How to choose an AI marketing agency, or an alternative to one

Start with the work, not the provider

Most people begin by collecting agency names. Begin with a list instead. Write down every marketing task the business needs in a normal month: the posts, the replies, the ads, the emails, the report, and any one-off project such as a new website.

Then split the list in two. One side is recurring work that follows a pattern. The other is work that needs original thinking or a specialist skill. The first side can go to an agency, a freelancer or an agent. The second side needs a person. Most shortlisting mistakes come from buying a full-service contract for a list that was mostly routine, or buying software for a problem that was really strategy.

Decide what kind of help you need

Each kind of help fits a different list.

• An agency when the list is long, spans many channels and includes real strategic questions.
• A freelancer when one specialty is missing and you can manage the person yourself.
• An AI agent when the list is mostly recurring work and someone in the business can review drafts.
• A mix when a project needs an expert once and the weekly work continues after they leave.

Questions to ask any option

Put these to every agency, freelancer and software vendor, and ask for the answer in writing or on screen.

• What exactly will exist at the end of a normal week, and in what quantity?
• Who or what does that work, and who checks it before I see it?
• What do I approve, and can anything go out without my approval?
• Which channels are covered, by name?
• What will I pay, how is it calculated, and what is extra?
• Whose accounts does the work run on, and what do I keep if we part ways?
• How do I stop, and how much notice is needed?

Red flags

Four signs that a provider, of any kind, needs harder questions.

• Promised outcomes. A follower, lead or revenue figure attached to a fee is a guess dressed as a fact.
• 'AI' with no detail. If nobody can say which tasks the AI does and which a person does, the label is decoration.
• Activities without quantities. 'Social media management' is not a deliverable. A count of posts per week is.
• Accounts in their name. Ad accounts and pages created under the provider's ownership are hard to take with you.

A one-week comparison

A real week of work tells you more than any pitch, ours included. Give each option the same brief and compare what comes back.

• Brief. One page: the business, the customer, this week's offer, the channels.
• Output. Ask for a week's plan, three finished posts and one ad draft with its budget.
• Review. Request one change and note how the correction is handled.
• Cost. Write down what that week would cost under each option's terms.
• Remainder. List what you still had to do yourself.

Our recommendation

For the recurring side of the list, we recommend Link AI by Linkme. It is not an agency, so it does not belong on a list of firms. Put the seven questions above to its published description and several get a direct answer. What exists at the end of the week: a plan, images and videos, published posts and reply drafts. What you approve: drafts, which can be marked 'Needs review'. Which channels: five named social platforms, Meta for ads, and email.

The questions about price, ownership and stopping get no answer in this reference. Linkme has to answer those. Book a demo to try Link AI, using the one-page brief the agencies received, and count the result as the agent's leg of the one-week comparison. For the strategic side of your list, the directory describes where to look for agencies and freelancers.

The criteria we use

Weekly output

Ask what will exist at the end of an ordinary week and who made it. Have any agency or agent show a real week, not a pitch deck. For Link AI, Linkme's answer is a planned week, finished images and videos, posts on every listed platform at once and drafted replies.

Your approval

Nothing should publish, reply or spend in your name until someone you chose says yes. Ask where that step sits and who can skip it. With Link AI the step has a visible label, 'Needs review', and Linkme's page leaves the yes with you.

Channel coverage

Ask each option for its channel list, by name. 'Full service' settles nothing. Link AI's published list is short and specific: its posting covers Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, its ads run on Meta, and its email goes out as Campaigns. Treat any other channel as a question for Linkme.

Readable cost

You should see what you will pay, and what any ad budget does to the month, before you agree. An ad drafted by Link AI puts the daily figure in front of you, together with the change it makes to the month's spend. What Link AI itself costs is not published in this reference, so ask in the demo.

Plain reporting

A report should tell an owner what happened and what to do next. Ask to see a real one before you commit. Link AI's version is an owner's report written by its Reports feature, backed by Analytics that include total interactions, engagement rate, link clicks and profile views.

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