10 Questions to Ask Any Marketing Agency

Hiring a marketing agency as a mortgage broker is one of the higher-stakes decisions you'll make in your business. Done right, you get a consistent pipeline of qualified inquiries and a system that compounds over time. Done wrong, you're out several thousand dollars, your time, and possibly your faith in paid advertising altogether.

The problem is that most agencies sound the same in a sales call. Everyone has "proven systems," everyone has "worked with brokers before," and everyone is "results-focused." The questions below cut through that. They're designed to surface the specific details that separate agencies who know what they're doing from agencies who are figuring it out at your expense.

Ask all ten. Take notes. Compare answers across agencies. The patterns will become obvious quickly.

1 "Have you worked specifically with mortgage brokers?"

This seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many brokers skip it. Mortgage broker marketing is not the same as financial services marketing broadly. It's not the same as real estate marketing. The compliance requirements, the audience psychology, the lead qualification process, and the follow-up timeline are all specific to this industry.

An agency that has run campaigns for accountants, lawyers, and "a few financial clients" is not the same as an agency that has run 20 broker campaigns. The learning curve gets paid for by someone. Make sure it's not you.

Good answer: Yes, here are the campaigns we've run, the CPL numbers we achieved, and the types of brokers we've worked with. Here's a case study.

Red flag: "We work across financial services broadly" or "we've done some work in that space." Vague is expensive.

2 "Can I see CPL data from current broker clients?"

Cost per lead is the number that matters most in the early stage of a paid campaign. It tells you whether the targeting and creative are working, and it's the benchmark against which everything else is measured. Any agency running broker campaigns should be able to show you real CPL data from real clients.

If their answer is a PDF of logos, walk away. Logos don't tell you anything about performance. If their answer is a case study with actual lead volumes and CPL figures, that's what you want to see. Even better if the results are from a broker in a similar market or niche to yours.

Good answer: Actual numbers. Lead volumes, CPL, campaign duration, market. Ideally a written or video case study you can review before the call ends.

Red flag: "Our strategy is confidential" or "we can share general benchmarks." Benchmarks are not results.

3 "Who owns the ad account?"

This question has a right answer and a wrong answer, and the wrong answer is very costly if you find out about it after you've spent six months building an audience.

Your ad account contains your campaign history, your audience data, your pixel data, and all the accumulated learning the Meta algorithm has built up about who responds to your ads. If the agency owns that account, you own none of it. When you leave, you start from zero. When they go under or get acquired, your data goes with them.

Good answer: You do. The ad account is set up in your Business Manager from day one. We manage it, but it belongs to you and you retain full access at all times.

Red flag: They own it. They'll "transfer it when you leave." There are "operational reasons" for running it through their account. All of these mean you own nothing.

4 "What's your process for ASIC compliance in ads?"

Mortgage broker advertising in Australia is subject to ASIC's Regulatory Guide 234. This covers everything from how you present interest rates to how you use testimonials to what disclosures must appear on landing pages. Getting this wrong doesn't just risk your ad account. It risks your credit licence.

A general digital marketing agency has probably never read RG234. An agency that specialises in broker marketing should be able to tell you specifically what they review, what they flag, and what they won't run. If their answer is "we'll make sure it's fine," that is not a compliance process. That's a sentence designed to make you stop asking.

Good answer: Specific knowledge of RG234, a defined review process for each ad and landing page before launch, clear guidance on what claims they won't run and why.

Red flag: "We'll make sure it's fine," "we've never had an issue," or a blank look when you mention RG234.

You are personally responsible for the ads your business runs. If an agency puts a non-compliant claim in your ad and your account gets flagged, you can't point to the agency as a defence. Ask the compliance question every time, with every agency.

5 "What does your onboarding process look like and how long until ads go live?"

Onboarding is where you find out whether an agency has an actual system or whether they're building the plane while you're already on it. A well-run agency should be able to give you a clear sequence: strategy session, creative development, build phase, compliance review, launch. With approximate timeframes attached to each step.

Vague answers here usually mean one of two things. Either they don't have a defined process and they'll figure it out as they go, or they've oversold their capacity and your onboarding will be slower than whatever they told you on the call.

Good answer: A clear step-by-step onboarding sequence with realistic timeframes. Something like: strategy call in week one, creative brief and filming in weeks two to three, build and compliance check in week three, launch by end of week four.

Red flag: "A few weeks" with no specifics. Or "we can have you live in 48 hours" with no explanation of how that's possible without a strategy session or creative development.

6 "What CRM do you integrate with and who sets that up?"

The CRM and automation layer is what separates a lead generation campaign from a lead conversion system. Getting a lead is easy. Getting that lead to answer the phone, book an appointment, and show up for a discovery call requires a well-built follow-up infrastructure. That infrastructure lives in your CRM.

If the agency's answer is "you'll need to sort your CRM separately," you now have two vendors to manage, two integrations to troubleshoot, and a gap in the system where leads will fall through. The best outcome is an agency that handles the CRM setup as part of the engagement and knows the platform well enough to configure it properly.

Good answer: We use GoHighLevel, we set it up for you as part of onboarding, and your automated follow-up sequences are live before the first lead arrives. Or a similarly complete answer for whichever platform they use.

Red flag: "You'll need to sort your CRM separately," "we can integrate with whatever you have" with no specifics, or a blank look when you ask about automation sequences.

7 "What happens if results aren't where they need to be?"

Every agency will tell you about their best campaigns in a sales call. Almost none of them will volunteer information about what happens when a campaign underperforms. This question forces that conversation before you've signed anything, while you still have leverage.

"We can't guarantee results" by itself is not an answer. It's a legal disclaimer. What you want to know is what they actually do when the numbers are trending the wrong way. Is there a defined escalation process? Do they proactively tell you, or do you have to notice it yourself? Do they change strategy, or do they just optimise the same thing more?

Good answer: A clear optimisation process: they monitor CPL weekly, they flag underperformance before you notice it, they have a defined creative refresh and audience testing process, and there's an escalation path if the campaign needs a significant change in direction.

Red flag: "We can't guarantee results" with nothing else. Or a defensive pivot to talking about how good their results usually are. Neither is an answer.

8 "How do you handle creative refresh and how often?"

Ad fatigue is one of the most predictable and preventable causes of campaign decline. When the Meta algorithm has shown your ad to everyone in your audience who is likely to respond to it, performance drops. Cost per lead climbs. Brokers who don't know this think their campaign is broken. It's not broken. It needs new creative.

A proactive agency builds creative refresh into the campaign schedule before fatigue happens, not after you complain about rising costs. If their answer is "we'll do new creative when you ask for it," that means you're paying them to be reactive. You'll be the one monitoring performance and initiating the work they should be doing automatically.

Good answer: They proactively review creative performance and initiate refresh every four to six weeks as a standard part of the service. New angles, new hooks, new variations are built into the process, not charged as extras.

Red flag: "We'll do new creative when you ask for it," or a schedule that treats creative refresh as an additional cost on top of the management fee.

9 "What does your reporting look like and how often do I see it?"

Reporting tells you whether the agency is accountable or just busy. There's a difference between an agency that sends you monthly impressions and reach figures and an agency that sends you weekly data showing lead volume, cost per lead, cost per appointment, and conversion rate through the funnel.

Impressions are not results. Reach is not results. Click-through rate is interesting but not what you're paying for. If the reporting doesn't show you what you spent, how many leads came in, and what those leads cost, then the reporting is designed to look like accountability without actually providing it.

Good answer: Weekly dashboard access or weekly reporting showing actual lead and CPL data, plus a monthly review call where they walk you through the numbers, what they mean, and what's being adjusted.

Red flag: Reports that lead with impressions, reach, or engagement. Monthly reports only with no access to live data between calls. Any report that doesn't prominently feature cost per lead.

10 "What's your minimum contract term and what happens if I want to leave?"

Contract terms are where you find out a lot about how an agency thinks about its clients. A short initial commitment reflects confidence in their ability to produce results quickly enough for you to want to stay. A long locked-in contract with no out clause reflects something else entirely.

Three months is a reasonable initial commitment. It gives the agency enough time to build the system, run the learning phase, and show you what optimised performance looks like. Twelve months locked in with no performance clause is a contract structured to protect the agency's revenue, not your results.

Good answer: An honest explanation of the initial commitment period, what you own when you leave, and what the exit process looks like. Three months initial, rolling monthly thereafter with 30 days notice is the kind of structure that signals confidence.

Red flag: Twelve months locked in with no performance clause, or any arrangement where you don't own your ad account and data on exit.

Reading Between the Lines

The answers matter. How the agency responds to the questions matters just as much.

A good agency won't be threatened by any of these questions. They'll have already answered most of them in some form before you asked, because they know what brokers need to know before making this decision. Some of them will push back on specific points, explain their reasoning, and give you a more nuanced answer than the one you expected. That's a green flag. It means they've thought about it.

An agency that gets defensive, deflects with enthusiasm, or gives you the same polished non-answer to every question is telling you something important. They're better at selling their service than delivering it. That's not the outcome you're after.

The best agencies aren't threatened by scrutiny. They welcome it. If an agency winces when you ask who owns the ad account, that tells you everything you need to know before you've spent a cent.

What to Do After the Call

If you're comparing two agencies, ask both the same questions and compare the answers directly. Not the tone, not the confidence, not how polished the deck was. The actual answers. Specific data versus vague claims. Clear process versus enthusiastic assurance. Honest contract terms versus evasive language about "long-term partnerships."

Ask for references from current clients, not former ones. A happy current client is a better signal than a glowing testimonial from someone who left two years ago. Ask to speak with a broker in a similar market or niche to yours, not whoever had their best ever campaign result.

And read the contract before you sign it. Specifically the clauses around ownership of assets, notice periods, and what constitutes a breach. Not because you're planning to leave on day one. Because the way a contract is written tells you what the agency is prepared to be held to.

These Are the Questions We Answer at Our Strategy Call

ozimedia invites every one of these questions at the strategy call. We'll tell you our CPL data from current broker clients. We'll explain our ASIC compliance process. We'll show you what you own on exit. We'll tell you the contract terms upfront and explain the reasoning behind each one.

If you're a fit, we'll tell you. If you're not, we'll tell you that too. The call is 45 minutes and there's no hard pitch at the end. You'll leave with a clear picture of what working with us looks like and whether it makes sense for your brokerage right now.

See the results we've generated for brokers who asked all the right questions first: Jordan: 223 leads at $12.59 CPL and Joseph: 106 leads at $17.14 CPL.

Bring this list to your strategy call with us.

We'll answer every question on it. Book a strategy call and we'll give you the same straight answers we've given every broker who's worked with us. No evasion. No glossy non-answers. Just what you need to make a good decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I compare two marketing agencies as a mortgage broker?

Ask both agencies the same 10 questions and compare their answers directly. Pay attention to how they respond to the harder questions, ad account ownership, ASIC compliance, and what happens when results underperform. The agency that gives you clear, specific, honest answers without getting defensive is the one worth talking to further.

What contract length is reasonable for a marketing agency?

Three months is reasonable for an initial commitment. It gives the agency enough time to build the system, run the learning phase, and show you real optimised results. Anything less and you're judging performance during setup. Anything more than six months upfront, especially with no performance clauses, is a red flag.

Should I ask for references before signing with a marketing agency?

Yes, always. A good agency will offer references before you ask. If you have to drag them out, that tells you something. Ask to speak with a current client in a similar market or niche to yours, not just whoever had the best campaign ever. You want a realistic picture, not a highlight reel.

10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Marketing Agency