How To Do PPC Right

How we do PPC right here in Manchester – Our 5 step PPC process

Speaking with Managing Directors and Marketing Managers on a regular basis lead us to realise that there was still a lack of understanding between client and agency as to what was done during the PPC process. We believe that client knowledge and transparency is key to any relationship, and so we wanted to document a process that would be; simple to understand at all levels, could guide us to work efficiently and productively, and that would constantly be reviewed in order to ensure its success.

It can be hard if you are looking for a PPC agency in Manchester as PPC is a service area is filled with jargon and, I believe, a good deal of misinformation. All of this can be used to create an arena of confusion for clients. What are the benefits of reviewing CPA as opposed to ROAS? Why would we need to measure path length? Is there any benefit creating a customer segment of people who have been on site for 6 minutes? (The answers are; they’re about the same, path length can dictate amount of activity and YES!).

All of this makes it harder to understand what your agency is doing and whether they are satisfying Key Business KPIs. So, in an effort to get rid of this issue, we created a simple 5 step process for our work in Paid Digital Advertising regardless of platform.

The 5 Step Process:

1. Roadmap
2. Reduce Waste
3. Increase Relevance
4. Test & Ring Fence Budget
5. Repeat

 

That is it! But let’s dig in to each area a little more and hopefully you will agree that this is the only way to work on paid.

Step 1 – Roadmap

There should always be a plan. Client and Agency must agree on the plan together and the plan should satisfy Key Business KPIs. From the plan a roadmap of work should be made.

We do not work on a % of spend model. Instead all of the work that we do on an account is quoted for and given a value in hours. This allows the client to see exactly how long we are spending on specific areas that we believe will benefit the account. This allows us to be transparent.

Step 2 – Reduce Waste

Because we do not work on a % of spend model we are not incentivised for the client to spend more (think about how your current agency is incentivised). One of the first things we do with accounts inherited from other agencies is trim the fat. For example, there are generally a glut of keywords that have had clicks (and therefore spend) but no conversions within a certain time period. These keywords are costing money and not providing any benefit to the account. GET RID OF THEM!

If you are spending money in areas that aren’t driving Key Business KPIs then you are wasting money.

This work can be relatively fast to do and will instantly make the account more profitable.

Step 3 – Increase Relevance

All digital advertising platforms are on a constant quest to drive more relevant ads to their users. This benefits both the platforms and the clients. The platforms are happy because the users will complain less about the advertising and the clients benefit because more relevant ads are more likely to convert and so the client will be incentivised to spend more money.

Due to the platforms actively wanting to deliver more relevant ads, the clients are also rewarded by the ads becoming cheaper. Keywords with a Quality Score of 10 will cost you less and win more auctions that those with a lower Quality Score. This is just a fact.

What effect does this have overall? Well, it means your budget will go further, meaning you can get more conversions for your money.

Step 4 – Test & Ring Fence Budget

Advertising accounts should never be static. There should be constant tests and experimentation in order to find new areas, push new products, and try different ways of delivering the message to your customer. For this reason, once we have optimised historic areas of the account in steps 2 & 3, we then look for new areas to target. These areas need to be analysed and a business case presented to the client. A budget should be committed and then a test should be run. If everything goes to plan you will have either; a new area to be profitable in, found out that the area isn’t appealing to clients or found a new area that could be profitable with optimisation. All of these things will help drive your account forward.

Step 5 – Repeat

As customer needs change and shift with time so will the success of advertising campaigns. Once we have got a good account that we think is being profitable we go right back to the start and re-analyse everything. Is there budget being wasted? Could we make our adverts more relevant? Are there new areas we can push into?

This process is constant and should be constantly used to drive our clients’ business forward.

And that is it! On a fundamental level we believe your account should be doing these 5 things. If it isn’t then what is it doing? Ask your agency what they are doing to reduce waste (and watch them tremble if they are on a % of spend model). There are many intricate things that can be done to analyse for wastage and increase relevance, etc. but as a client it isn’t necessary that you know that. You just need to know that your budget is being spent wisely and that it is being used to drive Key Business KPIs. We think that our 5 step process is the easiest way to do that.

Thanks for reading!

Seb

If you need any help with your paid marketing then contact us and I will be in touch.