Before you look for a PPC agency, you should understand how pricing works and what to expect from quotes. PPC agency rates can vary depending on location, experience, and other factors. Quotes will include a list of services that the agency offers as part of their package. Be sure to ask questions if you do not understand something in the quote. It is important to be clear on what you are getting before signing up.
Also, keep in mind that PPC is an ongoing investment, so be prepared to budget for at least a few months of service. Like all marketing efforts, results take time to achieve and require regular maintenance and optimization. When you speak with a representative of your chosen digital marketing agency, take time to go over things like expected results and how costs may change over time. Knowledgeable consultants should have no problem explaining things like keyword competition, required effort, services rendered, and how much time they will take.
How Do PPC Agencies Charge for Their Services?
This question often comes up when businesses consider working with an outside PPC agency. The truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Each agency may have its own way of billing clients, and the specifics depend on the services that are being provided. In general, this holds true for most agency services from SEO content creation to email marketing.
Generally speaking, these digital marketing agencies offer either a fixed price or a commission-based pricing model. With the fixed price model, the client pays a set fee for the services that are provided. This can be helpful for businesses that want to know exactly what they are spending and what they are getting in return. With commission-based pricing, the agency gets a percentage of the money that is spent on PPC advertising. These include:
- Hourly charges for active hours
- Weekly or monthly flat rate retainer
- Pricing based on PPC performance
- Percentage of ad spend costs
Ultimately, your cost depends on your business’s goals, intentions with the pay-per-click campaigns, how long you want to engage the services of a PPC agency, and your overall budget.
The final price quote for your PPC services depends on many factors beyond the four options listed below. For example, Digital Authority Partners states that things like specialized services with more complex details or multi-lingual or location-specific campaigns may cost more. However, you can expect industry experts to charge based on one of the following models.
PPC Hourly Charges
Perhaps the most straightforward price quote strategy is to simply charge for the hours the agency team spends working on your account. Of course, choosing a trustworthy service provider is important to make sure you do not get overcharged. They should be able to give you a clear statement of what they did and how long it took.
The advantages of charging per hour for pay-per-click include budgeting simplicity, transparency from the start, assurance that you will get a certain number of hours of work, and easy tracking. It is possible to set limits on the hours spent weekly and thus control expenses. However, this method usually requires a larger upfront cost and may not necessarily give you the results you want. After all, if effort is constrained by time instead of activity, the agency may not be able to complete everything necessary for an effective PPC campaign.
Flat Rate Pricing
The simplicity of flat rate pricing seems attractive to many company representatives. This is often done with a monthly retainer or similar set up so you know exactly what you are getting for a specific amount of money. This often works a lot like hourly pricing because you pay for either the hours it takes to complete necessary tasks or the tasks themselves. It ends up meaning the same thing in the end. The disadvantages of this method include the inability to start small with a very limited budget. Also, it may lock you into a certain level of services that do not offer a lot of leeway for market shifts or emerging trends. Of course, most professional digital marketing strategies are always open to re-negotiating and creating a new contract that focuses on a mutually beneficial outcome.
Performance-Based Fees
The idea of paying only for the results you get sounds great to most companies. It also encourages the PPC agency to work hard and do their best to get you impressive results. Their success and income are intrinsically tied to yours. However, it is very important to prioritize the right data points with this price quote structure. As with all things in the pay-per-click world, you do not want to focus on traffic numbers alone. The major goals like lead conversion or sales are not something the PPC people can promise on their own.
A Percentage of Ad Spend
More expensive keywords and clicks lead to a more expensive marketing campaign. This is another pricing model that focuses on results, which sounds great for you. After all, the entire goal of a PPC campaign is to get clicks from your target audience that generate leads and ultimately sales. When you pay a percentage of what you spend on ads, it is easy to scale up the system as your budget increases or your goals expand.
If you are considering using PPC advertising to help promote your business but do not understand how much it will cost, your first step is to ask the digital marketing agency what pricing method they use. You will end up paying a different amount if they charge hourly, a flat rate, for performance, or take commission percentages based on how much you spend on ad clicks. If not managed effectively, you can lose a lot of money on paid search advertising. That is why it is so important to engage the services of professionals who have the knowledge and experience to get you the results you need to help your company grow.
