Finding the right digital marketing agency can be a daunting process. With so many options and buzzwords flying around, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. At Pilot Digital, we’ve talked to countless clients and prospective clients who’ve had tough experiences with the wrong agency. We’ve put together a list of key questions we believe will help guide your team toward the right fit.
Essential Preparation for Finding Your Ideal Digital Marketing Partner
What Should Your Team Clarify Before Contacting Agencies?
Before diving into conversations with potential agencies, take some time to answer these internal questions:
- What services do we actually need right now?
Are you trying to drive more traffic quickly to your website? (You may need PPC.)
Need technical improvements or visibility on search engines? (You may need SEO.) We need to understand where our customers are coming from—what’s working and what isn’t. (You may need insight into your analytics.) - What have we already tried in digital marketing?
What’s worked? What hasn’t? Is this your first foray into digital marketing? - Do we need branding or a new website before we jump into marketing?
Do we have a standard message, call-to-action, logo, color pallet, preferred fonts? If not, do we need them? Do we need help to develop all of these? - What matters most in a working relationship?
Do we want direct access to the specialists doing the work? Would we prefer a dedicated project manager? - What’s our monthly or quarterly marketing budget?
When putting together a budget for your marketing goals, be sure to take into account the fee you’ll be paying to the agency as well as what you want to spend on the services. This can vary from agency to agency.
Clarifying these points will help you narrow your search and ensure more productive conversations with potential agencies.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
Not all digital marketing agencies are created equal. Here are some red flags that should make you pause, or run:
🚩 “Backlinks Will Fix Everything”
Backlinks are links from other websites that reroute to yours. Years ago, they played a sizable role in SEO success. But over time, backlink practices became spammy, and Google got smart.
Today, bad backlinks can hurt your rankings, damage your domain authority, and in extreme cases, lead to penalties or de-indexing. If an agency insists backlinks are your golden ticket to online success without discussing quality and strategy; run for the hills.
🚩 Lack of Ownership and Access
You should always have access to the accounts and assets created for your business, whether it’s your Google Ads account, your website backend, or your analytics dashboards.
Some agencies set things up under their name and lock clients out, which makes it nearly impossible to leave without starting from scratch. That’s not right and it’s not how reputable agencies operate.
🚩 Promising #1 Rankings
If an agency guarantees the #1 spot on Google, they’re being dishonest. No one can promise that. A reputable agency will talk to you about realistic growth, transparent metrics, and long-term strategy, not magic solutions.
Top Questions to Ask During the Interview Process
- Is your work done in-house?
Many agencies hire white-label agencies to do the work, which means they outsource your account to another company or freelancer. Often agencies will do this to expand their services into areas they are not experts in. They may also be replacing full-time employees with less expensive, overseas help. This often leads to poor communication and a lack of transparency into what is truly being done. We strongly believe in in-house work, as Pilot values both quality and accountability. - What does your pricing and timeline for deliverables look like?
It’s important to understand each agency’s pricing structure and how they handle timelines. Some agencies lock clients into six- to 12-month contracts and stretch the work over that period. That may work for some, but it’s not for everyone. At Pilot, we take a different approach. We’re upfront about any initial setup fees and bill based on ongoing, day-to-day work. We don’t believe in long-term contracts, yet most of our clients stay with us for an average of 4.5 years. We believe that speaks for itself. In addition to pricing, make sure you’re aligned on timelines. Ask what deliverables you can expect and when, and be clear about any deadlines or launch dates on your end. Setting expectations early helps avoid miscommunication later. - Are you a Google Partner or a Google Premier Partner?
Nearly any agency can become a Google Partner. A Google Premier Partner, however, is a member of the top 3% of agencies in the country that meet Google’s highest standards for performance, expertise, and client success. Pilot Digital is proud to be one of them. - Can you share references or case studies related to our industry?
Always ask for references. Hearing success stories that relate to your business gives you confidence that the agency understands your space and can deliver results. This doesn’t mean the agency has to have clients in your exact type of business, but if you are a B2B company, you definitely want the chance to talk with one of the agency’s current B2B clients. If you’re a B2C or D2C business, ask to speak to a client in those categories. - How is your team using AI in day-to-day operations?
Are they using AI to craft better content and ads, or to improve optimization processes? Or, are they relying on it in ways that reduce quality? Are they replacing people with AI? In the future, that may work, but at this point in AI evolution in digital marketing, turning over PPC or SEO optimization to AI will nearly always end in problem and low ROI. It’s important to understand how they’re leveraging technology for your benefit. Read more about our thoughts around optimizing for AI agents here. - Do you think your agency is the right fit for us?
It’s okay to ask agencies to assess their own fit. Sometimes we meet with potential clients and realize we’re not the best match, whether it’s due to budget, goals, or services needed. A great agency will be honest and transparent from the beginning.
These are just a few of the many things we believe are key when choosing the right marketing partner. Want to learn more about what it’s like to work with Pilot Digital? Fill out the form below, we’d love to chat with you!
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