Recently I have read a blog posting about the
five secrets PPC agencies don’t
want you to know. The majority of the blog centered on dissatisfaction from
business-to-business (B2B) marketers with PPC agencies. For the most part I
agree with the arguments made in the blog posting for the majority of PPC
vendors, mainly those who don’t “get it.” The core Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
has never been about bidding on keywords and optimizing quality scores, true SEM
stems from an in depth understanding of the target customer and the purchase
decision process.
Selecting the wrong PPC agency will result in the dissatisfaction cited in Jon
Miller's blog posting. However, using PPC companies or SEM companies who
specialize in B2B marketing will enhance the effect of your PPC campaigns.
Jon explicitly states that “agencies will never understand your customers and
your business as well as you, especially B2B firms that sell more complicated
products and services.” This statement is accurate and completely supported;
however, in-house advertisers tend to speak in terms of the company lingo, not
exactly synonymous with what your customers are using. Wrapping your head around
this paradigm shift is critical for the success of any marketing campaign and
hiring an agency that is one-step removed from the company, can enhance
communications with your customer, after all ad agencies have been around for a
while for a reason; PPC is only the next evolution.
Although PPC management software is available, PPC software cannot provide the
total solution provided by a full-service SEM firm. The management of PPC is a
cumbersome and time consuming process, if done manually. PPC management software
will save time and, if implemented correctly, can save an advertiser money. Even
PPC management companies should be taking full advantage of management software
to increase efficiencies. However, software does not provide critical analysis
and insight; it lacks the ability to get the story from the numbers.
Where an SEM company provides its value is by understanding the consumer and
learning how to best communicate with that consumer. What is the user looking
for when the land on the site and how best to sell to them? What action to you
want the user to take and how best to convince the user to take that action? PPC
is only one action step in the equation and a full service SEM vendor can
provide significant value to a PPC campaign outside of the management function.
Another of Jon's arguments made in the blog posting is the frustration felt
over the loss of control of campaigns and significant lag time to having changes
made. However, with a smaller, B2B-focused SEM company changes to PPC campaigns
can be made as efficiently as would an in-house department. Where the value is
to the advertising company is the additional total solution provided by a
full-service SEM firm to maximize the effect of the change and provide
supporting initiatives.
Jon also makes the “fox guarding the henhouse” argument with regards to
reporting and the effectiveness of PPC from the management company. Knowing what
metrics are important to you before employing the help of a PPC company will aid
in knowing the effectiveness of your PPC campaign. Additionally, it is only
possible for a SEM company to grow their business within the SEM industry by
growing their reputation and therefore providing value to the advertiser is good
business, whether the PPC campaign is the method of choice or not; yet another
point on the scoreboard for a full-service SEM agency. A true SEM agency will be
able to provide alternative solutions to help you achieve your business goals.
However, in the end there is only one metric that cannot be argued with, return
on investment (ROI). If your PPC campaign costs more than the revenue it
generates, then you have your answer regardless of the fancy charts and graphics
provided by most SEM agencies. No matter the dashboard provided by a SEM
company, there will be no hiding the bottom line.
One of the metrics Enquiro uses to base the success of its PPC campaign on is
the cost per conversion. We specialize in knowing your business and being able
to determine at what cost per conversion value is provided to the advertiser and
continually work to ensure that your PPC campaign yields a profit per visitor
generated through your PPC campaign.
A special thanks to Jon for posting on this subject and exposing the frauds
giving solution providers a bad reputation. Jon's blog posting makes several
valid arguments and should be used by a company investigating the implementation
of a PPC campaign.. However, selecting a PPC agency who can offer a more
complete, total solution based on an in depth understanding of your company and
your target market can provide additional value beyond the time and headache
savings. Enquiro specializes in offering the total solution through an
industry-leading approach of understanding you and your customer. We get it!
Kyle
Grant
Sponsored
Search Marketing Strategist Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2007 - Enquiro Search Solutions.
This article can be reproduced in its entirety, if the author credit is
retained and there is a prominent source link to
www.enquiro.com.
Visit our technical and news site
www.searchengineposition.com.
enquiro research
Kyle
Grant