You hire a PPC agency to buy profitable attention faster—with clean tracking, proven structures, and relentless optimization that most teams can’t maintain in-house. The right partner brings process, tooling, and creative discipline so your spend compounds into revenue and market share, not just clicks.
Do You Actually Need an Agency? 7 Signs
- You’re getting clicks but not sales. Great traffic, poor conversion = targeting or listing/landing issues.
- No clear KPI trendline. ACoS/TACoS/ROAS/CPA aren’t improving month over month.
- Campaign sprawl. Mixed intent, no negatives, and budgets fighting each other.
- Time tax. You can launch ads, but can’t sustain weekly harvesting, bid work, and creative testing.
- Limited visibility. No Search Term Reports, placement analysis, or cohort/LTV view.
- Seasonality pain. Peaks crash your budgets; troughs waste spend you should be reallocating.
- Platform creep. Google, Amazon, Meta, TikTok… you’re spread thin across different auction rules.
What a Great PPC Agency Actually Does
Think in layers: Foundation → Control → Scale.
1) Foundation (Weeks 0–2)
- Tracking & Attribution: Proper conversion events (server + client where applicable).
- Account Audit: Structure, match types, negatives, placements, and creative gaps.
- Strategy Map: Branded defense, core non-branded, discovery, and remarketing.
- Unit Economics: Targets derived from margins/LTV (Target ACoS, CPA, ROAS).
2) Control (Weeks 2–6)
- Search Term Isolation: Promote converting terms into Exact; negative the rest.
- Bidding & Placements: Dynamic bidding decisions; Top-of-Search testing on proof.
- Creative & CRO: Ad/message-to-intent alignment; listing/landing fixes that lift CVR.
- Budget Architecture: Portfolios by intent (Defend / Win / Learn) with weekly reallocation.
3) Scale (Weeks 6–12+)
- Audience & ASIN Expansion: Competitor conquest, long-tail exacts, high-fit product targets.
- Format Mix: SB Video/SD on Amazon; Performance Max/Video on Google where fit.
- Experiment Framework: Hypothesis → test design → success metric → rollout SOP.
- Forecasting: Category trend + inventory + cashflow-aware scale plan.
The PPC Services Checklist (Use This to Vet Agencies)
- Strategy & Planning
- Target setting tied to margins/LTV
- Channel and format rationale (Amazon/SP-SB-SD, Google/Search-PMax, Meta/TikTok)
- Build & Structure
- Separate Branded / Core / Discovery; one match type per campaign
- Cross-negatives to keep data clean; product/ASIN targeting strategy
- Creative & Merchandising
- Ad copy and video hooks mapped to keyword clusters/audiences
- Amazon listing/A+ recommendations; Google landing page rewrites/test plans
- Optimization Cadence
- Weekly harvesting and negatives
- Bid/placement adjustments with thresholds (e.g., 10–15 clicks no sale → action)
- Budget shifts toward proven segments
- Measurement & Reporting
- Dashboard with KPIs: ACoS, TACoS, ROAS, CPA, CVR, CTR, share of voice
- Cohort or funnel view (where available) + insight narrative, not just numbers
- Governance
- You own the ad accounts and data
- Clear change logs and versioning; documented experiments
- Policy compliance and brand safety
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
- “What’s your 30–60–90 day plan?” Ask for a week-by-week outline.
- “How will you set targets?” Look for a margin/LTV-based model, not arbitrary benchmarks.
- “What do you optimize weekly?” Expect harvesting, negatives, bid/placement tuning, budget moves.
- “Who writes/produces creative?” Clarify ad copy, images, SB video, landing page/CRO ownership.
- “How do you report?” One live dashboard + monthly strategy review with actions, not just metrics.
- “Who owns the account?” You should. Always.
- “What’s your escalation path when performance dips?” Listen for a diagnostic process, not guesswork.
Red Flags (Run if You Hear These)
- “We turn on Up & Down bidding everywhere day one.”
- “Let’s mix branded and non-branded to ‘share data.’”
- “We don’t need negatives; the algorithm will figure it out.”
- “No landing/listing work needed; bids will fix it.”
- “Reporting monthly is enough; optimization is biweekly.”
Pricing Models (Pros & Cons)
- % of Ad Spend: Simple, aligns with growth; can misalign at very high spends.
- Flat Retainer: Predictable; ensure scope covers creative/testing and not just “maintenance.”
- Hybrid (Retainer + %): Common for multi-channel or complex catalogs.
- Performance Components: Useful when targets are crystal clear and tracking is rock-solid.
Tip: Whatever the model, require clear hours/scope, optimization cadence, and a test roadmap.
KPIs That Matter (and How We Use Them)
- Ecommerce/Amazon: ACoS (campaign), TACoS (catalog), ROAS, CVR, CTR, New-to-Brand %, Placement performance, Share of Query/Voice.
- Lead Gen/SaaS: Qualified CPL, SQL rate, pipeline value, payback period, LTV:CAC.
- Operating Cadence: Daily budget health → Weekly optimizations → Monthly strategy shifts.
Our 30–60–90 Day Engagement Blueprint (Example)
Days 0–14 | Foundation & Launch
- Tracking audit, target map, account rebuild where needed (Defend/Win/Learn), creative pack v1, initial tests.
Days 15–45 | Control & Proof
- Harvest winners to Exact; negatives for drift; bid/placement tuning; listing/landing fixes; early scale on proven segments.
Days 46–90 | Scale & Systemize
- Expand long-tail and product targets; add video formats (SBV/YouTube/Meta as fit); formalize experimentation and forecasting.
What Success Looks Like
- Cleaner data: You can see exactly which keywords/placements/creatives drive profit.
- Stable unit economics: ACoS/TACoS/ROAS moving the right direction with more volume.
- Repeatable testing: A cadence that compounds learning (and revenue) each month.
- Ownership: Your team retains the keys, playbooks, and dashboards.
Final Word
A PPC agency isn’t just “ad launch help.” It’s a growth system: strategy rooted in your economics, disciplined structures, creative that matches intent, and weekly levers that turn spend into sales. Choose a partner who will show their work, align with your margins, and commit to a transparent test plan.
Want a free mini-audit?
Send your URL/Store link, top SKUs, margins, and monthly budget range. We’ll return a 30-day PPC sprint plan with target KPIs and quick wins.
Don’t let your PPC campaigns flop another day.