PPC advertising is one of the most accessible marketing strategies out there, but mastering its complexities for a positive ROI is another thing entirely. At Rocks Digital, we find that businesses often seek our help after a challenging encounter with Google PPC advertising.
High costs and unmet expectations are a reality of working with digital marketing agencies that promise more than they deliver. So what’s the solution? You must ask a series of tough questions, the answers to which will reveal the serious PPC agencies from among the pack of pretenders.
Asking Questions Before Hiring a PPC Agency Matters, and Here’s Why
It will be helpful to examine this case. A former client of ours (for whom we built a winning paid advertising campaign) became intrigued with promises of the same or better results for less. They jumped ship to a new agency, only to find that now they’re paying a higher cost per lead.
The false economy of a lower agency fee coupled with a limited idea of what makes a PPC campaign tick have ended up costing the former client, and they’ve since hired two agencies to replace our results (with no luck). Will they come back to us? Most likely (eventually), but by then they’ll be looking at wasted advertising dollars in the hundreds of thousands.
What Questions Should You Ask a Paid Search Marketing Agency?
The following questions will help determine if a PPC agency is fully engaged with the essentials of a successful Google Ads campaign.
How Do You Measure the Success of a PPC Campaign?
Determine key performance indicators (KPIs) with the PPC agency, going beyond just sales to include conversion rate, cost per conversion and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Can You Develop Diversified Campaigns?
The client mentioned above is now wasting valuable marketing dollars on Google Ads. If a Google Ads campaign was optimized, the budget could be extended to the Display Network, YouTube, Facebook and Microsoft Ads.
How Will You Maximize the Return on My Budget?
A reputable PPC agency will discuss its campaign optimization approach, which includes strategic budget allocation, landing page development, keyword research and more.
What Progress Reporting Will I Receive?
Detailed reporting should include ad spend, campaign performance and other key metrics. In the case of our former client, they’re also failing to receive the same level of detailed reporting that we were providing.
What Bidding Strategies Do You Use?
Discuss factors like manual vs. automated bidding and cost per acquisition targeting. An agency should be focused on what the business wants to achieve, such as lead generation, brand building and sales.
What Tracking Services Do You Employ?
Successful PPC campaigns require detailed tracking with Google Analytics, integration of call tracking, plus passing call and lead data to the business’ CRM to follow the lead on through to the sale.
What Are Your Primary PPC Channels?
Comprehensive paid search advertising will likely include Google Search, Display and Youtube, Microsoft Ads, social media advertising and remarketing.
Are You Ready to Elevate Your PPC Advertising Campaigns?
Rocks Digital is a PPC agency dedicated to increasing your ROI and reaching more customers. If you’d like to discuss our Google Ads services, speak with our team today. Call (214) 989-7549 or request a paid search evaluation now.
