A founder’s checklist for assessing strategy, measurement, execution, fees and relevant experience before choosing a digital marketing consultant.
The most useful questions test how a consultant makes decisions, who does the work and how the business will judge progress. These are the seven questions I recommend bringing to an initial conversation. This is a selection checklist, not a ranking of agencies.
1. Which business problem would you investigate first?
Describe your product, customers and current results before discussing channels. Ask the consultant what further information they need. A useful answer identifies an uncertainty to investigate: acquisition quality, product discovery, conversion, lead handling or retention. An immediate recommendation to increase spend deserves a follow-up about the evidence behind it.
2. What relevant experience can you show?
Ask for a project with a comparable buying journey, rather than just a familiar logo. A local booking business differs from an ecommerce store. Read the scope, geography and measurement period. For example, the Binge Town case concerns lead generation and bookings; the Singhania’s case concerns Shopify catalogue and search work. Their outcomes should not be treated as interchangeable.
3. Who will own the plan and execute the work?
Clarify who sets priorities, who implements them and who you speak with when something changes. Ask which work depends on your team, a developer or another provider. A proposal should make those responsibilities understandable before the engagement starts.
4. How will you measure business progress?
Request definitions. Does a lead mean a form submission, a qualified opportunity or a confirmed booking? Does reported revenue include cancelled and returned orders? Agree on the data source, review cadence and limitations. Where attribution is incomplete, the report should acknowledge it rather than disguise uncertainty with a precise-looking number.
5. What will the initial review produce?
Ask for concrete deliverables: an assessment of the customer journey, a list of priorities, measurement gaps and a proposed scope. A fixed number of recommendations is less useful than a clear explanation of which constraint matters and how the team will act on it.
6. What is included in the fee?
Discuss strategy, execution, reporting, creative, website changes and communication. Separate the service fee from advertising spend, production, software and other third-party costs. Confirm the approval process for work outside the agreed scope and the terms for pausing or ending the engagement.
7. What would make you change the recommendation?
A useful growth plan can change when stock, margins, demand or sales capacity change. Ask how experiments are reviewed and what evidence would lead to stopping a campaign or changing priorities. The aim is accountable decisions, rather than activity that continues simply because it was in the original proposal.
Bring a short business brief
Bring your website, your main goal, what you have tried and any available sales or campaign data. You do not need a perfect dashboard to have a useful first conversation.
Explore how my services fit together or discuss your business. For sector-specific context, you can also view the industry pages.