How to choose the best SEM/Google Ads advertising agency for your E-commerce

How do you choose the right paid advertising agency in the sea of abundance? Key points to look at whether you are an advertising specialist or CMO. Choose right - and profit!

Paid search management is a great component of your marketing because it drives new customers to your business without them knowing about the goods and services you offer pre-hand.

However this field is moving fast. If you previously could manage an account with 1 specialist doing manual changes in your account - today the reality is that the competition online has become so fierce that it is crucial for the business to win every possible Micro-moment available to you. If you are interested to find out more what we mean by micro moment please click here.

Finding a qualified agency can make a world of difference. As the competition has become more fierce it is important to understand that many companies are using programmatic solutions in order to win as many as possible clients to their page. Trying to do this manually today is simply unrealistic when competing with AI solutions. In an a small to average account having just 357 keywords that would mean the need to make more than 167, 582 changes per day. No human can make that even without taking any break.

Yet it is vital for follow-up and control. Even though you have a smart programmatic software doing all the instantaneous bidding it cannot drive strategy and control. Therefore it is crucial to have a human eye on the account as well, well at least for now.

Watch this short clip to get an idea of how SEO and SEM compliment each other to grow ecommerce businesses. Additionally, you can watch the whole webinar here.

So here are some points to help you choose an Advertising agency within Google Ads & Shopping whether you are operating on CMO level or a advertising Specialist.

1. Understand your core business
The number one rule before employing any agency is to understand your business and basic needs. Are you looking to expand your Brand Awareness or are you looking to drive traffic to your website and get purchases? The two strategic goals are intertwined yet fundamentally different. Understanding why you want to advertise is the first goal to consider when choosing an agency.

In connection to  this there is a fundamental difference between the needs in regards to marketing whether you are a one brand store or selling multiple brands. For e.g. one brand stores are usually in greater need to create a brand awareness campaign, positioning their brand in low, mid or premium class. Great tools for getting your brand recognizable are of course social media channels. This is the main channel for this exact purpose. However, even though you want to create brand awareness you also want to catch traffic searching for your goods or services. Therefore a combination with Google Ads advertisement is also needed.

If you are a Multi-brand store, i.e. your e-commerce is a reseller of several brands, you might not need to invest too much into social media channels. This is because the large brand houses of the goods you are selling, are already doing this for you. Focus your budget on capturing all possible customers searching for those brands instead. Make sure you have a thorough Google search Ads and Shopping campaigns set-up.

2. Look into the technology provided
Take a deeper look into what the agency is actually selling. Many agencies today claim to be AI driven and programmatic, however the use of these softwares can be fundamentally different. Look for a company that uses software that analyses data and corrects bids accordingly automatically. Today’s technology has progressed to that state that there is no need for manual bid adjustment.

 3. Human expertise 
This is a major factor when choosing an agency. Many agencies today unfortunately have a very high turnover in headcount and SEM specialists change agencies almost seasonally. This has a great impact for your business. Why you may ask? Well, because once you have started working with a specialist this person should be your number one strategic partner, giving you input and insights to further increase your business sales results. You want to have one-point of contact for a longer period of time and ideally is a “controller” of your account whilst software is doing all the heavy lifting of instantaneous bid adjustment.

4. Business Intelligence
Intelligence is only good if it is shared and used. Google Ads backend collects huge amount of data and information viable to you. You have the possibility to get deep analysis of your customer behaviour based on data from Google services - and the amount is huge. So our next point in choosing a great agency is to consider an agency that has a built in service of providing business intelligence and strategic support. Analyzing the huge amount of data can be tricky therefore it is important to have an agency that has a set approach to giving you the insights that you need to grow your business even faster.

5. Customer Fit
The most advanced SEM agencies have their own software and software developers. Why is that important to you? The landscape of paid marketing is changing rapidly and the only way to make sure you are getting the best service to advance your business is when the agency has their own continuous parallel development for software. In addition this means that the agency will be able to develop custom fit solutions to your needs.

6. Realistic Expectations
Working with an agency is a two way interaction. In order for them to be able to serve you best you need to be able to give them total transparency into your business, and be honest with the current business situation. Look into finding an agency that does not over-promise. Set realistic expectations together and look forward to growing your business steadily.

7. Aligned Interest
Any service provider that offers an aligned interest with you shows dedication to your goals. Aligned interest is important because it cements the relationship into a partnership. Aligned interest can be that the service provider has a performance based remuneration or a bonus system for attained goals the variations can be many. Make sure to look for clues that show the intent of the agency is to make sure to do everything they can to grow you first.