PPC is a valuable avenue for marketing your business, but not everyone has the ability or the funds to do it in-house. So, what do these companies do? They can outsource PPC! Here, we’ll show you how!
What is PPC?
PPC, also known as pay-per-click, is a method of digital advertising. This takes place mainly on SERPs (search engine results pages) like Google or Bing. However, you can also see this on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. How it works is you pay these search engines or social networks based on how many clicks you receive on your link or ad.
PPC is a popular, effective, and powerful means of marketing your business. For one thing, PPC can generate a significant amount of traffic for your website. Additionally, PPC can produce fast results and is useful in driving sales. It is also quite cost-effective due to the fact that you pay only if someone clicks on the ad.
What Are The Pros and Cons to Outsourcing PPC?
Pro #1 – Expertise and Experience
Learning PPC from scratch and effectively running a campaign can take a lot of time and a lot of resources. One of the best things when you outsource PPC services is that you are hiring professionals with years of accumulated knowledge. They not only have the theoretical knowledge, but they also have had many opportunities to apply it. They have had time to test out, analyze and create the best paid advertising strategies and techniques for various businesses. This also makes them more efficient at handling your campaign needs.
Pro #2 – Cost-effectiveness
Cost-savings are probably the biggest draw of outsourcing as a whole. There are several costs you need to consider with an in-house team:
- Hiring and Recruitment
- Employee Benefits
- Payment for tools and other resources
- Training
- Other overheads
On the other hand, when you outsource PPC you don’t have to worry about the aforementioned cost areas.
Pro #3 – Tools and Training
When you work with a PPC freelancer or agency, they are likely to possess the necessary tools and software to implement, manage and analyze PPC campaigns effectively. These tools will typically go beyond the free ones you can use. They also have people who have already undergone the training and possess the skills to use these tools.
Pro #4 – Learning Curve
Learning all there is to know about PPC and implementing that knowledge in a way that produces optimal results is a difficult process. Not only is it time-consuming, but you may also have to try several things before learning what works. PPC campaigns have a lot of moving parts, and it can take some time to get familiar with everything you need to keep track of.
This relates to the following point.
Pro #5 – Faster Results
While we won’t discourage you from pursuing any kind of skill or knowledge, if you want fast results, outsourcing PPC is the way to go. Because they know how to maximize your ROI and have experience managing an ad budget, an outsourced team or individual expert can help you become more profitable at a much quicker pace.
Pro #6 – Time and Personnel Savings
At the end of the day, PPC is about advertising what your business actually does and likely isn’t the business itself. Running a business costs a lot of hours. If you or your team are too busy looking over your PPC campaign, you can’t focus on your primary duties. Imagine all the time that would be taken away from improving your products and services, enhancing internal processes, brainstorming, and other necessary business decisions.
Hiring an outsourced PPC solution frees up your time and your team to focus on applying their unique skills to propel your business forward.
Con #1 – Picking a PPC Agency or Freelancer Can Be Difficult
While it isn’t as tedious as the typical hiring and recruitment of an in-house team, selecting an agency or freelancer to work with can be tricky.
You could run the risk of hiring a freelancer or a team from an agency that looks good on paper but doesn’t deliver on its promises. This is why it is crucial to see verifiable social proof. Check ratings and reviews from people who have worked with the agencies you are considering.
It’s safer to invest in a well-known company or an individual with high customer satisfaction ratings than something cheaper but obscure. Well-known companies typically have more experience and clients under their belt and are more likely to be caught up on the latest trends and use the best tools and software.
Con #2 – Communication Problems
Naturally, you’ll want to outsource PPC to an individual or team that speaks the same language as you. However, hiring internationally could pose a problem if there is a culture clash, not to mention the issue of time zones.
Additionally, there are also several communication challenges that come with hiring an outsourced PPC solution. How will you be communicating? What platforms will you use to conduct virtual meetings with your remote team? How often will you be meeting and with who? How often will you be receiving updates?
Con #3 – Loss of Control
Whenever you are handing off a task to an outside person or team, you are handing off a level of control over that task. No matter how many calls you ask to schedule, you still are not going to be able to watch over everything. Some business owners prefer to be more involved than outsourcing allows.
You are essentially putting your brand image in the hands of another company when you outsource PPC. Therefore, you need to have a high level of trust in the person or agency you will work with. This is yet another reason to do extensive research before choosing who to work with.
Con #4 – Security Risks
You will have to give out company data to whomever you outsource PPC. This sensitive information about your brand could be leaked to competitors. It’s important that the agency or platform ensures data protection and privacy. There needs to be a level of accountability to prevent shady “agencies” from taking off with your company data.
How Can I Outsource PPC Effectively?
1. Figure Out Your Campaign Goals
The first thing you need to do before you outsource PPC is determine your objective for running ads in the first place. What do you want to achieve through your ad campaigns? Are you aiming to build your brand awareness? Do you wish to generate leads? Do you want to drive conversions? You need to identify your target and then you can figure out what steps to take to get there.
When you have a clear idea of your campaign goals, you can begin thinking about what you need in terms of an outsourced PPC solution. Maybe you need a full-service team of researchers, strategists, analysts, and designers. Perhaps you only need a select individual to help you manage your campaign.
Evaluate your business and educate yourself on at least the basics of PPC. List down any questions, suggestions, or anything that needs clarification or advice.
When you outsource PPC, a lot of options out there offer consultations where you can discuss your specific situation and needs with the experts. You can then decide if they are a good fit for your business.
2. Run Ads
Google and its SERPs are the most popular platform to use for running ads. However, as mentioned earlier, you can also run ads via Bing Ads and social platforms like Facebook Ads. You can also use AdRoll.
Wherever you decide to run your ads, you want to make sure the agency or freelance team you hire has expertise and experience on that platform.
3. Finding The Right Person To Outsource PPC To
When you decide to outsource PPC, the next step is figuring out who to outsource to. You have options to outsource to an agency or to hire professionals from freelance platforms.
Whatever you choose, you must keep a few things in mind when hiring:
- Scale of the project – Freelancers may be enough for running a few ads but full-scale campaigns may require hiring an agency.
- Expertise – Educational attainment, certifications, and other training
- Years of experience – Industry specific recommended
- Past projects
- Ratings and Reviews
- Hourly Rate/ Project Cost
4. Stay On Top Of Trends
You can’t just settle for someone who is knowledgeable about previous marketing techniques. The best agencies and individuals are always growing their knowledge, innovating, and staying updated. Be it brand new techniques, industry fads, software, technology, or terms of service updates, your ideal outsourced PPC partner will stay on top of these.
Most agencies even provide this as a guarantee when promoting their services on their website.
5. Use the Right Tools
As mentioned, one of the benefits of outsourced PPC is savings in terms of training in different software programs. If you hire through an agency, you’ll also save by not having to purchase the necessary tools. These tools are instrumental to running successful campaigns, so on your own, you wouldn’t have a choice but to spend.
From analysis tools to automation, make sure the person you are hiring already uses and is skilled in the necessary tools. Some of these tools include Ahrefs, SEMRush, HubSpot, Optmyzr, Wordstream, and Unbounce. Additionally, if you’re running ads on Google, Google Ads Editor and Google Analytics are very valuable tools as well.
6. Overspending on PPC
Depending on your ad network, industry, company size, and scope, the cost of your PPC management needs can vary. According to WebFX, startups can spend an average of $300-$1000+ monthly on PPC. Small businesses can spend $1000 to over $10,000 per month.
Note that agencies are more expensive than freelancers, but tend to offer better overall services if you don’t want to go though a hiring process. A dedicated PPC expert or PPC manager might cost even more than going agency rates. Experts will give you much better results, though.
Again, outsourced PPC is much more affordable than hiring an in-house team. However, it’s still wise to evaluate your budget and determine how much you are willing to spend weighed against your potential ROI.
Conclusion
There you have it! Hopefully, now you have a better grasp of PPC, the value of outsourced PPC, and how you can do it effectively without breaking the bank!
