Considering changing your PPC agency? Whether due to a change of personnel, issues with management, performance declines, or difficulties, the change should be considered with care. This article will be looking at factors used to determine the red-flags that arise with agencies, hiring an agency versus in-house approach, and whether to hire a specialty or full-service agency. Let’s get started:
First to consider: pay structures. There are four typical pay structures for your paid advertising strategy:
* Flat monthly rate,
* Percentage of monthly ad spend
* Performance-based pricing or
* Hybrid approach
These pay structures have both benefits or limitations, depending on what your PPC optimization budget requires. Using a hybrid approach may prove to produce better results than one strategy alone.
Advertising Management
Your company has been working with a PPC agency for a while, but the company is now scaling and its goals are changing. It may be time to make a significant move, but before you make any rash decisions, you need to make sure your goals are identified thoroughly.
Of course, there are two choices to this approach, you can either utilize the help of an outside ad agency or you can try your luck with in-house PPC management. The utilization of either come with pros and cons. Let’s look at the benefits and limitations of hiring an ad agency.
The Pros of an Ad Agency
Having an ad agency can be very helpful to a company that wants to get better results from paid advertising management. The members of an ad agency should have more expertise than the average advertiser. More experience can lead to results and can prevent mistakes that come from hiring a new advertiser.
Another advantage of using an ad agency is cost. With agencies, you agree to a fee, send them a contract, and that is it. You don’t have the responsibility to pay wages, or even insurance when using an agency. Companies that do not have extra resources may decide to choose to run their campaigns through an agency.
The Cons of an Ad Agency
While ad agencies are highly trained individuals, there also are cons that come with utilizing their service. A typical complaint is that some agencies are bad with communication and that makes it hard to know when to make decisions, change campaigns, etc. This can have disastrous effects on your business. Maintaining client relations can be hard if you do not have constant contact with your chosen agency.
There is also a risk you take by hiring an agency and they are not able to fulfill their duties. Some agencies are not as experienced or are just not a good fit to work with, and this too can adversely affect the results of the paid advertising strategy.
Pros of in-house management
Having an in-house management person or team can be very advantageous for companies looking to keep a tight-knit on their ads optimization strategy. The contact person is able to better understand the companies’ mission, values, and goals because of actually being immersed in the environment.
Communication is much easier as they can be apart of messages boards, meetings, and team outings. This does help to provide more of a team atmosphere in which everyone has a mutually vested interest. The PPC manager displays more loyalty to a company that he works for instead of as a contractor.
Cons of in-house management
If there is only one person that makes the PPC decisions, this task may become daunting. The PPC manager does not have the time and resources to learn all methods of advertising. While this may seem obvious, as the needs of the company change, a PPC manager will have to prioritize goals on a needed basis, which sometimes includes diverting from work started.
This can become a problem if the PPC team grows because it will take a lot of resources to train new employees and make sure they are proficient in their position. Another benefit could be to use both in-house management and agency, to share the workload which can lead to productivity. Whichever method you choose, you must be sure your company ads optimization strategy goals are being met.
Hiring a New Agency
There is a time when you should start looking for a new agency to replace your existing one. This usually occurs when the working relationship has ceased to be productive or when the goals of your advertising have changed. Here are some red flags you may want to watch out for if you working with or beginning to hire a new agency,
* Poor Social Media Marketing
* Promising Specific Results
* Poor Communication
* Poor Adword management
* They are not ranked themselves
* Declining Client Retention
These are just a few of the things you need to look for when dealing with your current or new agency. Those red flags also give you an idea of what you do need to help get the most out of your PPC optimization. A few things a new agency would need to have are:
* Transparency
* Proven Results
* Deep Understanding of your Industry
Specialty vs Full Service Agency
Specialty agencies are good for providing very specific strategies to reach a goal. If an agency is good at keyword research and ad copy, if this has been an area you need to adjust, hiring a specialty agency can help in solving targeted issues.
By contrast, a full-service agency can do a little of everything, and while they may not write a great copy, they have enough skills to still produce tangible results.
While hiring, firing, or retiring an agency is not easy, once you can identify one that aligns with your company core values and mission, it can be a match made in click heaven.
