Anyone can claim to be a digital marketing agency now. A laptop, Canva Pro, and three motivational quotes on Facebook, boom! “Full-service marketing solutions.” Hiring an agency is a serious decision for every brand because you’re literally choosing who gets to shape your brand image.
In Bangladesh, you’ll find everything from genuinely brilliant teams who understand data and customer behavior to someone who somehow learned how to “boost posts” and now calls themselves a “digital strategist.” Do with that information what you will.
To make your life easier, we’ve put together the top 10 questions you must ask before signing a contract. Use this list to spot red flags early on.
1. What’s Your Creative Strategy?
Before jumping straight into budgeting, inquire about an agency’s creative input. Nearly 47% of a campaign’s sales impact comes from the creative alone. Many agencies in Bangladesh rely on the same static poster template used for every brand:
- change the logo
- swap the color
- add a tagline
They rarely test creative variations, rarely try new messaging angles, and almost never refresh assets unless the client complains. Then, when performance drops (which it will), you start thinking: “Ads don’t work,” which is completely bogus. Ask them how they handle:
- Creative Concepts: Do they develop multiple narrative angles or just “pretty posts”?
- Frequency: How often do they introduce new creatives? Weekly? Monthly?
- Variant Testing: Do they run A/B tests with hooks, visuals, headlines, and CTAs?
- Naming & Tracking: Can they show which creative drove what result?
Ideal Answer Sounds Like:
“We build campaigns around core messaging pillars. Each concept has more than one variation. We test short vs long hooks, static vs motion, and emotional vs functional messaging. We evaluate performance every week. All assets are organized in a shared library with clear naming and iteration notes.”
Red Flag Sounds Like:
“We’ll send 2–3 drafts and update when needed.” Translation:
They design → deliver → disappear → repeat when you complain.
2. How Do You Define Success for Any Business, Especially Mine?
Once your strategy is clear, the next step is setting goals. A serious agency will take the time to understand your vision before even showing you their service menu. They’ll identify the changes most likely to maximize your ROI; whether that means boosting online sales, more store visits, or repeat purchases.
Once the business goal is clear, they’ll translate that into KPIs:
- Cost per qualified lead
- Conversion rate or ROAS for e-commerce
- Calls, bookings, or store map clicks for local businesses
- Customer acquisition cost and retention metrics
The agency should also be able to explain how progress will be monitored and improved over time. If they truly understand your business goals, they’ll map the budget accordingly. Your job here is to constantly ask about your sales funnel, customer journey, pricing, margins, and conversion pathways.
A good sign is if they provide you with a 90-day improvement roadmap. This map will explain the KPIs in plain language so that you can easily understand the contrast between your current state and the realistic path to where you want to be.
3. How Do You Adjust When One Approach Isn’t Working?
In digital marketing, not every tactic hits the mark on the first try, and that’s okay. But you’ve got to keep a keen eye on how an agency responds when performance lags. A strong team doesn’t blindly “A/B test.” Instead, they rely on structured experiments and rules for scaling a tactic. They know when to wait and when to pivot.
The process usually looks like this: the agency sets up a test backlog, assigns measurable expectations for each variant, and monitors performance over specific intervals. If results meet or exceed expectations, they scale the tactic; if not, they adjust or scrap it entirely.
In Bangladesh, many campaigns are launched without this discipline. Your budget runs dry because of a lack of structured learning and iteration. Asking this question reveals whether an agency treats underperformance as insight or an excuse.
Green flag: “We run 2–3 tests weekly, track metrics, and adjust based on statistical significance. Each change is documented and reviewed before scaling.”
Red flag: “We A/B test all the time” with no framework, timelines, or criteria, basically letting campaigns drift until something sticks.
4. How Do You Manage Budgets, and What Are the Extra Costs I Should Expect?
This question says a lot about transparency. Many agencies quote only their service fee and leave out production costs and software tools. You might be thinking you’re getting a full package, but then “unexpected” charges show up halfway through the campaign.
A reliable agency will explain how budgets are split: ads, content creation, management fees, etc. They’ll also outline operational needs upfront:
- costs for new creatives
- landing page updates
- analytics tools
- photographers and videographers
Green flag: “We charge X for management, Y goes to ad spend, and creative production is planned monthly. All tools and resources are listed upfront. You’ll receive a cost breakdown and spending report every week or month.”
Red flag: “Our service fee is 20,000 taka per month.” Notice how vague that is. If the invoice doesn’t come with a clear pricing outline, run.
5. Will I Own the Assets We Build Together?
This one is less about paperwork and more about control. When you invest in campaigns, you’re not just paying for short-term results; you’re gathering data on your customers. So it’s natural to want clarity on who owns what after the contract ends.
In a healthy partnership, you’ll get to have:
- Ad accounts are created in your business’s name.
- Analytics access.
- Creative assets (images, video, copy)
- Tracking systems
In Bangladesh, some local agencies operate under a model where the client never really sees full access. Either because they use one account for multiple clients, or because they don’t want to “disrupt” their workflow. But this means if things don’t work out, you’re stuck. So it’s especially important here to make the ownership issue clear before signing anything.
6. Can You Show Me Testimonials from Your Previous Projects?
Every agency sounds smart when they talk about “strategy” and “brand positioning.” But the moment you ask them to show testimonials, the room gets very quiet. A proper dashboard should show how money turns into outcomes. Not “We reached 300,000 people” (congratulations, so does a megaphone). You’ll want to see how those conversions happened over time.
A good agency will say:
“We’ll show you real dashboards with redacted names. Here were the numbers when we started. Here’s what we adjusted. Here’s what got better. Here’s what flopped and what we learned from it.” They are not afraid of showing their learning curve.
A bad agency will say:
“We can’t share client results because of confidentiality, but look at the views on this video!”
7. How Will You Localize Our Content for Bangladesh?
This question immediately tells you whether the agency plans to recycle a template from a foreign market. Search behavior is shaped by language, income, culture, and habits. Your campaigns are bound to flop if it does not have any local context.
Localisation is tied to language and tone. Bengali has layers. The Bangla used in a Facebook caption is not the same Bangla used on a product demo video. And the Bangla spoken in Dhaka is not identical to what resonates in Khulna or Sylhet. A smart agency works with reference points. It’s generally a good sign if they say something along the lines of:
“We develop messaging in both Bangla and English based on your audience profile. We research local search patterns and test variations to see what converts. We optimize for mobile and map conversion paths to your real customer journey.”
8. What’s Your Approach to Content Strategy and SEO Alignment?
Content strategy without SEO is like cooking without salt. A credible agency will treat content and SEO as the same project. The process starts with an audit: they should examine your site’s existing content and organic performance. If an agency skips the audit, you’re in trouble.
Next comes keyword research. You will have a matrix handed to you that includes: high-intent keywords that feed the bottom of the funnel, topics for discovery, and brand-building. After mapping intent, do a content gap analysis. Then the agency compares your engagement metrics with similar businesses.
The output is a content calendar that’s focused on business outcomes:
- Topic clusters that support pillar pages
- FAQ hubs that capture voice and long-tail queries
- Conversion-focused landing pages
Green flag: “We start with an audit, map keywords by intent, build pillar/cluster plans, produce with SEO briefs, implement on-page fixes, amplify where needed, and measure against revenue-linked KPIs. We refresh or consolidate every quarter.”
Red flag: “We’ll write X blogs per month and post on socials.” — sounds like ticking a checklist, not solving a business problem.
9. What Tools and Technologies Do You Use?
Technology is the backbone of a good digital marketing team. There should be a structured approach to tracking campaigns. Every click, form submission, or offline sale should have a path that connects it back to business impact. They should know how to clean data, remove duplicates, and prevent misattribution. For this, you need top-tier tools.
Many local agencies claim they “have the tools,” but rarely have the capacity to use them effectively. Remember, a lack of tech discipline can stagnate campaigns. Ask for concrete examples: show us your dashboard, your naming conventions, and how offline conversions tie in.
Green flag: “We set up all tracking in your accounts, use a clear UTM system, link offline conversions, and review the dashboards weekly so nothing slips through the cracks.”
Red flag: “Don’t worry about the details, the platform says our ads are killing it. Let’s just focus on clicks and ad spend.”
10. How Many Clients Do You Handle At a Time?
The thought process behind this question is: Will anyone have the time to care about my business, or am I just another logo on their spreadsheet? A strong agency lays out its team structure clearly. They usually assign a dedicated account manager as your main point of contact.
Tasks are then distributed to content creators, ad specialists, and SEO analysts. This ensures your campaigns are consistently monitored and optimized. Many agencies juggle way too many clients, even though they are short-staffed. Overworked employees tend to miss deadlines.
Asking this question early on helps you see whether the agency can match your energy. It’s a good sign if they say, “You’ll have a dedicated account manager plus a small, specialized team. We limit client load to ensure focus, with weekly updates and direct access to team members for questions.”
Ask, Listen, Decide
Hiring a digital marketing agency means you are choosing a partner who understands your goals and has the tools to push you to the top. It’s a bit difficult to tell when agencies are being sneaky. In Bangladesh, where audiences are so diverse, the stakes are even higher. Use these questions as a litmus test. Listen to how they answer, pay attention to what they don’t say, and trust your guts.
