Digital agency recommendations

[Zono]

Still learning about google ads and SEO and thinking of signing p with one of the agencies to manage my online ads.
looking at companies like Adzooma, buythisad, MOZ, and etc

Ar they worth using and if so anyone has any better recommendations

 

[StephenSumner]

How long is a piece of string, it would depend on budget and scope.

Not sure Moz is an agency, but certainly a useful info source for the basics.

 

[Paul Carmen]

It all depends on what you are trying to do, what your business does and your services, plus your marketing plan and budget.

The companies you mention aren't really agencies; well Adzooma are, but buythisad sells advert space and Moz is an SEO resources and software company.

Your best bet would be to give more information about what you're trying to achieve and whether you have any sort of marketing/business plan ready.

An initial plan would look something like this: -

1. Identify the core services/products you want to promote, these should be profitable for you & something you can deliver/scale if your lead generation really takes off
2. What do these services/products mean for your customers and how do you communicate this succinctly; e.g. what is their problem, how do you fix it and why should they choose your company/service/product
3. Identify your customers (age groups, locations, demographic, affluence etc.)
   
4. Research where your customers will look for these services/products & what they look for (is it online & if so what do they type in search engines, is it via another channel like social media, is it word of mouth via networking or local press etc.)
5. What's your USP; e.g the hook to get them interested (do you do something great that the competition doesn't, are you better on start/project completion times, price etc.)
6. Is your current marketing working, what's good, what's bad (if you're not really doing any marketing, or not tracking it, then this potentially means more research and testing of marketing channels, copywriting and adverts etc.)

Once you've done this sort of analysis you're ready to create a plan and work out budget etc. The plan is the starting point and some agencies will help or create this for/with you, some will just spend your money on whatever you ask them to!

 

[Zono]

Thanks for the replies. I believe MOZ offer an SEO and keywords research monitoring & ranking services on their premium subscriptions like Yell.

I was thinking of signing up with a PPC manage to get an idea of how they work and hoping for them to create a marketing strategy plan for my business.

 

[Calvin Crane]

Steer clear of bigger groups, I can tell you how many times I have cleared up after one of them. They are too big an cannot allocate you a decent individual their work is programatic link gathering based. Their sites are poor and their work is volume based. You got a telesales person right? Sold you it...

 

[Nochexman]

Still learning about google ads and SEO and thinking of signing p with one of the agencies to manage my online ads.

Ar they worth using and if so anyone has any better recommendations

The question is - if you get someone else to do this for you, before you fully understand, how well placed will you be to decide if the someone else has done a good job for you?

 

[Calvin Crane]

@Nochexman because sales will increase or the phone starts ringing. Any decent ad man will show and prove click through with reports and explaining what is happening. If you don't know what to look for yourself you still will have no idea add to that when you call google engineers they are good at upselling you on higher cpc's and are not having your best interests at heart.

 

[Zono]

Actually, I made the initial inquiry to a few companies. they all have a similar package of around £200 to £000's per month. You connect your adwords account and you can see the stats via their dashboards.

 

[Calvin Crane]

Given the cost of running a business on a budget in the current UK climate anyone worth their salt would not charge more than 20 per hour for this level of work. Otherwise they are outsourcing it which ends up giving a margin and equalising the cost so go with that figure 10 hours per month at the low end or 2.5 per week. That would be enough to get some ads created and ad hoc reporting but it would not be enough to run across many channels. You would have ad spend on top. But yes you would be getting some value and expertise. You may not need to run all year round too. However SEO is best done constantly to some degree it's really like gardening.

 

[justleads]

Actually, I made the initial inquiry to a few companies.

So let me make it clear. It looks obvious that you need an expert input. Not all experts are the same: some are very good, but some are not... And it comes with a fee. There are 4 types of fees:

1) % of your budget. Say it can be 10% (in reality, from 8% to 15%). So if you plan your advertising budget £2000 per month, you pay the fee of £200. Obviously, a larger agency will expect budget from 10000 at least (and fee from £1000).

2) As a flat monthly service fee, not connected to budget. Say, £350 per month. Usually you will be asked more in the first month or so, and less after that (maintenance and further tuning)

3) Per result agreement: suppose it is worth for you to pay up-to £18 per 1 phone enquiry. Then an agreement can be: "£10 per each 10 enquiries of up-to £17", plus a bonus if the expert can get the price lower.

4) Simply pay per each enquiry, say £15 per enquiry. "Pay per lead" (In the USA, there is a huge market for this).


Larger agencies usually work on type 1 (% of budget).

Many smaller ones will agree on type 2 (monthly flat fee).

You will have difficulty to find type 3 (fee per result), it is unusual in the UK. (I get more clients in USA. To me it looks as the best for the expert and business, but I am obviously biased

Type 4 is available only for certain kind of businesses.


So if you hint what keyword will be typical for your business (say, fancy dresses, plumber service, or sport shoes etc), it will be easier to advise further. For type 3, you can suggest what do you think is the reasonable top expense per 1 enquiry (and/or per 1 actual order).


The experts here will provide you with further advice, much more effectively, after that…

 

[UKSBD]

So let me make it clear. It looks obvious that you need an expert input. Not all experts are the same: some are very good, but some are not... And it comes with a fee. There are 4 types of fees:

What about option 5?

5. Pay someone you trust on an hourly rate basis, capped at an agreed amount per week/month.
Then raise or lower the cap at your choice depending on how you feel they are doing.

 

[justleads]

What about option 5?

5. Pay someone you trust on an hourly rate basis, capped at an agreed amount per week/month.
Then raise or lower the cap at your choice depending on how you feel they are doing.

My bad. Sure, it is one of the standard options. Just to remember that here you get more or less what you pay...
I forgot to mention this option, because I work purely on results, so yes, this #5 is a standard option as well.

 

[Calvin Crane]

Thikie boy moment here can you explain #3 please..

 

[justleads]

Thikie boy moment here can you explain #3 please..

Pay per performance. many ways, here the favorite:
Suppose it is worth for the owner to pay up-to £18 per 1 phone enquiry. A simplified agreement could be: produce me as many as possible enquiries under £18, get the difference as a fee. This way the expert knows he gets fee only if performance is 100% OK (so think twice before agreeing!), and the owner gets the maximum without worry about technical details, placements, CTR, conversion rates, SEO (which of course should be done!), etc. The work should be of very high standard and very time consuming, else no good earning. Of course this is not good for a "small" account. However, if the owner gets his cheap phone enquiries (or online sales or whatever), he obviously will consider to increase the budget. There are certain problems here, such as diminishing earning on higher volumes (I was puzzled when I first faced it years ago, but reasonable people are usually able to find solutions, so you should refuse to work with unreasonable!). Is this what you asked?

 

[Calvin Crane]

Thanks for expanding. I am still a little confused. So a client says 18 pounds per lead is ok, they must know from some previous lead buying experience its the rate for xyz kind of lead lets say PPI.
If they were 3 pounds per lead it's too cheap and probably not worth it. So for 18 we are saying the lead might cost me 5-10 pounds to get. then I make from 13 to 8 pounds the difference got that.

Then

Buyer: Ok 18 per lead that's good I normally pay alf 20. But I don't know this new supplier but I can try 50 of them. Cost to me is 18x50 = 900

Seller: I'm making from 5-13 average 9 x50 = 450 quid profit cost 450.

I totally guessed figures here of course just trying to see the model from all perspectives. So scaling up should be easy using facebook if that was a possibility to get the lead there. I havent seen any real volume through SEO in the niches I have worked in to make organic work here. PPC ok that can work but you cant go beyond the volume.

 

[justleads]

no, i suggest you speak only about the "top ppc cost still profitable for owner".
Reduce a bit from this number, and make an offer. well, there are more probs here....Devil in details