Choosing a Sheffield PPC Agency: The key criteria 

You might not have the expertise or resources in-house to do this which is when you might consider a PPC agency. 

We know how difficult it can be to put the growth of your business into an agency’s hands but, if you choose the right agency, they will be able to help you reach your business goals. 

In this blog, we’ll talk you throught the key criteria you need to consider when partnering with a PPC agency. 

What is a PPC agency? 

A PPC agency is a company that will manage your PPC campaigns for you so that they drive results for your business. A PPC agency might specialise solely in PPC or they might be a full digital marketing agency that also provides SEO, social media marketing or web design. 

PPC agencies have a team or teams of people who are trained in and specialise in experimenting and learning more about best practices to keep driving your campaigns forwards. 

When you hire a PPC agency, they key elements they should focus on are: 

• Competitor research 
• What’s going on in your industry 
• Your target audience - who they are and the channels they use 
• The keywords your audience is using 
• Develop and launch your PPC campaigns 
• Write ad copy 
• Manage your campaigns 
• Create design elements where required 
• Track and report on performance 

These are the things you’ll need to watch out for when choosing an agency to help you drive your business forwards. 

7 key criteria to consider when choosing a Sheffield PPC agency 

Here’s what you should look out for when you’re deciding which Sheffield PPC agency to use. 

1. Check they understand your business and goals 

When you have an agency helping you to drive results for your business, it’s important that they understand your business, your vision and your goals for the future. 

But, remember that you can’t have an effective PPC strategy if you don’t know what you want to achieve and how do you expect an agency to drive results for you if you don’t know where you’re going? Paid ads can incorporate a range of strategies including display ads, PPC ads, social media ads, remarketing ads and more. To find the best strategy, set goals are a must-have. 

Be aware that any good PPC agency should always ask you what you want to achieve before going ahead and creating your campaigns for you. Plus, if you’re not sure what PPC can actually help you achieve, a good agency will work alongside you to make sure you have clear goals in place.

2. Does the agency utilise the data available to them?

It’s important to partner with an agency that utilises data to inform the way they optimise and manage your campaigns. 

They should be looking at data sources such as: 

• Keywords within your campaigns - your agency should always be monitoring the keywords being used so that your campaigns are as effective as possible and driving the best ROI. 
• Your industry - keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing and current trends can help to keep driving PPC campaigns forwards. 
• Current campaigns - if you already have campaigns running, a good PPC agency will take a deep dive into how they’re performing and make improvements or changes based on past data. 

3. Are they familiar with your industry? 

While specific experience is not essential, a PPC agency that has worked with a busines in your industry before can provide huge benefits.

They will already have an understanding of your target audience and the ad platforms that are likely to reach them in the most effective way. This also means the agency should be able to provide you with case studies of results they’ve driven in the past for your agency and will have a wealth of knowledge of how they can drive the best results for your business. 

4. What services does the agency offer? 

Consider whether your chosen agency can provide everything needed to run a successful PPC agency. Someone who specialises only in PPC is great but, if graphic design or copy is needed for an advert and they can’t do it, it’s going to be hard to get the most from your campaigns. 

Find out what other services the agency offers. Then, if they drive good results through PPC, you can expand the partnership to incorporate SEO, social media or web design and use the same agency for all your digital marketing needs. 

It might not be a concern at the moment but it might help you in the future when you decide to push your digital marketing strategy even further.

5. Does the agency offer transparency? 

Transparency is key for any partnership. You’re placing budget and the success of your campaigns in the hands of someone else so you need to be able to trust them. 

They should be able to provide you with a breakdown of what you’ll need to spend on your ads and their management fees and what’s included in those costs. You should have a clear picture of this when you’re speaking to the agency so that you don’t get any surprises when your first invoice comes through. 

Look for transparency in their communications too. Are they easy to get hold of and let you know who you need to speak to to solve your problems?

6. What kind of reporting do they offer? 

You might want to hand over your PPC campaigns to an agency and never have to deal with them again. This is a mistake! 

You need an agency that will report back on the performance of your campaigns, show you how they’ve performed and what changes they’re going to make in the future to keep driving results from your campaigns. They will be able to show you what’s working and what isn’t and what they can do to make improvements. 

When you’re making your decision, ask the agency how often they will send a report and ask to see an example of what they will provide. A good agency will create something bespoke to show you how the results being driven by your PPC campaigns are helping you work towards your goals. However, they should be able to show you an example report from another client. 

7. How will the agency work alongside you and your team?

If you’re partnering with an agency or an external team, you need to ensure clear communication and ensure that the agency knows what you expect from them. Poor communication can affect the performance of your campaigns and lead to highers costs and poorer quality performance.

Try and get an understanding of how the agency will work alongside your business and ask questions such as:

• Who will be your main point of contact? 
• How often will you need to pay? 
• How flexible is the team if changes to campaigns are required? 
• Will there be additional charges for changes to campaigns or are these included? 

Knowing more about the above will help you to work well alongside the agency and together you can drive the best results from your campaigns. Plus, knowing how you both expect to work together can prevent miscommunication from occuring later down the line. 

Key takeaways 

Considering the above criteria when choosing a Sheffield PPC agency is crucial to the success of your campaigns and helping you to reach your business goals. The agency you choose will have an impact on campaign performance and how smoothly your partnership runs. 

To find the agency for you, you need to do your research and carefully consider who you’re going to work with, how you’re going to work with them and the goals they can help you to drive. Working with an agency is a partnership between them, your team and your business so make sure everyone gets the most from it. 

If you’d like to find out more about working with Logica Digital, a PPC agency in Sheffield, please contact us on hello@logica-digital.co.uk. 

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