22 September 2026 · 6 min read · Oscar Markham
The questions to ask before signing with a marketing agency
Agency pitches are good at describing what will be done and vague about what happens if it does not work. These are the questions worth asking, and roughly what a straight answer sounds like.
About ownership
This is where most of the risk sits, and almost nobody asks.
- Whose name will the ad account be in? — yours, or you are renting your own audience data
- Who owns the website and the domain? — you, with the logins, from day one
- If I leave, what do I take with me? — everything, and a straight answer takes one sentence
- Is there a minimum term? — if yes, ask why the work needs one
About the money
Two questions that separate most agencies.
- Is ad spend paid through you or directly by me? — directly, to the platform, from your own account
- What exactly does the fee cover, and what is extra? — get it in writing before you sign
About the work
Who will actually be doing it, and will I speak to them? In a small agency the honest answer is a name. In a larger one it is frequently an account manager relaying messages, which is fine if you know that going in.
Then: what will you tell me if it is not working, and when? An agency that has thought about this has an answer ready.
The one that reveals the most
Is there a situation where you would tell me not to spend money with you?
Anyone who cannot name one either has not thought about it or is not going to tell you. Every honest agency has a list — businesses whose economics do not support advertising, trades where the channel is wrong, clients who cannot fulfil the work they already have.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.