How to Choose the Right Marketing Agency in Florida (2026 Guide)

 

As Florida competition increases and ad costs continue rising into 2026, choosing the right marketing agency matters more than ever. This guide is a raw, unfiltered, come to Jesus article highlighting good -vs- bad marketing partners. Why did we write this? Because were sick of bad marketers ruining our profession.  

We see it, we feel it…the pause, skepticism, and doubt. When we’re out networking and meeting business owners for the first time and tell them “we do marketing”… we can see the painful memories of their past vendors coming back to haunt them. 

Hiring a marketing agency should not feel like a gamble. It should feel exciting that you’ve selected the right partner to help you grow your business because the right marketing partner strengthens your business, has a consultative approach, and brings a level of clarity to your marketing efforts that most businesses rarely experience. The wrong partner drains your budget, gives vague answers, and forces you into this black box of services that fits their revenue goals, not yours!

Florida service businesses face conditions that many agencies simply aren’t built for. Attorneys, medical groups, home service companies, hospitality brands, and local service operators work in a territory where costs run higher, competition stays intense, and demand changes quickly throughout the year. That means you can’t just hire a vendor who simply runs ads or posts on social media. You need someone who understands how Florida behaves, how your industry behaves, how the funnels work, and how to build campaigns around measurable growth, not wishful thinking.

This guide breaks down how to assess an agency with clarity, what questions matter, and what signals tell you to walk away. We wrote this to be helpful because we see it often where businesses are burned by these fake marketing “gurus” that literally started their business yesterday, present well, and sell you on pipe-dreams. 

Reality check for business owners. Marketing should not be a set-and-forget task. Even with an agency. Your marketing agency is your partner, they keep you informed, guide you, spot opportunities, and push back on decisions that might not be in your businesses best interest. You want to be involved. You should want to know what channels are performing, which creatives work best, and who your audience is because it’s YOUR BUSINESS. Being a partner back to your marketing agency, vendor, or staff member is how you will get the most from your marketing. 

With all that being said. We wrote this article in hopes of shedding light on what a proper marketing partner should look like from our years of experience, trials & errors, success and losses. We hope this brings you new found value for marketing, knowing there are partners out there that deeply care about your success. 

For the sake of consistency, in this article we will use ‘agency/agencies’ when talking about marketing partners, marketing vendors, marketing “gurus.

Want to skip the 3 minute (highly valuable) read & talk to an expert?  Book your free strategy session now

Let’s dive!

 

 

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1. Start With the Only Question That Matters First 🧐 “Does This Marketing Agency Understand My Florida Business?”

There’s countless marketing partners available today. The barriers to entry are low, anyone can open an LLC, play with Meta & Google Ads, post on social media and call themselves a marketer. But, that is not all that makes a “marketer.” A true market knows how to put themselves in your consumers mindset, understands the market (location) you do business in, your customer journey,  and what strategies need to be implemented to win business. 

The bad agencies treat all businesses the same. They put each business they service into these “black box” of service offerings because it helps them optimize their time & scale their business. Don’t get me wrong, this is important to do but not when it costs the client (you) missed revenue. The problem with a limited service offering is that it prevents the agency from expanding on opportunities that will benefit their clients campaigns without charging the client extra. Let’s use an example. 

Let’s say a bad agency is offering a law firm an SEO package in Florida. What they tend to do is treat that new client like any other client and limit the amount of work they do on their campaigns based on the monthly retainer. Meaning, they might only offer a hyper-local strategy for your SEO (your immediate zipcode only) but not offer expanding into new markets (zipcodes or cities) because of how much you are paying them per month. The lower the monthly retainer, the less value you get. 

Now, let’s clear the air a bit. This doesn’t mean, any agency should do everything and anything in regards to SEO for your business, unless the retainer & scope call for it. There should be parameters based on what was agreed upon in any contract. On the flip-side, your agency should not be limiting so much of their efforts that it hinders your growth. This is exactly why we say, as a business owner it is important for you to be as much of a partner to your agency as they are to you. It will be important for you to understand the unique balance of getting your money’s worth and respecting your agency’s time & effort. A good marketing partner will advise and work with you on these aspects.  

Let’s drill this down a bit more. Florida is its own unique market and has its own competitive rhythm, right? There’s high season and low season for many industries, consumers travel differently than those in NYC, and our demographics are different than those in Montana.Good agencies understand this (and more) and bad agencies overlook it and will give you a strategy that misses the mark.

Let’s bring back our law firm example from earlier and say it’s a personal injury law firm. Now,  the bad agency is running Google ad campaigns for them and just does a geo-targeted ad with a radius around the law firm’s office. Sounds smart, right? Wrong! Did that bad agency take the time to understand which markets have the highest policy rates? Did they run a cost analysis on keywords and/or specific markets, Broward -vs- Palm Beach? Probably not. 

Florida is expensive! So having a good agency partner understands how to be efficient with your advertising budget is important. Click costs are higher, competition pushes harder, and demand swings based on weather, tourism waves, snowbird cycles, and regional behavior. If a bad agency doesn’t account for these elements in their strategy presentation then they’re not ready for this market. 

A Florida-ready marketing partner will understand factors such as:

• How counties differ in volume, demographics, and cost
• The way tourism shifts demand day-to-day and season-to-season
• How storm season impacts urgency and behavior for specific industries
• Why mobile-first planning matters more here than many other states
• How real Florida conversion patterns differ from national averages

This isn’t trivial, these things affect your budget, your funnel, and your monthly revenue. When interviewing marketing partners you want to ask open ended questions that get them talking. 

Your goal should be to learn their experience in your industry, the market you’re in (location), and what their strategy might be. Please note, depending on when this conversation happens, they may have limited insight into their strategy for your business because you could be asking them this on the first initial discovery call but, if they are experienced and reviewed your business in advance (which they should) they will be able to answer with a  top line idea of what could work but say something like “more exact details of our strategy will be shared once we do our research” 

A few open ended questions you can ask include;

“Share with me how you’ve helped other service businesses meet their marketing goals” 

“Whats the one strategy you’re seeing as the most beneficial for my goals/industry?”

“What trends are you seeing with my industry in Florida?”

“Give me a breakdown of how you manage our ad spend?” (Thats the money used to pay Meta, Google etc for advertising)

Do you have any relevant case studies you can walk me through that highlight your strategy?”

“If this was your business, what would you recommend for the first 90 days?”

If the marketing agency you’re interviewing cannot answer these questions clearly, or they don’t sound like they know what they are talking about by expanding on the questions, then that’s your sign to move on.

The next sections goes a bit further into strategy and what to look for when interviews marketing partners.

 

 

 

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2. Look Past Buzzwords! 🥱 Can They Explain Strategy Without Hiding Behind Jargon?

If an agency cannot explain its thinking without slipping into vague phrases, that’s not a strategy. That’s a script.

A real strategist should break things down in a way that feels grounded in actual business logic. When they speak, you should hear how they approach revenue, demand, and decision-making, not a mix of marketing or Ai phrases that sound impressive but say nothing.

As mentioned above, the answers your marketing partner give about strategy will differ depending on the stage you are in. If you’re on an initial discovery(interview) call then their answers should be more top level but sound. The reason I say “should” is because they are just meeting you for the first time and will be learning your business goals. They should have at least researched your business digital presence to understand what you’re doing from a consumer POV but, that’s just a piece of the puzzle. 

If you’re past the discovery call phase and they are presenting their strategy to meet your business goals, then their answers will need to be more thorough and thought out. Side note, if your agency is NOT presenting to you a strategy of how they will execute your marketing to meet your goals, they are just winging it and you should stop the call immediately and tell them to come back with a plan. If they don’t, they are not a real marketing partner.

For example, at our agency, if we are on an initial discovery call, we already researched the company, have a top-level strategy we think we would want to implement but come to that call with questions that help us refine that strategy for the pitch call. Once on the pitch call we walk the clients through their current situation because we audited not only their online presence but their backend data as well. We highlight what’s working, not working (and why), and highlight how things can be fixed. Mapping out our strategy along the way so the client can feel assured we put the proper thought into a plan and their investment in us is worth it.  

A strong agency partner talks in terms that connect directly to your businesses growth:

• How your goals translate to media tactics, costs, and the proper channels
• How your prospects move from awareness to action
• How your funnel produces qualified leads, not just inquiries
• How your lead quality affects your revenue path
• How tracking influences what decisions they make next
• How content and creative shape intent
• How conversion rates shift based on geographic and seasonal patterns
• How cost-per-lead targets are set based on revenue, not hope

If you leave a call more confused than when you joined or uncertain if the plan will work, that’s not your error. It means they lack clarity themselves. You should leave any strategy call confident that the marketing partner knows what they are doing for your business goals

 

 

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3. Case Studies and Reviews Matter 📊 But You Need to Read Them Carefully

Case studies can tell you more about an agency’s maturity than any sales pitch. A team that delivers real results shows you real numbers, real timelines, and real examples from industries that behave like yours.

EAch case study will be different and highlight different KPIs as well as the tactics used based on industry, where your business stands currently, budget, and of course the service/product being highlighted. Their SEO case study will be different from their Google ads campaign case study and your expectations should be as well. 

However, if their case study involves multiple channels like, SEO, Google Ads & Meta Ads, community marketing, and direct mail. Then their case study should highlight each tactic as well as the campaign as a whole and how it translates to the ultimate KPI → REVENUE!

When reviewing their case studies, look for details that signal true capability and understanding. Don’t settle for surface level insights like “we drove this much traffic” or “we got this amount of messages asking for more information” or the dreadful “here’s how many impressions we got from this client!” These KPIs all play a part in the marketing funnel but they don’t tell you how much revenue they generated for those clients. 

Some insights that a good marketing agency would highlight include; 

• Cost-per-lead reductions backed by actual data including – did their campaigns lower the historical cost per leads? This is one of the main KPIs for any lead generation campaign
• Improvements in ROAS tied to real revenue. ROAS stands for Return on ad Spend, meaning for every $1 put into advertising $X amount comes back. ROAS should always be higher than $1 otherwise you’re losing money or simply breaking even. A good exercise for you as the business owner would be to research your industry average ROAS, per platform you plan on running ads. This way you have an idea how your ROAS performs against the industry bench mark. 
  • For example, we have an Online travel Agency client we run Meta ad campaigns for. Their industry benchmark on Meta ads is $4.83 and our monthly average for them fluctuates between $8.20 – $23.61 This means at the low end they get $8.20 in return for every $1 they spend on advertising on Meta or on the high end $23.61 in return. This all depends on the resort we’re advertising, time of year, and amount of media budget.
• Gains in conversion rate tied to specific changes – this highlights how efficient your campaigns are performing over time. Are you getting more conversion for less impressions/reach/cost? If so, that’s great!
• Before-and-after comparisons that show the thought process – this will help you see into their strategy. If an agency walks you through a “before & after they started” scenario, you’ll get a good sense of they approach strategy.
• Clients that stayed for years, not months – good agency partners have less churn and a higher lifetime value of clientele. Afterall, if the marketing partner is helping to grow your business, why leave them?

Case studies can be great tools to build trust between an agency and their prospective client but not all case studies are alike. Keep an eye and ear out for the notes mentioned above and tune-in to case studies when they are presented or shared on their website. If they are broad marketing terms and not very thorough, then they might not be real or lack the knowhow to explain what they accomplished (if anything.) . 

Additionally, relevance matters. If you’re a law firm and the agency only shows e-commerce examples, that mismatch will catch up to you quickly. A good marketing agency must understand your consumer journey, cost structure, your competition, and your sales cycle to really help your business. 

 

 

 

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4. Ask the Most Revealing Question ❓ “How Will You Track My Results?”

Tracking is what makes or breaks campaigns, you can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. There are many variables that come into play when we talk about tracking (just like anything with marketing.) What platform? What industry? What tracking options are available? And more. 

Thankfully, digital strategies have tracking capabilities but in some industries theta tracking falls off at certain points if foundational items at the client side are not set up properly. For example, there’s something called an off-line conversion, meaning the conversion or sale happens offline (in house at the clients side.) Like when a home buyer purchases a house after seeing a digital advertisement from the real estate brokerage. The buyer say the ad for the house/brokerage, contacted them, became a lead and weeks, even months later bought the house. 

Attributing that sale to the marketing efforts is one example where bad agencies fail. There are solutions for this and a good marketing agency knows how to solve these pain points as well as recommend secondary KPI tracking to attribute offline conversions. 

Most industries executing digital marketing today don’t have the offline conversion problem to solve but there are still a few industries out there that do. So knowing if that’s you or not and how to solve them helps identify if your marketing is helping or holding you back. 

A serious marketing agency will speak about the following in regard to tracking/attribution

• Google Tag Manager
• Server-side tracking
• GA4 configuration
• Call tracking
• Form attribution
• Lead quality reviews inside your CRM

Some questions you can ask when interviewing a marketing partner include;

“What conversion events will you track, and how will you report on them?”

“Will we need to implement offline conversion tracking?”

“What KPIs can we track that measure attribution?”

“What KPIs do I need to track for you on my end that contribute to your efforts?”

If they hesitate, or give vague answers, then they most likely don’t understand this aspect of marketing enough and you should proceed with caution or just leave the call. You want a marketing partner that’s going to have an answer.

 

 

 

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5. Ask to See Their First 90 Days 📅 This Reveals Their Maturity

The first 90 days with your new agency partner will be revealing in many ways. Do you work well together? Are they efficient? And many other qualitative insights from a communications and personality perspective. 

What you want to know before those first 90 days start is more in line with structure, timing, and execution. This way you understand what’s expected of you, what you can expect from them, and what it all means for your campaigns. As I said many times already, this will all depend on the industry, where your marketing is currently, budgets, and other factors but, your marketing partner should be able to give you a high-level first 90 days. They should explain how they assess, plan, build, launch, and refine.

A 90-day plan from a good marketing agency would  include a timeline to help set and manage expectations across both parties. Something like the below; 

• Week 1–2: Audit, competitive research, tracking setup
• Week 3–5: Strategy and content planning
• Week 6: Campaign build
• Week 7: Launch
• Week 8–12: Ongoing adjustments, reporting, and decision-making

Again, the timeline for your business will be different depending on the factors already mentioned + many others. The important part is that your marketing partner has a first 90 day plan. If they promise to launch in 48 hours, that’s not speed, that’s a lack of structure & templatizing their services as a “one size fits all” approach. 

For added value, if your marketing partner works with you on that first 90 day timeline to meet your needs (being flexible) then that’s a positive sign. Don’t expect them to honor everything, they have their structures/requirements too but a healthy balance of compromise is a good sign of a partnership.  

 

 

 

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6. Treat Extremely Low Pricing as a Signal 🙅‍♂️ Not a Bargain!

You may have a cousin that knows how to go into google ads or meta ads and run a campaign and the thought of saving the money and having them execute is a dream come true right? My 13 year old cousin can do the same but, would I trust him to grow my business? No, full stop! 

What about those flashy marketing gurus on social media that offer guarantees? Their targeting me with great creative visuals, they must know what they are doing, right? Maybe? But, be skeptical about guarantees, read the fine print, do your due diligence. Most vendors that fit this category run their business on high volume sales but have a high volume of turnover because they aren’t marketers and can produce results for clients to keep them.

A good marketing agency won’t be cheap but they will be worth it because they will be driving a return on your investment. You might be sick of hearing this but the cost of an agency will depend. Factors include industry, the tasks required of the agency (AKA scope of work), and the amount of budget they are managing. If an agency charges $500 per month for multiple services, that rate tells you they are either desperate or don’t know what they are doing.

At that price, here’s what usually happens:

• They will not monitor campaigns daily – if they are managing advertising campaigns for you, they are setting it and forgetting it
• You will not receive content – meaning you will have to supply all the content. Unless you already have a creative person/agency doing this, it might be a lot more work then you’d want to take on
• You will not receive real tracking – they might track online KPIs but if your in the industry that requires offline tracking, we don’t see them offering this, or even know how.
• You will not receive meaningful adjustments – again, set it and forget it mentality.
• Senior strategists will not touch your account – do they even have seniors on their team?

Cheap agencies cost more in the end, not less.Remember, you get what you paid for. Take your time with interviewing agencies, make sure they are the right fit. Interview a lot of them until you are comfortable. The insights we provided in this blog should be a starting point to help you make the right selection. 

 

 

 

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7. Look for a Partner 🤝 Not Someone Waiting for Instructions

A vendor asks, “What do you want us to do?”
A partner says, “Here’s what we’re doing and why.”

That difference matters more than people realize. You’re not hiring a vendor to fix a specific problem like a leaky faucet. You’re hiring a marketing partner to help you strategize and grow your business through marketing services.

A good agency brings awareness that you don’t have time to gather yourself. They study your numbers, anticipate shifts in demand, and bring ideas forward before you ask. 

A true marketing partner bring the following to the relationship:

• Pushes back when needed – lets face it, not every idea you have will be good and its your marketing partners job to advise you when something might not be in your best interest. However, at the end of the day, if you’re adamant on moving that idea forward then your marketing partner should honor it. That doesn’t mean if it fails or negatively affects something, that it was their fault. Remember this is a PARTNERSHIP, it’s a two way street.
• Brings recommendations before problems arise – this is a great benefit when having the right marketing partner on your team. Forecasting is a foundational component to a good marketing agency. We forecast campaign performance, sales, road blocks, etc because our strategy should be built on historic data, trends, and your goals.
• Spots openings that weren’t obvious – another great benefit is your good marketing partner will always be thinking of new ways to gain customers, it’s their job. Every so often you should receive an email or text with “we have an idea”
• Treats your ad spend like something that matters – I like to say “treat it like its my own money” because who looks after their own money better than themselves? Your marketing team should have a conservative approach when allocating and spending your advertising dollars. Heck, we have a client right now with a $10k per month media budget but we have scaled back spending all of it because its the holiday season and we know things slow down. There’s no reason to spend it all right now. Is your marketing treating your budget the same way?
• Stays accessible and accountable – A good marketing partner owns any mistakes, they happen. There should be no ego in this as long as they do a stellar job. Also, keeping in communication, why? Because again, otis a partnership! If you don’t hear from you agency for a week+ are you really pushing the needle forward with your business?

Most of all, a good partner makes your marketing feel stable, not chaotic. They are able to manage it so there are no dramatic upswing or downturns. They get the campaigns at a health level where there’s consistent performance each week/month within a range. Why? Because when things are consistent that means the strategy is efficient + if any major drops or dramatic upswings do occur out of the blue, they can go in and investigate why to solve the problem or determine how to double down on the good. 

 

 

 

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8. The Final Test: 📝 Do They Seem Like They Actually Care About Your Outcome? 

Business owners can sense sincerity quickly. You know when someone is present and when someone is running through a script. You know when someone is listening and when someone is waiting for you to stop talking. Trust your instincts. 

As mentioned before, there’s a lot of “marketers” out there now because the barriers to entry are low, it’s not hard to open a social media page, a google account and turn on ads in these platforms today. But! It is hard to research a market, understand the customer journey, understand audience behaviors, strategize the proper channels based on budget, and read statistical data to make informed decisions. That’s marketing! 

A good marketing agency knows, if you are not successful, they are not successful! It costs more to gain a new client than it does to keep a current one. A good marketing partner will work day and night to make sure your campaigns are driving results for your business because they want you to grow because that means they grow with you. 

You can tell whos good and whos just collecting a check. Good marketing partners ask questions, brainstorm with you, troubleshoot solutions with you, inquiry how your business is performing on factors they don’t work on. 

If the agency partner you are working with…

• Sounds rushed
• Gives short or shallow answers
• Avoids specifics
• Talks more about themselves than your goals
• Dodges important questions
• Never ask question about your busines
  
• Avoids troubleshooting
• Takes forever to respond 

…then they’re not invested in your outcome and you should be reconsidering. 

The right agency shows interest in the health of your business, not just the invoice.

 

 

 

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Choose Smart 🧐 Not Fast 

Just like hiring an internal employee, hire slow, fire FAST!

Selecting a marketing agency in Florida isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to feel like guesswork. Use this guide as your filter:

• They must understand how Florida behaves
• They must explain strategy without hiding behind jargon
• They must track real outcomes, not vanity metrics
• They must know your industry
• They must have a clear 90-day plan
• They must charge rates that reflect actual level of efforts & their skill level
• They must feel like a partner from the first call

If you apply these points, you’ll avoid most of the traps business owners run into with bad marketers these days. This list is not an exhaustive list by any means, there are many other factors to consider when selecting the right marketing partner for your business but what we shared is a great starting point for any business. 

 

If you’re passed the point and already working ith a marketing partner you are unsure of or simply want a second opinion. Our team offers free audits of any campaigns as an unbiased third party. 

We will audit any of your paid media campaigns (Google Ads, TikTok, Instagram, etc) and let you know if your marketing partner is putting in the level of effort to get you the results you’re looking for. You’d be surprised, we’ve spotted insufficient management of budget, improper keyword usage, incorrect market targeting and even FRAUD in some accounts. 

If this is of interest feel free to book a call with our team here  Book your free strategy session now 

J. Oliver Advertising
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FAQs

What should I look for when choosing a marketing agency in Florida?

Look for an agency that understands Florida’s market dynamics, explains strategy clearly, tracks real business outcomes, and has experience in your industry. They should act like a partner, not just a vendor executing tasks.

How do I know if a marketing agency actually understands my business?

They ask open-ended questions about your industry, goals, and local market. A strong agency will talk about strategy, tradeoffs, and decision-making, not just tools or platforms.

Is it a red flag if an agency offers very low pricing?

Often, yes. Extremely low pricing usually means limited effort, poor tracking, minimal optimization, or junior-level management. Cheap agencies often cost more in the long run due to wasted ad spend and missed growth.

How important is tracking and attribution when hiring an agency?

Critical. Without proper tracking (forms, calls, CRM data, offline conversions), there’s no way to know what’s working. If an agency can’t explain how results will be measured, that’s a major warning sign.

Should a marketing agency provide a 90-day plan?

Yes. A solid agency should be able to outline how they audit, plan, launch, and optimize campaigns in the first 90 days. Lack of structure usually signals a templated or reactive approach.

Is it better to hire a specialized agency or a full-service agency?

It depends on your goals. What matters most is whether the agency understands how different channels work together and can prioritize based on ROI, not whether they “do everything.”

When should I walk away from a marketing agency conversation?

If they avoid specifics, rely heavily on jargon, can’t explain strategy clearly, don’t ask about your business, or dodge questions about tracking and results, it’s best to move on.