Before You Sign On For PPC Management, Ask These 5 Questions
If you’re new to Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, you already know one thing: it’s hard to figure out who can do a good job for you.
Finding a trustworthy digital marketing agency for PPC management can be hard. It’s common to find unqualified companies offering management services. Check out this example of one found on Reddit this morning in a thread titled:
“I think we bit off more than we can chew.”
Basically I got hired on to a marketing agency that focuses on print advertising, promotional products, and design work. Now they are wanting to get into digital advertising managing ppc accounts for small to medium sized businesses in any industry.
Okay that’s fair, as digital marketing continues to grow in importance.
The problem im running into is that we don’t have experience in this field running ppc ads, and I imagine clients would get a poor ROI as we learn how to do all of this, and figure out which platforms work for what.
So this company wants this employee to work on PPC accounts like a medical student works on a cadaver?
Im losing faith in the whole project now, and I think the current situation is not time or cost efficient for the business unless I either take a pay cut or leave, and we bring someone on with a good amount of experience. Now im needing to come up with a game plan to bring to my employer because I dont think this department will work out unless there is a drastic change.
Things on the line: this company’s reputation, this employee’s job, and their client’s money. Uh oh.
Does anyone have any ideas? So far the options on the table are to hire someone or white label a ppc service and suck as much information as we can out of them. We could always continue doing what we are doing, but I think a lot of customers are probably not going to see the value in the campaigns and just stop paying considering there are not contracts and the results will probably be very poor.
It’s alarming that ‘PPC Agencies’ like this one are willing to take money for management services. It’s clear they don’t have the experience or expertise to provide results.
On the bright side, it’s possible to avoid these types of companies. Here’s a few important questions you can ask before signing on for PPC management services.
What to ask before choosing a PPC management company:
- Do you have a local office where we can meet?
Local agencies can get to know you and your business better than remote agencies can.
- Do you outsource PPC management?
They should have a very good reason why they don’t hire in-house for this service.
- How many PPC managers do you have?
This number will vary, but it’s good to know how many sets of eyes will be looking over your account. A single PPC manager may overlook something. More than 10 PPC managers might mean it’s a factory-like operation. Either situation may harm your account performance.
- How long have your PPC managers worked for you?
High employee churn can be a red flag that a company cares about sales numbers before client results.
- Do you have any success stories you’re proud of and can share?
Legit agencies should have at least a handful of client success stories to share with you. Be on the lookout for made up numbers, ex. “We increased conversions 5000%”!
- What metrics will we measure my account success by?
Well-defined goals will improve digital marketing efforts with your new PPC agency.
If you’re searching for a new web & digital marketing agency this fall, give us a call. Together we’ll find out how we can move your business forward.