single best indicator that an agency understands the reality of your world. Not restaurants. Not solicitors. Your world.
What a good answer sounds like: They show you specific results for trades or construction clients. Revenue growth with numbers attached. Cost per lead. Conversion rates. Timelines. They can talk you through the journey — where the client started, what was done, and what actually changed. For example, one of our clients went from £223k to £1.3m in revenue, with a £22 average cost per lead and an 18.7% website conversion rate. Those aren’t vague promises — they’re auditable results.
What a bad answer sounds like: “We work with all kinds of businesses” or “We’ve got lots of experience with local services.” Logos on a website with no context. Testimonials that say “great agency, would recommend” but tell you nothing about what was actually achieved. If they can’t show you numbers, they probably don’t have any worth showing.
2. Who actually does the work?
You’re paying agency rates. You deserve to know whether the work is being done by an experienced in-house team or outsourced to freelancers who’ve never heard of your business until five minutes before they start.
What a good answer sounds like: They tell you exactly who will be working on your account. Names. Roles. Whether they’re in-house or external. If some work is outsourced, they’re upfront about it and explain how quality is managed. They introduce you to your point of contact before you sign.
What a bad answer sounds like: “You’ll have a dedicated account manager” — with no mention of who’s actually doing the design, the ads, the content, the SEO. This usually means the account manager is just a messenger between you and a revolving door of freelancers who have zero context about your business, your industry, or your customers.
3. What do you need from me?
This one’s counterintuitive. You might think a good agency just handles everything while you get on with the job. But the opposite is true. Any agency that says they need nothing from you is either lying or planning to produce generic work that won’t represent your business properly.
What a good answer sounds like: They’re specific. They’ll need photos and videos from your jobs. Access to your accounts. Time for an onboarding session where they learn your business inside out. A point of contact who can answer questions, approve content, and provide feedback. They’ll tell you it’s a partnership and mean it.
What a bad answer sounds like: “Don’t worry, we take care of everything — you just sit back and let us do our thing.” This sounds great in the sales meeting. In reality, it means cookie-cutter content, stock photos of someone else’s work, and a brand that looks nothing like your actual business. This is one of the most common marketing mistakes we see across trades and construction — and it’s almost always the agency’s fault for not setting expectations properly.
4. How do you measure success?
This question separates the agencies that understand your business from the ones that’ll bury you in meaningless graphs. You’re not hiring a marketing agency because you want more “impressions.” You’re hiring one because you want the phone to ring with people who need your services and can afford to pay for them.
What a good answer sounds like: They talk about leads, cost per lead, conversion rates, revenue attributed to marketing, and return on investment. They ask you what success looks like for your business — not just in marketing terms, but commercially. Do you want more domestic work? Bigger commercial contracts? Better margins? The metrics should connect directly to your goals.
What a bad answer sounds like: They lead with impressions, reach, clicks, followers, or “brand awareness.” These things have a place, but if they’re the headline metric in the conversation, the agency is setting up a smokescreen. When the leads aren’t coming in, they’ll point to a graph of impressions going up and hope you don’t notice the phone isn’t ringing.
5. What does reporting look like?
Reporting isn’t just about accountability — it’s about whether the agency can actually explain what’s working, what isn’t, and what they’re going to do about it. A good report should take ten minutes to read and leave you knowing exactly where you stand.
What a good answer sounds like: Monthly or fortnightly reports. Clear, plain-English format. Leads generated, where they came from, what was spent, what the return was. Commentary on what’s working and what’s being changed. A regular call — not just a PDF dumped in your inbox with no context. They welcome your questions and don’t hide behind jargon.
What a bad answer sounds like: “We send you a report every month.” No detail on what’s in it. Or worse — a 20-page document full of charts and technical language designed to look impressive but tell you nothing useful. If you can’t understand the report, it’s not a good report. It’s a smokescreen.
6. What happens if it doesn’t work?
This is the question most people are too polite to ask. Don’t be. Any agency worth their salt has thought about this, because they know marketing isn’t a guarantee. What matters is how they respond when things don’t go to plan.
What a good answer sounds like: They’re honest. They explain that marketing takes time — typically three to six months for real momentum — and they lay out what they’ll do if early results aren’t where they should be. Adjust the strategy. Test different channels. Reallocate budget. They’ve got a plan B, and they’re comfortable talking about it. They might also mention flexible contract terms that reflect this honesty.
What a bad answer sounds like: “That won’t happen” or “We guarantee results.” Nobody can guarantee results in marketing — and anyone who says otherwise is either naive or lying. Equally concerning is the agency that deflects: “Well, results depend on the market” with no explanation of what they’d change on their end. Accountability should go both ways.
7. Do I own my ad accounts, website, and data?
This is critical, and it catches people out all the time. If the agency owns your Google Ads account, your website, or your analytics data, you’re building your business’s online presence on their land. When you leave — and you might — you leave with nothing. Years of ad history, SEO authority, and data gone overnight.
What a good answer sounds like: “Yes, you own everything. Your ad accounts, your website, your domain, your analytics, your content. If we part ways tomorrow, everything stays with you.” Full stop. No caveats.
What a bad answer sounds like: “We manage everything through our agency accounts for efficiency.” Translation: if you leave, you start from scratch. This is one of the most damaging things an agency can do to a small business, and unfortunately, it’s still incredibly common. Get this in writing before you sign anything.
8. What’s the minimum commitment — and why?
Some agencies lock you into 12-month contracts. Others work on a rolling monthly basis. Neither is automatically right or wrong — but the reasoning behind it tells you a lot.
What a good answer sounds like: They explain the commitment period in the context of what it takes to deliver results. If they ask for a three-month minimum, they can explain exactly what happens in each of those months and why results take that long to materialise. They’re also clear about what happens after the initial period — rolling monthly, renewal options, and how to leave if you want to.
What a bad answer sounds like: A long lock-in with no justification. “It’s just our standard contract.” No explanation of what the early months involve. No break clause. No performance benchmarks. If the contract is designed to protect their revenue rather than give your campaign time to work, that’s a red flag. Good agencies don’t need to trap you — their results keep you.
9. How long before I see results?
This is where honest agencies separate themselves from the ones that’ll say anything to close the deal. Anyone promising you’ll be fully booked in two weeks is lying. Anyone saying “it depends” without elaborating isn’t being helpful either.
What a good answer sounds like: They give you a realistic timeline with context. Paid ads can generate leads relatively quickly — often within the first few weeks — but they need optimising to bring costs down and quality up. SEO is a longer game: three to six months for meaningful traction, depending on your market and competition. They break it into phases so you know what to expect at each stage. If you want a sense of what a proper plan looks like, our free 90 Day Growth Playbook maps this out in detail.
What a bad answer sounds like: “You’ll see results straight away” or “Page one of Google in 30 days.” These are sales lines, not honest timelines. Equally bad is the vague non-answer: “Every business is different, so we can’t really say.” A good agency has done this before — they know roughly what to expect and they’re not afraid to tell you.
10. What makes you different from every other agency?
Last question, and arguably the most revealing. Every agency says they’re different. What matters is whether they can tell you specifically how — and whether that difference actually matters to your business.
What a good answer sounds like: Specifics. They name their niche, their process, their track record. They can explain exactly what they do differently and why it leads to better results for businesses like yours. If they specialise in your industry, they can demonstrate that with examples. They don’t just say “we care more” — they show you structural differences in how they operate. Take PKB Civils, one of our construction clients: £200k in attributed revenue, 32% organic growth, and over 600 LinkedIn subscribers built from scratch. That kind of specificity is what “different” should look like.
What a bad answer sounds like: “We’re passionate about marketing” or “We treat every client like family.” These mean nothing. If their differentiator could apply to literally any agency in the country, it isn’t a differentiator. Generic claims are the hallmark of a generic agency — and a generic agency will give you generic results.
Use This List — Even If You Never Hire Anyone
These ten questions aren’t designed to steer you towards any particular agency. They’re designed to protect you. If an agency can answer all ten clearly, specifically, and honestly — that’s a good sign. If they stumble, deflect, or get defensive — that tells you everything.
Do your due diligence before hiring a marketing agency. The trades and construction industry is full of business owners who’ve been burned before, and almost every one of those bad experiences could have been avoided by asking better questions at the start.
If you’re currently evaluating agencies and want a straight conversation — no pitch, no pressure — you’re welcome to book a free Roadmap Call. We’ll answer all ten of these questions ourselves, and if we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you that honestly. That’s how it should work.
