12 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Marketing Agency in Dubai

Dubai has no shortage of marketing agencies. Proposals tend to look alike: a list of services, a monthly fee and a few logos. The difference between a partner that grows your business and a supplier that sends reports only shows up months later, after the budget is spent.

These twelve questions are designed to surface that difference before you sign. Good agencies welcome them. If an agency avoids them, that tells you something too.

Ownership and access

1. Will we own all the accounts?

Your Google Ads, Meta Business Manager, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, domain registrar and website hosting should all be registered to your company, with the agency added as a user. If an agency sets these up under its own name, you can lose years of data and campaign history the day you part ways.

2. What happens to the website and content if we leave?

Ask directly whether you own the website code, design files, images and written content outright. Some agencies licence websites or keep them on their own hosting, which makes leaving expensive. Get the answer in the contract, not only in a meeting.

Measurement and reporting

3. How will you measure success?

The right answer talks about qualified leads, cost per lead and revenue, not impressions, followers or rankings on their own. Those numbers can be useful signals, but they are not the goal. Agree on two or three primary KPIs in writing before work starts.

4. How do you track leads from WhatsApp and phone calls?

In the UAE a large share of enquiries arrive by WhatsApp or phone rather than web forms. If an agency only tracks form submissions, it will under-report what works and over-report what does not. Ask them to explain their tracking setup in plain terms. Our guide to tracking WhatsApp, call and form leads covers what good looks like.

5. What does a monthly report include?

Ask to see a real, anonymised report. A useful report explains what happened, what it cost, what was learned and what will change next month. A report that is mostly screenshots of platform dashboards is a warning sign.

People and process

6. Who will actually work on our account?

Senior people often sell the work and junior people or freelancers deliver it. That can be fine, but you should know who they are, how much experience they have and how many other accounts they manage.

7. What will you do in the first 90 days?

A strong agency can describe a sensible first 90 days: an audit, tracking fixes, a plan, a small number of priority actions and a first review. Vague answers such as "we will optimise everything" usually mean there is no plan.

8. What will you not do for us?

An honest agency will tell you which channels are unlikely to work for your business, even if that means a smaller contract. If every service they offer is a perfect fit for you, be sceptical.

9. How do you use AI in your work?

AI tools can speed up research and drafting, and most agencies use them. The question is how output is reviewed. Content published under your name should be checked by someone who understands your business, your market and the facts.

Contracts and costs

10. What is the notice period and minimum term?

Long lock-in periods protect the agency, not you. A confident agency will usually accept a short notice period after an initial term, because it expects to keep you through results.

11. Is ad spend separate from your fee?

Ideally ad spend is billed by the platform directly to your card or account, and the agency invoices only its management fee. If the agency pays the platforms and re-bills you, ask to see the platform invoices so you know exactly what was spent.

12. What results can you realistically expect, and by when?

No one can guarantee rankings or a fixed number of leads, and an agency that does is overpromising. What they can give you is a realistic range, the assumptions behind it and the point at which you will both review whether the plan is working.

Red flags to watch for

• Guaranteed first-page rankings or a fixed number of leads.
• Accounts or the website set up in the agency's name.
• Reports built around vanity metrics with no link to enquiries.
• Pressure to sign a long contract before an audit has been done.
• No clear answer on who will do the work.

Choosing between a consultancy and an agency

An agency usually sells channels: SEO, ads or social. A consultancy starts with the business question of where growth should come from, then decides which channels to use. If you are unsure where your budget should go, start with strategy. You can read how we approach this on our services page.