How to Evaluate a Marketing Agency After Work Starts

Begin with the agreement and the records available for the review period. Ask the agency to identify completed work, unresolved dependencies and results it observed. Bring your own inquiry and sales records where relevant. Use the following framework as a suggested review method, adapted to the scope you actually purchased.

What did you agree the agency would deliver?

We recommend bringing a named work list into the review. For each item, record the promised output, acceptance criteria, responsible person and status. Use specific descriptions such as “service page approved and published with tested contact route” rather than “website improved.”

Ask to inspect the deliverable. For content, compare the approved material with the published version. For a contact repair, repeat the agreed test and check receipt. For reporting, review the actual date window and definitions. Keep any unfinished item visible with the reason, next action and person responsible.

Separate dependencies from completed work. If you still owe photographs or service facts, record the effect on the agreed task and resolve it. If a provider has access but has not completed an agreed change, request a completion plan. Avoid merging these situations into an overall activity count.

We suggest using three clear status categories: accepted, needs correction and blocked. Keep evidence beside the status and record your decision. Confirm the review cadence and escalation process in the agreement.

Which business measures belong in the report?

We recommend choosing measures that follow the inquiry through your operation. Begin with relevant visibility or visits, then record qualified inquiries, bookings and completed work where your records support them. Define each stage so both sides know what is being counted.

The SBA recommends itemizing marketing costs and comparing marketing and sales costs with the revenue generated.¹ Apply that advice using your business's actual records and a consistent method. Ask which expenses and revenue are included before interpreting a return calculation.

Consider a short scorecard:

For a South Florida service business, define a qualified inquiry using actual service and geographic fit. Ask the person who receives requests to review a sample with the agency. Separate an inquiry you could serve from one outside your coverage, a duplicate request or an unrelated message.

Add capacity to the conversation. We recommend recording when appointments were unavailable or a service changed. Keep those facts distinct from the agency's interpretation of the results. Avoid asking one headline metric to represent the entire customer path.

How do you check the data behind the report?

We suggest checking definitions before discussing a chart's direction. Ask where each number came from, which period it covers and whether the method changed. Request access or an export sufficient to verify the agreed report, within appropriate account permissions.

For search reporting, Google's Search Console provides clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, with date and other filters.² Ask which filters the agency used. Keep the report view with the result so the next comparison uses the same basis.

For inquiries, review duplicates, test submissions, unrelated messages and missing outcomes. Ask how phone requests are recorded and who marks a booking or completed job. If records are incomplete, label the gap. Do not fill an unknown outcome with an assumption presented as a sale.

We recommend tracing a few sample records from the report to the operational log. Confirm the date, service, status and permitted source information. Then ask whether the report needs correction before deciding on new spending or scope. Preserve the original period's definitions when making a change so you can understand the effect.

How should you review a disappointing result?

We recommend examining the point where progress broke down. Begin with the delivered work, then follow the customer route: could the person understand the service, contact the business, receive a reply and arrange the next step? Choose a correction tied to the evidence you have.

Use a hypothetical review as an example. Suppose a new inquiry page passed its launch tests, but requests remain below your expectation. Ask whether the agreed visibility work was completed, whether the available reports show relevant visits, and whether received requests were recorded consistently. Separately check whether the business changed coverage, availability or its offer during the period. This example does not establish the cause of any real result.

Keep causal explanations labeled as hypotheses until you have enough evidence. Ask what observation supports each explanation and what a limited test would help distinguish. Agree one correction, its owner and a review point. Avoid changing several major elements at once if doing so would make the decision harder to assess.

If an accepted task was not delivered or a problem remains unresolved, request a specific remedy under the agreement. If the task was delivered but the business outcome is uncertain, decide whether to gather better evidence, revise the approach or reconsider the scope. Keep those decisions separate.

What should happen at the review meeting?

We recommend ending with one written decision: continue, correct a defined problem, test a revised approach, change scope or end through the agreed process. Record the evidence, assumptions and cost or capacity implication behind it.

Assign a person to each next action and agree when the decision will be revisited. Identify what new information you expect to have then. Ask for the review record to be accessible to your business, with unresolved items carried forward rather than disappearing from the next report.

Frequently asked questions

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