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Have you ever hired someone to manage your PPC campaign with great results?

by James Liberty
15 replies
  • PPC/SEM
    • |
If so, who was it that did a great job for you?
#campaign #great #hired #manage #ppc #results
  • Profile picture of the author time4vps
    To say the truth YES, but even 2 certified companies didn't do nothing special. For us it was a waste of money
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  • Profile picture of the author badboy_Nick
    Originally Posted by James Liberty View Post

    If so, who was it that did a great job for you?
    Personally, running my PPC campaigns is the one thing I would never outsource. People tend to be much more careless when they get to spend other peoples money and get paid regardless if you make a profit or not.

    I therefore outsource everything else (web design, content, research, etc) ... but the actual running and management of the PPC campaign I always do myself. Besides, it is my money afterall and you can spend a lot on PPC if you don't keep an eye out

    Nick
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    Certifications don't mean much and it certainly doesn't guarantee results. When I'm asked for certification from a potential client, I tell them why and then provide references from happy customers.

    I've had the need to hire PPC people and I don't even consider certification. I have my own test and some of the best I considered hiring did little or no PPC before.

    A key to hire a PPC person is find someone who will treat your money as if it was theirs. I could take their money and not care what happens. But I prefer a long-term relationship with clients which is what is needed. It's not a set it up and forget it kind of thing.

    Unlike Nick, I believe if there's one thing you should outsource it's PPC. The trick is to find someone competent.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      I agree with LucidWebMarketing,

      PPC management has become very sophisticated and requires a lot of specialized knowledge. In most cases you need an account manager that is totally dedicated to PPC advertising, with lots of specialized training and experience. Unfortunately, certification does not insure competence, nor does selecting an agency guarantee superior performance.

      As a member of AdWord's partner community I see many threads where agency accounts managers are totally focused on how to spend as little time as possible on managing accounts. Many decisions are made based not on what brings the best performance, but what requires the least amount of time to manage. Many managers prefer to use broad match keywords, not because it provides better ROAS, but because it generates a lot more impressions and clicks. For them, conversions and profits are the business owners problem, they just provide traffic and broad keywords provide the most traffic. And these are all certified managers working for Partner agencies.

      Not all are like that, I believe the vast majority of badged agencies are very competent, and some are true superstars win it comes to performance based campaign management.

      When hiring an agency please bear in mind that it is an inescapable fact that nearly half of all agencies are below average performers. You may have to try out several agencies before you get an above average one, and perhaps a dozen or more to find a true superstar agency.
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      * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
      *       Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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      • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
        Originally Posted by dburk View Post

        When hiring an agency please bear in mind that it is an inescapable fact that nearly half of all agencies are below average performers. You may have to try out several agencies before you get an above average one, and perhaps a dozen or more to find a true superstar agency.
        For an outstanding performer search out Mike Rhodes and PPC Savvy.

        They have a reputation to uphold and do have probably the best knowledge out there given that Mike co-authored the Ultimate Guide to Adwords with Perry Marshall.
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        • Profile picture of the author dburk
          Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

          For an outstanding performer search out Mike Rhodes and PPC Savvy.

          They have a reputation to uphold and do have probably the best knowledge out there given that Mike co-authored the Ultimate Guide to Adwords with Perry Marshall.
          Hi Oziboomer,

          The last I heard Mike and Perry were still very invested in cost center based ROI/CPA optimization campaign management. Cost center based ROI/CPA optimization has become the traditional PPC management style, While ROI/CPA optimization is a consistent producer of profitable campaigns, it is not the style used by what Google calls "elite" agencies that consistently outperform the more traditional agency management style.

          Do you know if they have moved away from cost center based ROI/CPA optimization yet, or is that still the primary method they use?
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          * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
          *           Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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          • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
            Originally Posted by dburk View Post

            Do you know if they have moved away from cost center based ROI/CPA optimization yet, or is that still the primary method they use?
            I am not aware if Mike and Perry have interests in an agency together only that they collaborate in adwords training.

            Mike's agency https://www.websavvy.com.au is certainly one of the premium suppliers in the Australian market and probably up there in a worldwide sense as a quality agency to look at.

            I'm sure it depends on the client they are working for, their budget and their view in relation to risk.

            Perhaps for the bread and butter clients there is one approach and for the one's where there is perhaps an equity stake another...I'm not sure.

            One thing for certain is that Mike is on the cutting edge when it comes to utilising the platform and he often shares his insights in his PPCsavvy forum.

            That would be one other place I would look to find people who are running successful agencies as they are generally active in discussions of not so common approaches.
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            • Profile picture of the author dburk
              Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

              I am not aware if Mike and Perry have interests in an agency together only that they collaborate in adwords training.

              Mike's agency https://www.websavvy.com.au is certainly one of the premium suppliers in the Australian market and probably up there in a worldwide sense as a quality agency to look at.

              I'm sure it depends on the client they are working for, their budget and their view in relation to risk.

              Perhaps for the bread and butter clients there is one approach and for the one's where there is perhaps an equity stake another...I'm not sure.

              One thing for certain is that Mike is on the cutting edge when it comes to utilising the platform and he often shares his insights in his PPCsavvy forum.

              That would be one other place I would look to find people who are running successful agencies as they are generally active in discussions of not so common approaches.
              Hi Oziboomer,

              Well, has Mike ever mentioned "Profit-driven Marketing" which is specific discipline and very different from the cost center based ROI/CPA optimization that he is well known for? If not, you could hardly claim he is on the cutting edge, as Profit-driven marketing has been around for years, though less than 10% of all agencies utilize it, and fewer 5% utilized it before Google released a whitepaper last year detailing the principles and practices of their top echelon agencies based on campaign performance.

              Slowly, more and more account mangers are learning that particular discipline, but most agencies seem totally oblivious to it and probably never will make the leap. It's easier to do cost-center, efficiency based management, and also much easier to explain the strategy to clients. Profit-driven marketing will likely remain a discipline reserved for the upper echelon of agencies for years to come.

              Don't get me wrong, cost-center based marketing is one of the surest ways to reach profitability, it just isn't going to help a company win market share away from a competitor tht is using Profit-driven marketing
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              * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
              *               Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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              • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
                Originally Posted by dburk View Post

                Don't get me wrong, cost-center based marketing is one of the surest ways to reach profitability, it just isn't going to help a company win market share away from a competitor tht is using Profit-driven marketing
                I'd say that if you are talking to Mike as many people do you could ask him.

                The clients that have won market share with his help are hardly going to reveal their strategies to the competition.

                I'm sure that what you do for clients is between yourself and the client and you focus on delivering the result the client wants.

                If that is cost center based ROI/CPA optimisation so be it...if that is based on profit-driven marketing to dominate market share then so be it.

                It seems that it takes maturity in any business whether that be an adwords agency or not before they understand that there is "not a one size that fits all" approach to managing a client's needs and once you understand that you gain the advantage of price elasticity which is how most successful businesses expand profits.
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                • Profile picture of the author dburk
                  Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

                  I'd say that if you are talking to Mike as many people do you could ask him.

                  The clients that have won market share with his help are hardly going to reveal their strategies to the competition.

                  I'm sure that what you do for clients is between yourself and the client and you focus on delivering the result the client wants.

                  If that is cost center based ROI/CPA optimisation so be it...if that is based on profit-driven marketing to dominate market share then so be it.

                  It seems that it takes maturity in any business whether that be an adwords agency or not before they understand that there is "not a one size that fits all" approach to managing a client's needs and once you understand that you gain the advantage of price elasticity which is how most successful businesses expand profits.
                  Hi Oziboomer,

                  Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I was asking about a specific client strategy. PDM is not a specifc strategy, it is a set of marketing principles that require a complete shift in mindset to implement. And I'm not revealing any great secrets here, Google already did that last year when they published the whitepapers, much to the chagrin of those agencies that held their practices secret.

                  Despite the fact that Google tipped off their entire partner's network, very few agencies have understood the significance of this revelation, it's just too different from their current mindset for them to see it. It requires a complete paradigm shift.

                  The way I see it, agencies/PPC managers all fit into 1 of 3 possible groups:
                  1. Not familiar with PDM
                  2. Familiar with PDM, but decided not to embrace it
                  3. Currently recommend and use PDM for clients, whenever appropriate.

                  That 3rd group is still relatively small (~10%), 90% of all managers do not offer PDM for clients, mainly because they are unaware, or have not learned how to implement it yet. Of those that have implemented it, many are just partial implementations as it does require a new set of disciplines for full implementation.

                  I think a lot of account mangers are going to have a hard time making the transition because they have to accept a new way of looking at their marketing objectives, making decisions based on future projections rather than just past results, tossing out their current KPIs in favor of KPIs they never used before. The will be like stepping into a totally new matrix where many of the rules they learned in the old matrix may no longer apply.
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                  * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
                  *                   Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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  • Profile picture of the author victorrex
    Hi,


    I can help with any problem anyone is facing with adwords campaign,


    PM me if required.


    Thanks
    Victor
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  • Profile picture of the author Grensin14
    I haven't.. I tried professional FB service here at WF to get subscribers in particular niche service got me subscribers during the 2 week campaign period and I made a few sales which has covered the cost of service but at the end of 2 weeks still lead to 0 ROI...The best think is do on your own..
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    • Profile picture of the author max5
      Hi, I will not try to hide that I am an PPC agency representative.


      Everyone now can have some kind of certificate and Google Partner badge, you just need to spend some money trough Adwords System and have some basic level of performance in your MCC, which is really stupid.

      Getting someone who will really take care of PPC is process. Your PPC manager to be needs to fully understand your business, your product/service, your budget and your customers. Its not easy, it takes time.

      Second thing is to find agency that is looking for long term clients and actually having long therm clients. Why? They will try really hard to make it work, not just setting Account and campaigns and leave it be.
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  • Profile picture of the author Iamthetwo
    As a PPC manager myself (but not taking on any new clients) I can confirm that for the most part in my observation there is a real weakness in the managers I have taken over from. They see themselves as simply facilitating the placement of ads on Google, rather than as marketers. Unless you are willing to take a completely investigative approach towards the products and market of the client, you are not going to do a good job. Most managers do not do that. But inversely, many clients actually cause problems because they are simply not willing to pay for the full service. Anyone can put ads on Adwords, but a true manager will get intimately involved in the company and the products where they will study and understand the products and market. So if you do seek a manager, I suggest you contact a bunch and ask them what their process is. Focus on what they say about their discovery methodology, that will be the most revealing part of their pitch.
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  • Profile picture of the author victorrex
    Hiring an expert will make you earn and generate ROI, so the payment you do to the expert is actually an investment, as if as a novice one starts spending on ads then one may get bankrupt soon if not doing right way.
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