A practical, no-fluff guide from an operator’s viewpoint
A PPC agency plans your paid media strategy, builds and maintains campaigns across platforms (Google/Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn, Amazon Ads, etc.), measures what matters, and continuously tests to improve unit economics (CAC, ROAS, MER). The best agencies act like a growth partner: they fix tracking, improve landing pages, manage creative, optimize bids/budgets, and give you clear insights—not vanity metrics.
The Role of a PPC Agency in One Sentence
Turn paid clicks into profitable customers—reliably and at scale—by aligning channel strategy, measurement, creative, and optimization with your business economics.
Core Services (What You Should Expect)
1) Strategy & Channel Planning
- Map goals (purchases, qualified leads, demos) to the right channels and funnels.
- Prioritize high-intent traffic (e.g., Search/Amazon) vs. discovery (Meta/YouTube/TikTok) based on your economics.
- Define targets: ROAS, CAC, LTV:CAC, payback period, MER.
2) Measurement & Attribution
- Implement GA4, pixels, Conversion API/server-side tracking, offline conversion imports (CRM).
- Set up events, enhanced conversions, call tracking, lead quality scoring.
- Build a source-of-truth dashboard and align reporting definitions (what counts as a “lead,” “qualified lead,” or “sale”).
3) Market, Keyword & Audience Research
- Keyword universe (match types, intent tiers, negatives).
- Audience segmentation (in-market, lookalikes, retargeting windows).
- Competitive ad and SERP analysis; share-of-voice benchmarking.
4) Account Architecture & Campaign Build
- Logical structure for scale: brand vs. non-brand; prospecting vs. retargeting; device/geography splits.
- Shopping feeds (for ecom): product groups, attributes, and PMax structure.
- Amazon Ads: Sponsored Products/Brands/Display, keyword/product targeting, brand defense.
5) Creative & Copy Operations
- Ad concepts and messaging frameworks aligned to stages of the funnel.
- Ongoing refresh cycles to beat fatigue (headlines, angles, offers, hooks).
- Video/UGC specs for Meta/YouTube/TikTok; A+ content and images for Amazon.
6) Landing Pages & CRO
- Diagnose friction: speed, clarity, value proposition, social proof, form fields.
- Build/test new pages, offers, and bundles; implement A/B tests.
- For Amazon: retail readiness—images, bullets, reviews, pricing, coupons.
7) Budget, Bid & Pacing Management
- Daily/weekly budget reallocation to winners.
- Smart bidding (tROAS/tCPA), manual overrides where needed, placement modifiers.
- Seasonality and promo planning (Prime Day, BFCM, launches).
8) Optimization & Experimentation
- Query mining and negative keyword systems.
- Creative and offer tests with clear hypotheses and guardrails.
- Incrementality studies (geo splits, holdouts) where appropriate.
9) Reporting & Insight Cadence
- Weekly snapshots (performance vs. targets, actions taken, next tests).
- Monthly deep dives (LTV, cohort quality, path-to-purchase insights).
- Executive summary that ties metrics to profit, not just clicks.
10) Governance, Compliance & Brand Safety
- Ad policy compliance, trademark handling, regulated-industry rules.
- Brand-safe placements and exclusion lists.
- Data privacy best practices (consent, first-party data use).
What a 90-Day Engagement Typically Looks Like
Weeks 0–2: Build Foundations
- Tracking & attribution QA, KPI definitions, dashboards.
- Account (re)architecture; feed fixes; creative backlog; landing page audit.
Weeks 3–6: Learn Fast
- Launch priority campaigns; harvest negatives; tighten audiences.
- First creative and landing tests; baseline CAC/ROAS/MER.
Weeks 7–12: Scale & Systematize
- Shift budget to proven segments; expand keywords/audiences.
- Layer retargeting and upper-funnel where economics hold.
- Lock reporting cadence; roadmap the next quarter.
Typical Deliverables
- Channel strategy & media plan
- Tracking spec and implementation notes
- Account structure map and naming conventions
- Creative briefs and ad variants (copy/video)
- Landing page/CRO recommendations and test plan
- Weekly performance reports + monthly business review
- Backlog of prioritized experiments (with hypotheses & success criteria)
Pricing Models You’ll See
- Flat monthly fee (predictable for stable scopes).
- % of ad spend (common for ecom/scale; watch for incentives).
- Hybrid (lower base + variable).
- Project/onboarding fee for rebuilds and tracking overhauls.
- Performance incentives tied to agreed KPIs (optional, with clear definitions).
How to Judge Success (Beyond Clicks)
- ROAS / MER for revenue efficiency.
- CAC & LTV:CAC (and payback period).
- Qualified lead rate & pipeline value (B2B/lead gen).
- ACoS/TACoS (Amazon).
- Conversion rate, CPC, CPA as operational levers—not goals.
Agency vs. In-House vs. Freelancer
- Agency: Breadth of channel expertise, process, and velocity of testing; higher retainer.
- In-house: Deep brand knowledge; may lack multi-platform pattern recognition.
- Freelancer: Cost-effective for smaller scopes; bandwidth and coverage can be limited.
Red Flags to Watch
- Reports with only CTR/Impressions, no unit economics.
- One-time setup, little ongoing testing.
- No negative keywords or audience exclusions.
- “Set-and-forget” PMax with zero feed or creative work.
- Vague KPIs, no dashboard, no hypothesis-driven experiments.
10 Smart Questions to Ask a PPC Agency
- Which KPIs will you optimize to, and why?
- How will you measure incrementality vs. cannibalization?
- What is your testing cadence and sample-size rule?
- Show us an account structure before/after example.
- How do you qualify leads and tie PPC to pipeline or LTV?
- What’s your approach to creative fatigue and refresh cycles?
- How do you manage shopping feeds/PMax or Amazon Sponsored Ads?
- What will the first 90 days look like for us?
- How will you report wins, losses, and next steps?
- Who is on our account day-to-day, and what are their credentials?
Bottom Line
A great PPC agency is not just “pushing buttons.” It’s a cross-functional growth team that aligns channels, tracking, creative, and CRO to your economics—then iterates relentlessly. If your goals, margins, and operations are ready, PPC can become a predictable revenue engine.
Want a practical audit?
We’ll review your tracking, account structure, creative, and landing experience, then give you a prioritized action plan. If PPC isn’t likely to pay off yet, we’ll tell you that, too.