Delhi has hundreds of digital marketing agencies.
Every one of them will tell you they are the best. Every one of them will show you a deck full of impressive numbers, client logos, and promises of viral content and 10x ROAS.
So how do you choose the right one?
The answer is not in their portfolio. It is in the questions you ask before you sign anything.
This guide is written specifically for founders and business owners in Delhi, whether you are based in Rohini, Rajouri Garden, Pitampura, Karol Bagh, or anywhere in the NCR, who are evaluating digital marketing agencies and want to make a decision they will not regret in three months.
Here are the 10 questions you must ask every agency before you hire them.
Question 1: Do You Understand My Business — Or Just My Industry?
There is a difference between an agency that has worked with jewellery brands before and an agency that understands your jewellery brand, your price point, your customer, your competition, your city, your growth stage.
A good agency will ask you more questions than you ask them in the first meeting. They should want to understand your revenue model, your margins, your sales cycle, and your definition of success before they suggest a single strategy.
If an agency comes to the first meeting with a pre-built presentation and very little curiosity, that is a red flag.
What to ask: “What questions do you have for me about my business before we discuss your approach?”
Question 2: What Does the First 30 Days Actually Look Like?
Vague promises are easy. “We will grow your social media” and “we will run performance marketing campaigns” tell you nothing.
Ask the agency to walk you through exactly what happens in Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4 of the engagement. What gets set up? What gets audited? What gets approved? When does the first content go live? When does the first ad campaign launch?
A professional agency has a clear onboarding process and is not embarrassed to explain it in detail.
What to ask: “Can you walk me through what our first 30 days will look like, specifically?”
Question 3: Who Will Actually Be Working on My Account?
Many agencies in Delhi win business with senior founders and partners, and then hand the account to junior team members or interns.
You deserve to know exactly who will be managing your social media, who will be running your ads, and who will be responsible for your results. Ask to meet the team that will actually work on your account, not just the person who pitches you.
What to ask: “Who on your team will be the primary contact for my account, and what is their experience level?”
Question 4: How Do You Measure Success — And What Are You NOT Promising?
This question separates honest agencies from dishonest ones.
An honest agency will tell you clearly what they can and cannot control. They cannot guarantee viral content. They cannot guarantee a fixed number of leads. They cannot guarantee a specific search ranking within a fixed number of months. These things depend on your product, your market, your pricing, your website, and dozens of other variables.
What they can commit to is a structured strategy, consistent execution, transparent reporting, and continuous optimisation based on real data.
If an agency promises you guaranteed results, guaranteed leads, guaranteed ROAS, guaranteed rankings, ask them to put it in writing with a refund clause. Most will not.
What to ask: “What metrics will you report on monthly, and what are you explicitly not guaranteeing?”
Question 5: What Is Your Experience in My Specific Industry?
Industry experience matters, but it is not everything.
An agency that has worked with 10 jewellery brands understands the audience, the seasonal calendar, the content formats that work, and the common mistakes. That experience saves you time and money.
But do not make industry experience the only criterion. An agency with strong strategic thinking and deep marketing expertise can get up to speed on any industry quickly. What you want is strategic intelligence, not just industry familiarity.
What to ask: “Have you worked with businesses in my category or adjacent categories? What did you learn?”
Question 6: What Does Your Reporting Look Like?
Bad agencies send you a PDF at the end of the month with a follower count and some screenshots.
Good agencies send you a structured monthly report that covers every channel, organic reach, paid media performance, website traffic, leads generated, SEO ranking movement, cost per result, with a clear narrative explaining what worked, what did not, and what changes are being made as a result.
Ask to see a sample monthly report from an existing client (with sensitive data redacted). The quality of their reporting tells you everything about how seriously they take accountability.
What to ask: “Can you show me a sample monthly performance report?”
Question 7: Who Owns the Accounts and Creative Assets?
This is a legal and practical question that founders often forget to ask, until they want to leave an agency and discover they do not have access to their own ad accounts, social media handles, or creative files.
Every account — Meta Business Manager, Google Ads, Instagram, LinkedIn, website, should be owned and administered by you, the client. The agency should be a user on your accounts, not the account owner.
Similarly, all creative assets produced during the engagement should belong to you and be handed over in full upon termination.
What to ask: “Who will own the ad accounts and creative files, and what happens to them when the engagement ends?”
Question 8: How Do You Handle It When Things Are Not Working?
Every marketing engagement has periods where something does not perform. A campaign underperforms. An SEO strategy takes longer than expected. A content format does not resonate with the audience.
The question is not whether this will happen, it will. The question is how the agency responds when it does.
Good agencies identify underperformance early, communicate it transparently, propose a specific change, and implement it quickly. Bad agencies go quiet, make excuses, or keep doing the same thing hoping the results will improve.
What to ask: Can you give me an example of when something did not work for a client and how you handled it?
Question 9: What Is the Minimum Commitment and How Do I Exit?
Most digital marketing engagements in India require a 3-month minimum commitment, and that is reasonable. SEO, content, and paid media all require time to generate meaningful data and results.
But you should know exactly what the exit terms are. How much notice is required? What happens to work in progress? Is there a penalty for early termination?
Read the agreement carefully. Make sure account ownership, termination notice period, and data handover are all explicitly stated.
What to ask: “What are your minimum commitment period, notice period, and termination terms?”
Question 10: Why Should I Choose You Over the Other Agencies I Am Talking To?
This is the most revealing question on the list.
A good agency will give you a specific, honest answer, rooted in their actual strengths, their real track record, and their genuine understanding of your business. They will not just repeat generic phrases like “we are passionate” or “we are results-driven.”
A great agency will also tell you honestly if they are not the right fit for your specific needs, and refer you to someone who might be better suited. That kind of honesty is rare, and it is the mark of a team that is confident enough in their value to be selective about who they work with.
What to ask: Honestly, why should I choose you, and are there any situations where you would tell a client you are not the right fit?
The Bonus Question | Ask Yourself
Before you hire any agency, ask yourself one question:
Do I trust the people in this room to make decisions about my brand when I am not in the room?
Marketing requires judgment, creativity, speed, and the ability to act in your brand’s best interest without constant oversight. If the answer to that question is not a clear yes, keep looking.
What to Look for in a Digital Marketing Agency in Delhi
Beyond the 10 questions, here are the practical markers of a good agency:
Transparency over promises. An agency that tells you what they cannot do is more trustworthy than one that promises everything.
Strategy before execution. The best agencies start by understanding your business, not by immediately proposing a content calendar.
Clear ownership and accountability. You own everything. They execute on your behalf.
Consistent communication. A weekly check-in, a 15-day content calendar, and a monthly performance report are the minimum standards of professional engagement.
References you can actually call. Ask for two or three existing client contacts and call them without the agency on the line.
About Tomto Lemon
Tomto Lemon is a Delhi-based brand growth and digital marketing agency working with founders across India. We specialise in brand strategy, social media management, SEO, performance marketing, website design, and founder personal branding.
We have two offices, Rohini Sector 13 & Rajouri Garden in Delhi & Ahemdabad, and work with clients across jewellery, EdTech, D2C, healthcare, architecture, financial services, agrochemicals, fitness, and more.
If you are evaluating digital marketing agencies in Delhi and want a straight conversation about what we do and whether we are the right fit for you, get in touch with us here.
We promise to answer Question 10 honestly.