July 29, 2011 (Powerhomebiz.com) If you’re an advertiser or even an ad agency then you know how hard it is to distinguish one media agency from another. With all their promises of top ad positions, reduced search marketing spend and the best PPC site marketing you’ve ever seen, it can be very difficult to choose and online marketing service provider.
One of the ways that pay per click companies distinguish themselves is through in house software development that works with search engine interfaces such as Google Ad Words. Their software pulls a client’s account information into the company’s system allowing them to process it and analyse it beyond the tools provided by Google. The risk with this kind of software development however is that it pitches SEM companies against some fairly invincible competition i.e. Google themselves. The moment you develop a reporting format or tool that has any value, Google are going to be interested and with their near unlimited resources they have the means and oppo!rtunity to bring such software in house and brand it as a new Google Ad Words tool.
Call Metrics is a great example. Last week Google announced the release of Call Metrics on the Inside Ad Words blog. Call Metrics is a Google Ad Words extension that is aimed at generating enquiries and phone calls by assigning and placing a toll-free number next to your ad text on Google search. If the number is dialled, Ad Words registers the call and forwards it to your business. Not only does this increase conversion and brand engagement, but Google claim that so far they’ve already connected over 5 million calls for thousands of businesses.
By tracking and analysing the calls Google can also provide in depth call reporting using metrics such as duration and time of call as well as being able to report at both Ad Group and Campaign level. The potential to increase conversions as well as integrate this technology into new media such as mobile click to call campaigns is exciting for advertisers and could be of great benefit.
Unfortunately, the group it doesn’t benef!it is the e-marketing agencies who have developed very similar software and who currently market this capability as one of their USPs. Although their software is still very useful, the fact that Call Metrics can work within one application (i.e. Google Ad Words) with ease will make it very appealing to a lot of businesses and there is also no need to pay a media agency for the benefit of this analysis when you can handle it as part of your day to day PPC work. This is but just one example of a Google Ad Words pay per click tool that pits Google against other agencies.
So what can the smaller online marketing agencies do about it? The answer is simple, stay true to Google. We invest a lot of time in building a strong relationship with Google that benefits us an agency and our clients. We have access to training from some of the best account managers within the Google team dealing with some very large branded accounts and we take the opportunity to learn as much as possible.
Through our relationship we get to hear about the newest developments in Google Ad Words tools and technology, get to add our input into what we would like to see and ensure that together, both Google and we as a media agency are delivering the best to our clients. Google revolutionised the internet and they dominate the online marketing world with an enormous reach and extensive presence through their display network.
They are constantly developing their systems to improve the effectiveness of their services and will always deliver quality advertising products. If y!ou’re a smaller PPC agency wondering how to get ahead and stay ahead our advice is simple, stick with Google, after all, they practically invented the pay per click industry so you can be fairly confident that when it comes to search marketing – they know what they’re talking about.
About us:
TRON Media are an experienced and independent UK Search Marketing and Media Agency specialising in Pay Per Click management, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media and Website Design. Feel free to give our team a call today on 0203 167 0965. All will be happy to help with any enquiry. http://www.tronmedia.co.uk/
Hi there, really enjoyed reading this.
It is a sad fact that you cant really go past Google, it will likely end in costing you alot of time and money. I definitely agree that the agencies are far better off working with google, taking advantage of their training and using that knowledge to positively represent your clients. There is still a large need for agencies as many companies are not well educated in the use of Google Adwords and do not have the time to keep themselves up to date with all the new tools etc, so there are still plenty of ways we can attract clients simply by having an in depth understanding of Google Adwords.