7 Questions To Ask Before Hiring a PPC Management Company
“We hired a PPC expert…” or “We just finished working with a PPC guru…” are usually the beginnings of a horror story.
When it comes to paid ad management, self-proclaimed experts have burned almost everyone. Good, honest paid ad management is extremely difficult to come by.
Why is that?
PPC has long been a buzzword, attracting many to an industry with a fairly low barrier to entry. Anyone with internet access and a computer can start buying PPC ads. This has led to an overcrowding of “experts.”
Couple this with the fact that most patrons looking for paid ad management know little about the ins and outs of the discipline. Without background knowledge in PPC, it’s difficult to wade through the sea of consultants to find a true expert who will benefit your brand.
Hiring the wrong person doesn’t just make you miss out on great results; it can be detrimental, too. It’s challenging to determine how well your campaigns are performing because consultants who only know enough to sound knowledgeable feed you incorrect or irrelevant results.
This isn’t often intentional on the PPC consultants’ part. Inexperienced people just look at the wrong metrics. They don’t focus on specific goals, and they stick to easy vanity metrics like impressions and clicks, not recognizing the importance of quality and conversion.
The takeaway? Businesses need to know how to choose a PPC agency or consultant with the experience and knowledge to get excellent, relevant results.
So, before you hire a PPC manager, ask these 7 questions to make sure you get it right.
How to Choose a PPC Agency or Consultant: 7 Crucial Questions
1. What is your relevant experience?
The intricacies of pay-per-click advertising vary across a slew of platforms and channels, so make sure your potential ad manager’s experience is consistent with the platform(s) you plan to use.
Look, too, for experience working with a company and budget of your size, and try to gauge where you’ll fall on their priority list. Managing a thousand-dollar budget is different from managing a million-dollar budget, so your PPC agency or consultant needs some miles under their belt in your budget range.
2. Can you do creative, or management only?
What’s included in the fee? Some PPC ad managers do just that: manage ads, monitor them daily, and adjust budgets. And that may be all you need. But more likely, you’ll want an ad manager who can help with creative and ad writing as well.
3. Is your approach strategic or tactical?
You may need an expert in strategy who can speak to messaging as well as your promotional calendar (unless you have this expertise in PPC yourself). Do you want a PPC agency or consultant who waits for you to tell them what to do, or one who’s proactive and helps set your strategy?
4. Will you provide feedback to inform other areas of the business?
This may be more than you think you want, but PPC results provide a lot of insight into what’s working (and what’s not) in your business online. Find a PPC agency or consultant who’s skilled and experienced enough to offer useful insights for other areas of your business based on what they see.
5. Do you have industry expertise?
Perhaps your industry isn’t one where industry-specific expertise is necessary. But many industries are highly niche, requiring in-depth knowledge to compose effective messaging and manage successful ads. At a minimum, make sure your ad manager has expertise in B2C or B2B, whichever applies to your business.
6. Are you data driven?
Focusing on the right metrics in PPC ad management is key. Your PPC ad manager should find out what your business goals are and then determine which PPC metrics matter for your success and growth. Make sure your potential PPC expert focuses on quality traffic and conversion, not just inflated clicks.
7. Do you have the technical knowledge to troubleshoot?
Related to being data driven, you’ll need strong analytics and tracking implementation to determine how well your campaigns are doing. Make sure your PPC agency or consultant can implement the necessary conversion pixels, diagnose tracking problems when they arise, properly tag campaign URLs, and set up conversion funnels.
An Example: How Metacake Structures PPC Management
We’re not the only quality PPC ad managers out there, but here’s a look at how we structure our engagements so you know what to look for!
First, we learn about your business and your goals to strategize and determine which metrics are key for measuring success.
Next, we provide the creative services necessary to produce your ads, such as ad design, message development, and technology implementation (including everything from analytics implementation to building custom landing pages).
Then, our experienced team executes and manages your PPC campaigns with care.
Finally, we analyze each campaign’s success, focusing on the key metrics set out at the beginning of the engagement, to provide feedback on future campaigns and other areas of your business.
How to Choose a PPC Agency or Consultant: Final Thoughts
PPC ads represent a big investment for businesses, and they’re far too valuable to gamble on poor-fit ad managers. By asking candidates the questions above and carefully evaluating their answers in light of your needs, you’ll hire a PPC agency or consultant with the expertise and experience necessary to manage your ad dollars in the most meaningful and effective way for your company.
