Free tool · Choosing an agency

How to choose a marketing agency: a twelve-question scorecard.

Tick what the agency in front of you can show you. The scorecard tells you whether to sign, ask harder questions or keep looking. It takes five minutes and works on any agency, including us.

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No pitch deck
Findings yours to keep
Month to month after 90 days

What you get, in writing

Findings before you pay a centYour site, ads and Google listing, screenshot by screenshot
Cost per booked job, every monthNot clicks, not impressions
Live in 90 days or you stop payingThen month to month, no lock-in
Your accounts, your cardWe never mark up ad spend

See two client results, numbers left in

Why these twelve questions

Most agency comparisons are written by agencies, so they reward whoever wrote them. These questions do not ask which agency is best; they ask who carries the risk. An agency that is paid a flat fee, works in your accounts and puts its timeline in writing has the same incentive you do: results you can see in your own numbers.

Use the scorecard on the first call. Anything the agency cannot show you on screen counts as a no. If you want to see how we answer each one, our results, how it works and 90-Day Commitment pages show it, and the Melbourne ecommerce agency check applies the same idea to online stores.

Proof you can check.

We publish two client results, both read from inside the client’s own admin with their permission. Both are online stores. The method is the one we run for service businesses: track every enquiry to the booked job first, fix the page that converts, then put the budget behind what works.

Shopify store and showroom · Motorcycle gear · Victoria

Tuff Gear

A$222Ktotal sales in the 12 months to August 2026, up 274% on the year before

733orders fulfilled, up 112%
12.3%returning customers, up 68%
2.5xonline store monthly sales since 2024

A store we run end to end: product pages and tracking first, then Google and Meta run against cost per order, then creative written for riders. The showroom sells through Shopify too, so this is the whole business.

Read the Tuff Gear case study

Shopify store · Party supplies · Melbourne

Koi Koi Inbox

+205%total sales, February to August 2026 (A$77K) against the seven months before

679orders, up 176%
A$24Kstraight from Facebook and Instagram
A$15Ka month since May, from about A$6.5K

A family business whose Meta ads we took over in February 2026. The account was rebuilt around the party packs parents actually search for, and growth came in steps as the winning ads got the budget.

Read the Koi Koi Inbox case study

Screenshots read from each store’s Shopify admin on 10 September 2026 and published with the owners’ permission. They are their numbers, not a promise about anyone else’s. How we publish results

From free audits we ran for service businesses, September 2026

What we usually find in the first hour

01A Book Now button that leads to a dead pageSitewide, on a practice paying for Google Ads every day.

02Ads counting clicks as customersConversion tags firing on button presses and phone taps, so Google learns to buy the wrong clicks.

03Phone numbers a mobile cannot dialA header number formatted so that tapping it does nothing, on a business that lives on calls.

04Proof the website hidesFive stars from hundreds of Google reviews, and none of it on the pages people land on.

Names left out, patterns real. Get the same check on your business, free

Questions about choosing an agency

How do I choose a marketing agency in Australia?

Ask for proof you can check, a fee that does not grow with your ad spend, accounts in your name and a written commitment on timing. The twelve questions on this page cover the points that separate an agency that grows your business from one that reports on it.

What questions should I ask a marketing agency before signing?

Who will do the work, how they are paid, what happens to your accounts if you leave, what they will report each month, and what they found wrong with your business before the call. An agency that cannot answer these in plain English will not be easier to work with after you sign.

What is a red flag when choosing an advertising agency?

A fee tied to your ad spend, accounts set up in the agency's name, results shown as percentages with no starting number, and long lock-in contracts. Any one of these moves the risk from the agency to you.

How does Sellevate score on this checklist?

We wrote it, so run it on us too. Our two published results show the starting number and the dates, the fee is flat with no markup on spend, accounts stay in your name, and the 90-Day Commitment is in writing.

Run the scorecard on us.

Ten minutes on the phone, every question answered on screen, and the findings on your business in writing afterwards. Free.

Book a free 10-minute call Get a free audit

info@sellevate.com.au 0493 290 352Geelong VIC

Free audit, in writing, within 24 hours

Where we do this

Ecommerce agency in MelbourneShopify and Amazon brands across Victoria PPC agency in MelbourneGoogle Ads, Shopping and Meta judged on cost per order Ecommerce SEO in SydneyCollections and product pages that rank against national retailers Ecommerce SEO in MelbourneAn hour from Geelong, reported in organic revenue Shopify SEOThe Shopify traps fixed first, then collections that rank How the 90 days actually runWeek by week, what happens when Client results with the numbers left inTuff Gear and Koi Koi, read from their own admin

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