Before signing a six-month marketing agreement, ask questions that reveal exactly what you will get, how progress will be measured, who will do the work, and what happens if it is not working. The answers should be specific and written into the agreement. Vague answers to these questions are the most reliable early warning you will get.
Six months is a reasonable term for work like search and content, which takes time to show results. It is also long enough to waste real money if expectations were never clear.
Questions about scope
- What, specifically, will you do each month? Look for named deliverables and quantities: pages, articles, campaigns, fixes. “Ongoing optimization” on its own is not an answer.
- What is not included? Ad spend, photography, copywriting depth, development time and third-party tools are common exclusions. Better to know now.
- What do you need from us, and by when? Access, approvals, photos, subject-matter input. Delays on your side affect results, and a good agency will say so up front.
Questions about measurement
- What will you measure, and where does each number come from? Expect named sources such as Search Console, analytics and call tracking.
- How will you separate work completed from results? A clear answer here usually means honest reporting.
- Will you track calls and forms, not just traffic and rankings?
- What would tell you, at month three, that the approach is not working? An agency that can describe failure clearly is one that will tell you about it.
Questions about people and communication
- Who will actually do the work? The person who sells is not always the person who delivers.
- Who is our point of contact, and how quickly do they reply?
- How often will we review progress together?
Questions about ownership and exit
- Who owns the website, content, ad accounts and data? The answer should be you.
- What happens at the end of the term? Does it renew automatically, and with what notice?
- What happens if we need to stop early?
What should make you cautious?
- Guaranteed rankings, traffic or lead numbers. Nobody controls those.
- Reluctance to say who does the work.
- Accounts set up in the agency’s name rather than yours.
- A proposal that is identical regardless of your business.
- Pressure to sign quickly.
When this does not apply
For small, fixed projects such as a single landing page, a shorter list is enough: scope, price, timeline and ownership. The full list matters most for ongoing retainers.
Questions owners ask
Is six months too long a commitment?
For search work, it is often the minimum needed to judge direction. For paid advertising, results can be judged sooner.
Should results be guaranteed?
No. Scope, effort and transparency can be committed to. Outcomes cannot honestly be guaranteed.
Should we start with a smaller engagement?
Often, yes. A paid assessment or a single defined project shows how an agency works before you commit to months.
Good reporting is a large part of the answer to several of these questions; see how to read a marketing report. We answer each of these in writing before any engagement under the Libra Growth System, and many clients start with a Digital Growth Assessment instead of a retainer.
