How to choose a marketing agency in Alexandria: 10 questions before you sign
Most pages ranking for the best marketing agency in Alexandria were written by the agencies themselves. Here are the questions and the comparison you choose with.
On this page14
- The common mistake
- The big picture: three decisions
- A comparison from home renovation
- A worked example: a restaurant in Sidi Gaber and three offers
- How agencies price their work
- Ten questions to ask before you sign
- Signs that say walk away
- Reviews on Google Maps
- Does the agency need to be in Alexandria?
- Where I stand
- Your task
- Questions people ask
- Free kit
- Next step
Search for the best marketing agency in Alexandria and most of the first page is written by agencies about themselves. Next to them sit directories that list dozens with no ranking. None of them tells you how to choose.
This guide is for owners of a restaurant, clinic, property office or online store in Alexandria with agency offers they cannot compare. You will leave with ten questions to ask before you sign, a three-month way to compare offers, and the signs that say walk away.
The common mistake
Most owners choose on three things: how the designs look, how many posts a month, and the monthly fee. All three are easy to compare, and none of them says whether your business will sell more.
The agency selling you 30 posts for less can cost you more. That happens when, after three months, you still cannot tell how many bookings or orders its ads brought in.
The big picture: three decisions
- What you want: one number you want to move. Bookings, serious enquiries or store orders.
- Who does the work: an agency, a freelancer, or a consultant who builds the system while a team executes.
- How you measure: who owns the accounts, which number is in the report, and how often you get it.
An offer that does not answer all three clearly is not finished.
A comparison from home renovation
When you hire a contractor to finish your flat, you do not choose from photos of nice flats alone. You see past work with your own eyes, ask for a written bill of quantities, know what materials cost separately, and keep the keys. Choosing a marketing agency works the same way: the ad account is the key, and the report is the bill of quantities.
The rule: the ad account and the page always stay in your name.
A worked example: a restaurant in Sidi Gaber and three offers
The restaurant and all figures are made up to show the method. They are not market prices.
A restaurant in Sidi Gaber wants more weekday bookings and will spend EGP 20,000 a month on Meta ads, paid directly to the platform. Three offers arrive:
| Item | Offer A | Offer B | Offer C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | EGP 6,000 a month | 15% of ad spend + EGP 2,000 for designs | EGP 12,000 one-time set-up + EGP 7,000 a month |
| Includes | 20 designs and posts, ad management | Ad management and designs | Booking and enquiry tracking, a booking page, WhatsApp link, ad management |
| Ad account | In the agency’s name | In the restaurant’s name | In the restaurant’s name |
| Report | Monthly: reach and likes | Weekly: messages and cost per message | Weekly: bookings and cost per booking |
| Fees over 3 months (ad spend excluded) | EGP 18,000 | EGP 15,000 | EGP 33,000 |
Offer B is cheapest over three months and Offer C the most expensive. Price is not the deciding question, though.
The deciding question: after 90 days and EGP 60,000 of ads, which offer tells you how many bookings came in and what each one cost?
Offer A cannot, and the account is not yours. Offer B gives you messages, not bookings. Offer C gives you the number you decide with.
Run your own offers: for each one, add the set-up fee + (monthly fee × 3) + (percentage × monthly spend × 3). Next to the total, write one line: which number will I know after three months?
How agencies price their work
You will meet four models, each suited to a different case:
- Fixed monthly fee: easy to budget. Ask exactly what it covers and what happens when the work grows.
- Percentage of ad spend: common for ad management. The agency earns more as you spend more, so agree a cap.
- One-off project fee: for work with an end, such as tracking set-up or building a page or a store.
- Pay per result: per lead or per sale. Define the result in writing, or you will argue about it every month.
In every model, ad spend is separate from fees, and photography and paid tools may be separate too. Ask for each item on its own line.
Ten questions to ask before you sign
- Who works on my account every day, and how many other accounts do they run?
- Are the ad account, the page and the tracking set up in my name, with me as the owner?
- Which number will you be judged on after 90 days?
- How will you know a booking or an order came from an ad?
- What does the price include, and what do I pay separately?
- Is your fee shown on the invoice separately from ad spend?
- Do you have a case study of a business like mine, with a number and a period, whose owner will take my call?
- How often will I get a report, and what exactly is in it?
- Who replies to the customers the ads bring in, and how fast?
- If I end the contract, what do I receive, and within how many days?
Signs that say walk away
- They ask for your Facebook password instead of being added as a partner in your business portfolio.
- They guarantee a sales or follower number before seeing your data.
- They sell a number of posts and never ask about your goal.
- Their fee and your ad spend appear as one figure.
- Their report shows reach and likes only, and your business sells things.
- They cannot name a past client you can call.
- The contract has no exit clause and no list of what you receive.
Reviews on Google Maps
Read the agency’s reviews on its Google Maps profile, but read the text, not the stars. Google’s policy forbids paid reviews, reviews in exchange for a discount or gift, and reviews from employees or anyone with a conflict of interest. One review that describes what happened on a specific project outweighs twenty one-word reviews posted the same week.
Worth knowing
If the agency will run Google Ads for you, Google’s policy sets clear duties for partners that manage ads for clients. Their cost reports must show the exact amount Google charged, excluding their own fees. They must state their fee in writing before your first purchase, show it on every invoice, and give you your customer ID on request.
Source: Google advertising policies, transparency requirements
Does the agency need to be in Alexandria?
Ad management and tracking work just as well remotely. Being close matters for two things: shooting inside your premises, and the first meetings where the agency learns your business.
If photography is a big part of the job, a local agency saves you time. If tracking and campaigns matter most, choose by the ten questions, not by the address.
Where I stand
I work from Alexandria, and my method is to build tracking and customer response before the first pound of ad spend. Over more than 8 years I have worked with more than 120 clients across the Arab world.
Here in Alexandria, bookings at Ricci Clinics rose 40% in the first three months, within the budget they had. At World Gym Stanley I ran the membership campaign on a limited budget.
I am not the right fit if you want the most posts a month for the lowest fee. If you want to know, in numbers, what your ads brought in, that is exactly what I do.
Your task
Write your goal in one line with a number and send it, unchanged, to three agencies. Put their offers into the comparison sheet from the free kit and ask each one the ten questions. Drop any offer that shows two of the walk-away signs.
Questions people ask
How much does a marketing agency in Alexandria cost?
There is no single price. It depends on the pricing model (monthly, percentage of spend, project or per result) and on what the offer includes. Compare offers over three months, and keep ad spend separate.
Should I give the agency my page password?
No. Add the agency as a partner in your Meta business portfolio with only the access it needs, and stay the owner. In Google Ads, keep the account in your name and grant the agency access.
How long should a trial run?
90 days with a written goal and one number measured weekly. Less than that is too short for campaigns to learn; more than that without a number means paying without knowing.
Agency or freelancer?
A good freelancer suits one clear project. An agency suits work that needs design, ads and photography together. A consultant suits you when you need someone to build the system and hold the people executing it to account.
Are lots of Google reviews enough proof?
No. Read the review text and dates, and ask for a past client in a business like yours and call them yourself.
Free kit
An offer comparison sheet in Excel. Type in each offer’s figures and it totals the fees over three months, then you score each offer out of 18 with the same questions.
Next step
Send me your goal and your monthly ad spend. I will tell you plainly what I would build first, or whether your business does not need me yet. Write to me about your project.
