Before you sign with a digital marketing agency in Mumbai, ask ten questions: who will run my account, how will you report, who pays the ad platform, is ad spend separate from your fee, what is the notice period, what happens in the first 30 days, have you worked in my sector, how do you track enquiries, what don't you do, and when would you say we're not the right fit.
Search for "best digital marketing agency in Mumbai" and you get directories and lists, many written by agencies about themselves. A list can't tell you which agency fits your business. The answers to these questions can.
The ten questions
| # | Ask this | A good answer sounds like | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who will run my account day to day? | A named person, and how often you will speak | "Our team", with no names |
| 2 | How will you report results? | A sample report showing enquiries and cost per enquiry | Only impressions, reach and likes |
| 3 | Who pays Google or Meta for the ads? | You pay the platform directly and can see every invoice | Ad money goes through the agency with no platform invoices |
| 4 | Is ad spend separate from your fee? | Yes, with both amounts written down | One bundled number |
| 5 | What is the contract length and notice period? | Month-to-month, or a short term with clear exit terms | A 12-month lock-in before any results |
| 6 | What will you do in the first 30 days? | A specific list: tracking, landing page, first campaign | "We'll start with a strategy" and nothing concrete |
| 7 | Have you worked in my sector? | Examples, and what they learned from them | "Marketing is the same for every business" |
| 8 | How do you track calls, forms and WhatsApp enquiries? | A clear method you will have access to | "We'll look at that later" |
| 9 | What don't you do? | An honest list | "We do everything" |
| 10 | When would you tell me we're not the right fit? | A real example | They have never said no to a client |
Why these questions matter
Questions 1 and 2 are about who and how. A senior person often makes the sales pitch, and someone you have never met does the work. Ask to meet the person who will actually run the account. Then ask for a sample report. If it is full of impressions and reach but never mentions enquiries, that is how your results will be reported too.
Questions 3 and 4 are about money. The fee pays the agency. The ad budget pays Google or Meta. Keep them separate and visible, so you always know how much of your money reached the platform.
Questions 5 and 6 are about commitment. A long lock-in protects the agency, not you. A clear 30-day plan shows the agency has a process and has thought about your business in particular.
Questions 7 and 8 are about fit and proof. Sector experience saves months. An agency that has worked with clinics knows a patient enquiry is different from an e-commerce order. Tracking is what proves any of it worked.
Questions 9 and 10 are about honesty. No agency is good at everything. The ones worth hiring know where their edges are and will say so.
Retainer, project or pay-per-result: which pricing model?
| Model | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | A fixed fee each month for ongoing work | Continuous marketing: ads, SEO, social media |
| Project fee | A one-time price for a defined job | A website, an audit, a launch campaign |
| Performance-linked | The fee depends partly on results | Businesses with reliable tracking and enough volume |
Most small businesses start with a project (fix the foundations) and move to a retainer once there is something worth scaling. For actual figures, see how much digital marketing costs in India.
Red flags
- Guaranteed number-one ranking on Google. Nobody controls Google's results.
- Guaranteed lead numbers before they have studied your business.
- No access to your own data: you can't see the ad account, the analytics or the invoices.
- A long lock-in with a penalty for leaving.
- Reports without enquiries. Activity is not the same as results.
- Pressure to sign today.
Local or remote: does the agency need to be in Mumbai?
Most of the work happens online, so an agency can be anywhere. A Mumbai agency helps when local knowledge matters: which suburbs your customers travel from, how people in the city search, which languages your audience uses, and the option of meeting across a table. If your customers are local, local understanding is worth having.
How we answer these ourselves
It would be unfair to hand you a checklist and not answer it. Here is how DMarketing Cryptex answers the questions that have a factual answer:
- Contract: month-to-month, no lock-in. If it isn't working, you can stop.
- Ad spend: separate from our fee. You pay Google or Meta directly, and we never take a cut.
- Pricing: published on our services page: Starter ₹15,000–25,000, Growth ₹40,000–70,000 and Scale ₹1,00,000+ a month, as starting ranges.
- Reporting: a readable monthly report, and a monthly strategy call on the Growth package.
- Sectors: healthcare and fertility, dental, health-tech, D2C, manufacturing and B2B services, in India and for international markets.
- Fit: on the free call we tell you honestly whether we're the right fit, and who might be better if we're not. Sometimes the honest answer is that you need one fix, not a retainer.
- Who you deal with: the agency was founded in 2019 by Raj Vidhyadharan.
Ask us these ten questions
Book a Free Growth Check-Up: 30 minutes, no obligation, and you are welcome to bring this list. If you would rather see a suggested plan first, try the free Growth Engine planner.
Raj Vidhyadharan is the founder of DMarketing Cryptex, a digital marketing agency in Mumbai.