Questions to Ask a Marketing Agency (From Someone Who Answers Them All Day)

I take every first call at (un)Common Logic. After enough of them, you start to hear the same questions in the same order. Some of them are exactly right. Some of them are the wrong question wearing the right clothes. Here's what I actually hear, what it usually means, and what I wish people would ask instead.

Most advice on this topic is written for the buyer, here are the 10 questions you should ask before signing. This isn't that. This is the other side of the table.

I don't say this to be clever. I say it because the questions you ask on a first call reveal a lot about what you're actually worried about, and a good agency should be able to address the real concern, not just the surface question. Here's what I mean.

The questions I get on every call

These come up in some form in almost every conversation:

'Can you guarantee results?'

No. Nobody can. If an agency says yes, end the call. Marketing involves too many variables — competition, market conditions, product fit, the accuracy of attribution, how quickly you can turn around approvals — for any honest person to guarantee a specific outcome. What we can do is be specific about what we're going to do, why we believe it will work, and what we'll do if it doesn't. That's a more useful conversation than a guarantee.

'Do you have experience in my industry?'

Sometimes the right answer is yes and it matters. Sometimes it's no and it doesn't. The more useful question is whether we've solved the specific problem you're trying to solve — and whether we can show you evidence of that. An agency with deep ecommerce experience might have exactly what you need. An agency that has only worked in your category might be recycling the same approaches that aren't working for anyone in it.

'How quickly will we see results?'

Paid media: meaningful signals in 60 to 90 days. SEO: early indicators at 4 to 6 months, meaningful movement in 9 to 12. If someone gives you a shorter timeline than that without a very specific reason tied to your situation, be skeptical. The timeline question is really a patience question, and the honest answer is that most things worth doing take longer than you want them to.

'What makes you different from other agencies?'

This is the hardest question to answer well because every agency has a version of the answer ready. Ours is: 18 years, Google Premier Partner, 81% client retention, and a team where the same people are in your account from month one through year three. But I'd encourage you to pressure-test any answer to this question. Ask for the specific proof behind it.

What those questions are really asking

Most of the common questions are covering for a deeper concern. Once you hear them enough, you start to translate.

'Can you guarantee results?' usually means: I've been burned before and I'm not sure I can trust what I'm being told.

'How quickly will we see results?' usually means: I have a timeline I'm accountable to and I need to know if this is going to work before my next budget review.

'What makes you different?' usually means: everyone says the same things and I don't know how to tell who's actually good.

The honest response to all three is to acknowledge the real concern, not just answer the surface question. If you've been burned by an agency that overpromised, I want to know that — because it changes how I'll set expectations and what we'll do differently. That's a more useful conversation than running through a list of differentiators.

What I wish more people asked

These come up rarely. When they do, the conversation gets better immediately.

'What kind of client gets the most out of working with you?'

This question shows self-awareness. It's asking: am I the right fit, and are you going to be honest about that? The answer for us: companies with a clear ICP, internal alignment on what success looks like, and a team that can move fast enough to act on what we find. If you don't have those things yet, we'll say so — and we might still be able to help, but you should know what to expect.

'What will you do when something isn't working?'

Most agencies are good at reporting wins. The better question is what they do when the data says something isn't working. Do they flag it before you have to ask? Do they have a clear process for pivoting? Do they tell you uncomfortable things? We have a value around communicating directly and honestly — including when it's hard to do so. Ask any agency how that shows up in practice.

'How do you decide to turn down a client?'

We do turn down clients. Not often, but we do. Usually it's because the fit isn't right — the expectations aren't realistic, the internal process would make it impossible to do good work, or the budget doesn't match the scope of what they're trying to accomplish. An agency that says yes to everyone is not being selective on your behalf. An agency that's willing to tell you they're not the right fit is.

'What will you need from us?'

This might be the most underrated question. A good agency engagement is not something done to you — it requires fast approvals, access to the right people, honest feedback on what we find, and a willingness to act on recommendations. If that's not realistic right now, it's better to know before we start than to spend six months watching work stall because we can't get sign-off.

What the first conversation actually tells me

By the end of a first call, I have a sense of whether an engagement is going to work. Not because of the questions asked — because of how the conversation goes.

The clients who end up being great partnerships usually come in knowing what problem they're trying to solve, willing to talk honestly about what's failed before, and curious about how we think rather than just what we charge. They treat the first call like a real conversation, not a vendor evaluation checklist.

That's not a judgment. Most people haven't done this enough times to know what to look for. But if you walk into an agency conversation with those three things, you'll get a much more useful read on whether they're right for you.

The questions in this post won't tell you which agency to hire. They'll tell you which ones are worth continuing to talk to.

If you want to see how those conversations have played out on the client side, the case studies are the clearest picture of who we work well with and what that looks like.

If you want a first call that actually feels like the one described above, start here.

Melissa Kortovich — Sales Manager, (un)Common Logic