Most agency selection processes test presentation skill and call it diligence. Here are the questions that actually separate the agencies that will do the work from the ones that will pitch it.
The standard process is a brief, three pitches, a scorecard and a decision. It reliably identifies which agency pitches best. Pitching is a discipline, and it is not the discipline you are buying.
The gap is well known inside the industry and rarely discussed outside it: the people in the room during the pitch are frequently not the people who will touch your account. Everything below is designed to close that gap.
Ask for names, roles and the percentage of their week your account will occupy. Then ask which of them is in the room today.
There is nothing wrong with juniors doing junior work — that is how the craft is learned and how the economics function. The problem is paying senior rates for it without knowing. Ask plainly: who writes the strategy, who executes, who reviews, and who you call when something breaks.
A good agency answers this immediately and specifically. Vagueness here is the single most predictive warning sign in the whole process.
Every agency will show you growth. Almost none will show you the baseline.
“+300% organic traffic” from a site with 200 monthly visits is 800 visits. That may still be a good outcome — but you cannot tell without the denominator, and its absence is usually deliberate.
Ask three follow-ups on any case study: what was the number before, over what period did it change, and what else was happening at the same time? The third question matters most. Traffic that tripled during a funding-led brand campaign was not tripled by the SEO retainer.
It is a fair question to ask us too. When we say Museum of Illusions grew organic traffic 200%, the honest framing is: over nine months, from a low base, driven by a technical rebuild, answer-first content, AI-search optimisation and digital PR links — with the outcome that mattered being ticket enquiries from search, not the traffic line itself.
Ask what work they turn down and which clients they have declined.
An agency that will do anything for anyone has no point of view, and a point of view is most of what you are buying at the senior level. The answer also tells you where their genuine competence ends — which is far more useful than a capabilities deck listing thirty services.
The related question: what would you tell us not to spend money on? An agency that immediately identifies something in your current plan as wasteful is demonstrating the exact behaviour you want from them in month seven.
The answer predicts the relationship better than any other question.
If the sample report leads with impressions, reach and engagement rate, you will spend two years discussing activity. If it leads with qualified enquiries, pipeline and revenue, you will spend two years discussing outcomes — which is harder, occasionally uncomfortable, and the only version worth paying for.
Ask to see a real report from a live account, redacted. Ask what happens in a month when the numbers are bad, and how quickly you will hear about it.
Get the management fee and the media budget as separate written lines. A single blended figure conceals where your money goes.
Then ask about the exit. Notice period, what you keep, who owns the ad accounts, the analytics property, the content and the creative files. The right answer is that you own all of it — and this is worth confirming in writing before signature rather than discovering during a handover.
Long lock-ins deserve a direct question: why? The honest answer is usually that some work takes time to compound, which is true of SEO and content. But a lock-in is a mechanism for retaining clients who would otherwise leave. Weigh it accordingly.
Who does the work, by name, and what share of their week?
What was the baseline in each case study, over what period, and what else was running?
What do you refuse to do, and what in our current plan would you stop?
What does a real monthly report look like, and what happens in a bad month?
What is the management fee, separately from media?
What is the notice period, and what do we own on the way out?
Six questions. None require marketing expertise. All of them are hard to answer well without actually being good.
What questions should I ask a digital marketing agency before hiring?
Six: who does the work by name and for what share of their week; what the baseline number was in each case study and over what period; what work they refuse to do and what they would stop in your current plan; what a real monthly report looks like; what the management fee is separately from media spend; and what the notice period is and what you own if you leave.
How can I tell if an agency's case studies are credible?
Ask for the starting number. Percentage growth without a baseline is unreadable — 300% growth from 200 monthly visits is 800 visits. Then ask over what period the change happened and what else was running at the same time, since brand campaigns, funding news and seasonality often explain results attributed to a retainer.
Are long agency contracts normal in India?
They are common but not obligatory. SEO and content genuinely take three to six months to compound, which is a fair argument for some commitment. But a lock-in is fundamentally a mechanism for retaining clients who would otherwise leave. Ask directly why the term is what it is, and judge the answer.
Putting a shortlist together? Every question above is one we are happy to answer on a first call. Start here.
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