I've spent years inside advertising agencies, building their media-buying standards and reporting from the ground up. Most agencies are full of hard-working people. But I've also seen how easy it is for a client's money to disappear into reports that look impressive and mean nothing.
Here are the red flags I'd watch for if I were the client.
1. You don't own your ad accounts
If the agency runs your ads from their business manager and you can't log in, you don't own your data, your audiences or your history. If you leave, it all stays with them.
Ask for: your own Meta Business Manager and Google Ads account, with the agency added as a partner.
2. The report is all reach and impressions
"We reached 2 million people!" is a sentence designed to sound big. Reach is cheap, especially in markets like Egypt. What did it produce?
Ask for: cost per lead, cost per sale, and revenue or leads compared with spend.
3. They can't explain what they changed
A good media buyer can tell you what they tested last week, what won, and what they'll try next. If the answer is "we're optimizing," nobody is optimizing.
4. Same creative for months
Ads get tired. If you're seeing the same three designs in month four, your costs are rising and nobody's fixing it.
5. Nobody asked about your business
If the agency never asked about your margins, your best-selling product, your customer lifetime value or your sales team's follow-up, they're running ads for a business they don't understand.
6. "Followers" are the main goal
Followers are not a business result, unless you are a media company. A page with 100,000 followers and no sales is an expensive hobby.
7. Tracking was never set up
If your pixel, conversions API and analytics were never checked, every decision is a guess. I've seen accounts spend for months optimizing toward events that were broken from day one.
8. Hidden media fees
Some agencies charge a management fee and quietly mark up the media spend. You should know exactly how much went to Meta or Google and how much went to the agency.
Ask for: platform invoices or read access to billing.
9. Long contracts with no performance terms
Twelve-month lock-in, no KPIs, no exit clause. If they're confident, they don't need to trap you.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Who exactly will work on my account, and how many other accounts do they manage?
- Will I own all ad accounts, pixels and data?
- What KPIs will you report weekly, and how?
- What will you test in the first 30 days?
- How do you charge: flat fee, percentage of spend, or performance-based?
- Can I see a real report you send to a current client (with names hidden)?
What a good agency relationship looks like
- A weekly report you understand in two minutes
- Clear tests with clear results
- Honest bad news early ("this isn't working, here's what we'll change")
- Numbers tied to your business: leads, sales, revenue, not vanity
The bottom line
A good agency is worth every pound. A bad one hides behind big numbers and long contracts. Own your accounts, demand business metrics, and ask what they changed this week.
Not sure if your agency is doing a good job? Send me a recent report and I'll give you an honest second opinion.