What Should a PPC Agency Be Doing?

PPC Agency

Your PPC Agency is responsible for multiple ad platforms above but their main job is to find and convert your audience with targeted ads across the ad funnel.

What Does PPC mean?

While PPC agencies may define it in a multitude of ways, here is how we define PPC.  PPC in its simplest form is an acronym for “pay per click”.  Sometimes you hear is called in the marketing world SEM or Search engine marketing.  Some even call it Google Adwords which is now Google ads. The last one really is the biggest player in the market but they are not the only one besides Google ads are much more than pay per click anymore.

In this form of marketing, your ads are shown most often in search results but also in many other places and you are paying to receive a click to your website and or another place such as a landing page.  Although we feel in most cases your website should function as a landing page and have these factors.

It wasn’t till 2000 that pay per click was first introduced by Google Adwords which is now Google ads.

What Type of Ads Do PPC Agencies run?

So while PPC is usually associated with Search engine marketing, Google Adwords or Google ads, and sometimes Bing ads.  It is actually much larger than that.  As we stated above pay per click or PPC agencies work to develop ad strategies and divide your ad budgets between many platforms. There are several types of ad platforms for both the Top of the Funnel, those who do not know you, and the Bottom of the funnel or remarketing, those who do know you.  Almost all ad platforms have a remarketing component within the platform. We have divided those up below.  Your PPC agency will work to get to your targeted ads by driving qualified traffic with multiple platforms.  Omnichannel marketing with ads is just as important as with your overall marketing to develop funnels.

Many ad platforms are listed in multiple categories because depending on how you PPC agency develops your strategy they could be considered at multiple stages of the buying cycle. As you can see there are many less platforms at the bottom of the funnel, making it the most expensive place to play without traffic and ads  upstream.

Top of Funnel Ad Platforms
Bottom of Funnel Ad Platforms
Remarketing Ad Platforms

Does PPC work?

It absolutely works! Where you see PPC agencies fail is in the lack of data analysis and set it and forget automated reports. It takes weekly action and optimization for every platform that you have.  Outside of the funnel that exist in your entire marketing their are funnels within each platform.  Each of these metrics needs to be studied on a weekly basis to see where your potential buyers is not moving to the next step.  Each week these optimization are made at the place of failure of moving to the next steps.  It’s a rinse and repeat step.  These go all the way to the landing page and conversion optimization that happens on your website. Depending on your funnel you could also need follow up from email marketing. But no matter what Ads do not work in vacuum and a strong SEO and content marketing plan is also needed.

How to Choose a PPC Agency

Choosing an ad agency to handle your PPC marketing can be difficult, because who do you trust? Here are some items we think you should look at.