Transcript:
Speaker 1:
So what influences an agency when it comes to pricing out Google Advertising services? That is what we’re going to talk about today. So, when it comes to an agency like myself, pricing out Google Ads, there are a number of different factors that come into play. And recently a client asked me about this and I’m like, “What a great opportunity to do another video on it. So when it comes to determining my fees for setting up advertising on behalf of your business, there are a couple of different things that come into play. First of all, ad spend. How much are you willing to spend on advertising, i.e. ad spend on the platform because there’s a big difference in how much work is involved if we’re only spending a thousand dollars a month, or if we’re spending $10,000 a month.
Speaker 1:
Obviously the more you spend in ad spend, the more complex the account set up becomes, the more keywords we’re going to be bidding on, the more audiences we’re going to be bidding on, the more complex our [inaudible 00:01:14] retargeting is going to get. And we could do that with greater ad spend, which is a lovely benefit. So it influences what my fees would be. The other thing that influences what an agency would charge is, is it a local campaign or is it a national campaign? We work primarily with local based businesses. So that being service providers, so that being attorneys, dermatologists, ophthalmologists, or optometrists, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:
Setting up a campaign at the local level is actually easier than at the national level. And the reason for that being is, negative keywords. So without going into Google, the different elements of Google, negative keywords are keywords that we tell Google we do not want to bid on. So when you’re setting up a national campaign, you need more negative keywords than you would if it were just the local campaign. With a local campaign, our auction, our ability to bid in the auction, which is what Google Ads is is an auction, is limited by the geographical scope.
Speaker 1:
So we have a little bit more flexibility in the keywords that we bid on and on our negative keyword lists versus a national campaign where we have to be more on top of it. The other element that comes into play when setting up a Google Ads account is retargeting. So if you have a smaller budget, we’re just going to do some basic retargeting where if someone landed on your website, we’re going to then do some display retargeting, following them around on the interweb on third party websites. That’s called retargeting through display. If you have a larger budget or a more complex campaign, we can get more detailed with the retargeting, both in setting up the campaign, setting up Google Analytics to monitor the audiences in addition to setting up what we call retargeting on the search platform, YouTube videos, et cetera. So that ties into how much are you going to spend per month, but even on a smaller budget, if the client is really focused more on retargeting and warm audiences, rather than cold audiences, that will impact how much we charge.
Speaker 1:
So with all that, keeping that all in play, what are some factors that you can keep in mind to keep the costs down? Well, every agency, first of all, sets up their budgets or their management fees differently. Some of them are flat rate. Some of them are a flat rate based on ad spend, which is what we do. Some of them has a flat rate plus a percent of ad spend. So if you might be just say $1,000 a month and you’re spending $10,000 a month, they’ll ask for 10% of the ad spend as a management fee on top of the 10,000. So be very clear when you are working with an agency in doing your research, that you’re clear on how the app, how they bill you for their services, because it does vary across the industry. So factors that can keep that down is obviously ad spend because most agencies that I know of where we work together for different things, they charge based on ad spend.
Speaker 1:
Now for me, my management fee starts out like 30% of whatever the ad spend is, but actually then it goes down as you spend more. Most agencies do do that, but that is one thing to keep in mind that usually that’s a difference between $2,500 a month and 10,000. My percentage take changes. So that’s something just to know. When it comes to… let’s say you have an agency that you want to work with, but their fees are just a little bit too high, ask them if there’s anything that they can take out in terms of their management. Maybe you only want search, but they automatically include retargeting and you can ask them if they can remove that and if that would influence their management fee.
Speaker 1:
I include everything because I look at it as I am your advertiser on behalf of your agent of business and I want to do the best that we can do to get you the most leads as possible. And so I set up everything and look at it as a holistic, but ask them if there’s anything that they’re providing, what are they providing and then to itemize it and then see if there’s anything that they can remove.
Speaker 1:
There’s always going to be a setup fee of some sort, because there’s a lot of time and energy that goes into keyword research, writing ad copy, getting the account set up, getting Google Analytics integrated with everything, setting up tags or targeting tags, all that kind of stuff. So there is usually a setup fee and set up fees will vary. Sometimes agencies will waive the setup fee if you commit to a three, six or nine months contract, so ask about that. And then various things that can cause your project to increase our landing pages, not all agencies will include designing landing pages in the build. So a landing page will be, where are we sending the traffic? I have done numerous split tests of sending traffic to a really well-designed website versus a really well-designed landing page and the website actually converts probably nine times out of 10. But if a website of a client comes to me and they just show me your website, and it’s just not up to my standards, I will use a landing page.
Speaker 1:
But in those situations I actually charge for the landing page because it’s not built into my normal business practice and a landing page takes a lot of time. You have to get the copywriter involved, the web designer, all this kind of stuff, and does then add extra element and so that can drive the price of your audience or your management fee up.
Speaker 1:
Like I mentioned, also retargeting, retargeting ads, depending on the agency or designing ads or doing responsive ads, that can all influence everything as well. And another element that I’ll add is if you come to me and this is just me and you want to do Google and Facebook, I usually provide a bundle discount. Ask that if you’re talking to agencies, “Do you provide a bundle discount if I’m going to come to you with SEO and Google Ads or Facebook ads or content management,” or whatever it may be that you’re looking for, right? Because in my opinion, they should, because you’re asking them to be their full stack marketer. They may or may not provide those options, but ask.
Speaker 1:
So those are, I hope helps explain what goes into setting up the pricing from the agency perspective for providing Google advertising for various businesses, in my case, service-based businesses. If you have any questions about anything that I’ve talked about, leave a comment below, I will get the notification and I’ll reply as promptly as possible.
