Short answer
Check the licence first — marketing agencies are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 1,661 Australian marketing agencies in this directory, only 34% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 14.3% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Marketing Agencies handle brand, campaigns, advertising, content, public relations and the planning behind them. This is what to check before you spend money on your name, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no marketing agency licence — so check something else
Marketing is unlicensed and the sector runs on claims. What separates a good agency from a slide deck is whether results are measured against something you agreed in advance, and whether the accounts, assets and data they build remain yours when you leave.
There is nothing to check with a regulator. Check the ABN, ask for two referenceable clients, and get account ownership in the contract before the first invoice.
What 1,661 Australian marketing agencies actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For marketing agencies:
| What we checked | Marketing Agencies | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 34% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 21.4% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 14.3% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 93.8% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 88.9% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 21 | 39 |
What goes wrong with marketing agencies
- Ad accounts, social profiles and creative held in the agency's name
- Retainers reported in activity rather than outcomes
- Long minimum terms with no exit for non-performance
What to ask before the work starts
- Who owns the accounts, assets and data you create for me?
- What will we measure, and what did you achieve for a comparable client?
- What is the minimum term and how do I leave?
A marketing agency who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median marketing agency in this directory has 21 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the marketing agencies are
Sydney (223), Melbourne (189), Brisbane (110), Perth (63), Adelaide (36), Gold Coast (35). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best marketing agency in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do marketing agencies need a licence in Australia?
- No. Marketing is unlicensed and the sector runs on claims. What separates a good agency from a slide deck is whether results are measured against something you agreed in advance, and whether the accounts, assets and data they build remain yours when you leave.
- How do I check a marketing agency's licence?
- There is nothing to check with a regulator. Check the ABN, ask for two referenceable clients, and get account ownership in the contract before the first invoice.
- What percentage of Australian marketing agencies have a verifiable ABN?
- 34% of the 1,661 marketing agencies in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a marketing agency have?
- The median marketing agency here has 21. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare marketing agencies near you
1,661 marketing agencies, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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