If you are looking for sustainable growth opportunities and meet the following criteria, you are in the right place.
- Your agency has not yet reached the multi-million dollar mark.
- Your agency is directly responsible for fulfilling PPC services.
- Pay-per-click is not the most lucrative offer for your agency.
These are the primary factors that contribute to the PPC dilemma, which creates untapped potential for digital marketing companies.
Below is an explanation of the PPC dilemma and its remedy so that you have an effective way to scale your agency.
The PPC dilemma explained
Digital marketing agencies must provide high quality PPC services to attract and retain the right clients. However, resources are limited, and PPC is usually not the most important driver of profit.
It must be provided by agencies, which inevitably leads to a diversion of resources from more valuable activities.
This is the PPC dilemma.
The economics behind the dilemma
No need to worry or try to skip class.
This is not a lecture on economics.
However, the connection between the PPC dilemma and this trusted social science will help you implement this solution with confidence.
Fortunately, the connection is straightforward, so this will only take a minute.
economic scale
The term “million dollar mark” referred to above is based on an understanding of economies of scale.
According to Will Kenton Article in InvestopediaAnd
“Economies of scale are an important concept for any business in any industry and represent the cost savings and competitive advantages that large firms have over smaller firms.”
Multimillion dollar agencies likely enjoy economies of scale Not You suffer from the PPC (Pay Per Click) dilemma described below and you will not qualify for the corresponding growth opportunity.
Translation: If you’re not a 5000 Inc agency, keep reading.
diminishing returns
To understand the PPC dilemma is to understand The law of diminishing returnswhich notes that production is damaged when factors of production increase.
Definition of key terms and their character:
- production |These are your outputs, which generate revenue for your agency.
- FOP (Factors of Production)Any resource you use to produce your Services.
Your FOP includes all the resources required to fulfill each of your agency’s offers, for example, SEO, web design, pay-per-click services, and so on.
What did you say?
I told you this would be painless.
The bottom line (so far) is this: your factors of production must include PPC fulfillment. if PPC is the most profitable offer for you; Otherwise, it stunts your growth. This could be current or future growth, depending on when you reach optimum capacity.
Either way, you will grow if you can mitigate the PPC fulfillment of your agency’s factors of production while still benefiting from its output/output.
Now that I’ve explained the “what” in the PPC dilemma, I’ll get into the practical side of how to fix it.
The Big Four Options for PPC fulfillment
So how do agencies deliver high-quality purchasing power while keeping the associated factors of production thin?
Below is a list of the most viable PPC implementation options along with their pros and cons.
Determine which one enables you to dethrone the PPC realization as a FOP while still making use of its outputs in your outputs.
Existing internal talent
This method of delivery assigns existing employees (existing employees with additional responsibilities) to manage PPC accounts.
Positives:
- responsible – Employees have a high degree of responsibility to their employers, resulting in a strong drive to do great work.
- control – Ability to define PPC manager schedule, bandwidth, etc.
- Telecommunications – In-house staff usually have quick response times.
- liquidity – Internal teams are fully integrated with existing tools and processes.
- commitment Employers enjoy employee loyalty, assuming a healthy work culture.
cons:
- flaw – according to A recent study According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employee turnover is historically high. Employee churning will create a lot of turbulence in the eggs-in-one-basket model.
- the demand You are responsible for developing and maintaining the infrastructure necessary to implement an effective PPC.
- Limited results – Existing employees have additional responsibilities beyond PPC management. They also have less experienced, dedicated talent focused strictly on PPC. As a result, performance suffers.
- Burnt The more hats employees have to wear, the more burnout they experience.
Dedicated inner talent
This option refers to hiring full-time professionals specifically to manage paid media.
Positives:
- All benefits listed under “Existing Internal Talent”, Plus:
- performance – You will get better results when hiring a specialized specialist because they have more experience and will be able to focus all their time on this area.
- bandwidth The bandwidth of this model outperforms both internal talent and contractors.
cons:
- The disadvantages mentioned in the first model (excluding burnout), plus:
- Recruitment Headhunting is challenging, especially in today’s competitive market. It takes a long time, and there is also a lot of uncertainty when hiring a completely new employee.
- commitment – With salaried employees (for the project), you are committed to a high monthly operating cost regardless of the individual’s workload. Likewise, you are bound to this cost indefinitely, regardless of the duration of their projects.
- determinants Unless you have between $12,000 and $13,000 a month to spend on multiple professionals, you’ll have to settle for someone who handles paid search and paid social networking. This results in a decrease in skill compared to specific channel specialists who focus laser in a single channel.
hired contractors
This method of completion involves independent individuals who do not work exclusively for one person or company.
Positives:
- Economical – This is a cost effective method because 1. You only pay for specific projects (accounts), and 2. Contractors usually have limited overhead costs.
- control – While the level of control in this model cannot compete with in-house models, there will be more flexibility here than in working with an organization.
- Flexibility Contractors do not take on long-term obligations.
- talent This economical option enables you to hire channel-specific specialists versus a specialist who manages paid search and paid social networks.
cons:
- risk There is an inherent weakness in hiring contractors due to the independent nature of their positions.
- Lack of commitment – This is the other side of the flexibility coin, for example, you have an individual serving multiple agencies.
- Telecommunications Gaps in communication are inevitable when one individual manages multiple clients (agencies), each with their own accounts.
- responsible Independent contractors have the least amount of accountability.
- mediate Innovation is not common in this model due to the natural limitations of a single individual.
- flaw – Like any of the indoor scenarios, it’s annoying when this guy is on the left stage. Remember that an employment contract does not carry the same unspoken expectation of two weeks’ notice.
White Label Click
With this method of interpolation, your agency purchases the services of a white label company and offers them to your clients under your brand.
Positives:
- Cost-effective Contracting with an outside partner eliminates payroll and reduces costs associated with staffing, infrastructure, workspace, and resources.
- performance – A reputable PPC vendor will provide optimum performance. The reason for this is twofold: 1. Since they’re running millions of ad spend at scale, they’ll have a lot more data and automation, etc. 2. They will have channel specialists versus paid media specialists.
- stability – This is the only model that provides immediate replacement specialists during the wading. They have other regulating professionals who can step in to reduce the impact during the transitional phases.
- Low commitment Like contractors, you don’t have to worry about unemployed paid employees when the project ends because you only pay for active services.
- responsible PPC white label companies come with their own brand and senior management, which means that professionals are held to high standards.
- state of the art – In addition to the specialists who manage your accounts, your white-list provider will have leadership dedicated to continually improving their services.
- Turnkey – I know of one vendor that enables agencies to efficiently manage a pay-per-click card at scale across the entire customer journey through a single dynamic interface. A robust customer portal that isn’t limited to simple functionality like submitting a support ticket is a big deal if you have multiple accounts.
cons:
- additional tools – You cannot expect a dedicated PPC white label organization to integrate with your systems. You will need to familiarize yourself with additional tools.
- minimal control – White label providers already have their SLAs in place. The result is that you cannot dictate or modify their operations.
- Telecommunications – There is simply no way to replicate the response of the internal staff.
NB: The drawbacks here could easily be longer depending on the vendor you chose. I assume that 1. The white label provider has full-time W2 employees who reside in your country; 2. It does not take ownership of your assets (ad accounts, landing pages, etc.), and 3. It has specific channel specialists, for example, paid search specialists and paid social specialists.
Four tips for success
These are the most common fulfillment options available to agencies.
You will want to determine who will provide your agency with the most scalability possible.
I’ve provided four tips to help you determine the most effective model for resolving your PPC dilemma.
1. Weigh your FOPs correctly
The most effective option will be the one that is evaluated in your agency’s most lucrative offer.
In other words, when all is said and done, your FOPs should be dominated by activity related to your wheelhouse/main view.
Consider asking yourself, “What model will minimize the factors of production to achieve PPC while allowing us to benefit from its output/outputs?”
2. Be proactive
When faced with such opportunities, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the tyranny of the hasty.
Don’t limit yourself to thinking about what might help you right now; Consider your potential 6-12 months from now.
To exemplify this, imagine yourself 12 months from now saying, “I wish I had __________,” and then take action to avoid that regret.
3. Don’t underestimate PPC
Many aspects of agency are valued, but few are as important as PPC.
Consider the number of users on Google and Facebook, the high level of intent associated with PPC, and the unparalleled control over marketing dollars available to advertisers.
This is not an aspect of digital marketing that you want to take lightly.
4. Remember opportunity cost
Rather than looking strictly at direct costs, remember to respect opportunity costs and take them into account when making strategic decisions.
When we stress secondary priorities, we miss opportunities to focus on what contributes most to our success.
This can be likened to the opposite of diminishing returns.
Make a confident decision
Jim Collins noted in his book From Good to Great that you need to face facts to make good decisions.
There are less effective ways of doing this than basing decisions on proven scientific laws.
You can relax and make a call back to the economists.
If executed appropriately, you can look back 12 months from now with a strong sense of satisfaction, knowing you made a wise move.
Here towards your future, sustainable growth!
More resources:
- Why a pay per click agency might hold back on your requests
- 7 Tips and Cautions for Taking Charge of Your PPC Program (Again)
- Is your PPC agency wasting your budget?
Featured image: Golubovy/Shutterstock
