Few things in the digital marketing world are more confusing than understanding the value delivered by a pay per click (PPC) management service.  The different ways services are delivered make comparisons between agencies difficult.  Here are some tips on how to understand the value of these services, with details on Top Placement Ads®, the service offered by Marketing 360®.

Chances are you’re reading this article because you’re shopping for a PPC management service.  Chances also are that you’re at the least confused, at the most pissed-off.

It’s understandable.  Paid search advertising is such a broadly applied tactic most people can’t keep up with how it works, much less if it’s working for them.  You have search ads, display banners, and retargeting ads.  Social media has almost unlimited targeting options that change all the time.  It’s like hitting a moving target while trying to figure out how the trigger works.

But even with all these complicated tactical layers, this is not the biggest problem with understanding the value of paid advertising.  The bigger problem is that there’s a paradox in understanding management services:

If you spend more, you’ll save more money.

This article will elaborate and explain what this seeming paradox means.

 

Optimal vs Clunky

Think of your paid search campaigns like a car.  Your goal is to have the most effective, efficient vehicle you can get.

Initially, you must invest in its design.  You want a fuel efficient engine with adequate power.  You need an exterior design that’s wind resistant with a sleek look.  The car must be big enough to transport your family, but no bigger.

Now, you could save money initially by buying something cheap.  It’s clunky, has size and features you don’t need, and comes from a less reputable manufacturer.  But it’s cheaper – initially.

But this car is less efficient.  It gets worse gas mileage.  It has more mechanical issues.  Within a year or two, you’ve wiped out your initial savings with higher ongoing costs.  The cheap car is costing you more.

This is an analogy for PPC advertising.  Superior management services optimize campaigns (and keep them that way) so that the ongoing costs are lower.  Strong optimization work lowers your cost-per-click so you have the lowest possible bid to maintain the highest positions.

The problem businesses run into is that there are a huge number of PPC management companies that do inadequate work.  They are clunkers.  Here are two biggest problems.

#1.  Set and Forget

This is really common.  So-called “PPC specialists” make great offers and get the ball rolling with decent set-up work on a campaign.  Then, they put the client into “maintenance” mode.  The problem is, maintenance mode involves almost no work or oversight.  The specialists disappear because instead of working on the ongoing requirements of existing clients, they’re spending all their time on-boarding new ones.

Sometimes these campaigns get results, sometimes they don’t.  But they never get the best gas mileage.  As a campaign sits, its competitive position falters.  You may spend less on the “maintenance” fee, but you spend more to drive convertible traffic.  Not a good trade-off.

#2.  Lack of Resources

Say your auto mechanic explains that you need a new transmission.  However, they don’t sell or install transmissions.  You have to go to another mechanic for that work.

You’re scratching your head trying to figure that one out.

This situation plays out with PPC management agencies all the time.  The problem is that many of these agencies specialize exclusively in PPC work.  They don’t work on any related tactics.

The most common issue is landing page design and development.  An ad’s landing page is an integral part of the conversion funnel.  But specialist agencies don’t create landing pages.

So they tell clients that the reason their campaigns aren’t converting is because the landing page has flaws.  Then the client must go out and find a designer to handle that work.

This is ludicrous.  A PPC service that can’t work on the collateral the ads are connected to is about as useful as a dentist that won’t put her fingers in your mouth.

These two problems result in clunky, uncoordinated, neglected campaigns where the savings are costly.

 

Invest In Integrated Optimization

Marketing 360’s paid search management service is called Top Placement Ads® (TPA).

TPA is a program designed to deliver ROI based on long-term, sustained results.

If you just take a glance at PPC management costs, you might think we’re more expensive.  With our structure, 65% goes to media buy (paying for clicks) and 35% goes to optimization, design, and management.  Here’s the breakdown:

 

We have no upfront set-up fee.  Other companies, by comparison, often charge an upfront fee but then have a lower maintenance fee for ongoing services (commonly about 15% of the budget).

So why pay for this level of optimization and campaign management?

We refer to problems 1 and 2 above.  Neither are issues with Marketing 360®.  Here’s how we’re better.

#1.  Long-term Strategy and Goals

At Marketing 360®, we don’t set-up a paid search campaign then “maintain” it.  Instead, we look at advertising as a process that requires ongoing attention and optimization.

We seek two things.  First, we want to improve Quality and Relevancy Scores.  These scores are used by Google, Facebook, and other platforms to determine the quality of your ads and content as they relate to the user’s need.  The better your campaigns match the intent of the searcher, the lower your cost-per-click.

The impact of these scores can be dramatic, as this data shows:

Likewise, we are in a constant state of improving conversion rates.  High conversion rates are directly related to ROI in paid search advertising:

 

#2:  We Are an All-In-One Marketing Solution

This is the idea you really need to get when comparing paid search management companies.

As we noted, most of these companies are specialists, meaning they only handle paid search campaigns.

But there is a glaring problem with that approach.  These campaigns don’t exist in isolation.  They overlap with design, organic search, video creation, copywriting, and social media marketing.

PPC is part of an integrated, comprehensive marketing strategy.  You lose massive opportunities when you don’t tie your tactics together so they drive towards your overall goals.  After all, your goal is not just to have a successful paid advertising campaign for a set period of time.  It’s to have a successful digital marketing strategy that sustains your business for a lifetime.

Marketing 360® is built to support the long-term, strategic marketing goals of your business.  We use data holistically to optimize all of your tactics.  For example, if we see a paid search campaign paying-off, we look for ways to maximize your organic reach as well.  When a search marketing audience is right on target, we create a lookalike audience for your social media campaigns.

If your quality score isn’t high enough or conversion rates are lacking, we adjust the ad copy, but also the landing page design and content.  After all, the ad is just a gateway to the content that actually converts the visitor into a lead.  What good is campaign management that doesn’t take those steps?

Agencies that only do PPC leave far too much ROI on the table.  They seem cheaper at first, but like the clunky car, they end up costing you more in the long run.

All of this ties into your approach to marketing.  In fact, the title of this article is actually a misnomer.

Marketing, as a whole, is an investment, not a cost.  What’s most important is getting a high return on the investment you put in.

Our program is built entirely around that goal, and our happy clients can attest to how well it works.

When it comes to paid search tactics, invest in long-term success.  You’ll end up with higher profits, which is what it’s all about.