Buyer's guide

Can a marketing agency get results in my industry? How to check

By Stefan Twomey, Co-Founder, Performance Marketing20 October 20267 min read

Short answer: a marketing agency can usually get results in your industry if it has already worked with a business that sells the way you sell. How your customer buys matters more than the industry label: the size of the purchase, how long the decision takes, and what they need to see before they trust you. Ask for a named case study from a comparable business, with numbers and a time period, and be wary of any agency that guarantees a number of leads, because an honest one can promise the work, the tracking and the reporting, but not the result.

Does an agency need experience in your exact industry?

Industry experience helps, but it is not the main test. A stove fitter and a solar installer are different trades, yet both sell a high-value job to a homeowner who has to trust the people coming into their house. An agency that has done that well for one can usually do it for the other. A foot clinic selling appointments is a different problem again.

So change the question from "have you worked in my industry?" to "have you worked with a business that sells like mine?" Then compare the price of what you sell, how long the decision takes, and whether the customer buys online, books an appointment or waits for a quote.

What transfers from one industry to another, and what doesn't?

What transfers:

• Filming real customers and staff so they sound natural, not rehearsed.
• Conversion tracking, so Meta and Google optimise towards enquiries, not clicks.
• Testing several hooks and formats at once, then moving budget to the ones that bring enquiries.
• Reading cost per lead and spotting creative fatigue before it drags results down.

What has to be learned for your business:

• Your offer, your margins and the cost per lead you can afford.
• Your area, your competitors and your seasons.
• The questions buyers ask before they pick up the phone, and the claims you can and cannot make in an ad.
• What happens after the enquiry. How fast your team calls back can change the outcome as much as the ad does.

The creative angle often changes too. For StepRight, foot health is a subject most people scroll straight past, so the ads led with short comic sketches and a reel built around the clinic's 3D foot scanner rather than a list of treatments.

What should a marketing agency's case studies show?

A marketing agency's case studies should let you check five things for yourself. Logos are not proof, and nor is "a 300% increase" with no starting point.

1. A named client you can look up, not "a leading Dublin retailer".
2. A number with a time period. "27 leads in a month" tells you something. "Tripled leads" does not.
3. A definition of a lead. A landing-page form, a phone call and a one-tap instant form are not the same quality of enquiry.
4. What was actually done: which platforms, what content, how often it changed.
5. A client voice you can verify, such as a Google review or a named quote.

Here is the kind of detail to look for, using two of our own clients. Dream Home Co., a North Dublin stove and fireplace company, has had monthly filming and Meta and Google ads from us since December 2024. In one month that work produced over 108,000 impressions, a 3.11% click-through rate and 27 leads. Since December 2025 their Meta campaign has sent people to a landing page rather than an instant form, so every enquiry arrives with some intent behind it. Evolve Eco Solutions, a solar installer, has had more than 12,000 leads over 18 months from customer testimonials and short explainers run on YouTube and Meta as one funnel. Whichever agency you talk to, ask the follow-up questions too: which month, what counted as a lead, and how the work changed over time.

How can you check an agency's claims yourself?

• Look up the ads. Meta's Ad Library lets anyone search the ads currently active on Facebook and Instagram, so you can see whether a named client is really advertising. Google's Ads Transparency Center does the same for verified advertisers on Search, YouTube and Display.
• Read the Google reviews clients left for the agency, not just the testimonials on its website.
• Ask to speak to a current client whose customers buy the way yours do.
• Watch the work. Was it filmed for that business, or is it stock footage?
• Check how long clients stay. One good month can be luck. Eighteen months of repeat work is much harder to fake.

Can a marketing agency guarantee results?

No honest agency can guarantee a number of leads or sales. Too much sits outside its control: the price of the ad auction, what competitors spend, the strength of your offer, the season, and how quickly your team follows up. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google." Its policy for agencies that manage Google Ads lists guaranteeing top placement, and promising success or performance beyond what can reasonably be achieved, as examples of false, misleading or unrealistic claims.

If you are offered a lead guarantee, check three things: what counts as a lead, what conditions apply before it kicks in, and what you get if the number is missed. A guarantee counted in instant-form submissions, whether or not anyone answers the phone, is easy to hit and does little for your sales.

What questions should you ask a marketing agency before you sign?

1. Which of your clients sells most like we do, and what happened? Ask for the numbers, the time period and roughly what was spent.
2. What counts as a lead in your reports, and can we see the leads themselves, not just the total?
3. Who owns the ad accounts and the videos? Your ad accounts should be in your business's name, with the agency given access. Google requires agencies that manage Google Ads to give clients their customer ID when asked, so you can contact Google directly if you ever have a concern about the agency.
4. Is ad spend paid to Meta and Google directly, or through you? If it goes through the agency, ask for the platform cost separately from the fee. Google's transparency policy says that when agencies share Google cost data, it must be the exact amount Google charged, excluding their own fees.
5. What gets set up before the first euro is spent? Tracking on the website and forms should come first.
6. How often will the creative change? Ads wear out, and one video run for six months will usually fade.
7. Who actually does the work? Is the filming outsourced? Who runs the ads day to day?

What are the red flags when choosing a marketing agency?

• Guaranteed leads or rankings.
• Case studies with no client names, no time period and only percentages.
• Reports built on reach, views and followers rather than enquiries and cost per lead.
• An ad account set up in the agency's name, or reluctance to give you access.
• A package and a price before anyone has asked about your margins, your area or how you follow up leads.
• Pressure to sign this week.

What if no agency has worked in your exact industry?

Judge how they learn. A good first conversation is mostly questions about your business: what a customer is worth to you, what buyers ask before they commit, and who follows up enquiries and how fast. Then agree a defined test before anything is spent: what will be made, which platforms, how long it runs, and the numbers you will judge it on. If you need a budget figure first, our video production cost guide has Irish market ranges.

How does Blue Motion Media show it can get results for your business?

We started in Dublin in 2024 and work with businesses across Ireland, so "how new are you?" and "have you done this for a business like mine?" are fair questions to ask us or any agency. Our answer is the case studies: named clients, the work itself, and numbers with a time period where we have them. Our case studies are in solar, home improvement, golf retail, a foot clinic, events and schools, and our industries page lists the sectors where we have done the work and can show the numbers.

We don't guarantee results, and anyone who does is over-promising. What we do is the work itself: video shot and edited by our own crew, conversion tracking through Google Tag Manager before the ads go live, testing and scaling the ads that bring enquiries, and a monthly report on leads and cost per lead. The first step is a 30-minute strategy call.

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