User Guide

Reasons to Outsource and Not to Outsource your PPC Campaign

When you choose Pay-Per-Click advertising to promote your business or service online, you may encounter a question: Shall I do it myself or get the help from outside agencies? Before you make the decision, take a look at the checklists below showing you the 5 cons and 10 pros for outsourcing PPC campaigns.

5 REASONS NOT TO OUTSOURCE PPC CAMPAIGN:

According to a Jupiter Research in late 2006, about three-fourths of companies that outsource their PPC search marketing to agencies are dissatisfied with their results. Only 21 percent are completely satisfied. The common reasons for that are:

1. Agencies Do Not Specialize In B2B Search Marketing.

Most agencies specialize in consumer search marketing only and cannot provide appropriate services that meet the specialized needs as a B2B company. B2B search is different from B2C search, and it requires different techniques and methods to do the optimization. B2B transactions involve a more complex sales cycle with multiple decision makers. Each of them may use search in different ways, with different motivations, and at different times during the sales cycle.

2. In-house provides more flexibility and quicker reaction.

When you outsource your campaign, the time and efforts spent in coordinating with outsiders can result in latency and information loss. All the back-and-forth emails and phone calls required hinder the flexibility and agility to react quickly. It may even take you weeks to get your PPC campaign actually launched.

3. Agency incentives not aligned with your goals.

Remember, whatever your agency promises, their major incentive is to grow their own business. They will usually tell you that your search is performing great. Once you outsource your PPC, you will probably lose control over a critical portion of your demand generation strategy to outsiders who may have different incentives from you.

4. Small-scale advertisers get under-served.

There are some outside agencies would make an unfair treatment between the largest spenders and small-scale B2B advertisers. Agencies favor the large spenders and by nature, would devote more time into them. Small firms may get underserved. Be wary of agencies that promise to provide reasonable service at levels below $10,000, since at those levels an agency would probably give you only a few hours a month. Of course they still earn their fees, regardless of how much time they spend on your campaigns.

5. You know your business better than the outsider.

Outsourced agency as an outsider can never fully understand your customers or your business, especially B2B firms that sell more complicated products and services. Picking the right keywords is the most important skills for a successful PPC campaign. The desired keywords are what your prospects actually use when they search – something you know the best. When determining rankings, Google and Yahoo also concern about the relevance of your content as they do about your bid.

10 REASONS TO OUTSOURCE PPC CAMPAIGN

Apart from the above con voices, there are reasons why people outsource their PPC campaigns.

1. Agencies Know The Engine Secrets.

PPC management agencies work with the engines every day and those established ones know all the major PPC networks. They know what intricacies of each system are, how these systems work and how to write good copy, helping you to get higher click-through rates and improving your overall essential metrics.

2. Sophisticated tools to get your own keyword phrases.

Bidding on the same keyword phrases as your competitors would not do any good to your business. Good PPC agencies will have their own resources and keyword research tools to expand your keyword portfolio. Use relevant keywords that your competitors do not know to differentiate you from the rest and bring in more qualified leads/sales.

3. Rich knowledge and experience.

PPC networks such as Google and Yahoo are bridging the gap between PPC and SEO by integrating *Quality Scores into the mix. It is definitely not an easy task for average marketers to get a solid understanding and implementation of the concepts of SEO, landing page relevancy and quality score. Professional agencies can help because they do this every day and can quickly identify problem areas.
* According to Google, “Quality Score is the basis for measuring the quality and relevance of your ads and determining your minimum CPC bid for Google and the search network. This score is determined by your keyword’s click through rate (CTR) on Google, and the relevance of your ad text, keyword, and landing page.”

4. Reliable and immediate contacts.

Even experts encounter problems. Established PPC agencies would have quality contacts for you to reach them. They will have resources to come up with answers to problems FAST instead of waiting for boilerplate support replies.

5. Cross Pollination of Ideas.

PPC management firms would pollinate good PPC solutions and ideas. Strategies and tactics that work for one client often work for many. The same concept that works in one industry can also be applied in others.

6. Ahead of cutting-edge.

Agencies have better knowledge in determining which of the new tools and programs introduced by Google or Yahoo are appropriate for you. The new tools would undergo testing before implementation.

7. Cope with the changing PPC Landscape.

New advertisers are coming into the pool; current advertisers are becoming stronger; and the search engines are constantly refining their PPC programs to generate the most relevant results. The landscape is always changing and your account needs to change with it. Agencies can help with the changes.

8. Handle Click Fraud.

Fraudulent clicks affect almost every PPC campaign. Google, Yahoo and MSN normally do a good job in detecting click fraud. Do you know if you are being hit? How do you report it? How can you get refund? Agencies can work with you using proprietary and third party solutions to detect, report and get refund for click fraud.

9. Save Your Time.

You no longer have to manage the accounts yourself or to keep up-to-date on the various trends. Get more free time to think of other high-ROI activities to grow your business.

10. Free yourself from your PPC.

By outsourcing your PPC program, you do not have to worry about it. Knowing your PPC campaign is being run professionally and staying in a peace of mind. You can spend more time and efforts on managing your own business instead.

After looking at the pros and cons for outsourcing PPC campaign, you may be still not able to make a decision. We highly recommend Focus’s SEO services for your search engine marketing in which combining the power of SEO, PPC and SMO together. More details? Contact us and click here to learn more.