Hiring a digital marketing agency in Lucknow? 9 questions to ask before you sign

Lucknow has no shortage of digital marketing agencies. Most have a good-looking website, a list of services and a promise of growth. Very few tell you, upfront, how they’ll be judged.

These nine questions fix that. Ask them on the first call. The answers will tell you more than any portfolio.

1. Who will own my ad accounts, website and data?

The only acceptable answer is: you. Ad accounts, analytics, your website and your lead data should be created in your name, with the agency given access. If you part ways, everything stays with you.

2. What number will you be judged on?

Likes, impressions and “reach” are activity, not results. A good agency agrees a business number with you before starting — cost per enquiry, enquiries from search, or customers per month — and reports against it.

3. What happens to a lead after it arrives?

This is the question most agencies can’t answer, because their job ends when the lead arrives. Ask who replies, how fast, where the lead is tracked and how follow-up happens. If the answer is “we send you a spreadsheet”, expect a lot of leads to go cold.

4. How will I see the results — and how often?

A PDF at the end of the month is too late to fix anything. Ask whether you’ll have a live dashboard, and whether it shows enquiries and customers — not just ad metrics.

5. Can you show real results — with the client’s permission?

Real case studies have real numbers: before and after, what was done, over how long. Be cautious of vague claims like “300% growth” with no context. And if an agency is new, an honest “we’re building our first case studies — here’s how we’ll measure yours” is worth more than borrowed logos.

6. Who will actually do the work?

The person who pitches is often not the person who runs your account. Ask who will manage your campaigns day to day and how many other accounts they handle.

7. What’s included — and what costs extra?

Get clarity on:

• Setup fees versus monthly fees
• Whether ad spend is billed separately (it should be)
• Whether landing pages, creatives and tracking are included
• GST — usually 18% on top

8. What’s the notice period?

Long lock-in contracts protect the agency, not you. A 30-day notice period on monthly work is fair to both sides. Growth takes a few months to judge properly — but you shouldn’t be trapped if it clearly isn’t working.

9. What would you tell me not to do?

This is the most revealing question of all. A good agency will tell you when something won’t work — “don’t run ads until the landing page converts”, “fix follow-up before you increase the budget”. An agency that agrees to everything is selling activity, not results.

Red flags to walk away from

• “Guaranteed first page on Google.” Nobody controls Google’s rankings.
• “We’ll make it go viral.”
• Packages sold only as “posts per month”.
• Accounts created in the agency’s name.
• No mention of tracking, follow-up or what happens after the lead.

How we answer these ourselves

We built Onlineprachar around these questions. Your accounts are yours. You judge us on enquiries and customers. We build what happens after the lead — instant reply, follow-up and tracking — and you see it all on one dashboard we both look at.

If that’s the kind of agency you’re looking for, book a free growth call. Ask us all nine.