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Part of our filtering system, when we receive leads for new customers, asks how much of their marketing budget is dedicated to PPC marketing (the only channel we manage in my PPC agency).
OK, so why in the world a person (me!) Who has invested his life in the field of PPC marketing is deliberately afraid to take customers who spend all their marketing budget in PPC?
When a potential customer proudly declares, "Yes, we are currently investing about 95% of our marketing budget in Google Ads", why would not we hear "job security" rather than what goes through my head: "Alarm, alarm, alarm! ⚠️"?
The main reason I'm worried about being alarmed by a customer's statement of dependence on the marketing channel I've dedicated my life to is five times.
Why be worried if someone's business relies solely on Google Ads?
1. PPC can not (really, technically, somehow) create demand
For the sake of simplification, suppose that advertising has two fundamental aspects:
- Creation of the request
- Capture of the request
PPC marketing is stellar to capturing demand.
One of the things I like in paid search (for the sake of this article, I use PPC indifferently and paid search because social, display and video ads do not work. do not use CPC bids), is what you nail what, where. , and during an investigation at the individual level.
You can get your ad in front of a specific person (amazing!) By simply identifying what she is asking Google. You understand it when they ask for it and marketing shines brightly.
However, that's when they ask about it. They had prior knowledge of something to generate a question / generate a search.
We do not ask what we do not know. For this reason, you need more than just PPC in your repertoire to create and grow a business in the long run.
In other words, if you want to create a demand for your product, you have to face those who do not even ask questions about your product. It's the magic part of marketing, creating demand!
And that's what paid search struggles to do successfully.
It is here that I hear a chorus of intelligent and well-informed voices complaining about my oversimplification.
We can (probably) use paid search to generate demand, but I'd like to note that it's rare and it's not a cost-effective way to do it because keywords keep getting more expensive each time year.
In other words, you can post advertisements for your "Mbadage and Yoga Salon" to people learning about Google: "How can I reduce stress in my life?"
To really get into the weeds – does it really generate a demand or is it simply positioning your brand to meet the demand already present? (I would say the second.)
Even if you claim that it's a request creation, you can probably perform 100 clicks for that keyword and address to thousands of target recipients on the GDN, YouTube or Facebook. So, to my point about profitability.
That being said, if you really want to develop a brand and generate demand (and not just survive a business), you will want to invest in more than just PPC because PPC is primarily geared towards capturing demand.
2. PPC is not marketing, PPC is a channel in marketing (Heck, it's a channel in advertising, in marketing)
Over the years, I've met many people who understand search-engine advertising but are not good at marketing.
In other words, they know how to bid and choose keywords, but they do not know how to:
- You actually find people (or create an interest for people!).
- Position a product well for them.
- Convince them (usually with time) to invest in a brand.
Paid search is a fantastic marketing channel in which to invest.
As stated above, it responds very well to the questions already asked and proposes the solution of your product or service.
However, if it's all about your marketing strategy, it will end up hurting you because you need a way to create a demand from the get-go.
That is to say that you need a way to:
- Always engage with people (social media).
- Listen to great content over time to remind people of your value (email).
- Invest so that you can grow over time without spending money for every dad-gum (organic) click.
And these are just digital channels!
If PPC is the only place where you have invested time and money, it will eventually bite you.
As a sponsored link agency, I want your business success, not just a wave of expenses, you spend as much as you can on your request and gain easy fruits before you leave.
Let's build a brand!
And to build a brand, we need more than the PPC.
3. The PPC can change (and change) in a snap
This point can not be underestimated.
You can invest years in an advanced structure of Google Ads that works exceptionally well, but you can also watch Google close by introducing (or pulling) some features you depended on.
As an example, I was attending an agency with one of their clients a few years ago, and we have had tremendous success in segmenting our device research campaigns.
Then, Enhanced Campaigns was successful and Google deleted (temporarily, but long enough) our ability to segment by device type. This particular customer was beaten in his AdWords account.
Unfortunately, it's not only the client who was beaten, it's also because he attacked the agency with stressed calls and vivid emotions – all because Google did a change.
He. Can. Happen. AT. You.
For love of all that is good, do not put all your eggs in one basket, diversify your marketing and survive the whimsical nature of chain changes!
I will speak directly to the agencies in the next two.
The above points may be useful for internal managers or executives to consider. These points are directly related to the unique agency / client relationship.
4. For the agencies: the stakes become shockingly high for each test, experience, modification of the application or advertisement refused
I invest emotionally in each of our clients. I feel our wins and losses on our accounts receivable, and I think my team is doing the same.
However, I have found that for clients who primarily invest their entire budget in CPD, the emotional weight of high stakes is simply not worth it as an agency.
When a customer's complete marketing plan is PPC (a role he was never supposed to badume), it allows a variety of harmful behaviors to generate profits, such as:
- Obsession, micro-management, communication about the subtleties of the account. "I noticed that the bounce rate on this product was 5% higher, why do you think that's it?"
- "Can we have a call?" About each dive or minor shock of an account. "Should I pause this keyword that you pushed live yesterday? Did this cause the dive this morning ?!
- An increased willingness to fire the PPC agency with the belief that a change will fix things, or something, hopefully, put something wrong, work out whatever you like, EVERYTHING THE WORLD…
I do not know how to say it differently: the stakes for your agency and your personal emotional well-being are infinitely greater when a client is not diverse in marketing.
And I do not want to say that encouragingly, "you have this, buddy!", An encouraging way, as if you just needed to harden it and take up the challenge.
I think "the stakes are so important because they do not understand marketing and put unnecessary pressure on you because their business is literally on your shoulders."
Personally, I do not want to be in this position, because of the three previous points. It's not my responsibility and it can not be because he's asking PPC to do something he can not do.
In any case, unless there is a significant change in this activity, it will not last much longer (or at least your relationship with them will not have lasted longer than Google's next big change #realtalk ).
5. For agencies: It can be difficult to work with a customer who only cares about a channel because they may not understand how marketing really works and what is needed to create a brand.
Finally, a point which, I hope, is not as severe as it may seem at first glance.
Let's be clear, we all learn and we better understand how it works.
There are definitely times when someone will say "here is my company's marketing position, I do not want it to stay that way, help us diversify and here's how we invest in it." intentionally".
Another outlier value would be startup.
Sometimes startups have to invest a lot of PPC because they try to grow their business quickly while trying to expand their other channels.
This is a great way to start a business and certainly would not match other concerns!
Also keep in mind that startups have their own challenges in PPC, so be sure to get your eyes wide open with an extra budget for additional communication (some startups want you to act as theirs CMO, not their PPC agency, so be careful to slip).
Overall, however, I have found that well established companies, with a significant portion of their budget invested in PPC, have deliberately created a business in this way.
There is probably a culture in this business that simply does not understand the first points I've mentioned above.
They do not want to hear what you have to say about Top of Funnel, demand generation, brand positioning, etc. … they just want PPC results! "Yes, we understand, no matter, this is not your problem … but can you seriously triple our income and reach your ROAS goals next week?"
If this is the case, my unsolicited advice is to pbad. They will work for a while, but the first problem that occurs in the account will cause them to search again for another sponsored link agency that they hope will "be that one."
They do not understand marketing and so there is a fundamental problem within their business that you, the PPC agency, are not going to settle even if you are meeting their ROAS goals.
You have lost a lot of time integrating, communicating and putting in place a client that is not a viable long-term option and you may find it worthwhile to do just that from the beginning.
Conclusion
Well, you have it now! Have you ever thought of hearing a PPC agency working with someone with 90% of their marketing budget in PPC? You have it now!
What do you think? Let's continue the discussion in the comments!
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Image Credits
Screenshot taken by the author, March 2019
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