Why Tradespeople Get Ripped Off by Marketing Agencies (and How to Spot It)

Talk to enough tradespeople about marketing and you hear the same story with different names in it. An agency rang at the right moment — work was quiet — and promised the phone would ring. Twelve months and several thousand pounds later, nobody can say what the money actually bought.

The frustrating part: the tricks involved are completely standard, perfectly legal, and easy to spot once someone names them. So here they are, named.

1. Percentage-of-spend pricing

Many agencies charge a percentage of your ad budget — typically 10–20%. Think about the incentive that creates. The agency earns more when you spend more, not when you earn more. Every recommendation to “scale up the budget” comes from a company that takes a cut of the increase.

What to ask instead: “What is your fee in pounds, and does it change with my budget?” A flat fee means the agency profits by being efficient with your money, not by spending more of it.

2. The hostage ad account

This is the one that hurts people the most. The agency sets up the Google and Meta accounts under their ownership, runs your ads in them, and when you leave — the account, its history, its audiences, and everything the algorithm learnt about your customers leaves with them. You start from zero with the next agency. They know this. It’s the lock-in.

What to ask instead: “Will the ad accounts be created in my name, with my billing, and do I keep them if we part ways?” Any hesitation on this question ends the conversation. There is no legitimate reason for an agency to own your ad account.

3. Dashboards instead of answers

A login to a dashboard with forty widgets feels like transparency. It’s usually the opposite. When every metric is available, the agency can point at whichever one went up this month — impressions, clicks, “engagement” — while the only number you care about (jobs booked) goes nowhere.

What to ask instead: “Each week, will you tell me in writing what you spent, how many enquiries it produced, and what you’re changing?” A written summary forces the agency to have a position. A dashboard lets them hide.

4. The 12-month contract for a 1-month job

Setting up local ad campaigns properly takes days, not months. A fair test of whether they work takes about 30 days. So ask yourself what the other eleven months of a contract are for. The honest answer is: they’re for the agency’s cash flow, not your results. An agency confident in its work doesn’t need a contract to keep you — the results do that.

What to ask instead: “What’s the notice period?” Thirty days is reasonable. Twelve months tells you how confident they are about month two.

The 60-second screening call

Before signing with anyone — including us — ask these four questions:

1. Is your fee flat, in pounds, in writing?
2. Do I own the ad accounts and everything in them?
3. Will I get a written weekly summary of spend, enquiries, and changes?
4. Can I leave with 30 days’ notice?

Four yeses and you’re probably dealing with someone honest. Anything else, keep your hand on your wallet. The good news is that honest operators do exist at every price point — the screening questions just save you the expensive way of finding out.