Manage Google Adwords inhouse or outsource to Agency
This is a good question to ask, whether you should manage your adwords account in-house or if you should outsource it to a search engine marketing agency.
All this depends on 3 things:
- How important is SEM (Search engine marketing) to your marketing strategy?
- How much competency does your team have with online marketing?
- What is the opportunity cost of not doing online marketing well?
When your business relies on online marketing, then it’s important to do it in-house. This is especially true when the solution you sell is technologically challenging. It’s very likely that an outside agency wouldn’t have the intricate understanding on what drives your business forward. The slight nuances between “Freemium” and “freeware” can mean the difference between a real lead or not.
This is something that your in-house marketing team can understand (if not now, then overtime.) That’s also another factor to consider: the level of marketing expertise and competence of your team. Does the team have the skill-set, the drive and inclination to learn how to market online?
And the last point to consider is the opportunity cost of failing in your online strategy. Don’t look at a failed campaign as a loss to your advertising budget, but also consider how many site visitors and leads you lose. If such a loss would be detrimental to your business, then it makes sense to go with a professional group. You see, an agency is a safer bet in this way: it will be a bit more expensive in the long run, but will not tank your campaign (well as long as the agency is good.)
Go with a hybrid approach
At the end, I would recommend going with an hybrid approach. If you don’t have bandwidth to manage your online budget, then outsource it to an agency. But have one guy from your team manage the agency. This guy should know the intricate details on what it means to get a good lead. Sure, freeware message may get a lot of signups, but do they actually give qualified leads?
On the other hand, if you have a lot of eager-beavers in your marketing team that are gung-ho about online marketing, then use their passion! But hire a professional consultant to overlook what your team is doing. Having a consultant guide them through as they learn the ropes, lowers risk and gives very good results for your business.
Sanjay
| #
I agree that going with an outside agency has a lot of merits. We always recommend using our SEM services to our clients who appreciate how closely we work with their team. Thats the most important factor to consider – how easy it is to work with the outside agency. The agency should be available to you and be able to provide you with feedback and guidance. If the agency is not open, then they are up to no good.
BridgeMaster
| #
But what is the cost of running a program inhouse? I’ve about 100 different campaigns to monitor and I pay a consultant $1500 every month to look after it. I’ve been told that I can do it much better in-house, but I am afraid if that will cost me more in the long run. Any comments?
Maria S
| #
Interesting, but its not as easy as that. Sometimes you have to use an agency because you its too risky to manage yourself. Sometimes it is easier to use agency and not worry about poor performance then. If agency not well, then you get a new agency to replace.
Pontus Ahl
| #
I strongly agree with you Zaki.
Thx for great articles.
Tina S
| #
Its always very hard to figure out which option to go with. In my experience I’ve found that a reputable agency always works out well.
Zaki Usman
| #
@Maria – the cost of running an inhouse program depends on many factors such as 1) how competent you are with Adwords, 2) how many ads you have to create/monitor, 3) how many keywords you are willing to manage. Not really knowing much about your specifics, I say $1500 per month to manage 100 different adcampaigns is not bad. But it also depends on how effective they are. Good luck
Confused Matt
| #
I’m confused on what real metrics to use when I grade my Google Adwords agency. They do the work and charge me a lot for it, but when I talk to someone else they say that they aren’t doing a good job. I’ve changed 3 agencies in the last year and each one of them charges me roughly the same amount (but in a different mix) but none give me better results than the other. So what am I doing wrong when I hire a new agency? What should I do to get the best performance?
Zaki Usman
| #
If you went thru 3 agencies within a year, then that could be a problem. These external eyes need time to get used to your business and need to try out different campaigns/keywords/ad texts to find the sweet spots. The best metric is to see if you get ROI. Also remember there is a bit of a time lag between your ad spend and revenue generated. Keep your average sales-cycle in mind when you calculate your ROI, etc.