Updated: 4 August 2026 · Consulting, Alcorcón
Choosing a marketing provider is one of those decisions where a small business has the least information and the most to lose. Quotes aren't comparable, almost nobody explains how they charge, and results don't show for months.
Here are the criteria I'd use — including the ones that work against me.
The warning signs
These save you half the meetings:
They guarantee Google rankings. Nobody controls Google's algorithm. Anyone guaranteeing "first position" is either lying or planning to rank you for terms nobody searches so they can show a screenshot.
They don't ask about your business. If the first meeting presents a package without asking your average ticket, your margin, or where clients come from today, you're being sold the same thing as everyone else.
The price is suspiciously low. A €99/month pack covering SEO, social and advertising can't fund more than a couple of hours a month. Someone is doing very little work or using templates.
They create accounts in their own name. The most expensive trap in this industry, and almost nobody asks. Your site, your domain, your ad account and your Google profile must be yours. If they belong to the provider, the day you part ways you start from zero.
They only show vanity metrics. A report full of impressions and reach that never mentions enquiries or sales is avoiding the important question.
They won't tell you what they don't do. Nobody is good at everything.
What actually matters
They explain the why, not just the what. "We'll do SEO" says nothing. "Your problem is that you rank for informational searches rather than buying ones, so we'll build these pages" says something.
They talk about your bottleneck. Often the problem isn't traffic — it's that the site doesn't convert, or that nobody answers the phone. A good provider tells you that even when it costs them revenue.
They measure through to the sale, not to the form. The distinction is in cost per lead vs cost per customer.
They have verifiable cases, however small, and will let you speak to a client.
When being local genuinely matters
Working with someone nearby isn't essential for everything, but it counts in some cases:
- If your business is local, someone who knows the area knows what people here search for and who the real competition is in Alcorcón, which isn't the same as central Madrid.
- If you need photography or video of the business, someone who can turn up is far more practical.
- If you value meeting in person when there's something to decide.
For purely technical work or a national market, location matters little. Don't let proximity make you choose someone worse.
Freelance, agency, or in-house
All three work depending on the case, compared in detail in freelance vs agency. The summary:
| Advantage | Risk | |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance | You talk to whoever executes; cheaper | Limited capacity; depends on one person |
| Agency | More hands, more disciplines | You may end up with a junior and an account manager in between |
| In-house | Knows the business deeply | Expensive and hard to hire well without expertise |
The questions I'd ask
- Who owns the accounts and access?
- What happens if I leave? What do I take with me?
- Who exactly does the work?
- What will you show me monthly, and how often do we speak?
- What isn't included in this quote?
- What would you fix first if this were your business?
The last one is the most revealing. Someone who says "first sort out your Google profile, it's free, then let's talk" is thinking about your business. Someone who leads with the most expensive package isn't.
A cost comparison worth doing before any meeting
Before comparing quotes, work out roughly what one new customer is worth to your business — not revenue per sale, but what you can actually afford to spend acquiring one and still turn a profit. Providers rarely volunteer this framing because it puts the burden of proof on their price, but walking into a first meeting already knowing your own ceiling changes the conversation: you're evaluating whether their plan can plausibly hit that number, not just reacting to whichever figure they open with.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I spend per month? It depends on your margin and ticket. Rather than starting from a figure, work out what you can pay per customer using how much a lead should cost you and work backwards.
How long until results? It depends on the channel, and mixing them up causes the frustration. A Google profile can move the phone in days. Advertising gives data in weeks. SEO takes months.
What if I've already had bad work done? More common than you'd think. The first step is recovering control of your accounts and reviewing what was done — sometimes there's salvageable work, sometimes damage to undo.
Can I start small and expand? That's what I recommend almost always. Start with whatever fixes your bottleneck and expand when there's data to justify it.
If you're weighing quotes, send them over and I'll tell you what each one is missing, whether or not you hire me. How I work is in consulting.
