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Downsides of outsourcing Google Ads to an agency?
I outsourced my Google ads account management of my own business to an agency 1 year ago, I have some positive but many negative thoughts that it can work better if it stays under my control as it was before I outsourced it.
Maybe you can share your experience and downsides you had with agencies? I’m curious how to can I decrease these downsides. -
1 Reply
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most “agencies” are in the business of sending invoices, not in the business of customer success.
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Hiring the ads manager directly at half the price could mitigate some of the problems
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I am always very hands on with my agencies. I dont feel that it’s the agency’s job to think of strategies to grow the company as much as me to guide the strategies. The main reason is that im in the internal meetings and have been hired for growth. Agencies are more of a tactical partner that helps with brainstorming.
I run ads for a corporate conferences around the USA.
The down side I’ve seen to having agency partners is that, it’s as much work to get the same job done as it would have been if I ran the account, with the exclusion of building the ads and optimizing. Otherwise, im checking daily for strategic shifts ( a new landing page and kew words group, etc). Additionally, no agency is giving your account 100% dedication and it shows. I’ve not really worked with a partner that I felt did a better job than an in house person/myself.
Pros: I can lean on their recommendations on new strategies, which I find necessary. A great thought partner when suggesting new ideas for growth. You don’t have to manage a FT employee ans develop them in their career. If you need a different person managing the account, you can usually complain to the boss/agency.
In other-words, I want the tactical part done with strategic help, without having to manage a direct employee that would likely be a little more junior than I care to deal with.
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What downsides have you found?
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Agency owner here, but I was a freelancer 8 years ago.
It depends on the size of the account. You might be better off with a freelancer, but it has downsides as well. They usually oversee a few accounts and may not be proficient in other related topics, like tracking or being an expert with both Google Ads and Bing Ads simultaneously. Also, they go on holidays, when there’s a ‘replacement,’ so if you need something during that time, you might not get an answer. Freelancers usually don’t think holistically because they are focused on one topic, so it’s very rare to get suggestions about your website from a PPC freelancer.
We are a team of 22, and we share wins and insights among each other, so if something works somewhere, we usually try it for other accounts as well. We have an extensive list of negative keywords and negative placements that we can apply to your account. We mostly do PPC, but we also have SEO, CRO, and data experts, etc. So each task can be fulfilled by a person expert in the exact field.
Almost every account that was brought in-house after we were managing it for months or years tanked pretty fast. This is because the businesses we worked with tried to ‘save money,’ so they fired the specialist agencies they worked with and hired 1-2 people instead. However, the digital marketing space is vast; no one can be on top of all those platforms, settings, etc. So from a PPC perspective, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, and SEO were all assigned to ONE single person! This is insane because they require very different skill sets and knowledge. Also, there is one more factor to consider: when you hire a PPC person, how do you judge if they are as good as their CV claims? Since you are not a PPC expert, there is a possibility your new hire is just a scam. We work with a company that fired us TWICE and rehired us for the THIRD time, and they have been with us since. In both cases, their in-house PPC expert tanked the account.
The in-house people’s advantage is better knowledge of your products because they only work for one company, and they have ‘unlimited’ time to work on your campaigns. Yes, that’s a clear advantage, but in my honest opinion, in 2024, it’s more valuable to know the platforms better than the products you are selling.
I’m curious about the downside of working with that agency and what you feel you are not getting from them. Maybe I can learn something from it.
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Utilizing an agency for one service does not make sense in my eyes. The power of an agency is their wealth of experience and the all-under-one-roof factor. You are hiring a team of experts to accomplish your goals.
Website design/creation, Google Ads, Meta Ads, Social Media Management, graphic design, email marketing, video, strategy, and so forth.
I’m a freelancer myself with 15 years advertising experience. I do everything myself. I am not an agency.
If someone requests social media management or graphic design from me though, I refer them elsewhere. Else I “become a temporary agency” and outsource that to my industry friends and manage the project for my clients.
If a brand just needs PPC, you don’t need the agency model. You need a single expert. Cut out the cost the agency needs to employ accountants, videographers, etc. Hire a freelancer.
If your needs are large enough (40+ hours/week) then sure hire in-house.
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The economy is a lot worse today vs 1 year ago… that needs to be taken into account. If you remove that issue and things are way worse, then someone else would likely do a better job. 80% of agencies are awful and most brands get what they pay for in the end. If you are agency fees are low then a brand won’t get much out of their agency. Also, if ad spend per month is low, there is only so much anyone can do.
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I’ve been through so many agencies with my PPC account and 90% of them are bad, really bad and 10% do a great job (probably) but charge a lot. I learned PPC myself but like someone here said is hard on your own as you don’t have the ideas of a team of 20.
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Biggest obstacles of even a good agency is 1) they’ll never care about your account as much as you do and 2) no matter how good they are at PPC, they’ll never know your product or customer better than you.
How to counter 1)
Be their favorite client. Pay them on time. Respect their opinions and give them positive feedback when warranted. Send them referrals. Be their favorite client and they’ll reciprocate the effort.
How to counter 2)
This is resolved through open communication and collaboration. Don’t micromanage, but give them insights that only you would know.
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I learned sooo much by working for an agency, and am grateful I got the opportunity to, despite eventually quitting because I couldn’t take it anymore.
I can honestly say I learned more there than I did owning my own business, working freelance, or even in marketing for other companies. I’m going to try and lay out some pros and cons for agencies, without getting my personal feelings involved.
Pros.
1. Learning happens when you make mistakes, evaluate what happened, and then execute a plan to do things better. In the world of Google Ads, lots of mistakes = lots of money. A small business owner can’t afford to potentially throw money away with their only solace being that if they can figure out their mistake they make less of one next time. I’ve already spent millions of dollars in these platforms and have learned my lessons so that you don’t have to. In some ways, I think working for an agency feels like being a degenerate gambler who’s funded to play high stakes poker by a millionaire somewhere half way around the world. The separation from the client allows for both good and bad things to occur. On one hand, we can keep our heads about us and make tough decisions, that wouldn’t be so easily made if we were direct employees. Personally, if it was my own money, I would have folded the second I lost a couple hundred bucks and would have never learned anything.When you hire an agency you’re also indirectly benefitting from the money the other clients are spending. We all crowd source ideas. If something happens to one account and we all learn from that mistake, then every client benefitted. If someone works in house and they fuck up, Welp, that’s a big blow.
The cons
I first got into analytics and advertising years ago while working in the e-commerce department of a clothing brand. I suspected our marketing agency was lying to us about the numbers, so I learned enough about all the programs to do a basic audit that eventually led to us severing ties with them. This agency was the absolute worst, and hand down could’ve done a better job than them ourselves (and we did). They got away with lying for so many years because no one else knew how it worked, or really how to check whether their claims were true. I’ve met MANY charlatans within the advertising and e-commerce world, who easily disguise their mistakes with a hand wave and a ‘its just seasonal fluctuations’. There are many of these people out there, and they’re usually the ones who sound the best to people outside of the industry. Charming, well spoken, maybe a MBA, and always an excuse.
At the very center of this industry’s core is deception, spin, and an almost weird ‘wizard of oz’ relationship to the black book programs that created the tools we claim to be experts in using, while simultaneously admitting that no body knows for sure how they work. I think if we go deep enough, it’s the relationship that ecom/ads have with the tech industry that has led to this culture of secrecy and bravado that we have today. We advertisers are completely dependent on our ability to convince you that we understand how this tech works, and that we’re in control of the situation, and that everything is okay – rain or shine.
The truth is, while we do know a lot about how to run these programs, we’re no closer to understanding why the Ads CTR declined on a random Tuesday than the average American is regarding the inner workings of the CIA. And our inability to tell people that ‘we don’t know” leads to a lot of really inexcusable behavior behind closed doors that makes it hard to trust many agencies completely. . Because unless there’s some strict surveillance going on, they can lie right to your face about something knowing full well that they probably won’t be caught, and that it can be blamed on whatever poor decision Google or Meta makes that week.
.So, my advice to you would be to hire someone to manage your ads for you without hiring a full blown agency if you can help it. Be very diligent in your inteviews to ensure that the person knows the platforms top to bottom and can clearly relay their methodology to you without resorting to meaningless marketer speak. To make sure the relationship goes well id address early on the number of hours you think the account should be worked on per week or month, and what your expectations for success are, and the time frame you’d like to see that happen by. I would make sure you understand how everything is being measured and attributed, and that there are checks along the way for data accuracy. Never rely completely on them to be the ‘source of truth.’ that’s not because they’ll try to deceive you, it’s just always a good thing to have multiple people that know what’s going on, and can spot check for each other. Things break all the time, and it’s much much better to have the power to spot it, than to discover it months later
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I think one downsize what has happened with my previous clients as they become just a number.
If you have a low spending account, you will be lower down the priority list for that agency, meaning thy look at your account less and give you less attention.
Preventing this is ensuring you have a SOW in place that you are happy with.
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It depends how large or small the agency:
Large Agencies: The worst. I get a lot of medium sized clients fed up with large agencies and low skill levels. The assistant is doing most of the work, the manager checks it. The AMD/Director probably spends 15 a month max on the business but shows for the meeting giving feedback.
Small: More pluses than minuses but there are some issues sometimes. Depends how solid the owner of the company is and how many assistants he has. Personally this is me. I am in every account, although lately due to demand and the economy. I have a small buying unit led by a solid buyer and I still check the buys. However, if you want me in the account, its roughly 2-3x that fee.
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Have you tried to talk to the agency guys about the downsides? How did they explain?
Considering the fact that you have experience managing your account, you should be able to evaluate their plan reasonably. Perhaps, you can come up with a better plan together. Have you tried to propose the steps you would make if you had the account under your control?
In general, you go in-house if putting in more hours would directly impact efficiency, and if the traffic source is proven.
You go on your own if you are not ready to work with an agency. Trying to work with a freelancer is a middle option and could work as well.
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I’ve worked for several agencies running client accounts and creating strategies. What issues were you having, out of curiosity?
Some problems seem to be client side. Budgets, approvals, time lines, defined goals, and access. Some seem to be more agency side. Placing low spenders with newbs to cut their teeth, transparency, bright siding everything instead of admitting a strategy didn’t work, etc.
I’m also back in the market and am curious how the freelancers found their clients. Is love to find 5-10 clients to take on.
I’ve done pretty much every platform, create my own strategies and reports, and know some data guys I’d outsource tracking and dashboards, but I’ve never had any luck, unfortunately. I hate agency work.
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