If you’re considering working with a Pay Per Click (PPC) consultant to set up and manage your campaigns, there are a few things you should ask before you get started.
A good PPC consultant will help you set up and manage effective campaigns on platforms such as Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. These platforms help you reach people and businesses that are looking for your business, products or services.
Google Ads for example is a large platform with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. You can use these automated tools to reach your market segments through the campaign types available such as Search, Display, Video and Shopping.
However, there are some challenges you will face especially if you try to launch these campaigns on your own. So, a PPC consultant will analyse your business and come up with ideas of the strategy that you should follow.
Do You Have Experience In My Industry?
Industry experience is important when managing PPC campaigns. Some consultants have expertise in B2C or B2B sectors and some in both – and in those sectors there are hundreds of industries.
It’s not possible that a PPC Consultant will have worked with all industries and quite often they will be highly experienced in just a few. This is especially the case if they are working within a boutique agency that specialises in certain verticals.
Which Campaign Type Do You Have Experience In?
Google Ads is a large platform with many different campaign types including Search, Display, Shopping, Video, App, Smart, Local and Discovery. PPC consultants will have experience in at least one or two of these. They will also have achieved certifications in Google Ads and in Microsoft Ads if they work with this platform too.
So make sure you find out which campaign types they have specific skills and experience in.
What Is Your Process?
It’s important to know what process or approach the PPC consultant follows. This helps you to plan your campaigns accordingly and also gain insight into what to expect as you work together.
The process will help you to know what to expect at different stages of working with the consultant.
This process should include information about the keyword research to be undertaken; when they will send a proposal and quote; how long the campaign set up takes and more. The proposal should set out in order how this will happen and the timelines for each.
What Returns Can I Expect From My Campaigns?
Keyword and market research will help to clarify the important elements of your market. It will inform the metrics to target and what returns you can expect at different spending levels and times of the year.
So, find out from the PPC consultant what returns you can expect from your campaigns and the timeframes for them. They should be able to carry out thorough research into your competitors and the keywords that you want to bid on. The competitor research will unveil the ads and keywords they are running and how much they spend and what their average CPCs are.
Are You A Google Partner?
The Google Partner programme is available to advertisers and agencies that have demonstrated a high level of proficiency in managing PPC campaigns in Google Ads.
Partner status is achieved by consultants that consistently produce high results for their clients’ accounts.
So, one of the questions to ask the PPC consultant is if he has achieved Partner status in Google Ads.
There are two Partner statuses: Google Partner and Google Premier Partner. Partnership is achieved by competent Google Ads specialists that have experience with large budgets and have passed the required Google exams. Premier partners are at the highest level and are usually part of larger agencies.
What Budget Should I Set?
Many advertisers struggle with budget setting for PPC campaigns and this is particularly so for new advertisers. It can be a challenge to know what to spend each day, week or month and at different times of the year.
Unlike with other forms of advertising, PPC advertising allows you to be very flexible with what you can spend. There is no fixed budget and that all depends on what you can afford and also the market size out there. Also, because pay per click advertising is based on an auction model, the spend can vary from day to day depending on competition and search volumes. However, you still set a budget limit that your campaign should not exceed regardless of the cost per click.
So, first thing to ask a PPC consultant is what budget you should set for your campaigns. He’ll give you a number of options based on his experience and findings during a keyword research exercise.
Conclusion
In conclusion, whatever size your business and your requirements, first find out what you get from a PPC consultant and if he can answer the questions listed above satisfactorily. This is not an exhaustive list of course and there are many other questions you can ask depending on your requirements.
