Choosing a provider
Questions to ask before hiring a marketing agency
Ask what will actually be done each month, how the work is measured and what happens if it does not work. The answers tell you more than any presentation about how the relationship will run.
Ask what happens every month
The most useful question is also the simplest. What gets done each month and what will the business see? A clear answer covers the work rather than the outcomes, because outcomes depend on the market as much as on anyone's effort.
If the answer is vague about the work and specific about the results, that is worth noticing.
Ask how the work is measured
Enquiries are the honest measure for most service businesses. Ask what will be tracked, what the report will contain and when the first one arrives.
It is also worth asking what has not worked recently for other clients. An answer that names real trade-offs is worth more than one that claims everything works.
Ask about the terms
How long the arrangement runs, what notice is required and what happens to the work if the relationship ends. Month to month arrangements with the scope agreed in writing are easier to live with than long lock ins.
Ask for the price in writing against the scope before anything starts. That single habit prevents most of the disagreements that follow.
Questions buyers ask
What is the most important question to ask an agency
What gets done each month and what will the business see. The answer should describe the work rather than promise outcomes.
Should I ask for a guarantee
No honest agency guarantees market response. Ask instead how the work is measured and what happens when something is not moving.
What terms should I look for
Month to month arrangements with the scope and the price agreed in writing before anything starts.
Where this fits
Where Monolith Media fits
Monolith Media runs SEO as one managed marketing service for established Australian businesses, measured to the enquiries it produces. The free check names the part worth fixing first before anything is quoted.
More on Choosing a provider
Why marketing feels like a cost instead of an investment
Marketing feels like a cost when nothing connects it to work. What to change so the spend can be judged like any other investment.
What to do when the report shows clicks instead of work
Why agency reports lean on clicks and impressions and the questions that bring the conversation back to enquiries.
How to tie marketing spend to the enquiries it produces
Connecting marketing spend to real enquiries using records the business already keeps, without buying another tool.