How To Know if a Digital Marketing Agency Is Good: Key Traits and Red Flags

Not all agencies are created equal. Learn how to know if a digital marketing agency by looking for these important traits. Evaluating these markers will help you avoid costly mistakes and choose a partner who can actually drive growth.

1. They assign you a dedicated account representative
2. They don’t rely too heavily on automation
3. They have a lot of marketing experience
4. They give you full ownership over all accounts and data
5. Their own marketing is high-quality and effective
6. They’re transparent with their processes
7. They drive a significant profit for their clients
8. They have plenty of positive reviews

Tip: Pricing matters, but process + ownership + transparency are often what determine whether the partnership works long-term. (These are also the areas businesses most regret ignoring.)

1. They assign you a dedicated account representative

Something you’ll often see with low-quality agencies is that when you want to talk to them about something, they’ll throw you into a generic support line queue. That kind of impersonal approach makes it hard to talk to someone who’s directly involved with your account.

An indicator of a good marketing agency is that they assign you a dedicated account representative. That representative is only responsible for a few different clients, so they have the time to get to know each one personally. That makes it way easier to talk to them about what’s happening with your marketing.

2. They don’t rely too heavily on automation

When you evaluate a marketing agency, make sure that it assigns actual humans to manage your marketing. Some agencies try to cut corners by automating as much as they can, to the point where they have automated programs fully running all of your ad spend and data analysis.

A good agency will take a human-first approach. They’ll have actual marketing experts making campaign decisions, assessing your data, creating your content, and more. That doesn’t mean that any automation is bad — it can actually be really helpful. But you want big, important decisions in the hands of actual people, not machines.

3. They have a lot of marketing experience

The reason human marketers are so important is that they have a lot of marketing experience. That experience informs all the decisions they make regarding your campaigns. Of course, not every agency meets this requirement equally.

If you want the best marketing results you can get, you should look for an agency that has many years of experience in the field. An agency that’s only been around a short while hasn’t really proven itself yet and may still be learning the ropes. That doesn’t mean newer agencies are inherently bad — it just means a more experienced agency is a safer bet, and it will probably produce more reliable results.

4. They give you full ownership over all accounts and data

Not all marketing agencies are completely honest. Some of them behave unethically, and one way they might do that is by keeping all your campaigns and data somewhere they have ownership over. That means if you ever try to leave for another agency, you won’t be able to take any of your campaigns with you. You’ll have to start from scratch.

When you evaluate a marketing agency, one of the things you should check for is if they give you full ownership over all your campaigns and data. For example, if they create an Ahrefs account for your business to better monitor your search traffic, they should give you ownership over the account.

What is a standard contract clause vs. a red flag?

Standard clauses include 30-day cancellation terms, defined onboarding, and clear deliverables. Red flags include the agency owning your accounts, vague scope descriptions, guaranteed rankings, or long contracts without performance checkpoints.

5. Their own marketing is high-quality and effective

Imagine you visit a marketing agency’s website, only to find that it’s poorly put together, with badly written content that doesn’t rank in search results. That’s not exactly a glowing endorsement of their skills. If they can’t even create good marketing campaigns for themselves, how will they do so for you?

One of the biggest hacks for choosing the right digital marketing agency is to find one that has a stellar marketing strategy for itself. You want an agency that has a clean, functional website, plenty of pages ranking high in Google search results, an engaging social media presence, and so on. If they can do all of that for themselves, they can do it for you.

6. They’re transparent with their processes

One sure sign that you’re not choosing the right digital marketing agency is if they refuse to be transparent and open with you. If they promise to fix your marketing but then proceed to do all of it behind closed doors without letting you in on what they’re doing, that’s a giant red flag.

A good agency will be very transparent and honest about how they’re handling your campaigns. In addition to giving you any information you ask for, the best ones will send you regular reports on what they’ve done with your campaigns and what results they’ve driven. That gives you peace of mind about the state of your marketing.

What do people regret after hiring the wrong agency?

Businesses most often regret unclear deliverables, poor communication, lack of account ownership, weak reporting, and spending money without measurable ROI. These issues usually stem from limited transparency and undefined scope.

7. They drive a significant profit for their clients

When you evaluate a digital marketing agency, one of the biggest considerations you may have is cost. And of course, that’s a good thing to consider. You want to make sure their price is within your budget. Arguably the more important consideration, though, is whether they drive a profit.

It might seem like a less expensive agency is always better, and sometimes it is, but that’s not always the case. Even if an agency costs a lot, it’s worth it if they drive so much revenue for your business that you have a get a high return on investment (ROI). In other words, focus on the ROI when deciding if a particular agency is a cost-effective option.

What actually matters beyond pricing and promises?

Beyond cost, what matters most is defined KPIs, documented strategy, full account ownership, clear reporting, and measurable profitability. Low pricing or bold guarantees mean little without process and accountability.

8. They have plenty of positive reviews

There might not be any better indicator of a good marketing agency than positive reviews. If you want to know what kind of treatment to expect from an agency, just look at how they’ve treated their other clients. Check out some different review sites to see what people are saying about them.

Are the reviews largely negative, or an even mix of good and bad? In either of those cases, the agency you’re looking at may not be worth it. But if you find an agency with a huge number of positive reviews, that’s a great sign. Every agency will have a few negative reviews, of course, but the key is finding one where the consensus among clients is overwhelmingly positive.

WebFX is the optimal digital marketing agency for your business

Now that we’ve covered how to know if a digital marketing agency is good, you’re ready to more confidently assess your options and find the agency that’s right for you. If you’re still looking for options, though, look no further than WebFX.

Our agency has over 30 years of digital marketing experience, and we meet all the criteria on the list above. When you partner with us for our digital marketing services, you’ll be assigned a dedicated account representative who will keep you in the loop about everything we do.

Are you interested in partnering with us? Call us at 888-601-5359 or contact us online today!

FAQs

Learn more about the ins-and-outs of spotting whether a digital marketing agency is good (or not) in these FAQs:

What do people regret most after hiring the wrong agency?

The thing people regret most after hiring the wrong digital marketing agency (besides their decision) is the waste, which includes time and money.

What actually matters outside pricing and promises?

When evaluating whether a digital marketing agency is good or not, what matters outside pricing and promises is the agency’s ability to understand your business, from its operations and offerings to its goals and performance metrics.

How can I tell if a digital marketing agency is trustworthy?

You can look at their reviews and testimonials, take a look at their case studies for proof of results, and look at any awards or accolades the agency has earned.

How often should an agency communicate updates and reports?

Most agencies should communicate results every month for performance reviews and provide weekly or bi-weejly updates for short-term campaigns or projects. These frequencies can differ depending on your preferences and your agency.

How do I balance cost vs. value when selecting an agency?

When it comes to digital marketing, you often get what you pay for. Most digital marketing agencies have costs that reflect their experience and team expertise, so you might find that higher-value agencies charge more than smaller-scale and less experienced agencies. Try to find an agency that’s within your budget but also has trust signals like good reviews and case studies to ensure you’re partnering with the best agency for your business.