Image credit: mrmomsunite.blogspot.com

Don’t let the title fool you. This is not an anti-Google rant. It’s not praise, either – it falls somewhere in the middle.

Google used to do so much for its clients. When the company was still getting established, and for many years after, it seemed Google went above and beyond to cater to client’s every whim. From lavish parties to an abundance of dedicated resources, Google’s clients lived the good life.

Things are a little different now. We operate in a world where million-dollar (annual) spenders have to call 1-800 numbers for help, and those lucky enough to have dedicated support have to run through fresh intros every six months.

Here’s the funny thing, though – the system works. As frightening as it might seem to get “stuck” with a call center when your account randomly gets reviewed (the shut-off), the level of support is adequate. It’s not the type of support that will always delight customers, but it gets the job done and, frankly, what else matters? Google realized that it could cut back on services without damaging relationships (too much). It certainly doesn’t hurt to own 75%+ of the market, and it doesn’t hurt that most companies need Google more than Google needs them. All of that said, things get done and business keeps humming.

One of Google’s greatest strengths is its platform. AdWords is the ultimate self-serve platform in the world of PPC (yes, I realize many 3^rd parties offer advanced features, but we’re talking about network platforms), and that makes things much easier for the services team. Facebook and MSN (while they’ve gotten better) lag so far behind that their services teams are exposed. Deficient platforms put the burden on services orgs, and if your services group can’t handle it, the customer’s experience suffers.

The Google machine can support minimal service. Other machines, not so much. (Image credit: strategicgrowthanddevelopment)

This is how Google ruined services: by recognizing they could scale back their own service levels – knowing their self-serve platform could handle the load – Google set a new standard in services. Other networks, Facebook in particular, have taken cues from Google and gone straight to a model with minimal support (i.e. no agency support…that’s right, none), and it’s not working out the same way. The problem is that Facebooks of the world aren’t ready to operate like that.

By setting a high bar in the early years and then setting today’s minimal-services trend, Google has created unrealistic expectations for those customers who run on multiple networks. As much as Google customers like to complain about service (I’m lucky enough to have a kick-ass agency rep), it pales in comparison to the garbage other networks put out. I guess, through some circuitous logic, you can blame Google for all the bad service you get from other networks. It’s a Google hater’s dream.

There’s a way to fix this: improve your platform. In the year and a half since Yahoo and MSN merged their search offering, the adCenter platform has made some great strides. Granted, many of these features are just (late) copies of Google offerings, but they’ve changed things quite a bit. At the same time, they’ve rededicated themselves to support (on the agency side, at least). Our agency rep (hey, Vince!) can give our Google rep a good challenge, and that bodes well for adCenter.

In a saturated market offering many options for limited marketing budgets, these improvements have made MSN a more attractive option. This is the lesson upstarts and niche networks haven’t learned yet: until you attain “must use” status, you need to invest in services. It might strike you as egotistical, but marketers control budgets, and if you can’t win them over, you won’t get any. Just because Google did it doesn’t mean your network can do it yet. It’s fun to blame Google for starting the movement, but, at the end of the day, it’s your own fault. Fix it or someone else will get those dollars. Pretty simple, no?

- Sean Marshall, Director of Search Engine Marketing

First, look up a competitor’s Facebook page and look for the “Likes” tab. It’s located on the upper portion of the page, below the cover photo. It looks like this:

"Like" how much data you're about to get...

This tab will show how many lifetime likes your competition has, but there’s a lot more to it.

Click on the tab, and these five useful data points appear:

Tons of good data...what to make of it?

1. Facebook provides the “People Talking About This” metric, which was standard prior to the Timeline-for-brands rollout. What does it mean, exactly? It is the number of unique users who have engaged with the page (liked, shared, commented) in the last seven days. This number shows how you stack up against your competition – who had a bigger number of engaged fans over the last week? If you’re running a robust campaign, and your competition is beating you easily, study their page and their ads – why might theirs be more effective?

2. The “Most Popular Week” is the seven-day period when the most people were “talking about” the page. To take advantage of this information, you can look up this date range on the competitor’s Facebook timeline and see the content posted. You can tie the popularity to a particular post or promotion that worked for your competition and get some ideas from this to improve your own content and promotional strategies.

3. The “Most Popular City” is the area where most “people talking about this” are logged in when they engaged with the page. This might be a geographic region to consider for your brand to target with ads, since Facebook allows geo-targeting by country, state, city and zip code. There are some exceptions to this, though – if Coke’s most popular city is Atlanta (its headquarters), that’s not necessarily a cue for Pepsi to go all-in for the Atlanta market.

4. The “Most Popular Age Group” shows which age range included the highest number of engaged fans. Again, this information might be useful for your brand, since Facebook allows you to segment your ads by age.

5. The People Talking About This/New Likes Per Week metrics are rolled together here. To estimate how many users actually engaged (commented, shared, liked content) with your competitor’s page over the last seven days, simply subtract the number of “people talking about this” by “new likes per week.”

This graph is also useful to track unusual activity, such as sudden drops in engagement and fan acquisition. If your page has had any unusual activity, you can make certain conclusions about whether it’s isolated or Facebook-wide by checking the trend line of your competitor’s graph.

If that all seems like a lot of data about your competitors, well, yeah – it kind of is, right there for all to see. So how will you use it to benefit your brand?

- Clark Sioson, Facebook Account Manager

About a month ago, I wrote a post about using Automated AdWords Bidding successfully for the first time. At the time, I believed I was writing a post that showcased how clever I was in figuring out how to use an aspect of AdWords that I had previously dismissed as only useful for folks that don’t know how to professionally manage paid search accounts.

However, when I look back at that post, I see something somewhat personal and quite dark – something even the most experienced account managers can fall prey to – pre-judgment. After all, so my original thinking went, Automated AdWords Bidding is stupid because I’m letting Google decide where to bid and how much to bid (up to my stated limits), therefore Google will choose what’s best for Google and not for my client.

But, let’s take a step back now…

What is “AdWords Automated Bidding”? It’s a tool.

Is a tool inherently good or bad? No. A tool is only good or bad based on how it’s being used.

How do most people use AdWords Automated Bidding? They use it as a substitute for actively managing their campaigns, which isn’t ideal for account success.

How did I use the tool? As a vehicle for professional paid search management. And the tool met my expectations and needs.

Now, please go back and watch the above clip from Apollo 13. In it, the NASA engineers were tasked with saving the lives of astronauts using a bunch of items not well-suited for that purpose. However, because the engineers were bright, creative, out-of-the box thinkers, they were able to successfully accomplish their task.

Pre-judgment caused me to not act optimally on my client’s behalf as it pertained to Automated AdWords Bidding. Fortunately, I saw the error of my ways and coached myself to success.

Recently, AdWords announced a whole bunch of changes that most in the paid search industry are very upset about. I also question what AdWords is doing…especially making “rotate ads” a 30-day maximum setting.

But, then, I “remove myself” from the situation and look at it from a more objective perspective.

Am I pre-judging what Google is doing? Yes.

Can my clients and I actually profit from Google’s changes? Yes.

Are Google’s changes actually a disguised opportunity for future growth and success for my clients and me? Yes.

How might that be? I’m working on it.  :.)

It now becomes incumbent on my teammates and me to make Google’s changes work for us instead of being controlled by them.

Game on!

- Todd Mintz, Senior SEM Manager

Image credit: hcssdreamjob

You’re probably reading this post with a high degree of skepticism, and I don’t blame you; getting advice on choosing an online marketing agency from the head of an online marketing agency is like asking the IRS to file your taxes for you.

But wait! Before you discount everything I’m about to say, know that prior to starting my own SEM agency, I spent eight years on the “client side,” and I negotiated with dozens of agencies (and selected several of them). So be skeptical if you must, but I suspect by the end of this article I will have convinced you that these tips are actually useful!

So without further ado, here they are — 10 tips on choosing an online marketing agency:

Judge Cultural Fit

1. Ask to talk to your account manager. Every agency has a few really smart, smooth biz dev guys who will get you excited about the agency’s knowledge and commitment to clients. Of course, once you sign your contract, you’ll seldom hear from these folks again. For this reason, ask to personally meet/talk to your day-to-day contact(s) prior to signing a contract. Is there a personal fit? Are they experienced (and not in the Jimi Hendrix sense)? Do you trust your marketing budget to be effectively managed by this person or team?

2. Figure out the agency’s average client size. Most agencies build their internal team around an expectation of a certain amount of revenue per client. As a result, if you are way too small or big for an agency, the team you end up with will likely be mismatched. For example, if you are spending $1M/month on marketing, and the agency is used to servicing $5K/month clients, the agency is likely to be overwhelmed and under-staffed to support your needs (much as they would love to work with you). Conversely, if you are the $5K/month client talking to the $1M/month agency, it’s likely that you’ll be an afterthought to your account reps and will get poor service.

3. Avoid scare tactics. Generally speaking, the bigger the agency, the more likely they will try to sell you on “CYA” – Cover Your Ass. When they can’t compete on price, service, or expertise, big companies try to scare clients into not using a smaller or lesser-known agency. Ultimately, if you’ve done a good job vetting the competency and cultural fit of your preferred agency, you should recognize this line of reasoning as an argument of last resort and ignore it.

Assess Expertise

4. Break down the agency’s business by marketing channel. Let’s say you are looking for an agency to help you with display advertising, and the agency’s Web site lists display as one of 35 marketing disciplines they manage for clients. In this case, it’s important to understand whether display advertising is really a core focus of their business, or whether they just do display as a “tack on” service. If you’re not sure that you are getting a straight answer, ask to speak to several reference clients who use the agency for the specific marketing channel you are considering.

5. Do your own due diligence. Doing reference checking on agencies is important, but ultimately references are a pretty weak method of evaluating an agency (or a potential employee, for that matter) because the agency only puts you in touch with their absolute happiest clients. If possible, go to LinkedIn or send emails to friends and try to find people who have worked with the agency and aren’t on the reference list.

6. Ask for an audit. Many agencies will do a free evaluation of your current marketing campaigns and come back with a laundry list of recommendations they would implement if selected as your agency. At a minimum, this gives you a lot of free tips, but it also helps you evaluate whether the agency’s folks really know their stuff.

Image credit: heathoops

Negotiate the Contract

7. Understand contract length and terms. Most advertising agencies ask for between six-month and one-year contracts (PPC Associates, by the way, only requires a two-day contract!). I’ve seen some contracts that ask for up to three years. The longer the contract, the greater the risk you take, since, if the agency turns out to be a lemon, you are stuck with them for the length of the contract (barring an expensive legal battle).

It’s also important to understand the out-clause and renewal clause. An out-clause is the amount of notice you have to give prior to canceling the contract, as well as the conditions under which you can cancel. Some one-year contracts offer a 30-day out-clause without cause at any time, meaning that you can effectively cancel the contract on Day One and be done with the agency in 30 days. Other contracts don’t allow for an out unless there is a “material breach” of the contractual terms (one party violated the contract), or until the entire term of the contract has run.

Renewal clauses can also be tricky. Some contracts auto-renew unless terminated, meaning that you have to proactively cancel the contract at the end of the term or else you are locked into an additional term of the same or greater length. Other contracts have no renewal term, meaning that you have to renegotiate the contract at the end of the term and sign a new contract. Auto-renew can be advantageous to you if you have really favorable rates, but generally I recommend removing auto-renewal clauses and giving yourself the option of renegotiating or trying a different agency at the end of the term.

8. Look for hidden fees. Some agencies low-ball clients on standard pricing terms and then nickel-and-dime them on additional fees. For example, most agencies charge on a percentage-of-spend basis, but some charge extra for services like:

A. Landing-page design
B. Custom reports
C. Banner ads
D. Translation
E. Technology
F. In-person meetings
G. Travel

All of this should be clearly spelled out in the contract. If it isn’t, you should add it in yourself.

9. Talk about the conflict-of-interest policy. Once you start working with an agency, they have access to all of your marketing data and potentially all of your internal revenue data. If the agency doesn’t have a conflict-of-interest policy, there’s a chance that they’ll bring on one of your competitors. Hopefully, if such a situation occurs, the agency has a “Chinese Wall” policy of not sharing information between two competitive accounts. Every agency has different rules and, frankly, different ethics. Ask up front, and if possible, add language into your contract that protects you. Common contractual terms to request include:

A. An exclusivity clause: the agency won’t work with anyone else in your industry.
B. An exclusion list: the agency won’t work with specific competitors.
C. A post-contract minimum time period before the agency takes on a competitor.
D. A definition of the agency’s conflict policy and Chinese Wall policy.

10. Understand who owns the data and your accounts. In the event that you and your agency “break up,” it’s important to understand who owns what data. For example, if you have a Google AdWords account and your agency declares that the account is their property, when you leave the agency, you lose all of your data and account history and have to start from scratch. This is bad on many, many levels. If possible, insist that all data – accounts, creative, etc. – are owned by you, the client, and put this in the contract!

Make a New Friend

Image credit: womenzmag

Many clients see agencies as their adversaries, and sadly, many agencies feel the same way about their clients. It doesn’t have to be this way! Client-agency relationships usually break down due to a lack of communication, cultural fit, or financial alignment.  Use these 10 tips when selecting your next agency, and there’s a better-than-average chance you’ll end up with an agency that you think of as a friend, rather than a foe.

- David Rodnitzky, CEO

On the road to victory.

Laura Rodnitzky’s daily walk to and from the PPC Associates office in downtown Chicago takes her roughly 11,000 steps, so she figured she was a favorite to win some weekly titles in the Fitbit ROI Challenge. Then she started studying her Active Score.

“It made me realize how much of the day I was just sitting around and doing nothing,” said Rodnitzky, who is the company’s director of Change Management and the Chicago office’s general manager. “I wanted to change that.”

A little awareness, a LOT of competitiveness, and one forgotten under-desk cycle later, Rodnitzky emerged as the Challenge’s week 3 winner, thanks to top-ranked finishes in steps and active score.

“I bought the cycle a year ago, but it didn’t really fit under my desk, so I didn’t use it,” she said. “But after I realized I wasn’t winning, I started using it while I was talking on the phone and doing research — anything that didn’t require a lot of typing. I had to rearrange my keyboard, mouse, and monitors to get it to fit, but now it’s become such a habit that I don’t even notice while I’m doing it.”

Rodnitzky’s motivation, other than awareness of activity habits — “Everybody should look at their charts; it’s disturbing” (author’s chart here) — came in the form of San Mateo senior production manager (and this week’s mileage winner) Monica Madrigal, who set the bar in week 1 of the Challenge and has kept right on trucking.

The fittest Rodnitzky.

“As soon as I saw the first week’s numbers, I wanted to beat Monica,” said Rodnitzky, who added that she derives little motivation from a sibling rivalry with her brother, PPC Associates CEO David Rodnitzky. (“I’ve always been the most fit of the Rodnitzky children,” she said, presumably with a dismissive hand wave and a few extra pedals.)

Rodnitzky plans to keep up the cycling through the Challenge and beyond, which is great news for the Chicago office and should inspire more effort from the San Mateo office, which improved its stats for the second straight week but once again fell shy of its Second City colleagues.

The individual weekly best:

Weekly steps taken:
1. Rodnitzky, Chicago: 185,084
2. Madrigal, San Mateo: 172,154
3. Melissa Bregar, Chicago: 148,067
4. Brittni Hamman, Chicago: 145,984
5. Hillary Read, San Mateo: 131,742

Weekly miles traveled:
1. Madrigal, San Mateo: 94.65
2. Rodnitzky, Chicago: 81.29
3. Read, San Mateo: 79.34
4. Bregar, Chicago: 79.09
5. Hamman, Chicago: 66.09

Weekly active score:
1. Rodnitzky, Chicago: 15,951
2. Madrigal, San Mateo: 15,473
3. Bregar, Chicago: 15,030
4. Hamman, Chicago: 14,339
5. Kristin Kopp, Chicago, 11,476

Most improved (over Week 2):
Steps: Rodnitzky, Chicago: +47,237
Miles: Hamman, Chicago: +25.20
Active score: Rodnitzky, Chicago: +4,338

The weekly numbers, by office:

Weekly average steps/participant (week 2 comp. in parentheses):
Chicago: 81,537 (+1,271)
San Mateo: 64,775 (+854)

Weekly average miles/participant (week 2 comp. in parentheses):
Chicago: 39.36 (-.30)
San Mateo: 33.11 (+2.04)

Weekly average active score/participant  (week 2 comp. in parentheses):
Chicago: 7,458 (+418)
San Mateo: 5,747 (+268)

What to watch in week 4:
Will Rodnitzky and Madrigal push each other over 200K steps? Will another dark horse (Melissa Bregar?) emerge? Will San Mateo close the gap? And…stop me if you’ve heard this before, but will a man crack any of the top five?

- Hillary Read, Marketing Manager