AdWords Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Management
Man, is it powerful.
We’d go as far as to say that Google AdWords (now Google Ads) is the most effective marketing platform of our time — if you know what you’re doing, that is.
See, with all that potential comes a whole lot of potential complications. So it’s no wonder businesses opt to hire PPC management services to fully harness the power of pay-per-click ads.
But if your campaigns are raking in more regrets than returns, it’s time to level up your Google PPC management services.
The Power of Google Ads
We have the proof:
When a user is ready to buy, they click the ads at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) — not the organic results. And while there are plenty of PPC networks to choose from, Google owns the internet.
(No shade, Yahoo and Bing.)
From email and maps to Android phones and calendars, Google has endless insight into our personal values, biggest challenges, and recurring behaviors. And all that behavioral analysis translates into some crazy-effective targeting through their advertising platform (see: Google Ads).
But Google’s tendency to shake up its algorithm makes ranking highly on the SERP, organically and with paid ads alike, extra tricky.
To make matters worse, Google continues to shift toward a more “automated” platform — including the introduction of Performance Max, which makes it feel harder to stay in front of the right users.
So if you’ve been struggling to make your Google Ads campaigns work, it’s not your fault.
You just need the right PPC team.
AdWords Management with HawkSEM
Your business is your livelihood.
So don’t let any ol’ PPC management company handle your AdWords account (i.e. your money). You need to make sure your PPC partners will bring something substantial to the table.
Here’s a small sampling of what we’ve served up for our clients:
Whether you’re in the business of ecommerce or lead generation, want to lower your cost per click (CPC) or increase your return on ad spend (ROAS), HawkSEM is the PPC management partner you deserve.
Results Are Everything
HawkSEM in 90 seconds
Google Ads Management: It’s Time for the Best
You have a desirable product or service, a healthy budget, and a rock-solid business model that can handle growth.
You are ready to scale, my friend.
And Google Ads can get you there! But it’s probably time to find (new) AdWords PPC management services if:
- Your campaigns have “plateaued”
- You don’t have the time or resources to manage campaigns in-house
- You need to improve performance
- Your internal marketing team needs help
- You’re ready for an ROI-focused agency after disappointing experiences with another marketing management team
Sound familiar? We got you.
From the PPC Experts: Our Proven Process
When Honda wanted to generate awareness for their new Civic hatchback and Accord models, they partnered with HawkSEM.
The result?
- Cost per conversion reduced by 30%
- Dealer inquiries increased by 40%
- Traffic rate increased by 200%
And when Grayson Living partnered with HawkSEM to grow ecommerce sales, they saw:
- Almost 6X ROAS
- Ecommerce sales increased by 279% in the first year
- Average order values increased by 11%
When we say we have a proven PPC management process, we mean it.
Here’s a sneak peek at how we do it:
Step One: Audit
Using an extensive checklist, we take a thorough look into your existing PPC campaigns to assess what’s working and what should be improved.
From website optimization opportunities and content gaps, to bidding strategies and tracking setup, to keywords and campaign assets, we’ll return with a list of suggestions to improve your PPC efforts.
This is yours to keep, whether you choose to partner with us or not.
But we’re just getting started.
From there, we’ll spend some time learning all about your business and goals. Here are some highlights:
- Competitor analysis (direct and indirect competitors)
- Search query and keyword research
- Current ranking research using data tools like Semrush, Google Trends, and Auction Insights
- Target audience research
- Industry demand by season and region
This first step is extremely thorough — and critical to the foundation of your PPC campaigns’ success.
Step Two: Strategize & Buildout
Your business is unique. Your Google Ads strategy should be, too.
Using the long list of information we gathered about your competitors, target audience, KPIs, industry, keywords, and current rankings, our team of PPC experts concoct a marketing strategy specifically tailored to your goals.
This strategy outlines everything from creative recommendations and keywords to bidding strategies and optimization objectives, paired with projections and expectations so you understand the why behind every move.
Hint
They always lead back to the goals you outlined in our audit.
As soon as you approve the strategy, it’s time for our team to get to buildin’. This includes:
- Conversion tracking setup
- Building campaign types based on your goals (such as Google Search ads, Display ads, Video ads, Shopping ads, and Performance Max)
- Organizing your ad groups with relevant keywords
- Building a strong negative keyword list
- A/B testing setup
- Remarketing campaigns
- Bidding strategy setup
- Crafting compelling ad copy
- Building appealing landing pages with strong calls to action (CTAs)
- Website optimization
While this is a criminally brief overview of the detail and care that goes into building your AdWords campaign, it gives you an idea of what to expect.
Our buildout process is different from most agencies for many reasons — but perhaps most notably because it includes ConversionIQ.
ConversionIQ is HawkSEM’s proprietary marketing platform that connects all of your online advertising and marketing channels (Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising for Bing, Hubspot, social media channels, Amazon advertising, Google Analytics — you name it) into one dashboard.
The result is a reporting system and optimization tool that gives us a clear picture of your marketing efforts “in the wild,” and where improvement opportunities exist. No more hopping around from platform to platform. Just transparent analytics and reporting you can access anytime.
Step Three: Analyze and Report
There are a lot of “experts” out there who take your money and…kinda disappear.
That’s why clear and consistent communication is so important to us at HawkSEM. How else are you supposed to feel confident in the work we do behind the scenes?
Our reports are always regularly recurring, on time, easy to understand, and focus on the KPIs you care about — not just the stuff that makes us look good.
This dedication to transparency and accessibility is proven through our ConversionIQ system. You never have to wait for us to send you a report (although we always will). You can always check in on your campaign performance any time.
After all, you spend hard earned money on your PPC management. You should have the freedom to check in on its performance outside of our recurring reports.
And whether you prefer email, phone calls, video chats, or prerecorded updates, we meet you where you are. Our priority is to seamlessly join forces with your existing business operations.
Step Four: Optimize and Repeat
The good news: By this step, your campaigns are live and accruing data like crazy.
The better news: There’s still a lot to do!
This stage of our PPC management process is where we’ll spend the majority of our time. After a couple of weeks spent analyzing your campaign data, we’ll make adjustments and set up experiments to improve your campaign success going forward.
This includes:
- Updating your ad copy
- Trying new ad formats and assets
- Updating your negative keyword list
- Tweaking your bidding strategy and match types
- Working to improve your Quality Score
- Checking in on your languages and locations
- Conversion rate optimizations (CRO) on your site
As your campaign performance improves, we really narrow in on what makes your ads find the right people and repeat that pattern of success.
Are We Meant to Be? How to Choose a PPC Management Team
It’s no secret: There are a lot of options when it comes to hiring a PPC agency.
And while, up to this point, we’ve spent a lot of time demonstrating why we make excellent partners — we want to hit pause for a sec.
Honestly, it’s really important to us that you end up with the best PPC management team for your business. That could be us (we sure hope it is). But you also deserve to know what to look for and consider when hunting for your perfect PPC match.
It all comes down to:
- Services offered
- Qualifications & experience
- Culture
- Pricing options
Services Offered
Do you want a team that offers AdWords PPC management services exclusively?
Or do you want an agency that offers additional digital marketing services, like search engine optimization (SEO), paid social media marketing, and email marketing?
If you want to grow your marketing efforts in the future, perhaps you want a team who can take on your other marketing channels. And if you already have a digital marketing plan in motion, your PPC team should be able to make your search campaigns complement (and amplify) your existing efforts.
Here’s how:
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PPC and search engine optimization (SEO) are more powerful together because search engines always award higher rankings to websites that are fast, easy-to-navigate, and full of high-quality content.
Stronger SEO? stronger chance of desirable ad placements. (Learn more about how SEO and PPC work together here.)
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PPC and email marketing directly feed off each other. PPC advertising funnels email addresses into your list. The users who offered their email are more likely to make a conversion from your email marketing efforts — and, those emails make for more targeted remarketing PPC campaigns to nudge them along the way.
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Finally, PPC and social media marketing pack their own one-two punch. Google Ads is effective for high-intent research, but don’t forget social media’s ability to earn trust through reviews, images, and a more authentic connection with your potential customers.
At HawkSEM, PPC is our specialty. But our entire suite of services also include:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Paid social media marketing
- Performance display
- Conversion rate optimization
- Shopping and feed management
- Website design
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
- Landing pages
Qualifications & Experience
Before hiring a PPC management team, scan their website for proof of qualifications and experience.
Here’s what to look for:
- Awards and certifications
- At least 5-10 years in business
- Ongoing education
- Strong case studies
- Experience with your specific industry
- Google Premier Partners
- Positive reviews
Fun fact
HawkSEM only hires senior level employees with over three years of digital marketing experience. As a fully remote agency, that means we have the flexibility to hire the best talent the country has to offer.
Culture
Speaking of multiple marketing strategies…
Your future agency should match the culture you strive for at your business. After all, this team should feel like a partner in your success. That means you trust the team and feel comfortable with them every step of the way.
In other words, trust your instincts.
If a management agency looks great on paper, but doesn’t pass the vibe check during your meeting, listen to your gut. There are plenty of proverbial fish in the sea.
Meet the Team
Pricing Options
PPC management pricing can be tricky. And looking for the cheapest option might actually cost you more in the long run.
With that in mind, let’s run through the most common pricing structures you can expect to see:
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Flat Fee
Flat fee pricing models typically charge a consistent monthly fee (aside from an initial setup expense). Otherwise, you shouldn’t have to worry about surprise expenses.
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Percentage of Ad Spend
Percentage of ad spend is another common model that charges a percentage of your monthly ad budget. This commission basis typically ranges from 10%-30%.
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Performance-Based Fees
Performance-based fee structures can seem enticing, as the client only pays when the agency pulls in a new lead. The risk here? If your agency focuses on quantity over quality, you’ll be paying for little in return.
Whichever pricing model you decide is right for you, it’s really important to understand exactly what you’re paying for with those fees — and if additional resources or tools down the line will cost you extra.
HawkSEM has been hand-selected as a Google Premier Partner and Microsoft Advertising Partner
We make things happen …but don’t take our word for it:
CSUN
Patch Of Land
Google Partner
Google Premier Agency
Included in Our PPC Management Pricing: ConversionIQ
We already talked about ConversionIQ, but let’s circle back.
We touched on how it connects all your marketing channels onto one reporting dashboard to give you a full picture of your efforts, and how it allows for crystal clear reporting on your terms, anytime. But it’s worth mentioning that all HawkSEM clients have access to this tool for free.
What’s more, ConversionIQ is more than just a reporting tool. It gives us the (otherwise hidden) data we need to make insanely effective optimizations to your campaigns.
This allows for transparent reporting anytime, sure. But it also gives us incredible data to make wildly effective optimizations. Want more proof? Keep reading.
ConversionIQ in Action
Ecommerce clients like Nike and Verizon chose HawkSEM as their marketing agency to amp up their PPC ads. These clients already drove a decent volume of revenue.
Their new customer acquisition costs, on the other hand? Those were pretty darn high. Higher than their customer lifetime value, to be exact.
This meant there was little growth in net new customer numbers.
ConversionIQ uncovered that, although there were spikes in new customers — those orders never lead to repeat purchases, and the order values themselves were low. With the data ConversionIQ provided, our team optimized the campaigns, leading to a massive increase in lifetime value and ROAS by 109%.
For our lead generation clients, who drove a large volume of low-quality leads, ConversionIQ provided a bird’s eye view:
Although some keywords certainly led to conversions at higher volumes with a low cost per lead, that’s not where the bulk of their revenue came from.
Instead? It was long-tail, low-volume keywords.
With that data, we switched up their advertising budgets and overhauled the campaigns to maximize ROAS.
The result?
- Lead volume increased 2X
- Cost per acquisition went down 40%
- Lead quality improved 60%
The Bottom Line
You’re looking for more than Google AdWords management.
You’re looking for increased revenue and less wasted budget.
You’re looking for fewer tasks on your plate and more time to focus on your day-to-day priorities.
Because at the end of the day, we all just want to worry less.
And perhaps that’s why we have a 98% retention rate. While our clients chose to partner with us for a whole slew of reasons — from an average 4.5X ROI and a ranking as the top 3% of agencies in the country. But we’re more than our Google Premier Partnership or Microsoft Advertising Partnership.
We’re a team of really smart, dedicated, and enthusiastic folks who love what we do. We offer our clients sighs of relief.
Are you ready to scale your business with us?
Request a Free Consultation
No BS, just results. Average clients see a 4.5x ROI
- Dramatically improve ROI
- Outperform the competition
- Increase conversion volume
- Better track ROI
- Reduce cost per acquisition
- Improve lead quality