What a practice owner should ask an agency and what it tells you about a practice

Author : Reputation Elevation | Published On : 29 Oct 2026

Hiring a marketing agency is partly a test of the agency and partly a test of your own operation. The questions a good firm asks back will show where your practice is ready to grow and where it isn't. Below are the questions worth putting on the table, with what each answer reveals on both sides.

"Who owns the ad accounts?"

You should. The ad accounts, the analytics property, the Google Business Profiles and the domain should sit under your business, with the agency added as a user. If a firm insists on running everything inside its own accounts, you lose your history when you leave.

What it tells you about your practice: if you can't say who has admin access today, start there.

"Will you sign a business associate agreement?"

If the agency will touch form submissions, call recordings or anything else that could identify a family seeking care, the answer should be yes. A firm that seems unfamiliar with BAAs probably hasn't done much healthcare work.

What it tells you: whether your current tools have BAAs in place. This is where many practices find gaps.

"How do you handle health ad restrictions?"

Google and Meta both treat health services as a sensitive category. A competent agency can explain, in general terms, how it writes copy that describes services without referring to a viewer's condition, and what it does when an ad or account gets restricted. If you run social campaigns, read more about meta ads for aba therapy practices before the meeting, so you know what a credible answer sounds like.

"What will you say about our clinicians?"

ABA is a credentialed profession. Behavior analysts' own trade association says state statutes and rules frequently treat BACB certification as the credential that qualifies someone to practice ABA, and a number of states license the profession on top of that. Ads and staff bios have to describe credentials accurately, because a BCBA, a BCaBA and an RBT do different work under different rules. An agency that writes "our therapists are all experts" hasn't thought about this.

What it tells you: whether your own website lists credentials correctly and updates them when staff change.

"What information do you want from our team?"

A good agency will ask for things. Your open capacity by location. The payers you're credentialed with. Your intake response process. How leads get tracked to a first session. If a firm asks for none of it and only wants a budget and a logo, it plans to chase lead volume regardless of whether you can serve those families.

What it tells you: if you can't answer those questions within a week, fix that before spending more on ads.

"What will you report, and how often?"

Look for reporting that goes past clicks and form fills to calls answered, intakes scheduled and clients started, even if the agency needs your help to get those last figures. Monthly is common. Ask to see a sample report with the client's name removed.

Pay attention to how the agency talks about attribution. A straight answer admits that some families will come from places no dashboard can see, such as a pediatrician's recommendation or a friend at daycare, and suggests asking families at intake how they heard about you.

"What happens if we leave?"

The contract should spell out the notice period and confirm that accounts, creative files and landing pages stay with you. Get that in writing before you sign anything.

Reading the answers

The best agency conversations feel a little uncomfortable for the practice, because they expose gaps in intake, capacity and tracking. That discomfort is useful. Write down every question you couldn't answer during those meetings, and work through that list with your clinical director before the contract starts.