If an agency promises you "5x ROAS guaranteed" in the first meeting, walk away. Here is the checklist we actually use to audit agencies.
There are three kinds of marketing agency: the ones that know their craft and are expensive, the ones learning on your budget, and the ones selling smoke. You cannot tell them apart in the first meeting — they all sound equally good. Here is the practical checklist to separate them before you sign.
The 12 questions you have to ask
- 1Who is going to run my account? Ask for the name and the experience. If the answer is vague or "it depends on the team", you are probably getting whoever is free, not the senior they paraded in the meeting.
- 2How many accounts does that person handle? More than 15 means you will be one of many. A reasonable load for active management is 5–10 accounts per strategist.
- 3Do you get direct access to my accounts, or are you asking me for my login? If they ask for your login, walk away. Accounts are connected through an MCC (Google) and Business Manager (Meta).
- 4Who configures the Meta pixel and GA4? If they do not set it up properly, they cannot optimize later. And "properly" today means Conversions API plus Enhanced Conversions, not just the base pixel.
- 5How do you track offline conversions? If your sale closes over WhatsApp or by phone, online conversions are not the whole truth. A serious agency uploads CRM closes back into Google Ads (OCI). If they do not know what OCI is, that tells you something.
- 6What reporting will I get? Ask to see a real report from another client, anonymized. If all they show is a pretty PDF full of vanity metrics — impressions, reach — they are not reporting what matters.
- 7What is the minimum contract term? If it is 12 mandatory months, bad sign. Good agencies work month to month: they trust their results to retain you.
- 8Is creative billed separately? Get it in the contract. Some charge $200 USD in fees plus $80 per creative. That adds up fast.
- 9How do you evaluate whether a campaign is working? If the answer is "we will see how it goes", there is no methodology. You want something concrete: KPIs defined before launch, weekly review, decisions documented.
- 10What minimum budget do you recommend? An honest agency says something like "$200 USD a month minimum on Google Ads for statistical volume". One selling smoke takes you on with fifty dollars and promises miracles.
- 11Do you have cases in my industry? Not mandatory, but it helps. Ask for two references you can call — current clients, not testimonials written on their own site.
- 12What happens the day I decide to leave? The pixel stays with you. The campaigns stay with you. The audiences transfer. The accounts are yours. If they tell you everything gets deleted, that agency was not your partner, it was your jailer.
Red flags you have to spot
- ·Absolute numbers promised in the first meeting ("I will bring you 100 leads a month, guaranteed") — nobody can promise that without knowing your product, your market and your landing page.
- ·Long mandatory terms of 12 months or more.
- ·They do not put the accounts in your name.
- ·They will not show you the live campaign dashboard, only edited screenshots.
- ·They charge a high percentage of ad spend — over 15–20% is expensive for small budgets.
- ·They cannot explain what Smart Bidding or Performance Max actually do.
- ·They treat you as a number and do not remember your last conversation.
- ·They have no process: they improvise.
The questions the agency should be asking you
This one matters: if the agency arrives at the first meeting with the plan already written and has asked you nothing, they are selling you the plan that was sitting on the shelf.
- ·What is your margin per sale? Without it they cannot set a target ROAS.
- ·What is your sales cycle? Closing in one day versus 60 days changes everything.
- ·What is your customer lifetime value? A one-off buyer is a different business from a recurring one.
- ·When is your high season?
- ·Who are your competitors, and what are they doing?
- ·What have you tried before? What worked? What did not?
What a decent agency charges
Real ranges for an agency that knows what it is doing, in 2026:
| Service | Typical monthly fee (USD) | Suggested ad budget |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads management | $120 – $300 | $200–$2,000+/mo |
| Meta Ads management | $120 – $250 | $100–$1,500+/mo |
| Google + Meta combined | $200 – $450 | $300–$3,000+/mo |
| Technical SEO + content | $200 – $500 | Not applicable (organic) |
| Social media management | $150 – $400 | Not applicable |
Siguiente paso
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The right agency is not the cheapest one, nor the one promising the most. It is the one that understands your business, explains what is happening with real numbers, and sits on your side of the table. If after reading this you still have doubts about the agency in front of you, ask them these twelve questions and watch how they answer.
Frequently asked questions
Is an agency worth it, or is a freelancer better?
A freelancer works if you have someone on your team coordinating. An agency brings process, redundancy — if someone gets sick it keeps running — and usually knows more from working across many accounts. The trade-off is cost.
How long before I see results with a new agency?
Google Ads and Meta Ads can bring leads in the first week. But the system’s learning phase lasts roughly 30 days. Bids only really optimize from month two, and consolidated results are assessed between day 45 and 90.
What happens if I switch agencies?
If the accounts are in your name — as they should be from day one — nothing. The new agency takes access through an MCC and carries on. If the previous agency held the accounts in their own name, you may lose the entire history. Which is exactly why this matters.
Equipo Sova Digital
Digital marketing agency
We have been running real Google Ads and Meta Ads accounts since 2022. This is the list we would use ourselves to audit another agency.
Publicado: 29 de abril de 2026 · Actualizado: 8 de mayo de 2026
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