When Is a Paid Search Agency Worth Your Marketing Spend?

Marketing isn’t easy.  Running a marketing campaign without understanding the time, effort, and audience involved sets you up for disaster. 

Two things that businesses don’t want to do:

• Waste money on marketing strategies that don’t work
• Leave money (and customers) on the table for their competitors to grab 

A poorly managed PPC campaign does both. 

Nearly 65% of people click on paid Google Ads when they shop online, and 66% of “buying intent” keywords are paid clicks. Therefore, it’s important that your campaign puts your ads in front of the right people.

A paid search agency has the expertise to make this happen. Paid search advertising isn’t for everyone, though -- use this article to identify whether PPC management services are worth your marketing dollars:

What Is PPC?

Pay-per-click advertising -- or PPC -- works just like it sounds: You pay every time someone clicks on your ad, but ONLY when they click the ad. Simply displaying your ad is free.

Pay-per-click advertising is an important component of many inbound marketing strategies. Like most other components, it requires in-depth research, experience, and experimentation to get right. Unlike other components, you're directly paying for the results that you get.

Pay-per-click advertising can yield great results if properly managed. These pay-per-click success stories show the power of a well-run campaign. 

What Is a Paid Search Agency?

Simply, a paid search agency will handle your paid digital ad campaigns. An affordable inbound marketing agency specializing in PPC is a great alternative to a full-time PPC employee, or winging it with your current staff. An agency is specifically trained to avoid the common pitfalls of PPC advertising. It’ll use relevancy, competition, and search volume to build effective campaigns that pay the lowest cost per click while still producing great results.  

In other words, search engine advertising companies know things about Google ranking factors that a regular person doesn't. 

Couldn’t We Do This In-House? 

Maybe. If you have money to hire dedicated marketers who will set up, daily monitor, and optimize your PPC campaigns, then tackling PPC in-house may work for you. 

But what if you can’t afford to spend money on salary and benefits for someone dedicated to PPC? 

Don’t saddle an already-busy, existing employee with the task. Even if they have the time, they probably won’t have the training. PPC is not something you can run on autopilot and return to after other priorities are handled. It requires regular monitoring.   

Hiring a PPC/inbound marketing firm takes the pressure off you and your busy employees. A paid search agency is worth your marketing spend if:

• Your SEO strategy isn’t working fast enough
• You’re doing PPC, but have no clue what you’re doing
• You don’t have the resources
• You don’t have the tools
• Your competitors are beating you in the PPC game
  
  

‘Our SEO Strategy Isn’t Working Fast Enough’

SEO -- or search engine optimization -- is a slow-and-steady process. It’s the process of optimizing your website and creating marketing content with the goal of ranking higher in Google for the keywords your target buyers are searching for. It pays off in time, but you don’t see immediate results. PPC brings immediate results, making it a great choice for new businesses, new websites, or new strategy implementation.

However, SEO and PPC aren’t in competition. PPC works best and provides the greatest ROI when combined with: 

• SEO 
• social media 
• content marketing 
• landing pages
• other inbound marketing strategies 

PPC stops working once you stop putting money into it, whereas the “organic” efforts we just listed will see results compound over time. For this reason, we usually recommend that companies serious about growth invest in both PPC and other content/SEO services.

‘We’re Doing PPC, But Have no Clue What We’re Doing’

Don’t blindly set up a PPC campaign. You’ll end up frustrated with Google Ads and wanting to throw your laptop out the window. That’s what the experts are for. A Google Ads agency understands how to: 

• research keywords 
• track conversions 
• manage bids
• optimize text ads and landing pages 

If this all sounds foreign to you, it’s time to call in the experts. 

‘We Don’t Have the Resources’

You wear a lot of hats at your business -- one of them being the unofficial czar of promoting your website. However, PPC may be low on your priority list. This probably means you have a campaign that delivers dismal results and costs you thousands of dollars per year. 

A successful PPC campaign should be reviewed and optimized regularly. If that’s beyond your reach hire an inbound marketing agency. Having PPC off your plate enables you to focus on growing other areas of your business. 

An inbound marketing agency makes sure you don’t waste money on high-bid ads that bring a low ROI. Instead, they’ll ensure:  

• Your ads are relevant
• You're getting the best bang for your buck
• Your chosen keywords are exactly what your ideal buyers are searching
• Your ads are well written
• Your quality score is high

An inbound marketing firm has the expertise to recommend new keywords or strategies that will provide solutions to increase your ROI. 

‘We Don’t Have the Tools’

When you hire an inbound marketing agency specializing in PPC, you get the expertise and benefit of professional digital marketing tools. These tools do all the monitoring and analytics that keep your campaign on track. Your agency should work with you to understand how the campaign is performing and what strategies maximize profit. 

The right tools and expertise lead to more conversions and a better ROI. The keywords you choose are incredibly relevant to cost per click. If you throw keywords at the wall to see what sticks, your lack of research will show in your poor results.

‘Our Competitors Are Beating Us!’

You’re missing customers, but your competitors aren’t. They’re growing their business and picking up customers on Google Ads. How are they doing that -- magic!?

If you can relate, you may have a PPC management problem. Optimizing your campaigns and keywords based on your buyer persona will change this. However, a paid search agency can solve the problem if optimization is beyond your grasp.

Putting Your Campaign in the Hands of a Paid Search Agency

A paid search agency has the expertise, resources, and tools to make your PPC campaign successful. Don’t leave money on the table or let your competition beat you in attracting online leads. Don’t waste money on expensive campaigns that provide little ROI. 

Time to add PPC to your marketing mix or fix your current mess? Get the right paid search agency for the job. 

To get an idea of how PPC happens successfully, read this case study of The Watch Doctor: