To choose the right B2B content marketing agency, look past the portfolio and check four things: how they'll learn your business, who actually writes the content and who checks it, what they'll report beyond traffic, and what you own if you leave. An agency that can answer those clearly, in writing, is usually one that can write well for a company like yours. One that's vague on any of them will be vague in the content too.
Here's how to compare agencies, the questions to ask on the first call, and the warning signs worth walking away from.
Start with what you need the content to do
Before you call anyone, write down the job. One line each. "More content" isn't a job. These are:
- Get found when a buyer searches for the services we sell, in the areas we serve.
- Give our sales team something useful to send after a first meeting.
- Show up when someone asks an AI assistant who to call for what we do.
- Explain a complicated service so buyers arrive already understanding it.
Different jobs need different agencies. A firm that writes beautiful thought-leadership articles for software companies, the kind with big ideas and few specifics, may be completely the wrong fit for a mechanical contractor who needs to rank for searches like "boiler repair" plus a city name and has never once been asked about thought leadership by a customer. Knowing the job lets you hear which agencies are describing it back to you, and which are reciting a standard pitch.
Questions for the first call
How will you learn our business?
The best B2B content comes from your people. The estimator who knows why bids differ. The project manager who knows what goes wrong. Ask exactly how the agency gets that knowledge out of them. A kickoff call, a recorded interview each month, reviews by your team before anything goes live? If the answer is "we research online," expect content anyone could have written.
Who writes it, and does anyone check it?
Ask whether AI tools are used, and ask how. Fair question. A good agency will answer it without squirming. Google's helpful content guidance asks whether content is written or reviewed by an expert who knows the topic well, and it suggests disclosing automation where a reader might wonder how a page was made. What you want to hear is that a person who understands your industry edits every piece, and that your team can review before publishing.
What do you report, and how often?
Pageviews alone tell you very little. Ask for search impressions and clicks from Google Search Console, which reports how many times your site appeared in Search results and how often people clicked. Ask how they'll show calls and form fills from content. Ask who you'll talk to each month. Get names.
What happens to the content if we leave?
It should be yours. On your website, with no fee to keep it. Check the contract for this before anything else, because it's the clause that decides whether two years of work stays with your company or quietly disappears the month you switch providers, and it's far easier to settle before you sign than after. Also check the term length. The notice period. What's in the price, and what gets billed as extra.
What results should we expect, and when?
Google's own page on hiring an SEO lists this exact question, along with asking for examples of past work and whether the firm follows Google's guidelines. Google also warns that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, and says to be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what it intends to do. Same rules here.
Warning signs
- A promise of rankings, traffic numbers or a set count of leads.
- A price per word with no strategy attached.
- Samples that read the same no matter which industry they're for.
- No plan to talk to anyone at your company.
- Content hosted on a site or platform they control, which you lose if you leave.
- A pitch built on volume. More posts help only if each one answers something a buyer asks.
Comparing agencies side by side
| What to compare | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Industry experience | Examples from companies that sell to the same kind of buyer you do |
| Process | A named person interviews your team, and you review before publishing |
| Scope | A written list of what's included each month: posts, pages, guides, technical fixes |
| Reporting | Search Console data, calls and form fills, explained by a person |
| Ownership | All content stays on your site and belongs to you |
| Contract | A clear term, a clear price and what costs extra |
Where Inbound SDR sits
Content is one part of Inbound SDR, Abstrakt's SEO and AI search program. In the first month we build a website of up to 100 pages around every service you sell and every area you serve. Then a new blog goes out every business day, published on your site and posted to up to 3 social platforms. You get one white paper to start and a guide for every product or service, a dedicated strategist, and a monthly report. Packages start at $1,000 per month on a 12-month term, and the content lives on your site.
On the volume question we'll give you the same answer we gave above: daily posting earns nothing on its own, and the only reason it's worth doing is that every topic comes from what your buyers actually ask, which is why the plan starts with your services, your areas and the questions your own team hears on calls and site visits. It isn't a fit if you want email campaigns, paid ads or video production, since none are included. And if you already have an in-house writer who knows your trade, you may only need help with the technical side.
Not sure where you stand? Our Free AI Visibility Check looks at your website, mobile speed, whether you come up in a local search, and what an AI assistant says when a buyer asks who to call. No email needed.
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