Rushing into Paid Search

Posted on | March 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

Rushing into PPC Sometimes clients launch into paid search advertising, leaving the decision making to the agency without fully understanding the strategy being implemented. They nod, agree and seem to ‘get it’ so you proceed with the project, implementing structures that have been agreed upon, setting up the appropriate reporting to report on business goals and KPIs, which the client has identified as important. The project starts to move forward and then 2 months later, the client drops the bomb and says:

The current paid search account structure does not fit our internal reporting model
We would like to modify the current goals, our CPA goals have become more aggressive – CPA target is now 50% lower
We wish to change our paid search online strategy, radically

Fools Rush In

The result of any of the above points can easily spell hundreds of hours of wasted work, particularly if it is a large PPC account that uses intricate campaign segmentation and geographic targeting.

This happened because at the start of the project the client just did not ‘get’ paid search. Nor did the client appreciate that PPC advertising goals tie in directly to structure, set up, design of campaigns & ad groups. The client will certainly not be able to grasp the number of wasted hours on a set up that they have practically declared null.

Get on the Same Page

A typical problem of launching projects is that once the client has paid some money upfront or a percentage of the costs, there is an expectation that things will get rolling right away. There is a pressure from the internal sales team to get the project going in order to develop a good business relationship with the client in those first 2 months of operation. This generally means everyone comes out guns blazing, both the agency and the client.

Strategies are discussed. Things are rushed. Tactics are implemented. The client tries to ‘get it’. But doesn’t. Two months later, after putting two and two together, the client demands radical change.

It is critical that at the start of the paid search project, the client is taken through a process of education. Just because a company has been running a PPC campaign for 2 years does not mean that the people now responsible for that campaign know the first thing about PPC.

A safe assumption is that the client knows very little about paid search and even if they think they know about PPC, remember that you are the professional being paid to implement the services. Ascertain, at the start of the project what the level of understanding is and proceed accordingly with the education required. Do not rush into a project because the Chief Marketing Officer is pressuring both you and his internal team to do so. At the end of the day, that internal team reports results to the CMO – those results will be much stronger in two months if you push back a bit, put your foot on the breaks and ease into the project, making critical strategic and tactical decisions only when it is clear that the client fully understands the implications of those decisions.

Category: PPC
Tags: Client Strategies

Comments

One Response to “Rushing into Paid Search”

Aiden Thompson
May 6th, 2010 @ 5:17 pm

my PPC advertising on Google Adwords is really effective in promoting my affiliate links. my Adbrite PPC advertising cost seems to be higher than Adwords.’;`