10 questions to ask a marketing agency in Dubai before you sign
Ask a marketing agency ten specific questions about people, money, access, tracking and exit terms, and judge the proposal by how concrete the answers are.
Ask a marketing agency ten specific questions about who does the work, what the fee covers, who owns the ad accounts, how a WhatsApp lead gets counted, and when you would both agree to stop. Judge the proposal by the answers: names, numbers and access rights tell you more than any deck.
Most proposals in Dubai look alike. They show a strategy slide, a list of platforms, a monthly retainer and a few logos. The differences show up when you ask uncomfortable questions in the first meeting. Below are the ten I would ask, why each one matters, and what a good and a weak answer sound like.
If you are still deciding whether to hire an agency or a marketer on staff, the Savage Media journal has a cost breakdown of in-house vs agency in Dubai. This article assumes you have chosen the agency route and now hold two or three proposals.
1. Who will work on my account, by name?
The person who sells to you is often not the person who runs your campaigns. Ask for the names and roles of everyone who will touch your account, and how many other clients each of them handles.
What to listen for:
- A good answer: "Your campaigns are run by one named specialist, who also manages six other accounts. You will talk to them directly on WhatsApp."
- A weak answer: "A group of experts will handle everything."
Ask one follow-up: does any part of the work go to a subcontractor or a freelancer outside the agency? That is fine if they tell you up front. Finding out in month three is a problem.
2. What exactly is the fee, and what is ad spend?
Ask the agency to split the proposal into two lines: their management fee and the media budget that goes to the platforms. Then ask three more things:
- Is the 5% UAE VAT included or added on top?
- Whose card pays the platform invoices: yours or the agency's?
- If the agency pays and re-bills you, do you see the original platform invoices?
A proposal of "AED 5,000 per month, all inclusive" can mean AED 4,000 of work and AED 1,000 of ads, or the opposite. Hypothetical example: two agencies both quote AED 5,000. One spends AED 3,500 on ads, the other AED 1,500. The second one looks the same on paper and buys less than half the traffic.
3. Who owns the ad accounts, pixel and data?
Your company should be the owner of every account the campaigns depend on. The agency gets access to them. Ask the agency to confirm each row of this table in writing:
| Asset | Owner | Agency access |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Business portfolio (ad account, pixel, page) | Your company | Added as a partner with assigned assets |
| Google Ads account | Your company | Linked to the agency's manager account, your admin stays |
| Google Analytics 4 | Your company | Editor role |
| Google Tag Manager | Your company | Publish rights, you keep Admin |
| TikTok Ads (Business Center) | Your company | Partner access |
| Domain, website hosting, WhatsApp Business number | Your company | Only what the work needs |
Then ask: "If we part ways in month four, what do I keep?" The right answer is "everything: accounts, pixel history, audiences, campaigns, reports." If the agency builds campaigns inside its own ad account, you leave with nothing, and the next contractor starts from zero data.
Write down the admin email for each account before you sign. Use an address on your company domain that you control, such as [email protected].
4. How will you count a lead that comes through WhatsApp?
In Dubai, many customers skip the form and tap WhatsApp. That breaks most reporting, because the conversation happens on a phone and the ad platform never sees it.
Ask the agency to walk you through the full path: ad, landing page, click on the WhatsApp button, message, and how that message gets tagged with its source. Good answers mention UTM parameters, click tracking on the WhatsApp button, and a way to mark the source inside the chat or the CRM. There is a separate guide on tracking leads from WhatsApp back to their source.
Context from the data: the Savage Media study of 537 Dubai venue websites (checked October 2026) found that 33.0% had no analytics at all. Of the 409 sites analysed in full, only 34.0% had a WhatsApp button. If your own site has the same gaps, the agency should tell you to fix them before spending on ads.
5. What do you expect in month one, and what number makes us stop?
Ask for an expected range and a stop rule, both in writing.
Hypothetical example: a clinic gives the agency AED 4,000 for the first four weeks. The agency expects 40 to 80 WhatsApp conversations, so AED 50 to 100 per conversation. The stop rule: "If cost per conversation is above AED 150 after the first AED 2,000 is spent, we pause, then change the offer or the channel." Now both sides know what failure looks like before the money is gone.
Ask one more question: what counts as a conversation? A first "hi" from a bot click and a message asking for a price and a date are different things. Agree which one the report will count.
Any agency that guarantees a fixed number of leads or sales is promising something it does not control. Auction prices change, competitors raise bids, your audience behaves its own way. In my experience, the honest answer includes a number, a time frame and a condition. Ask what the agency needs from you to hit the range: response time on WhatsApp, prices on the site, photos, an offer.
6. Why this channel for my business?
Many proposals default to Instagram and Facebook ads because they are easy to sell. My position: Instagram targeting in Dubai is crowded, and the efficiency figures in sales decks are often invented. I look for places where competitors do not advertise, and I put weight on SEO and on how the business handles the customer after the first message. More on this in why Instagram ads disappoint in Dubai.
I run ads myself on TikTok, Instagram, Google and Yandex, and on less obvious platforms such as Pinterest and Threads. So the question to the agency is: "Why this channel for my customers, and which channel did you consider and reject?"
Ask about click prices too. In OpenSEO data (October 2026, UAE), clicks on commercial SEO searches cost $23 to $43, and "web design dubai" sits near $21. Hypothetical example: at $21, or about AED 77, a monthly budget of AED 3,000 buys around 39 clicks. The agency should show you this math for your niche. The cost per click data by industry gives starting points.
7. What happens after the click?
Ask the agency to open the page where your ads will send people, on a phone, in the meeting. Then ask:
- Can a person book, call or message in one tap?
- Are prices or at least starting prices visible?
- Does the page load fast on mobile data?
The same Savage Media study found that 76 of 409 analysed Dubai venue sites (18.6%) say "book" in their text but offer neither online booking nor WhatsApp. Ads sent to a page like that pay for visits that go nowhere. A good agency either fixes the page as part of the work or tells you that the budget will be wasted until someone does.
8. Can I see a real report?
Ask for a report the agency sent to a current client, with the client's name and figures hidden if needed. You are checking its structure, so blurred numbers are fine.
A useful report shows spend, conversations or leads by source, cost per lead, what changed since last month and what the agency will test next. A weak report shows reach, impressions and "engagement" with no link to money.
Ask how often you get it and who explains it. A monthly call where someone walks you through three numbers is worth more than a 30-page PDF.
9. Who makes the creative, and who checks the rules?
Ads need photos and video. Ask whether the fee covers new creative each month, how many pieces, and who shoots them. If you need to send your own material, you should know that before signing.
Then ask about rules. If the agency uses influencers, they need the correct UAE advertiser permit and must label paid content. Music in Reels and ads needs rights for commercial use. Clinics, real estate, finance and food each have their own advertising rules. Ask the agency who checks this and who pays if a post breaks the rules. For specific cases, check the current requirements with the media regulator or a lawyer. The Savage journal covers ad disclosure rules in the UAE in detail.
10. What is the notice period, and what do I get when I leave?
Read the termination clause before you read the strategy. Ask:
- Minimum term: one month, three, six, twelve?
- Notice period in days.
- What the agency hands over at exit: account access, creative files, reports, campaign settings.
- Who owns the photos and videos made for your ads.
A long minimum term with a short trial is a risk you carry alone. What annoys me most in this market is overpricing and agencies selling work that does not deliver. A contract you cannot leave lets both continue.
What not to do
- Do not sign a proposal where fee and ad budget are one number.
- Do not let the agency create ad accounts under its own name.
- Do not start ads before WhatsApp clicks are tracked. You will pay for a month of data you cannot read.
- Do not accept "brand awareness" as the only goal if you need bookings or calls.
- Do not compare agencies by number of platforms. Two channels run well beat five run by one junior.
- Do not ignore your own side. If nobody answers WhatsApp within an hour, no agency can fix the result.
- Do not pay for a year upfront to get a discount before you have seen one monthly report.
Checklist
| # | Question | Good answer contains |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who works on my account? | Names, roles, number of other clients, subcontractors disclosed |
| 2 | Fee vs ad spend? | Two separate lines, VAT stated, who pays platform invoices |
| 3 | Who owns accounts and data? | Your company is the owner of every account, agency has partner access |
| 4 | How is a WhatsApp lead counted? | UTM, click tracking, source tagged in chat or CRM |
| 5 | Month-one range and stop rule? | A range, a time frame, a condition to pause, a definition of "conversation" |
| 6 | Why this channel? | Reasoning for your customers, rejected options, click cost math |
| 7 | What happens after the click? | Landing page checked on mobile, one-tap contact |
| 8 | Sample report? | Spend, leads by source, cost per lead, next tests |
| 9 | Creative and rules? | Volume per month, who shoots, who checks permits and music rights |
| 10 | Exit terms? | Short minimum term, notice in days, full handover list |
Before the second meeting, send the agency this table and ask for written answers to all ten rows.
Questions and answers
Should the agency fee and the ad budget be in one number?
Ask for them as two separate lines. The fee pays for the work, the budget goes to Meta, Google or TikTok. If they are merged, you cannot tell how much of your money reached the platform.
Who should own the Meta Business Manager and Google Ads account?
Your company should own them, and the agency should get partner or user access. If the agency leaves, you keep the pixel history, audiences and campaign data.
Is it a red flag if an agency guarantees a number of leads?
Yes. Nobody controls auction prices or how your audience behaves. A serious agency gives you an expected range and a rule for when to stop or change course.
How long should a trial period with a new agency be?
Long enough for the tracking to work and for the first campaigns to collect data, often one to three months. Agree on a written review point before you start.