How Much Does PPC Cost?
by Roy Dovaston
When looking to partner with a PPC agency, one of the major questions we're always asked is how much are your PPC management fees?
Whilst there are many different pricing models available, Heavyweight Digital work on a flat fee model for monthly PPC management and is dependent on a few factors such as whether new campaigns need to be created or whether we're improving what's already in situ.
For businesses looking for a new PPC agency, it's often challenging to get a like for like quote. Whilst PPC agencies all claim to do the same thing, there are many intricacies to the service being offered.
Fundamentally, you expect good communication, experienced, qualified PPC managers and ultimately outstanding results. However, when comparing PPC management services, you'll be amazed at quite how different proposals can be - for example, you might be quoted £500 from one PPC agency, but for what seemingly looks like the same service, £1500 from another. In our experience, there is a deep-rooted issue within digital marketing in general, where agencies will over promise and under deliver, which is why partnering with the right digital marketing agency, who has a transparent pricing structure upfront makes for a good start.
You can generally expect to pay in the region of £400 - £2000 per month, depending on campaign complexity and hours required to give the best outcome.
PPC Management Services - Pricing Models
Aside from the marketing budget required to run a Google Ads campaign, a major consideration is who to partner with and what pricing model works best for you. Pricing models that exist within the digital marketing industry for managing PPC campaigns include:
Percentage of ad spend - often in the region of 10 - 25% of your monthly ad spend.
Often considered a way of incentivising an agency to perform in return for PPC budget increases which reward the agency for their hard work. An issue with this kind of PPC management cost is this also incentivises the agency to increase the client spend. Linking marketing spend to the cost of managing a Google Ads campaign can be a precarious model.
Flat monthly fee + percentage of ad spend combined
This arrangement as suggested usually includes a lower monthly fee with a lower percentage which balances the risk for both client and agency of campaign failure. This pricing model to manage PPC campaigns is uncommon and generally proposed as part of an ongoing PPC management relationship where appropriate.
Flat Fee
This is one of the more common PPC pricing models. In principle it's one of the least complicated ways of charging for a service, it's generally considered the norm and doesn't come with complications of calculating performance related bonuses from more convoluted models. Flat fees for PPC management services have been Heavyweight Digital's preferred method for PPC management pricing for many years and is calculated based on several factors including complexity of PPC strategy, and time it'll take to manage the campaigns. Other factors include cost of industry leading tools, such as those used to generate comprehensive reporting.
Lead Generation
The PPC management agency will look to charge you on a per lead basis at an agreed cost per lead or will charge a percentage of your ROAS / return on ad spend. Lead generation tends to be a PPC management pricing model that is unique to lead generation specialists, who are geared up specifically to this model.
Setup Fees
Where necessary, some PPC agencies charge setup fees for research and campaign builds. If there's a lot of upfront work involved in campaign creation prior to management, whereas other agencies embed these one-time fees into their monthly ppc management fees. It's prudent to ask whether your Google Ads will be subject to any setup fees and whether this can be ofset against a Google Ads voucher, if you happen to be a first time advertiser.
