With no disrespect to either side: PPC consultants are in some ways like lawyers.
That’s because some businesses can’t say enough good things about their PPC consultant. Phrases like “dramatically improved our website traffic” and “significantly improved our sales numbers” are frequently overheard. Christmas cards are exchanged. It’s a happy PPC consultant story filled with joy.
And then, there are folks on the other end of the spectrum. They’re not quite as happy. Actually, they’re seething with rage and regret. Even mentioning the phrase “PPC consultant” is enough to send their blood pressure to unsafe levels. So it’s more like a horror story. There are no Christmas cards (and if there were, they would be shredded on receipt).
Obviously, if you’re in the market for a PPC consultant, you need your story to be happy instead of horrific. And to make sure that happens, here are 5 things you should look and insist upon as you evaluate candidates and proposals:
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Deep Experience
Demand nothing less than several years of experience across multiple PPC platforms – and not just AdWords (even if that’s primarily or exclusively the one you end up using for your campaigns).
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Significant Spend
Sure, some PPC consultants can honestly claim to have years of experience – which is a start. But guess what? That experience is meaningless if they’ve only managed a few hundred or a few thousand dollars in spend (i.e. the amount that customers allocate to their PPC budget). Regardless of how much you plan to spend, make sure that you work with a PPC consultant who has proven their ability to handle hundreds of thousands of dollars in spend. That’s the only way to be assured that their experience actually means something, and will be an advantage for you.
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Research
Long before your first ad launches, your PPC consultant should conduct in-depth research on keywords, target audiences, competitors, and other dynamics and variables that will ultimately be part of your campaign(s). What’s more, this must be a dialogue and not a lecture. As advised by SearchEngineLand.com: “Nobody knows your target market better than you; this is where your responsibility to effectively communicate with your consultant/agency is most crucial. Your PPC consultant should be able to bring in new ideas based on their expertise as well as their outside perspective.” We couldn’t agree more!
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Reporting
While you don’t want to be inundated with PPC-related data – because trust us, there’s plenty of it – you nevertheless need to be suitably informed of performance, trends, optimization opportunities, and other aspects. Any PPC consultant that tries to keep you out of the loop should be avoided. There’s a reason why they don’t want you to know what’s going on…and you aren’t going to like it.
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Management
Some PPC consultants create and set-up accounts, and then they disappear. The reason for this is cynical yet simple: while there’s a lot of work that goes into launching a campaign, the real heavy lifting starts when a campaign goes live. You want to ensure that your PPC consultant has the capacity, competence and commitment to manage and optimize your campaigns on a daily basis. If all they can do is set-up your account, then be warned: you’re on the road to PPC regret!
Learn More
At Leap Clixx, we’ve managed hundreds of thousands of dollars in PPC spend across all platforms (e.g. AdWords, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), for customers nationwide. We also conduct in-depth research, deliver regular reports, and manage all campaign aspects. To learn more, contact us today. Your consultation is free.
Not convinced that PPC should be a part of your marketing strategy? Check out our FREE eBook "Why Google AdWords Should Be Part of Your Inbound Marketing Strategy" now:
Topics: SEM
