Question

Hey everyone, got a quick question. Has anyone here used an agency to do Google ads for them before? If so, what made you choose them? Keen to know what's the most important part in choosing someone else to do your Google Ads!  

Answer 1

Trust & rapport go a long way. I've landed many clients in industries I have no experience in, because they trust that I'll figure it out and do good work. Advertising is just a giant exercise in problem solving, after all.  

Answer 2

I have a whole video series I’ve been meaning to finish up on this topic as it’s often overlooked in terms of what an “agency” actually is and what they can provide to you. You may have someone, who’s a moonlighting freelancer while in college and working part time at a pizza place claiming telling you he is an “agency”, while someone else who merely just resells some offshore white label solution claiming the same. There’s nothing wrong with either one of those two scenarios IF they provide results for you. You’d be surprised how many times the lone freelancer will out perform the big city agency with 100’s of employees, and it comes down to three things: time & commitment, experience, and costs. First, do they have the experience in your field of business? Have they ran ads for similar businesses before and doing so currently? If not, I’d look elsewhere as you don’t want someone who’s not experienced in that field to try and run your ads. There’s a lot of learning that has to take place, and you don’t want to sacrifice your performance and money while they learn. Second is time & commitment. How many clients do they currently have, and how many more are they looking to take on? A solo “agency” freelancer who’s working full time can probably handle four to seven accounts, assuming they are not small budget CPL models, I’m taking about actual digital media agency solutions. A larger agency typically will assign between five to ten clients per account manager. This is important because you want to make sure they’ll have the time to take care of your account and not chase the next customer. Lastly is costs. How much are they going to charge you? Compare that to the number of clients they have and that will give you a good understanding of their caliber of management, as well how much time they are going to devote to your account. If they are going to charge you $200/mo, then you’ll be lucky to get a couple hours per month at most; probably “set it and forget it” strategy will be used. Ask what you will get for what your paying, you want 30, 90 and 180 day timeline of goals setup. If they can’t do that, it’s a red flag they’re either reselling some junk service, or don’t have the time: walk away.  

Comments

@krum5062 those are goals you want to set, either by performance or strategy. For example, within 30 days you want to have call tracking reporting into GA, along with conversion tracking from revenue from Google Ads and Facebook. As well, you want to have remarketing ads running at the 30 day mark based on user intent on the website. By 90 days you want to have an email marketing campaign integrated with your current advertising, so those who come back to the site and don’t buy again, get an email about items they saw. Also by this time maybe you want to have the first phase of the SEO strategy in place and to analyze the results. Something like that, it can be whatever you want, but don’t hand someone the keys and expect them to deliver you want you want without setting guidelines

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Do you freelance? What questions do you ask any of these prospects?  

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Thanks so much for your detailed answer

Answer 3

One other important note, if you have any sort of budget you are going to trust them with, ask for two to three client referrals. If they come back and say “I can’t share my clients information with you” that’s a BIG RED FLAG. I’ve worked with hundreds of advertisers, if not more over the past two decades, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve asked a client to be a referral for someone new. The only condition that applies is when you are working in a speciality field or sign some NDA. I’ve seen way to many times a so called agency or guru throws that excuse out there, it just means either they don’t have any clients, or the ones they do are not happy with them enough to give them a good word.  

Comments

@superheat2447 great comments! Went to your website and I think it has been hacked with some male ware

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Have a maleware guy who can get this removed if needed

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@invulnerable7 that’s not my site, but appreciate it!  

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@krum5062 honestly it all depends on what you are looking to have managed

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@krum5062 it all depends, I have one where it’s over 80 hours a month (this month almost 100) others are 20, some I have someone working with me on that I hired to help run so I can spend time on other things. I typically work with larger scale accounts than smaller ones

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@uninhibited I don’t know off the top of my head, sorry. I’m sure if you ask there are people who will comment. Be wary of those who merely PM you, if they’re afraid to comment publicly, there’s a reason

Answer 4

Know what questions to ask and which answers are bull. I've worked with 4 different companies, and they all were full of bull, but I didn't know that till I knew which questions to ask and more importantly what answers were hogwash.  

Comments

@bartholemy9 which questions do you ask?  

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@bartholemy9 and which answers were hogwash? Do you mean they made stuff up?  

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I mean they were talking out their ass. Do some research if you want to know what is a red flag.  

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Don't try to go cheap because they will waste your money and your time

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I get what you're saying daniel, but you said "know what questions to ask". Which specific questions would you ask?  

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Go to google and so some research

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Ask google that question ;)

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And read many opinions and then form your own

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I've specifically asked this group for advice. As an alternative to Google due to the knowledge in this group. If your only advice is to Google it, I find that a bit lazy and pointless as a comment  

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Sorry trying to help you help yourself mate.  

Answer 5

I am using an agency for my client that is a part of a national franchise. The agency works with the central marketing department and has the advantage of lots of testing to make our account very efficient and consistent with the brand as a whole.  

Answer 6

Most offer free audits.  Get a free audit, preferably over the phone, check for verified reviews, make sure you're happy with their deal. There's lots to consider, some agencies charge percentage of spend, I don't like this personally so my agency charges a fixed fee, some have long term contracts, again I don't like this so the agency I own works on a rolling 30 day contract. There's lots to consider, I'd avoid the larger ones in general you'll end up just a number.