The Best Google Ads Agency Won't Let These Things Happen...
If you’re running into these sorts of common problems, you might not be working with the best Google Ads Agency possible.
Wasted Ad Spend
PPC managers add negative keywords. Business-minded marketing experts apply years of experience to stretch every penny.
Regularly adding negative keywords is a must, sure. It’s a requirement for every account. Pay per click ads that show up on searches that are undesirable for your business is one of the biggest signs of wasted spend.
(Quick tip: Want to find out if you are advertising on low quality or irrelevant search terms? Ask your agency for a 90-day search terms report to see what phrases you’re bidding on.)
BUT, Wasted Ad Spend Doesn’t Stop At The Keyword Level…
A PPC manager that is actively monitoring and optimizing your account should be looking out for things like…
- Campaigns, demographics, in-market segments, geo areas, etc., that simply don't convert for your business.
- Costly clicks that generate CPAs below your breakeven point.
- Paid traffic that's being driven to poorly designed landing pages.
- Bid strategies that sound seem impressive but are really underperforming.
- Auotmated Google "Smart" campaigns that look good on the surface but in reality are chewing into budget.
- Display ads that show on apps for toddlers!? Commercials that run on nursery rhyme YouTube videos?!
David Buggy
President & CEO
Strava Technologies
There is a major difference between a paid search guy (or gal) running through a daily optimization checklist for your account and an experienced digital marketer applying years of industry insight. Knowing where to look and what to look for is surprisingly hard to come by. It takes the experience of the best Google Ads agency to really maximize every dollar.
Falling Short Of Goals
Not exceeding KPIs might mean it's time to switch.
D2C brands with KPIs where:
- CPA is cutting into profit margins.
- ROI doesn't justify the spend.
- Conversion rates are low. Bounce rates are high.
- Poor ROAS is cutting into your ability to scale the business.
- Churn rate is high. LTV is low.
Terry Rowlik
President & Founder
IQ Instrument Rentals
David Buggy
President & CEO
Strava Technologies
Law firms or B2Cs where:
- The number of leads needed to help fuel growth isn't being met.
- The leads are of poor quality.
- The Cost / Lead is way too high.
- Impression share is too low and business is being left on the table.
Bad Reporting
Data-driven business decisions aren't made using data... they're made using INSIGHTS.
Too much data. Not enough insight.
Tired of getting the same canned reports from your marketing agency? Fed up looking at the same data that you can get in Google Analytics?
Look, data is good, but your marketing agency should have actionable insights for your business. Such insights are the foundation for developing new strategies for fueling growth. Don’t settle for the same old reporting dashboard with a ton of PPC marketing metrics. As a client, you deserve to know:
- What your data actually means or suggests, and
- How to capitalize on it moving forward.
David Buggy
President & CEO
Strava Technologies
Inaccurate Conversion Tracking
The fact that conversions are often over-reported (or not reported at all) is a huge red flag…
In the vast number of cases (awareness campaigns excluded), conversions should be your business’ number one KPI. As such, it should be clearly and accurately recorded and reported. Too often, there are times where either…
ONE: Other digital marketing companies (big ones, too) overreport their conversion / sales metrics. It is not uncommon to uncover:
- Agencies that attribute repeat sales back to one click (one conversion is one conversion; measuring LTV, purchase frequency, etc., are completely separate and aside from acquisition metrics such as conversions).
- Instances where conversions are being double-counted, often due to tracking code issues.
- Cases of repeat phone calls being counted as multiple conversions. Ex: a person converts via phone call. Then calls three more times over the course of a few weeks, but all four phone calls are counted as conversions?! That's one lead being counted as four conversions!
- Clients aren't given the conversion data necessary to be able to readily answer: "How many conversions are we getting from paid search? Ditto display and video? What is our CPA?" If conversion data isn't front and center of every monthly report, it damn well should be.
President
Power-CRM.com
TWO: The client’s Google Ads conversion metrics aren’t even provided at all. Those data should usually be front and center of every monthly report. Else, businesses cannot readily answer important questions such as:
- Is paid search driving business? If so, how much business?
- Ditto Google display and video campaigns.
- How many conversions are we getting? What is our Cost Per Conversion?
Neglecting Proper Attribution Models
Improper attribution settings = WASTED ad spend.
Without proper attribution modeling (which channel gets credit, how much credit, and when) businesses struggle mightily to identify the most effective media for driving growth.
Imagine… Someone sees your company’s TV commercial 3x. Then, they click on your PPC ad while searching on Google. Retargeting campaigns show display ads to this person across the GDN and/or social media channels. Shortly thereafter, he/she Googles your brand’s name, clicks on an organic search result and converts.
Which marketing channel gets credit for driving the conversion? The TV buy? The PPC agency? The retargeting campaign? SEO efforts?
Chances are, your Google Ads Agency will report 100% credit for the conversion in the above example.
That not only misleadingly inflates PPC KPIs, but makes it nearly impossible to accurately gauge cross-channel marketing performance.
The result: mistakenly allocating budget to ad efforts that are doing much worse than they appear.
Sharon
Google Ads Representative & Strategist
Google
Ad Campaigns Running On Autopilot
Chances are, you're not getting the attention you deserve.
Paid advertising campaigns need be closely managed. Often, one of three things happens at your marketing management company that can have a negative impact on results.
Your agency is leaning on AI & ML way too much.
Google has fantastic software. Its AI can help predict which audience is most likely to be in-market for your product or service. It’s ML can optimize on-the-fly to show ads based on that data. BUT, such software should NOT be “in the driver’s seat.” If your campaign is lacking the human element, trust us, your campaigns will suffer. The best Google Ads agency knows when and how to use AI to maximize results.
Your paid search marketing agency isn’t being proactive.
Sure, most agencies have SEMs that will occasionally create a new campaign, write a few new ads here and there, add a few bid adjustments every few days… but is that really all there is to it? The answer is no. You want all of the above PLUS fresh ideas, new opportunities for growth, clever campaign tactics for improving performance… the difference between a paid search manager and a tried-and-true, traditional marketing agency.
You’re unsure what the heck happened.
Early on, you were impressed. Your agency brought out the big guns during the sales process. Onboarding went well. You were pleased with the early results only to see a decline in performance over time. Often, big name agencies will pass accounts down to junior level AEs at a certain point in time. The inexperienced AEs become overwhelmed with an increasing number of accounts to manage, the more experienced reps move up to larger accounts or go after “bigger fish,” and your account just slips through the cracks. The result? Your business doesn’t get the attention it needs, which leads to decreases in performance and poor results. Makes you think… did you hire an agency or a sales organization?
Getting The Most From Your Google Partner Agency?
If you're still reading this, probably not.
DMG regularly outperforms the competition… perhaps it can do the same for you.
Why not set up a phone call to have an honest, up front conversation with DMG.
Best case scenario: if DMG’s services are ripe for your business, we might have a started a great relationship.
Worst case: You get insights into your campaigns. DMG gets to talk shop.
