What should you tell a marketing agency before it starts?
Before any work starts, give the agency a one-page brief: what you sell and to whom, the areas you serve, what a typical customer is worth to you, what has worked and what has not, where inquiries come from today, what you will and will not do yourself, and who approves work. A clear brief can save weeks of guessing, and it gives both sides something to judge the work against later.
The one-page brief
One page in plain words is usually enough; update it when the business changes. The related answer on what a customer is worth shows how to work out the value of a job.
| Tell them | What to write | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| What you sell | Your services, and the ones you want more of | Effort goes to the work you want |
| Who buys | Your usual customer, and the jobs you turn down | Fewer inquiries you cannot use |
| Where you work | The towns or areas you serve, and any you do not | No effort spent where you cannot go |
| What a customer is worth | The typical value of a job, and how often customers come back | Shows what a new customer can justify |
| What has been tried | What worked, what failed and what you stopped, roughly when | Nobody pays twice for the same lesson |
| Where inquiries come from now | Your best estimate by channel: search, AI answer, social, referral, paid, email, campaign or direct | A starting point to measure against |
| What you will and will not do | Time you can give, photos, approvals, and anything you will not say or offer | Plans that fit the business as it is |
| Who approves | One name, and how fast they can usually reply | Work does not stall waiting on a yes |
What a good agency will ask anyway
Google's guide "Do you need an SEO?" says to see whether an SEO is interested in you and your business, and that "Your SEO should ask questions about what makes your business unique", who your competitors are, how search results can help and how your customers find you.
As general advice, a written brief answers most of that before the first call. Name your main competitors, and say what customers tell you sets you apart.
Access and ownership come first
Give access, not passwords: add the agency as a user on accounts that stay in the business's name. The related answers on who should own your domain name and who should own your ad accounts explain why and how.
The related answer on what to have before starting SEO covers the rest of the setup, and the related answer on questions to ask before hiring an SEO agency covers checking the agency itself. The brief is the handover between the two.
Agree how the work will be judged
Put these in writing next to the brief:
- The few numbers you will both watch, starting with inquiries by source and whether each was won, lost or still open.
- What the agency must show you before anything is published in your name.
- How often you will hear from it, and who your contact is.
- What it needs from you each month, and by when.
Sources
Related answers
- What should you ask before hiring an SEO or GEO agency?
- What should a small business have in place before starting SEO?
- Who should own your business's domain name?
- Who should own your Google Ads and Facebook ad accounts?
- How do you work out what a customer is worth to your business?
SEO for service businesses
Get found on Google by the people already looking for what you sell, in the places you serve, and see which searches turned into inquiries.