Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Personal Injury Marketing Agency

Most firms choose a marketing agency on a slick pitch deck and the lowest monthly number. Then they spend a year wondering why the cases never showed up. The way to avoid that is to ask the questions that surface how an agency actually works *before* you sign. Here’s the checklist.

1. "Do you report on signed cases, or on leads and clicks?"

The single most revealing question. If the answer is impressions, clicks, and form-fills, walk. A real partner ties its work to signed retainers and cost per signed case. Vanity metrics always go up; they never pay your associates.

2. "Are the cases exclusive to my firm?"

If they sell leads or cases, are those exclusive to you, or shared with other firms? Shared inquiries convert poorly and pit you against competitors for the same caller. Exclusive — ideally one firm per metro — is the answer you want.

3. "Who owns the campaigns, rankings, and content if I leave?"

Some agencies build everything on accounts *they* own, so the day you leave, your rankings and campaigns vanish. Make sure the assets are yours. You’re trying to build a practice, not rent one.

4. "Who handles intake — and how fast are leads answered?"

A lead you don’t answer in under a minute is a wasted case. Ask whether they run intake or just hand you leads, and what happens nights and weekends. If they have no answer here, they’re ignoring your biggest leak. (Quantify it with the Case Leak calculator.)

5. "What’s the contract length and lock-in?"

Long contracts with stiff early-termination penalties are how weak agencies keep clients who’d otherwise leave. A confident agency earns the next month with results, not a 12-month handcuff.

6. "How will you attribute and report results?"

Ask exactly how they’ll show you which marketing produced which signed case — call tracking, CRM integration, a real reporting cadence. "You’ll just see more cases" is not attribution.

7. "Do you specialize in personal injury?"

PI marketing has its own economics, bar-advertising rules, and case-type nuances. A generalist agency that also does dentists and plumbers will be learning on your dime.

8. "What’s your ad budget vs. fee — and what’s included?"

Make sure you understand the total: management fee plus ad spend, and exactly what the fee covers. (See how much an agency costs.)

The takeaway

The right agency welcomes every one of these questions — it’s how good operators talk. The wrong one deflects to vanity metrics and a low monthly number. Ask about signed cases, exclusivity, ownership, intake, contracts, attribution, and PI specialization, and the choice usually makes itself. Pair this with the broader framework in how to choose a PI marketing agency, and the red flags in the next post.