Why these twelve
Most agency pitches are structured to prevent exactly this conversation. You get a deck about process, a case study from a company ten times your size, and a proposal that describes categories of work rather than pieces of work. None of it is dishonest. It is just built to sell a retainer rather than to tell you what will happen in month one.
Every question below is answerable in a sentence by a team that has thought about it, and produces a paragraph of fog from a team that hasn't. Ask them on the call, not by email — you are listening for hesitation as much as content. And ask for the proof each time. An answer you can check is worth ten answers you can't.
One piece of process before the list. Ask all three shortlisted providers the same questions in the same order, and write the answers into a grid the same afternoon — not from memory a week later. Pitches blur together fast, and the one you remember warmly is usually the one you heard last rather than the one that answered best. The grid also does something a conversation can't: it makes the gaps visible. When two providers give you a number for question one and the third gives you a paragraph, that is the finding.
About who does the work
1. Who exactly will make my posts, and how many hours a month are they on my account?
A good answer names a role and a number: "a writer and an editor, roughly twelve hours." A bad answer describes a team and never lands on a person. This is the single most useful question in the list, because it converts a retainer into an hourly rate you can compare — a $1,200 fee against twelve hours is $100 an hour of skilled attention; against four hours it is $300. Ask for: the number, out loud, before you leave the call.
2. Is the person on this call the person doing the work?
Often no, which is fine — but you should know it now rather than in month two. The bad version is a founder who charms you in the pitch and disappears into a Slack channel afterwards. Ask for: the name and title of whoever you'll actually talk to each week, and a five-minute call with them before you sign.
3. Do you use AI to produce the work, and where does a human step in?
In 2026 the honest answer from almost everyone is yes. What matters is where the human is. "AI drafts, an editor rewrites, you approve before anything publishes" is a real process. "We don't use AI" is either untrue or expensive, and "it's all AI-powered" with no editor named is the one to walk away from. Ask for: two drafts of the same piece, before and after their editor touched it.
4. What happens when the person on my account goes on holiday?
Small agencies and single freelancers often have no answer. That is survivable if you know it, and a nasty surprise in August if you don't. Ask for: what happened the last time someone was away for two weeks, and who covered.
About what actually ships
5. What will exist at the end of month one that doesn't exist today?
You want a list of objects with numbers attached: a website, a stated number of posts, a stated number of reels, a profile rebuilt, a reply under every review. If the answer is a strategy document and an audit, you are buying planning, and you should decide whether planning is what you are short of. Ask for: the month-one deliverable list in writing, in the proposal, not in an email afterwards.
6. How long until I see the first drafts?
Days, not weeks, is achievable. Ours are 1–2 business days. Anything past two weeks means your account is queued behind larger ones, and the answer "as soon as possible" means nobody has measured it. Ask for: their average turnaround last month, and what happens when they miss it.
7. Do I approve things before they go out?
Ask it plainly, because the answer reveals how the agency thinks about your business. Anyone publishing on your accounts without your yes is one bad week from posting something you would have killed in two seconds. A good answer describes the mechanism, not the intention. Ask for: a look at the approval screen a current client uses.
8. Show me work you made for a business my size, in my industry, last month.
Not a portfolio, not the biggest logo they have. Recent work at your scale. The month matters: an agency that got good three years ago may not have the same team now. The bad answer swaps your question for a different one and shows you a national brand. Ask for: everything they made for one comparable client in a single recent month, good and ordinary alike.
About money and exit
9. What is the total monthly cost, and what is billed separately?
Ad spend, stock, licences, video days, extra landing pages, follow-up automation. The number in the proposal is often the floor rather than the price. Ask for: a written list of everything that could appear on an invoice that isn't in the retainer.
10. How is ad management billed?
A percentage of spend, commonly 10 to 20 percent, is the industry default. It is not dishonest, but understand what it does: it pays your provider more when your budget goes up, whatever happens to your bookings. A flat fee aligns better and is worth asking for. Ask for: the fee expressed both ways, as a percentage and as dollars at your actual budget.
11. What is the minimum term, and who owns what when I leave?
Three-, six- and twelve-month minimums are all common. The follow-up is the important part. If the agency owns the Google Ads account, your campaign history and audience data leave with them and the next team starts from zero. Ask for: your business named as owner of the ad accounts, the domain, the website, the social profiles and the source files, in the contract, before signing.
12. What would make you tell me not to hire you?
The best answer in the whole conversation. Anyone who has done this for a while can name the client they are wrong for — too early, too niche, needs someone on site, needs a strategist rather than production. An agency that claims to fit everyone has not thought about fit at all. Ask for: nothing. Just listen to how long the pause is.
The answers that should stop the conversation
A guaranteed ranking. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO says it directly: no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. Where the promise isn't simply false it usually means bidding on your own brand name, or ranking you for phrases nobody searches. For local results Google names three factors — relevance, distance and prominence — and attaches no timetable to any of them.
Leads at a fixed price with no market data. A cost per lead is an outcome, not an input. Anyone quoting one before looking at your ad market is guessing.
Results promised in writing. Be careful what you wish for here. The Competition Bureau applies a general impression test to advertising claims, and it is your business's name on the ad, not the agency's. A provider comfortable writing claims they can't support will be comfortable writing them for you.
A proposal with no numbers in it. If the price arrives only after three meetings, the price depends on how much they think you'll pay.
Pressure to sign this week. A discount with a deadline is a sales tactic, not a business case. The work will cost the same next Tuesday.
The question to ask yourself first
Do you need someone to decide what to do, or someone to do it? Owners who already know their plan and are short on hours are buying production, and they overpay badly for strategy retainers. Owners who genuinely don't know which market to go after are buying judgment, and they will be disappointed by a production service no matter how good the posts are.
Most of the small businesses we meet are firmly in the first group. In-house versus an agency walks through the arithmetic of both, and what a fractional CMO does covers the case where the answer really is strategy.
Our answers, since it would be strange not to
Our team and our AI marketer make the work; a person edits everything; you approve from your phone before anything publishes. First drafts in 1–2 business days. Prices in CAD, month to month, each line sold on its own: Organic Growth $1,000 a month, Paid Growth $1,000 a month with ad spend separate and in your own account, B2B Sales $2,000 to set up then $1,000, Automation from $1,500 to build then $500. Taking more than one earns no discount. The website is yours, the ad account is yours, the content is yours, and you keep all of it if you leave.
The limit, before you ask: search takes about 90 days to move, and ads are the only line we sell that is built to move a number inside a month. Who we are wrong for: businesses that need someone physically on site to make content, and owners who need a strategist to decide the direction before anything gets made. We say so on the call rather than after the first invoice.
Sources
- Google Search Central, Do you need an SEO?
- Google Business Profile Help, Improve your local ranking on Google
- Competition Bureau Canada, False or misleading representations
- WebFX, PPC pricing
Bring this list to us
Book a free consultation and ask all twelve. We'll also bring sample content made for your business, so you're judging work rather than answers. If you're still weighing options, the honest comparison of agencies, freelancers and DIY is the other thing worth reading first.