How to choose a marketing agency in Durham Region.

Five questions to ask before you sign anything, what good answers sound like, and the red flags. Written by someone who runs an agency, so read it with that in mind.

By Carter Chillman Hiring help

To choose a marketing agency in Durham Region, Ontario, ask five things before you sign: who will actually do the work, whose name your ad accounts and website are in, how the agency gets paid, what it will report to you each month, and how you leave if it is not working. Good answers are specific and in writing. Vague answers to any of the five are the clearest warning sign you will get, more telling than a portfolio or a polished proposal.

A note on who is writing this: I run a one-person marketing agency in Uxbridge, so I have an interest. I have kept this to questions that work no matter who you hire, including whether you hire me.

1. Who will actually do the work?

The person who pitches you is often not the person who runs your account. At a larger agency, the work may go to a junior staff member or a contractor you never meet, with an account manager relaying messages in between. That is not automatically bad, but you should know it before you sign.

Ask: "Who will be inside my account each week, and can I talk to them directly?" A good answer names a person. A weak answer is "our team."

2. Whose name are the accounts in?

Your Google Ads account, your Meta ad account, your analytics, your Google Business Profile, your domain and your website should all be in your name, with the agency given access. Some agencies set things up under their own accounts, which makes leaving painful: you can lose your ad history, your tracking and sometimes your website.

Ask: "If we part ways, what do I keep?" The only good answer is "everything, because it was always yours."

3. How does the agency get paid?

There are two common models for ad management: a flat monthly fee, or a percentage of your ad spend. A percentage model means the agency earns more when you spend more, which is a conflict worth knowing about. Some agencies also mark up the ad spend itself, so part of your budget never reaches Google or Meta. I wrote more about this in what Google Ads actually costs a small business.

Ask: "Does what I pay you go up if I spend more on ads? Does every dollar of my ad budget go to the platform?"

4. What will you report to me?

A useful monthly report answers one question: did the money bring in customers? That means calls, form sends, bookings or sales, and what each one cost, numbers you can check against your own inbox or booking system. Reports built only from impressions, clicks and keyword rankings can look busy while telling you nothing about whether the work paid off.

Behind that sits conversion tracking: the setup that tells the ad platforms which clicks turned into enquiries. If it is wrong, every number in the report is wrong too, and it is wrong in more small-business accounts than you would expect. Here is what to check.

Ask: "What will the report show, and how do I check it against my own records?"

5. How do I leave?

Contract length tells you how confident an agency is that you will want to stay. Some work genuinely takes a few months to pay off, and it is fair for an agency to ask for a short runway. A twelve-month lock-in with an early-exit fee is a different thing.

Ask: "What is the notice period, and what happens to my accounts and website when I leave?"

Red flags

  • Guaranteed rankings or results. Nobody controls where Google ranks you or what an AI assistant says. A guarantee means someone is guessing or redefining the promise.
  • Accounts in the agency's name. Your ad history and data should never belong to someone else.
  • A large separate fee for "AI SEO." For a local business, getting named by AI assistants is mostly local SEO done thoroughly. Ask what changes each month that local SEO does not already cover.
  • No access for you. You should be able to log in and look at your own accounts any day you like.
  • Reports with no enquiries in them. If nobody can tell you how many calls or forms came from the work, nobody knows if it worked.

Local, or not?

For businesses in Uxbridge, Port Perry, Scugog and the rest of north Durham, a local agency has two real advantages: it can meet in person, and it is more likely to understand seasonal swings and how your customers search. It is not a requirement. The five questions above matter more than the postal code. If you are comparing a local option with a larger one in Toronto, ask both the same five questions and compare the answers side by side.

If you want a second opinion

If you already have an agency and are not sure the answers add up, or you have a proposal in hand, I am happy to look at what is visible from the outside and tell you plainly what I see, even if the answer is "stay where you are." How I work myself is on the paid advertising page and the local SEO page.

All writing · Related: What Google Ads actually costs a small business · How to check whether local customers can find you · Marketing in Uxbridge

Questions

Asked about this.

  • How do I choose a marketing agency for a small business?

    Ask five things before you sign: who does the work, whose name the accounts are in, how the agency is paid, what it reports to you, and how you leave. The answers tell you more than a portfolio does. An agency that is vague about any of them is telling you something.

  • Should I hire a local agency in Durham Region or one in Toronto?

    Location matters less than who does the work and whether you can reach them. A local agency can meet in person and may know your customers, which helps for local search and seasonal businesses. A larger agency elsewhere may have more people. Either way, ask who will actually run your account day to day.

  • What should a marketing agency report to me each month?

    Outcomes you can check against your own records: calls, form sends, bookings or sales, and what each one cost. Impressions, clicks and ranking positions are fine as supporting detail, but a report made only of those cannot tell you whether the money worked.

  • Is a long contract a red flag?

    Not always, since some setup work takes months to pay off. But a long lock-in protects the agency more than you. Ask what happens if you want to leave at month three, and whether your accounts, data and website come with you.

  • Do I need a separate agency for AI search or "AI SEO"?

    For a local business, usually not. AI assistants draw on the same places local SEO already covers: your Google Business Profile, your reviews, directory listings and your own site. If someone quotes a large separate fee for AI SEO, ask what they will change each month that local SEO does not already cover.

Want a second opinion before you sign?

Send me your website address. I'll look at what's visible from the outside and write back with what your ads can and can't see, and the first thing I'd fix. No account access needed to start, and you keep what I find.