You’re Not Hiring an Agency. You’re Choosing a Partner.
Hiring an agency isn’t about outsourcing tasks. It’s about finding a partner who understands your goals, your team, and your audience. The wrong agency can waste time and money. The right one can accelerate growth.
This guide walks through how to decide if you need an agency, what type of partner makes sense for your business, and the seven questions to ask before you sign a contract.
Before You Hire: Do You Actually Need an Agency?
The agency review process isn’t cheap. In 2023, the ANA found that businesses spent nearly half a million dollars on average to find and hire an agency. Smaller companies won’t spend anywhere near that, but it shows just how high the stakes can be when choosing the right partner.
But, do you need an agency at all? Many marketers lean on agency expertise because that’s “how it has always been done,” but the prevalence of remote work, and access to inexpensive freelance talent has never been better. It’s important to start by identifying what kind of problem you’re trying to solve.
Is your marketing challenge strategic or operational? Do you need an outside perspective, or just more hands on deck? Do you need a highly specialized skillset? Do you need assistance across multiple channels, or in pulling a cohesive strategy together?
| Solution | Best Use Case | Pros | Cons |
| Freelancer | Specialized projects that need a high degree of expertise. One-time projects or single-channel needs like ad management, copywriting, or design. | Specialized skills, quick to start, low overhead costs. | Limited scalability, no multi-channel perspective, inconsistent reliability. |
| Full-Time Hire | When brand knowledge and continuity are most important. | Deep understanding of marketing challenges from an internal perspective, constant availability, cultural fit. | Narrow skill set, higher overhead, limited external perspective. |
| Agency | When you need scalable strategy, multi-channel execution, or technical expertise. | Broad expertise, scalability, objective external view. | Higher retainer costs, slower internal movement, less brand intimacy. |
As an agency collective, we’re obviously advocates for hiring the right freelancers to tackle the specific issues a business has. We’ve hired external teams for years though, and we’re aware that the energy it takes to find the right freelancers might not be worth it for most brands.
The 7 Questions to Ask Before You Hire an Agency
Finding a good agency takes more than browsing portfolios. These seven questions help you separate genuine partners from sales pitches.
1. Who will be working on my account?
You’re hiring talent, not just a brand name. Ask to meet the people who will be doing the work on your account. Like most service businesses, agencies are famous for talking a big game, but then failing to deliver after the ink dries. Ask to meet the account managers that will be assigned to your company. Do you have a good rapport with them? Recognize that the team your agency puts forward won’t be perfect at first and cultural fit might be just as important as technical skill.
2. How would you measure success on our campaign?
Notice the slight variation on this question that takes it from “How do you measure success” to “How would you measure success for us.” Be wary of marketing firms that seem to have the success equation totally figured out. Great advertising agencies seek first to understand how their clients measure success first, and then work toward those targets. Run for the hills if the agency lays out all of their metrics for success before working to truly understand your business. You should expect them to ask you about reporting methods, attribution models, and examples of campaigns with proven ROI. The agency is working for you, not the other way around. Don’t buy into proprietary agency success metrics that don’t match your business’ bottom line.
3. What experience do you have with businesses like mine?
This one is tricky. As a marketer, you need to be honest about how niche your industry really is. In some fields, insider knowledge is everything. Regulations, terminology, and buying cycles can’t be learned overnight. But for most industries, what matters more is an agency’s ability to learn quickly and execute effectively. Agencies typically attract marketers who are curious and adaptable. They are used to diving into new verticals, asking smart questions, and building strategies fast. When you interview an agency, focus on how you expect the team to learn, apply insights, and measure success for your business.
Ask for case studies that show how they approached a challenge similar to yours, even if the industry was different. Their process will tell you as much about their fit as their client list will.
4. What platforms does your agency specialize in?
Everyone is great at something. Even the most talented generalists have a few areas that are their bread and butter. Agencies are no different. Try to uncover where the agency has the most experience or the largest share of their client work. Then, see if those platforms align with your most important goals. The right agency should understand where your audience actually spends time and have proven experience getting results there.
5. How will we communicate?
Clarity and consistency make or break most partnerships. Ask how often you’ll meet, which tools they use for collaboration, and how performance updates are shared. Do they have a shared project management system where you can keep track of projects? Will you have a joint Teams or Slack channel for quick-hitting questions or updates? When the meetings occur, who will join from the agency side? Related to question #1, do you get the sense that the agency will bring their “A” team to each client interaction, or only for special meetings and reviews?
6. Can you explain your pricing model and how it aligns with my marketing goals?
Every agency prices their work differently. Some charge flat fees, others bill a percentage of ad spend, and some use performance-based models. What matters most is how that structure connects to your goals. A strong agency should be able to explain exactly how their pricing works. Then, they should be able to identify how that fits into your growth objectives.
7. What can I learn from you?
The best agency relationships work like any great partnership—both sides grow from it. The smartest marketers don’t hire people who just say yes. They look for partners who can challenge their thinking, offer perspective, and teach them something new.
Find an agency that’s willing to question your assumptions, explain the “why” behind their recommendations, and bring more to the table than execution alone. You don’t just want a vendor who takes orders. You want a partner who makes your marketing smarter.
Common Red Flags to Watch For
Hiring an agency should feel like entering a partnership, not a transaction. If the process feels rushed, confusing, or one-sided, that’s usually a sign to slow down.
Here are a few things to watch for:
- They’re too eager to win the business. A great agency wants your partnership, but they also want to know they can help you succeed. If they’re not actively evaluating if they can hit your goals before the sale, then there is little chance that they’ll pick up that practice once you start working with them.
- Pricing feels overcomplicated. You should understand exactly what you’re paying for. If the structure feels intentionally confusing or buried in jargon, it probably is.
- The pitch team and the delivery team don’t match. If senior leaders do all the selling but won’t be working on your account, ask who actually will be, and meet them before signing.
- They don’t ask good questions. Strong agencies listen first. If they jump straight into promises without digging into your business, they’re selling a template, not a solution.
- High-pressure contracts. If they push you to sign quickly or lock into long, inflexible terms, walk away. Partnerships should start with trust, not urgency.
- Poor cultural fit. Pay attention to how they communicate. The right agency should feel like an extension of your team, not an outsider forcing their process on you.
If you leave a meeting feeling rushed, confused, or talked over, that’s not a match. The best agencies earn trust by being curious, transparent, and collaborative from the very first conversation.
Additional Research to Help:
A 2005 article that is just as relevant today as back then:
https://hbr.org/2005/03/outsourcing-marketing
2025 Marketing Trends. Look to see how your budgets, headcount matches up to others:
https://www.deloittedigital.com/content/dam/digital/global/documents/insights-20250509-2025-marketing-investment-trends.pdf
Third Party Agency Evaluation Sites:
https://partnersdirectory.withgoogle.com
https://www.facebook.com/business/marketing-partners/campaign-management-agencies