How to Choose a Marketing Agency for a Trades Business

If you've been burned by an agency before, you're not crazy for being skeptical. Most trades owners we talk to have paid somebody $1,500 to $4,000 a month, got a monthly PDF full of impressions, and never knew whether a single job came from it. So before you sign with anyone, ask these questions.

1. Do you work with trades? A generalist who splits time between a dentist, a boutique and a SaaS startup does not know what a shoulder-season HVAC campaign looks like. Ask which trades they run now and what those companies sell. This is exactly why we only work with home services, see how that shapes the work on our marketing agency page.

2. What's the contract? If the answer is twelve months, ask why. Contracts are how agencies keep clients who would otherwise leave. Ours are month-to-month because we'd rather earn the month.

3. What does it cost, exactly? Ask what is included, what costs extra, and whether the agreement locks you in. You should know what you are paying for before work starts.

4. Who owns the website? If you leave and the site disappears, you were renting. You should own the site, the content, the domain and the Google profile.

5. How do you track a booked job? The right answer includes call tracking, form source tracking, and a number for cost per booked job. Clicks and impressions are not results.

6. Who actually does the work? Many agencies sell you a senior person and staff you with a junior. Ask who touches your account weekly and get their name.

7. What happens in month one? A real answer sounds like: audit, fix the Google Business Profile, rebuild the two pages that get traffic, launch one ad group tightly matched to emergency terms. A vague answer means they don't have a plan yet.

8. Do you guarantee leads? If they say yes, walk. Nobody serious guarantees rankings or leads. Guarantee the work, not the weather.

9. Can I talk to a client in my trade? Real agencies have someone who will pick up. Ours do.

Run those nine past whoever is pitching you. If the answers are straight, you're probably in good hands. If they get slippery around pricing, tracking or ownership, you already know how the next six months go. Want ours in writing? Book a free audit and we'll tell you exactly what we'd do first.