There's no universal right time to hire a marketing agency. Some businesses hire one on day one. Others build to seven figures before bringing in outside help. Both can be the right call.
Here are the honest signals that it's time — and a few signs that you should wait.
7 Signs It's Time to Hire a Marketing Agency
1. You're consistently turning away work or at capacity
If your pipeline is full but growth has plateaued, the bottleneck might be top-of-funnel visibility. An agency can expand your local search presence, build authority in new service areas, and create the lead volume to justify adding capacity. Good problem to have — marketing can solve it.
2. You're invisible in local search
If you search for your own services in Google Maps and don't see your business, or see competitors with far fewer qualifications ranking above you, that's a solvable problem — but it requires sustained effort over several months. The opportunity cost of staying invisible compounds every week you wait.
3. Marketing keeps getting pushed to "next week"
Every business owner intends to work on marketing. Most don't, because running the business comes first. If marketing is chronically deprioritized, delegating it to specialists is often the only way it actually gets done consistently.
4. You've tried DIY marketing and it's not moving the needle
There's a real skill gap between "I know marketing exists" and "I can execute a local SEO strategy that produces measurable rankings improvements." If you've spent significant time on marketing without results, the missing ingredient is usually expertise or consistency — both of which an agency provides.
5. You're relying entirely on referrals
Referrals are wonderful. They're also unpredictable. Businesses that depend entirely on word-of-mouth are one slow period away from a cash flow crisis. An agency builds the owned channels (search, email, video) that generate predictable, scalable lead flow independent of referrals.
6. A competitor just made a major move
A long-standing competitor hired an SEO agency. A new competitor just entered your market with a strong online presence. The competitive landscape just changed. Waiting to respond is how market share slips away gradually and then suddenly.
7. You have the budget and the right growth stage
A basic local SEO engagement starts around $500/month. If that represents less than 5–10% of your revenue, and you have a clear customer acquisition cost and lifetime value picture, the math likely works. Waiting until you can "afford" marketing is often the wrong frame — the marketing is what generates the revenue to afford it.
Signs It's NOT Time Yet
You don't have product-market fit
If you're not sure your service is what customers actually want, or pricing isn't figured out, or your service delivery has quality issues — fix those first. Marketing magnifies what already exists; it doesn't fix fundamental business problems.
Your website doesn't convert
If your website is confusing, doesn't work on mobile, or has no clear CTA, more traffic won't help. Fix the conversion infrastructure before paying for traffic to it.
You can't afford to stay for 6+ months
Local SEO and content marketing are 3–12 month plays. If you're looking for results in 30 days, paid ads are more appropriate (though they work best with SEO foundations). Don't hire an SEO agency and expect month-one miracles.
Choosing the Right Agency
When you're ready, the most important things to look for:
- Local expertise — Do they understand your market, or are they applying generic national strategies?
- Transparency — Can they clearly explain what they're doing and show you results?
- Honest expectations — Any agency promising first-page rankings in 30 days is lying.
- Measurement — Do they set up proper tracking so you can see ROI?
- References — Can they show you other local businesses they've helped?
If you're a Kitsap County business thinking about whether now is the right time, start with our free SEO audit. It shows you exactly where your local search presence stands — no commitment, useful regardless of what you decide.
Buzz Cue — Poulsbo, WA marketing agency. We help Kitsap County businesses get found, get chosen, and grow. About us →