The digital marketing agency industry in India has no licensing requirement, no mandatory certification, and no external accountability mechanism. Anyone can call themselves a digital marketing agency and charge for the service. The businesses that get burned — and there are many, many of them — did not ask the right questions before signing. These ten checks would have saved most of them.
Check 1: Ask for Actual Account Access, Not Screenshots
Any agency can show you a screenshot of impressive results. Screenshots can be manipulated, taken out of context, or from accounts that have nothing to do with their current capabilities. Ask to see results inside the actual Google Ads or Meta Ads interface — with campaign names, account IDs, and timeline visible. If they refuse, you have your answer.
Check 2: Confirm Who Will Actually Manage Your Account
In larger agencies, the experienced person who presents to you in the sales meeting is often not the person who manages your campaign day-to-day. Ask specifically: “Who will be the named person managing our campaigns? Can I speak to them now?” If the answer involves a “team” or a “department” rather than a named individual, get clarity before signing.
Check 3: Verify Their Own Digital Presence
An agency that cannot rank their own website or run their own profitable ads has a credibility problem. Check their Google Business Profile: do they have consistent, recent reviews? Does their website appear in search results for their own target keywords? Is their own advertising visible on Google or Meta? What they do for themselves is the best predictor of what they will do for you.
Check 4: Confirm the Reporting Frequency and Format
Get a sample report from a current client (with that client’s permission and identifying details removed). Does it show ROAS, cost per lead, and conversions — or just impressions and reach? A monthly report that only shows vanity metrics is a warning sign. Weekly reports with actual performance numbers are the standard you should expect.
Check 5: Understand the Contract Termination Terms
Before signing, understand exactly what happens if you want to leave. How much notice do you need to give? Do you keep your ad account history and your data? Do you keep creative assets they produced? A contract that traps your data or your account assets if you leave is a serious red flag.
Check 6: Ask About Their Process for Your Specific Industry
Generic digital marketing strategy applied to a dental clinic, a real estate developer, and an e-commerce store produces mediocre results for all three. Ask: “How have you specifically handled clients in our industry?” “What keywords have you found work best for [your type of business]?” “What are the most common mistakes in our industry’s ad campaigns?” An agency with genuine experience in your sector will answer these questions easily and specifically.
Check 7: Understand What Is Included and What Is Not
Agencies have dramatically different definitions of what they include in a retainer. Some include creative production; others charge separately. Some manage your landing pages; others only run ads. Some provide the WhatsApp automation setup; others consider that out of scope. Get this in writing before signing, because billing disputes after the fact are uncomfortable and damaging to the relationship.
Check 8: Verify Their Campaign Ownership Policy
Your ad account — the one with all your campaign history, conversion data, and audience data — should be yours. Your Google Ads account ID and your Meta Business Manager should be registered to your business email address, with the agency having access rather than ownership. If an agency insists on managing your campaigns from their own account, your data is hostage if you ever want to leave or change agencies.
Check 9: Ask About Their Strategy for the First 90 Days
A competent agency should be able to outline, in specific terms, what the first 30, 60, and 90 days of engagement look like: what campaigns launch when, how performance is evaluated, when optimisations happen, and what results are realistic in that timeframe. Vague answers about “building awareness” or “optimising the funnel” without specific actions and timelines are a yellow flag.
Check 10: Reference Check — Speak to One Current Client
Ask the agency for one current client who will speak to you on the phone for five minutes. Any agency that cannot provide this has either no satisfied clients or has not asked. The conversation doesn’t need to be long — five minutes will tell you whether this client is genuinely happy or merely tolerating the relationship.
Before any detailed conversation, search the agency’s name + “review” on Google, check their own Google Business Profile, and look at their social media pages. Are they active? Are they publishing results? Do they have genuine, recent reviews from business owners? An agency that cannot be bothered to maintain their own digital presence is telling you something important about their standards.