How to Choose a Marketing Agency in Bulgaria

What should a marketing agency achieve?

Before comparing agencies, write down your business goal. It could be more calls for a service, enquiries from companies, online store sales or better positioning in Google. “Be more visible” is not a sufficient goal because it does not show how you will know whether the work is worthwhile.

Describe the customer you want to reach as well. For a B2B company, this could be the manager of a manufacturing company in a particular city. For a local service, it could be people looking for a specific solution and ready to call. The agency should be able to turn this description into keywords, audiences, messages and an action on the website.

Check whether the proposal covers the entire journey to the result. Advertising that leads to a slow page with no form or phone number cannot be fixed with better ad copy alone. Sometimes the problem lies with the website, tracking or the way the team handles enquiries.

How do you compare the services of two agencies?

Make a table of the services you need instead of comparing general promises. One agency may be strong in Google Ads but have no SEO content specialist. Another may write good copy but not set up tracking for phone calls and forms.

Look for a clear distinction between strategy, execution and the advertising budget. The agency fee is not the same as the amount you pay to Google or Meta. Also ask for it to be specified who creates the copy, who approves the creative and who is responsible for the technical setup.

How do you assess experience and portfolio?

A portfolio is not a list of attractive homepages. It should show whether the agency has worked with a business model similar to yours: local services, an online store, B2B sales, a subscription service or a complex product with a long decision cycle.

Open several projects and look at the specific elements. Are there separate pages for the services? Is there a clear enquiry form? Is the phone number visible on a mobile screen? Is it explained how visitors get to a contact, purchase or booking? For an online store, check the search, filters, delivery and payment—not just the design.

See how the agency presents the Dobrite Hamali project. There, the marketing work is not separate from the website: it includes a price calculator, Google Ads integration and call tracking. This is more telling than a promise of “more traffic” because it shows how the channel and the page work together.

Ask to speak with the person who will work on your account, not just a salesperson. Ask what they personally have done, what they learned from an unsuccessful campaign and which decisions they would reject for your business.

How do you know whether the strategy is real?

A good strategy starts with research into the services, competitors, searches and points at which potential customers drop off. It then sets out the priorities: which pages will be improved, which campaigns will be launched, what messages will be tested and what materials your team needs to provide.

For SEO, ask for more than a list of keywords. There should be a plan for technical issues, headings, internal links, service pages and content that answers customers’ real questions. Clarify who checks the facts, especially for technical, medical, financial or regulatory topics.

For Google Ads, check whether the agency will separate searches by intent. Someone searching for a price is not at the same stage as someone looking for general information. Geographic targeting, ad schedules, negative keywords, ad extensions and the page the ad leads to are also important.

For Facebook ads, ask how audiences will be selected and what will be tested. An ad can use different copy for someone who has already visited the website and someone seeing the brand for the first time. If the agency promises results before even seeing the website, the offer deserves further scrutiny.

How are marketing results measured?

Before you start, define what counts as a conversion. It could be a purchase, a submitted form, a phone call, a booked appointment or a quote request. If all these actions are counted equally, the report may look good without showing which enquiries actually generate revenue.

Ask for access to Google Ads, Meta Business Manager, Google Analytics and the tracking tools. The accounts should be in your company’s name, or you should have administrator access. That way, you will not lose the history, audiences and data if you end the contract.

The monthly report should answer several practical questions: what was planned, what was done, what changed, what results were achieved and what the next hypothesis is. A table of clicks without an explanation is not analysis. It is a good sign when the agency also points out what is not working.

Agree on how data is passed to the sales team as well. If an employee does not record where a call came from or does not process forms promptly, the advertising will look weaker than it is. For a more complex process, you may need a connection between the website, CRM and advertising platforms.

What kind of communication should you expect?

Clarify who your point of contact is, how often meetings take place and how quickly questions are answered. Ask for a schedule for approving copy and ads. If your team needs to provide photos, prices, technical specifications or expert comments, this should be part of the process—not a surprise after signing.

A good agency does not push every decision back to the client. It asks precise questions, presents options and explains the risk. At the same time, it should not change prices, offers or product claims without your approval.

Treat the Content Creation service as a separate process: topics, brief, writing, editing and publishing. For ads and landing pages, the content should be tied to a specific campaign, not produced from a template simply to have something to publish.

What should you check in the contract?

The contract should describe the services, frequency of work, notice period, approval process and what happens when campaigns are paused. Check whether there is a minimum term and whether you can end the work with unused budget, undelivered materials or unfinished tasks.

Clarify ownership of the advertising accounts, pixels, analytics profiles, audiences, copy, designs and recorded materials. Ask for a procedure for handing over access. If the agency keeps everything in one shared account, switching agencies may mean starting from scratch.

Read the clauses on confidentiality and portfolio use. If you will provide customer lists, contracts, prices or internal data, it should be clear how they are stored and who has access to them. Do not accept verbal promises about matters that are important to the business.

How do you compare agency pricing?

Compare like-for-like scope, not just the final amount. An offer for Google Ads management may not include ad copy, a landing page, conversion tracking setup or monthly analysis. A cheap offer with few hours may prove unsuitable if nobody reviews the quality of the enquiries.

The advertising budget is planned separately from the agency fee. Ask for scenarios with different scopes and a clear description of what is excluded at a lower budget. This way, you can compare a real process rather than just a promise of a low monthly price.

How to choose an agency step by step

1. 01
   Describe the goal and baseline data

   List your services or products, target customers, regions, average order value and how enquiries currently come in. Prepare access to the website, advertising accounts and analytics, but do not send passwords by email.

2. 02
   Select several suitable agencies

   Look for experience with your type of sales, not just a general portfolio. Shortlist agencies that work with the channels you need and can show actual pages, campaigns or processes.

3. 03
   Ask the same questions

   Send a brief and ask each agency for a starting plan, the access it needs, both parties' responsibilities, reporting and limitations. This will allow you to compare the proposals based on their content.

4. 04
   Check the people and tools

   Find out who will write, set up, analyse and communicate. Make sure the agency works in your accounts or gives you administrator access, and that it can track forms and calls.

5. 05
   Start with a measurable first stage

   Agree on specific tasks for the initial period: an audit, tracking setup, first campaigns, priority pages and a report. Do not leave the first months as an unlimited “testing” period without decision-making criteria.

When is an agency probably not a good fit?

Be wary of guarantees of first place on Google, a specific number of sales or instant results without an analysis of the market and the offer. No one has full control over the competition, demand, seasonality or the way your team handles customers.

Another warning sign is a proposal that asks no questions. If the agency does not want to know your margin, service areas, delivery constraints, team capacity or reasons for lost deals, it will struggle to choose the right campaigns.

Do not accept a report that hides the data or uses only vague terms. You should understand what has been done and be able to decide on the next step, even when the result is weaker than expected.

What should you ask before signing?

• Who specifically will work on the account, and who will cover for them during their absence?
• Which services are included, and which are quoted separately?
• How will calls, forms, purchases and the quality of enquiries be tracked?
• Who owns the advertising accounts, audiences, analytics profiles and content created?
• What will the first report look like, and what decision will we make based on it?
• What is the notice period, and how will access be handed over upon termination?

When comparing proposals, weigh these answers against your goals, not against advertising promises. The right agency should be able to explain how it will work with your team, which limitations it can already see and how it will connect marketing with the actual sales process.