How to choose a marketing agency that will truly grow your business?

Sound familiar? Yet another online meeting with a prospective marketing agency. You are watching a slide demonstration you already saw in your last meeting with their competitors. About seven minutes in, you hear the question: “What is your marketing budget?”.

A textbook classic of the genre – and a key reason why most Lithuanian companies end up changing their marketing agency within the first year of working together. After six months of collaboration, you will have PDF reports sitting in your inbox, with no real intention of reading them, and eventually you will find yourself asking: “Where did the sales go?”

The issue is not that there are no good marketing agencies. The issue is that no one teaches you how to choose one properly.

The issue is not that there are no good marketing agencies. The issue is that no one teaches you how to choose one properly.

Over the past seven years of continuous growth, we have built a portfolio of more than 120 regular client companies, from start-ups to leaders on the Verslo Žinios TOP list. We have seen how companies waste their budget with the wrong agencies. But we have also seen how the right partner helps grow a business 3x in a year.

The difference?  7 questions you must ask before signing a cooperation agreement.

‍

1. Our budget is €3,000/month. How much of that goes towards advertising, and how much to you?

Why this matters: some agencies charge a 50% agency fee. Your actual advertising budget is €1,500.

What you want to hear: a transparent model. Recommended: 70–80% for advertising, 20–30% for management.

Red flag: the agency cannot say how much money will be invested in advertising because it depends on… (insert any word).

Pro tip: ask about the minimum recommended budget to achieve RESULTS, not the minimum budget to sign a contract.

‍

2. Who specifically will be working on our project? I want to meet them

Why this matters: The "senior strategist" at the meeting ≠ the person who will manage your budget.

What you want to hear: vardus, pavardes, patirtį. Kiek klientų valdo dabar. Kiek metų dirba KONKREČIAI su jūsų tipo verslu. Kaip dažnai projektų vadovas komunikuos su jumis.

Red flag: “We cannot disclose who specifically will be working until you sign the contract” or “an intern will work under the supervision of a team lead”.

Reality: many agencies hand your project over to an intern or a junior specialist after the contract is signed. Ask if you can meet the REAL project manager before signing the contract.

‍

3. Imagine this: after three months, the results are poor. What do you do?

Why this matters: 90 days is a realistic period to see if the strategy is working.

What you want to hear: a concrete action plan. A strategy for changes. Real examples of how problems of this type were solved.

Red flag: “We need more time” or “we guarantee it won’t underperform”.

Market standard: in performance marketing, you should see results within 30–45 days. If not, the strategy is wrong.

‍

4. Tell us about the worst campaign you launched in the last 6 months

Why this matters: anyone can boast about success stories. True professionals know how to analyse failures.

What you want to hear: a concrete example with figures. What failed. Why it failed. What they learned. How they changed processes.

Red flag: “All our campaigns are successful” or “Confidential information”.

‍

5. We have a problem: our customer acquisition cost is €127, but LTV is €89. How will you solve this?

Why this matters: a real agency understands business metrics, not just Meta likes and ad impression counts.

What you want to hear: questions about your business. Product margins? Repeat purchases? Average basket value? Conversion funnel? Unit economics?

Red flag: “Our job is to bring traffic, while profitability is your problem.”

The test: if the agency does not understand whether the cost of sales they generate pays off for the client – run.

‍

6. Who will own all the ad accounts? What happens to the accounts if the contract is terminated?

Why this matters: ad accounts are an asset no less important than the budget itself. The data accumulated in them (audiences, conversion history, algorithm learning) is your property. If you do not have control, you will start from zero upon terminating the contract.

What you want to hear: that the accounts always belong to you. The agency will be added as a partner, but not the owner. Upon terminating cooperation, the entire history, data, and ad campaigns will be saved.

Red flag: the agency runs ads from its own account and you do not have access to the account, or “The account will remain yours, but we will delete all campaigns because that is our know-how”.

Must have: all ad accounts must belong to you, and ad agencies must connect to them only as partners.

‍

7. Show me 3 clients who have left you in the last 12 months. Why?

Why this matters: the churn rate indicator tells you more than any award.

What you want to hear: “Production problems”, “Couldn’t manage growth”, “Someone else was cheaper”, “They wanted a change”, “We didn’t hit the targets we set”.

Red flag: “All clients are satisfied” or they cannot/do not want to say.

Statistics: a good agency’s client retention rate is 80–90% per year. If lower – ask why.

‍

Bonus: 2 questions that immediately weed out the amateurs

Can I speak with 2 of your current clients?

Real agencies have happy clients who willingly recommend them. Check if those clients are of a similar size to you.

What happens to our data if we terminate the contract?

Professionals have a process. Amateurs improvise.

‍

Reality check

A good marketing agency in Lithuania costs €1,000–€5,000/month. (plus the advertising budget). If they offer a full package (Google Ads, Meta Ads, SEO, TikTok Ads, and another 100 Stories) for €500 – you will get €500 worth of results.

It is normal to pay an initial setup fee (€1,000–€3,000) in the first month, but only if it is clearly explained what you get for it.

A mandatory 24-month contract sounds more like prison than a partnership. If an agency demands a 24-month contract, ask why they cannot prove value in 6–12 months?

‍

How would BRN Agency answer these questions?

We won’t lie – we are not suitable for every client.

• We work with 120 clients at a time.
• Our client retention rate: 81% in 2024.
• Real team size: 20 people working from the office (not 40 freelancers).
• Specialisation: Performance marketing (we don’t do everything).
• Minimum budget for success: €1,500/month. (€1,000 for ads, €500 for management).
• Ad accounts belong to the client; the advertising budget is paid from the client’s card.
• We sign a 6-month cooperation agreement with the option to extend it.
• Feel free to speak to our clients. You can also read client reviews on the rekvizitai.lt website. We guarantee that all reviews are genuine.

We do not send a 50-slide presentation. Instead, we will offer a live meeting, during which we will delve into your business specifics and present tailored solutions with individual pricing.

‍

Next step

If you have read this far, you have two options:

1. Use these questions when speaking to an agency you are considering hiring.
2. Or ask us – we will answer each question directly.

Let’s talk. Simply email info@brnagency.lt with the subject line “I read the article” or fill out the enquiry form found at the bottom.

P.S. If an agency says “we guarantee a 10 ROAS within 30 days” – run. If we could guarantee that, we would work with our own money, not yours.

This article was written by the BRN Agency team, which manages a €2M+ annual advertising budget for 120 companies. We are not the biggest, but our clients sleep well at night.

‍