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What to look for, what to avoid, and the right questions to ask before hiring a digital marketing agency.
The wrong marketing agency will waste months of your time and thousands of your dollars. The right one will transform your business. Home service businesses have unique needs that generic agencies don't understand. Your customers search differently, your sales cycles are shorter, your leads come from calls not shopping carts, and seasonality drives everything. Finding an agency that specializes in your world is the single most important decision you can make.
A generalist agency markets restaurants on Monday, dentists on Tuesday, and your HVAC company on Wednesday. They don't understand your customers, your competitors, or your seasonal patterns. A specialist agency that focuses on home services already knows which keywords convert, which ad copy gets clicks, and which website layouts generate calls. They've solved your exact problems for dozens of businesses before yours. The learning curve is eliminated. Results come faster. Always prioritize industry specialization over flashy portfolios from unrelated industries.
Run from any agency that: guarantees specific rankings ('We'll get you to #1 on Google' is a lie or a gamble). Locks you into long-term contracts without performance clauses. Won't give you access to your own ad accounts and analytics. Can't explain their strategy in plain language. Shows you vanity metrics like impressions and clicks instead of leads and revenue. Uses the same cookie-cutter approach for every client. Outsources all work overseas without telling you. Has no case studies or references from businesses like yours.
Ask these questions and evaluate the depth of their answers: How many home service businesses do you currently work with? Can I speak with two or three current clients? What specific results have you achieved for businesses similar to mine? Who will actually be doing the work on my account? How do you track and report on leads, not just traffic? What does the first 90 days look like? How do you handle it when something isn't working? What do you need from me to be successful? Do I own my website, ad accounts, and data if we part ways?
Agencies charge in different ways: flat monthly retainer (most common, $2,000-$10,000/month), percentage of ad spend (typically 15-20% on top of your ad budget), performance-based (pay per lead or revenue share), or project-based (one-time fees for specific deliverables like a website build). Each model has trade-offs. Flat retainers provide budget predictability. Percentage-of-spend aligns incentives to scale. Performance-based sounds appealing but can lead to agencies chasing volume over quality. The cheapest option is almost never the best value.
A quality agency's onboarding should include: a deep discovery call about your business, goals, and competitive landscape. An audit of your current marketing presence. Clear documentation of target keywords, service areas, and priorities. Setup of proper tracking and analytics. A written strategy document with specific goals and timelines. A defined communication cadence with a dedicated point of contact. If an agency skips these steps and jumps straight to tactics, they're winging it. A solid onboarding sets the foundation for everything that follows.
Give any new agency at least 90 days before judging results. SEO takes 3-6 months. PPC takes 60-90 days to optimize. But you should see leading indicators within the first month: improved website speed, better ad structure, cleaner tracking, and clear communication. After 90 days, evaluate based on leads generated, cost per lead, and trajectory of improvement. A great agency will proactively identify problems, suggest solutions, and show you clear data to back up their decisions. If you're chasing them for updates or can't get straight answers about ROI, it's time to look elsewhere.
This is non-negotiable: you must own your website, your domain, your Google Ads accounts, your Google Business Profile, and all content created for your business. Some agencies hold these assets hostage when you leave. Verify ownership in writing before signing any contract. If you built your business's marketing assets with your money, they belong to you. An agency that won't agree to this is building a dependency, not a partnership. Walk away.
Our team specializes in executing these strategies for home service businesses. Get a free marketing audit and see how we can help.
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