How to Tell if Your Marketing Agency Is Delivering
Paul Keene · 9 min read ·
SHORT ANSWER
Your agency is delivering if you can trace its work to enquiries or sales, you own your own ad and analytics accounts, and every month it tells you what it changed, why, and what happened. If its reports are mostly impressions and clicks and you still cannot say what you got for your money, ask harder questions.
Key takeaways
- Your Google Ads, Google Analytics and social accounts should belong to your business, with the agency given access. Never the other way round.
- A useful report links spend to enquiries or sales. Impressions, clicks and reach describe activity, not results.
- Check what Google Ads is counting as a "conversion". If it counts page views or button clicks, results will look better than they are.
- The search terms report shows what people actually typed before clicking your ads, and is often the quickest way to find wasted spend.
- An agency that never recommends spending less is not looking hard enough. Every account has some waste. Download the free checklist of 12 questions to ask your agency, below.
Most business owners who use a marketing agency have the same nagging question: is this working? The monthly report arrives, the charts point upwards, and yet it is hard to connect any of it to the money coming in. This guide gives you seven checks you can run yourself, without a marketing background, and explains what a good agency report should contain. It focuses mainly on paid advertising, where it is easiest to measure, but most checks apply to SEO and social agencies too.
Who owns your accounts?
Start here, because it affects everything else. Your Google Ads account, Google Analytics property, Search Console and social media accounts should be owned by your business, with the agency added as a user. If the agency created them under its own name, you may lose years of data and history when you leave.
Ask the agency directly: "Are we the owner of each account, and can you confirm we have admin access?" A good agency will say yes immediately, and will often have set it up that way from the start. If the answer is vague, treat that as your first finding.
Does the report link spend to money?
Impressions, clicks, reach and followers describe activity. They are not wrong to include, but they do not answer the question you are paying to have answered. A useful monthly report shows:
- What you spent.
- How many enquiries or sales came from it.
- What each enquiry or sale cost.
- How those numbers compare with last month and the same month last year.
If your report cannot show these, ask why. Sometimes the honest answer is that tracking was never set up properly, which leads to the next check.
What is Google Ads counting as a conversion?
In Google Ads, a "conversion" is whatever action you choose to count as valuable: a purchase, a form sent, a phone call (Google Ads Help). The catch is that someone has to choose, and it is easy to count the wrong thing.
Ask the agency to show you, on screen, the list of conversion actions in your account and which ones are used for bidding. Watch for actions like "page view" or "clicked contact button". They happen far more often than real enquiries, so they make results look better and can steer the system towards the wrong people. Real enquiries, real sales or qualified calls are what you want counted.
Are you paying for searches that never sell?
Google Ads shows your ads for a range of searches related to your keywords, not only the exact words you chose. The search terms report shows the actual searches that triggered your ads and how each performed (Google Ads Help).
Ask for a copy covering the last 90 days, sorted by cost. You do not need to be an expert to spot searches that have nothing to do with what you sell, or that come from people looking for jobs, free versions or a competitor's name. Each of those is money that could be blocked. When I run Google Ads for Start My Claim, the search terms report is the first thing I check every week, because it is where waste hides.
Does the agency tell you what it changed?
Every month you should hear what was tested, what was paused, what was added, and why. "Campaigns optimised" is not an answer. Neither is a report that looks the same every month apart from the numbers.
A useful habit is to ask one question each month: "What is the single change you made that had the biggest effect, and how do you know?" A good account manager will enjoy the question.
Does the agency ever recommend spending less?
Every advertising account has some waste: searches that never convert, times of day that never sell, locations you do not serve. An agency that only ever asks for more budget is either not looking, or has a reason not to look. Many agencies are paid a percentage of ad spend, which is a common and legitimate model, but it means a recommendation to spend less also cuts their fee. Bear that in mind when you hear the advice.
Who is actually doing the work?
Ask who works on your account each week and roughly how many hours. Smaller accounts are often handled by the most junior people in an agency, with a senior person appearing only for the sales pitch and the annual review. That can be fine if someone experienced checks their work. It is worth knowing either way.
What should a good monthly report include?
- Spend, enquiries or sales, and cost per enquiry or sale, compared with last month and last year.
- The changes made, and the result of each.
- What did not work and has been stopped.
- What will be tested next month, and why.
- Anything the agency needs from you, such as a better landing page or faster follow-up on leads.
What if the answers are not good enough?
Do not sack the agency on the spot. Book a call, take this list, and give them a month to close the gaps. Many agencies raise their game once a client asks sharper questions, and changing agency has its own costs: a learning period, lost history, and time spent briefing someone new.
What helps most is having someone senior on your side who reads the numbers independently of the agency. That is part of what The Monday List does. Every week I read your analytics and ads data, including what your agency has been doing, and tell you plainly what is working, what is not, and what to ask them.
If you are unsure whether you need an agency at all, fractional CMO, agency or junior marketer: which do you need? may help.
Free checklist: 12 questions to ask your marketing agency
Ownership and access
- Does our business own the Google Ads, Google Analytics, Search Console and social accounts, with you added as a user?
- Do we have admin access to every account, and can you confirm it in writing?
Tracking
- What exactly is counted as a conversion, and can you show me the list?
- Are any page views or button clicks being counted as conversions?
- How do you know an enquiry or sale came from your work?
Results
- What did we spend last month, how many enquiries or sales came from it, and what did each cost?
- How do those numbers compare with last month and the same month last year?
- Which searches or audiences cost us the most and sold nothing, and what have you done about them?
Changes and plans
- What was the single change last month that had the biggest effect, and how do you know?
- What have you stopped doing because it was not working?
- What will you test next month, and why?
People and money
- Who works on our account each week, for roughly how many hours, and how are you paid?
Frequently asked questions
How long should I give a new marketing agency before judging results?
For paid advertising, two to three months is usually enough to see whether the account is moving in the right direction, as long as conversion tracking is set up correctly. SEO takes longer, often six months or more, so judge it on progress in rankings and enquiries over that period.
Is it normal for an agency to charge a percentage of ad spend?
Yes, it is a common and legitimate pricing model. Just be aware that it gives the agency a financial reason to recommend higher spend, and weigh its advice on budget with that in mind.
What if my agency will not give me ownership of my ad account?
Treat it as a serious warning sign. You are paying for the advertising and the data it creates, so the account should belong to your business. Ask for ownership to be transferred before you renew any contract.
What is a good cost per enquiry?
It depends entirely on what an enquiry is worth to you. Work out how many enquiries become customers and what a customer is worth over time. That tells you the most you can afford to pay for an enquiry and still make a healthy profit.
Should my agency report on SEO and paid ads separately?
Yes. They work differently and on different timescales, so they should be reported separately, with a combined view of total enquiries or sales on top.
Can I check my agency's work without marketing knowledge?
Yes. The checks in this guide need no marketing background. Ownership, what counts as a conversion and the search terms report are all things you can ask to see on screen.
The bottom line
An agency that is delivering can show you, in plain numbers, what your money bought. Own your accounts, check what is being counted, look at the search terms, and ask what changed. If the answers are vague, the results probably are too.
Want someone senior reading your numbers, and your agency's work, every week? See how The Monday List works.