Date post: | 23-Jan-2018 |
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Marketing |
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Is Your PPC AgencyWasting Your Budget?
Joe Khoei, SalesX
#SEJThinkTank
Joe KhoeiCEO, SalesX
● Obsessed with Internet Marketing since 1998
● Formal background Industrial Tech & Business Administration
● 3 Years Quality Engineering & Process Development
● 10 years Enterprise Software Sales & Finance
● Running SalesX since 01-01-2010
● Shake Me Awake Answer: Create Business Value
#SEJThinkTank
#SEJThinkTank
• Who is this for? What will you learn?
What’s the problem?
• Compared to PPC the most
complicated Swiss watch is like a
child’s toy (need tech chops)
• It applies to multiple elements in
your business (need biz chops)
• There are tons of things to hide
behind (need ethics / transparency)
• Challenges the status quo (could
need reengineering)
Is Your Agency Making You a Hero?
Technical Ability
● Class C License vs. NASCAR vs. Formula1
(AW Certified vs. UI agencies vs. Script Pros)
● AdWords alone has 45+ features
● F1 level minimum account maintenance
contains 25+ different functions
● Pit crew is at least 5 people on tap
● On top of that you need big brother to monitor
your KPIs, progress, and resource allocation
with active alerts on an hourly basis
#SEJThinkTank
Sorry, Vacheron Constanin
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Business Acumen
● Business Value, pinned down
● More than just “Increase Direct Income”
○ 19 dials, definitions, and calculations*
● Let’s do the math: 47 x 26 x 19 = 23,218
● When your PPP is not your PPP (Example)
● .˙. 80/20 is insufficient; go for 96/4 or better
* https://sites.google.com/a/salesx.com/salesx/home/selling-on-business-value
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Reporting Transparency
● Problem: Subject to Interpretation
○ Solution: Design to Match Internal Metrics
● If unable to, then find out why?
○ Data won’t allow it? Tech chops
○ Unsure what you mean? Biz chops
○ Management disallows it? Conflict of
Interest (avoid like the plague)
● Between Google Data Studio and AdWords
Scripts you can make the data do the Tango,
the Mamba, and the Merengue
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Reporting Transparency Example
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Business Process Alignment
● La Presse 1836 vs. Hot Wired 1994
○ 181 vs. 23 ∆ = 158 years
● WoM vs. Web
● Business Process Reengineering
● Grown men weeping (Example)
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Business Process Alignment Example
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Extraordinary Results
● Leveraging Internal Winnings
● Reconsider resource allocation
● Much to gain; 10% down, 90% to go
● Get out of the weeds
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Summary
To achieve the upward spiral your agency must:
● Tackle an increasingly complex technical
landscape
● Mesh it with your Business Value Dials of
choice
● Report on it the way your company consumes
information
● And coach you through the intricacies of
Digital
What am I saying?
Get The Experts To Do Expert’s Work
#SEJThinkTank
Poll Question
What is keeping you from increasing your PPC spend?
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Thank You!Joe Khoei
CEO, SalesX
#SEJThinkTank
Aaron LevySr. Team Lead, Elite [email protected]
Aaron has been in digital for over a decade, starting when he was “given the
keys to the car” and ran PPC for DuPont as a college junior. Over the course
of his career, Aaron has developed internship programs, created education
programs and built teams from the ground up.
Now a Sr. Team Lead at Elite SEM, he oversees a growing team across North
America (affectionately known as Team RumHam) who manage digital for
some of the largest brands in the world.
In addition to his duties as a STL, Aaron’s a sought after international speaker,
an adjunct instructor at Drexel & University of Vermont, and has been
shortlisted for marketer of the year by Search Engine Land. He moonlights as
a golfer, hockey player, cyclist and claims to be the industry’s top chef.
What happens when results plateau?
#SEJThinkTank
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Understanding the WHY
• Ask your partners to unpack the results you’re
seeing and understand what’s happening in the
landscape.
• Figure out the role of the business vs. the
market when it comes to plateauing results.
#SEJThinkTank
Explore the role of other channels
• Unpack the root cause of the plateau, are you
finding a lack of brand search volume? Maybe
it’s time to boost your display efforts
• Finding that PPC efforts have soared at the
cost of other channels? Maybe it’s time to re-
evaluate your proportion of remarketing spend.
• Lack of new customers? Perhaps its time to
figure out where people heard of your brand
first and re-invest your money there.
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Be willing to invest in new
technology.
• Bid management technology can help you (or
the agency) automate the simple things.
• Make a time investment in Scripts. Isolate
under or high performing language strings (n-
grams) over a long period of time.
• Invest in CRO. If you can lift conversion rates by
just a hair (5-10% lift) your plateau is gone.
“
#SEJThinkTank
The most dangerous phrase in the language is
we‘ve always done it this way
Grace HopperRear Admiral, USN
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Re-evaluate Old Tests + Budget Alignment
• A test that failed in 2015 could succeed with flying colors today.
• Evaluate the role of audiences (customer match, similar audiences, in market + more)
to see which fit your old efforts and your new business.
• Consider a NOW | NEW | NEXT budget to encourage innovation and continual testing.
70% 20% 10%
When to fire and how to hire an agency
#SEJThinkTank
#SEJThinkTank
It's EXPENSIVE to fire an agency.
Firing should be your last resort!
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Analyze the agreement.
• Do you have an out clause?
• Elite has a 2 day out clause, many have a 30
day out clause but for larger contracts, it may
be a much longer term.
• Plan accordingly! Know that if you have an
annualized contract you’ll need to have your
research done at just the right time.
#SEJThinkTank
Do your research before you
pull the plug
• Don’t sell the house before you have a new place to live.
• Give potential partners access in the sales process, but
unless the relationship is out of control, do your best to
keep it hidden from the existing agency.
• If you throw them into a panic you’ll likely see a weird
interruption in service along with executives poking their
head in trying to make things right.
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Give enough notice to get your job done
• A month’s notice to the existing agency is probably too much. Two weeks
is likely fine
• Get access to all of your accounts if you don’t have them already. It’s rare
for an agency to hold accounts hostage.
• Collect all reports, test documents and long term presentations for the new
agency. The new team may not use them, but they can’t hurt either.
• Unlink old tools and terminate access, but give them time for billing done!
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Leave on a Positive Note
Evaluate + Select a New Partner
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#SEJThinkTank
1: Develop a common
criteria for evaluation
• We put a scorecard together for those of you
who are shopping, evaluating transparency,
relationship, expertise and fit.
bit.ly/agencyevaluation
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2: A bridge between Expertise + Experience
• The people who you speak with must demonstrate an ability to do their job well.
• You’re not paying for amateurs. The agency should have a POV on industry changes.
• Does the team have relevant experience in your industry?
• A team of experts, a team of interns or something in between?
• Years of experience may not be the best proxy for a skilled PPC manager
• Focus on identifying how the agency tests, reacts + plans
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Poll Question
How do you hope for an agency to “pay for itself?”
1. Results – their improved performance
should cover their fees.
1. Time savings – I’m paying them so I don’t
have to do it.
1. A hybrid – Results should be a little better
and I should invest a little less time
1. Agencies are money grubbing scum
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3: Evaluate your idea of value
• Is the agency high or low touch? Which do you
prefer?
• How does the agency measure success? Do
they report on their metrics or business
outcomes
• Decide ideal communication cadence, and who
you call if there’s an emergency. Is the agency
willing to be available, or are they off limits?
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“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
Abraham Maslow
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4: Understand the technology suite
• Make sure the agency’s technology of choice
supports your marketing goals.
• Nobody wants the same car forever –
understand how often the agency evaluates
technologies and whether they take a test drive.
• Get an idea for how the agency monitors
competition, both of yours and of their own.
#SEJThinkTank
5: Secure a cultural fit
• Cultural fit is the most important aspect of a relationship. Your new team must be
passionate, proud and motivated.
• Make sure the new structure works for you. Be it a single person or a dozen, you
know how they’re motivated and how they interact with your business.
• Ask to meet the team or someone like them. Most agencies won’t hold bandwidth,
but get to know people who will actually do the work.
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6: Find pricing that works for everybody
• Don’t beat up the agency too bad in the negotiation
process. Remember, it’s all give and take.
• Align contract terms with business needs. A snappy
out clause is nice, but it goes both ways.
• Ensure there’s some form of performance incentive.
Be it percentage of media spend, a reward for good
performance or something else entirely, keep
everyone motivated!
#SEJThinkTank
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