If you’ve ever searched ‘how do I choose a marketing agency’ or ‘how do I find an SEO company without getting burned’, or maybe you’ve searched ‘how do I pick a digital marketing agency when they all sound exactly the same’ – no matter where your search began this post is for you.

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Here’s the short and sweet answer on how to choose a marketing agency – click here.

Every marketing agency website says the same things, they claim to be “results-driven”, that they can do it all and says they’re the best. But how can you actually choose a marketing agency and feel like you made the right decision?

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What To Look For When Choosing A Marketing Agency

Before Gray Matter Marketing existed, we went through the exact same search ourselves. We searched ‘marketing agencies near me’, we read reviews, we sat through sales calls – all to try and find an agency that was within our budget that we could trust to get us actual results. That search is part of why Gray Matter exists today, we saw what was missing and decided to build something different.

So instead of telling you why you should pick us, here is the actual checklist we’ve used to find a marketing agency, before Gray Matter even existed. Use it on any marketing agency you are considering, us included!

What Makes A Good Marketing Agency?

A good marketing agency isn’t always the biggest, most expensive or the one loaded down with awards. The best marketing agency for your business, is someone who understand your goals, communicates clearly (and in plain English), aren’t afraid to answer your questions and can explain their strategy and work in a way that contributes to your bottom line.

Choose a marketing agency that can clearly explain its services, pricing, reporting and strategy. That can provide real examples of their work and communicates in a way that makes you feel informed, confident and excited rather than pressured, confused or stressed.

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How To Choose A Marketing Agency: A Real Checklist, From People Who Have Been On Both Sides

Start With The Marketing Agency’s Website

Check the marketing agency’s own website before anything else, it’s the fastest and simplest way to see if they practice what they sell. Especially if you are looking for someone to update your website or do SEO, check for these things on their website:

• Is it easy to read?
• Does it load quickly? What about on your phone?
• Is their content current or was their last blog post from two years ago?
• Do they offer upfront pricing or explain their terms?
• Do they have anything on their site that builds trust?
• Does their website clearly explain what they actually do?

A lot of agencies are excellent at selling marketing and mediocre at practicing it themselves. If their own website is hard to look at, slow to load or difficult to navigate – that is worth noticing before you sign anything.

Who Will You Be Talking To At the Agency?

Before signing with any marketing agency, find out exactly who you’ll be working with day to day, who you’d talk to with emergency requests and who would you talk to about billing questions. We’ve seen multiple sales reps sell you on talking with a real person from their company only for it to be someone across the country or even overseas. So ask them:

• How big is the marketing agency team?
• Who can you direct your questions to?
• Can you reach them via phone, text and email? Or only by contact us forms?
• Do you have an account manager or just whoever is available?
• Where does a majority of their team work?
• How long do you have to wait for a response?
• How often will you hear from them?

You are trusting this agency with your money, your keywords and your entire website, you should know exactly who has access to your information and who you’ll be working with. After all marketing is built on relationships.

How Much Of The Work Is Done By A Human?

Asking any marketing agency how much of your website, social media or content is actually written by a human being is something brand new that clients have to consider. We are in the age of AI and its quickly becoming a real problem in our industry. More and more agencies are silently handing clients over to AI-agents for websites, social media posts and copy-and-paste blogs that do little to nothing for you getting found online.

There is nothing wrong with using AI as a tool. We use it too – for research, organization, efficiency and testing to make sure that what we produce is actually read by AI and Google. So ask the marketing agencies:

• Who is actually writing out blogs? Our website content? Our social media posts?
• Who is reviewing or directing the AI?
• How are they using AI in their business?
• What AI tools do they use?
• Who is actually building and testing new updates or posts?
• What information are they putting into AI about your business?

No one wants to be sold an entire marketing strategy dressed up and sold at full price like its custom work only to find out that it was AI-slop and provides little value to your customers, Google or AI search platforms.

Ask For Proof, Not Promises

A successful marketing agency shouldn’t be afraid to show you real examples of problems they faced, outcomes they achieved or share examples of their work. If you are talking to a marketing agency, ask them:

• Can they show examples of work they’ve completed?
• How do they measure success? Is it by calls or by views?
• Can they show you a report and explain what it all means?
• How often do they review & optimize your campaigns?
• Can they walk you through a real client challenge & explain how they solved it?
• Can they show you how a client is being found online?
• Do they have a list of referrals they can provide you?

If a marketing company can’t show you real examples of how their website or their clients are showing up online and can’t provide you a list of happy customers – is that really the kind of relationship you want? We keep clients names private, but with permission, can have a client or two willing to speak for us on our behalf or can happily show you a live example. Actions speak louder than words after all.

Get Clear Pricing & Terms Before You Sign

A good agency tells you what things cost before you sit through a sales pitch. A concerning agency says ‘Book a Call’ just to find out their starting price or evading the question completely. While some agencies don’t publish pricing, the most important question to ask is if they’ll answer the pricing question in a way you can understand. So ask them:

• What is the starting price?
• Any startup or setup fees?
• Does the price match your budget?
• What is the length of the contract?
• What happens if you need to cancel? Any fees, loopholes or surprise charges?
• Who owns what they produce? Your website domain, blogs, social media accounts – do you own it or do they?
• What’s buried in their fine print?
• What is NOT included in the quoted price?

Not owning your own website or client lists has bitten many clients when the decision came down to change agencies – so ask them up front before anything begins. If an agency is evasive about any of this that tells you everything you need to know about how the rest of the relationship is going to go.

How Does The Agency Show Up Online & Locally?

Anyone can post on social media or online, but far fewer agencies are actually present. View their Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and see how they engage and show up in their community. Social media activity alone doesn’t mean the agency is good, but it often reveals where their priorities lie, how they operate and how they communicate.

• Do they speak at local events or industry conferences?
• Do they share information that’s actually useful?
• Are they up-to-date on current topics?
• Are they involved in the local community?
• Do they have reviews and if so what are the reoccurring themes?
• Do they only post about internal affairs, like birthdays or new offices?

This type of content reveals a lot about how an agency operates, communicates, prioritizes their clients or team and how it engages with its community. A marketing agency that’s actually involved with your local business community does tend to understand your customers a little better than someone who doesn’t.

What Results Can A Marketing Agency Promise?

No marketing agency can promise you that you’ll rank #1 on Google, nor can they guarantee rankings, leads or sales. What a good marketing agency can do is build you a strategy, explain how it works in a way you can understand and relates their work back to your bottom line. So what results should they measure?

• Look at traffic to your site, where did they come from?
• Do customers stay on your site & fill out a form or leave?
• What do customers search for to find you?
• Do your leads actually lead to appointments and sales?
• What is the cost to gain a lead and is that lead qualified?

These are all things that matter to a business more than how many likes or views you received. A good marketing agency should be able to tell you at any point, not just at the end of a month or campaign, how your dollars are being spent and if there is a return on investment for you.

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The Short & Sweet Of Choosing A Marketing Agency

If you only remember one thing about this post, remember: A good marketing agency shouldn’t shy away from answering the hard questions. So before you hire any marketing agency, ask at least these three questions:

• Can they clearly explain pricing, contracts and ownership before you sign?
• Can they show real examples of their work and explain their results as it relates to your bottom line?
• Do you trust the people you’ll be working with day to day?

If any of these answers are no – keep looking. There are plenty of marketing agencies and specialists out there.

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Should You Hire Gray Matter Marketing?

We built Gray Matter Marketing around being transparent and accessible to all businesses and entrepreneurs and encourage you to apply this checklist to us too.

Check our website, see how we show up on Facebook, give us a call and ask us a question – we’d genuinely love if you found out now that we might not be the right agency for you rather than six months into a partnership.