Feeling the need to mix up your demand generation, or fed up with seeing your competitors at the top of Google searches of your products? In either or both of these situations, setting up some Google AdWords campaigns is a great way to boost interest in your products or services.
But where do you start? Setting up AdWords campaigns yourself is a daunting task. Or if you have a marketing person, they may lack the skills or time to take on Google campaigns on top of their other work. In most cases, hiring an outside expert to work on your Google AdWords campaigns is the best course of action.
Finding the right AdWords consultant
In the same way as hiring a new member of staff is a big move, making the right decision on an AdWords management company is equally vital. According to most experts and statistics, Google AdWords campaigns are perhaps the most important digital marketing activity you will undertake. After all, 3.5 billion searches a day on Google does not lie!
Even if an outside agency is easier to terminate should they not perform, making the wrong choice will waste time and budget that could be put to better use. Worse still, if your competitors setup keywords to target your business, they could be stealing potential customers from right under your nose.
So, it pays to get it right first time. Here are some tips on ensuring you do just that.
The first step is to identify some options. Jot down a few agencies that get your attention when you carry out your search. Contact them and ask them for a Google AdWords consultation
Conduct interviews
Next, talk a few agencies through your firm, goals and budget. For their part, the agency should be able to talk you through the approach they would propose to take, and their billing model.
Some agencies will want to work on a set fee or regular retainer. Other AdWords consultants will be happy to work on a percentage of your monthly budget. Neither option is right or wrong, but make sure you are clear on the ongoing costs and any proposed setup fees.
Once you have this information, it is time to make your choice. Pick an agency you can envisage working with for a long time because, if successful, that is exactly what you will want to do.
Getting started
Agree some objectives for the campaign. Setup launch timeframes and ensure that both parties understand what to expect – and when. What will the agency need from you to get started? How will you collaborate and share data? Will you want the AdWords management company to sign a non-disclosure agreement?
At this stage it is also important to plan the detail. Avoid pressuring your agency to create hundreds of leads, and focus at first on quality not quantity. Unless it is a low value, high volume product you are selling, plan your resources to handle the leads.
Prime your pre-sales team on what new leads might be coming in if you need them to conduct demos. Similarly, your sales team will need to know if you are offering free trials as their assistance may be required in hand-holding prospects through that process. If your campaigns are focused on early-stage marketing content such as eBooks, you will likely need to nurture the prospects a little more before they are ready even for a demo stage. Think about how you will do that, and whether it will be automated or on an individual basis with a sales rep.
Go with the data
Discuss checkpoint reviews with your AdWords management company. These are essential to keeping your finger on the pulse of what is working and what is not.
You may even find yourself in the nice situation of having to turn down the volume on a particular keyword if you are finding it becomes too expensive to pay for all the clicks, or your team are saturated with handling all the leads. If they know your expectations and capacity, your agency can quickly make these tweaks for you.
Analyze the data in detail too. While it may seem like you are creating a positive buzz in the early stages of a new campaign, be sure to drill into the detail to interrogate the quality. Ask your sales team about every lead, whether they have followed them up, and what the outcomes were. If you are using a CRM system this should be easy to see, but instill discipline early on to ensure the program is a success.
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