We come from humble roots.
Our agency started out as a consulting group with a specific area of expertise and narrow focus. We would perform SEO, PPC, and other digital audits for our clients – and we would do it at an elite level, with an unwavering commitment to our clients’ unique needs.
Lately, however, we’ve noticed a rather disturbing trend. This unfortunate and disconcerting development involves poorly-managed paid search engine advertising campaigns on Google, Bing, and more – all of which are conducted “in-house,” without the aid of an agency.
Well, we’re here to tell you that this is truly a very, very bad idea. Not to mention a massive waste in PPC budget spending.
Why is that, you ask? Simple. Because companies that are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a month – and up to millions of dollars a year – are wasting some 40 to 70 percent of their ad budgets on non-converting clicks and other poor strategies.
Why This Is Such A Bad Idea
This is indeed a bad idea. For many reasons. On many levels. Let us count the ways…
Junior-Level Professionals: First off, keeping your paid search efforts “in-house” isn’t nearly as “cost-effective” as you want to believe. Sure, “hiring” on-staff personnel to do this sort of work for you will save you some money. At least in the short-run. But you’re also assigning a very important task to someone with a staggering lack of high-level, real-world experience. Because nine times out of ten, “in-house” means “junior-level” professionals. So, yes, you’ll save some money up front. But once you start examining the potential long-range “costs” with a more critical and discerning eye…well, your gains can start to turn into losses. All too quickly. Do you really want to take this chance?
No Skin In The Game: Sure, if someone at your company massive screws up, they might end up losing their job over such a costly mistake. But if you assign your account and its paid search efforts to an agency, you’ll be playing a more high-stakes, high-level game – played by high-level professionals. Because more than anything in an agency environment, motivation comes from a healthy fear of losing a valued client. Simply put, lost clients mean lost business. And usually lost jobs.
Investment In Technology: While the search engine marketing tool companies out there would absolutely love for every company to gleefully and gainfully employ their exclusive technology, most of the time, your “in-house” person doesn’t have access to the sort of tools your search agency professionals are using every hour of every day. Think about it like this: If you had a choice between using your father’s old manual tool kit or a set of high-end, state-of-the-art power tools to build a new wing in your dream home, which would you choose?
One Person Vs. An Entire Team: When companies decide to place all their paid search efforts “in-house,” this typically means they’re deciding to utilize just one person. And chances are, that one person isn’t even dedicated exclusively to this more-than-challenging and time-consuming task. When you sign on with an agency, however, you commit to dedicating a team of qualified and energized experts towards an exclusive focus on search engine marketing. There’s strength in numbers, as the old adage holds. There’s also strength in experience. And dedicated focus.
Educated, Certified, Up-To-Date Team: Let’s be honest. It’s easy for “in-house” search engine advertising people to forget to re-up their certifications. It’s also quite possible, as we covered earlier, that they’re simply pulled in too many directions to take the time required to stay educated, certified, and always up-to-date. If you sign on with an agency, you won’t have to worry about this sort of scenario. You can rest assured that the people at the wheel of your search engine ship are operating with the most current and powerful training and technology.
When’s the last time you reviewed your company’s in-house search marketing team’s performance? And if you were to do so, would you really like what you end up seeing?
Why even bother to lose more sleep over such scenarios? Contact us today and avoid any and all headaches that come with the “in-house” paid search situation. You can even schedule a new client prospect meeting with us here.
