Choosing a Search Advertising Agency: What to Check Before You Commit

Among the questions we get from clients are the following.

• We are about to start search advertising, but we do not know what should decide our choice of agency
• We have an agency running our ads, but we are not getting the results we expected
• It does not feel as though our agency is running a proper improvement cycle
• We have hit the limits of running ads in-house and want to hand management to an agency

To avoid that sort of unhappy outcome, you want to find a good advertising agency.
For anyone without specialist knowledge, though, it is a very difficult choice.
So in this article we set out the points to look at when choosing a search advertising agency, and the things you should always check before any ads go live.

1. The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing advertising management

Here, briefly, are the advantages and disadvantages of handing advertising management to an agency.

Advantages of using an agency
The biggest advantage is that you can run ads without any knowledge of search advertising on your own side.
By entrusting the work to professionals who know the techniques and the latest developments, you can run ads without committing your own resources, and keep putting your time into business as usual.
And because Some agencies can also handle website and ad creative production, and other marketing activities such as SEO. So even an advertiser with no grounding in the advertising industry can expect real benefit from using an agency.

Disadvantages of using an agency
As we come on to below, there are cases where the person assigned to you does not really know advertising management, or is handling so many accounts that you get no close attention. Choose the wrong agency and you may not get the results you were counting on. Running ads through an agency also costs more than running them in-house, which is another disadvantage.

So let us look in detail at the points to check when choosing an agency.

2. Eight points to check

When an advertising agency runs your ads, the salesperson who asks the questions and makes the proposal is not necessarily the person who will actually run them.
You can trust a salesperson who draws out your situation and problems in that first conversation and makes a precise proposal, but
no results will follow if they cannot work well with the person running the ads.
For communication that is smooth, flexible and grounded in reality,
it is worth looking for an agency where the salesperson in front of you is the person who will run the ads.

2.1 The person assigned to you

Results in search advertising come down to the ability of the person actually running them.
Running ads takes a thorough grasp of search advertising, of course, but also an understanding of your products, your services and your industry.

What about that person’s past experience and track record?
Which industries have they run ads in, and have they worked with businesses similar to yours?
What problems were being faced, and what work produced the results?
Check whether they answer questions straight, in concrete terms, without fudging.
And can they read your current situation accurately?
A capable person has deep knowledge and plenty of solutions to draw on, so you can hand the work over with confidence.

Beyond how well they know search advertising and your industry,
whether they will discuss things with you as a good partner and work alongside you is also a point to weigh when choosing an agency.

2.2 Number of accounts handled

How many advertisers one person is running ads for is an important thing to establish.
The fewer advertisers they handle, the better the guide to how attentively, and how quickly, they can respond within the working day.
The work is busy enough as it is; one person taking on 20 or 30 companies is not realistic.
It is plain that they will be over capacity and the quality of the work will suffer.
For advertising management done properly, around five or six accounts per person is the guide.
Do check the average number of accounts the person assigned to you is carrying.

2.3 Will they analyse your ad account?

If you already have an ad account running, ask them to audit it.
Plenty of advertising agencies offer a free ad account audit, so
ask when you first make contact whether they will do one.

What that analysis turns up is valuable material for judging the agency’s potential.
If it is difficult to open your live account to a third party,
we suggest exporting the advertising data from the ad management screen as a CSV and sharing that.
Above all, do not forget to check and share the conversion points.

2.4 Do they have knowledge beyond search advertising?

User behaviour and the internet industry are now complicated enough that search advertising will not always deliver the results you expect.
For an owner or a business lead, you want an agency that not only knows search advertising inside out but
also has the knowledge and skills for other advertising, SEO and production work,
and a commercial perspective on top of that, capable across the board.
In practice, though, agencies and practitioners like that are few.
So whether they can introduce you to partner companies outside their own is another point worth checking.
Finding a company you have no track record or trust with, from scratch and on your own, is hard work,
and it also tells you something about how much they know of the wider industry.
To widen your options, it is better to choose an agency with broad knowledge across the areas you need.

2.5 The contract

Contract terms are typically set at three to six months.
Once the minimum term has passed, the contract usually renews automatically unless either side gives notice.

The worry there is what happens if the results do not come.
Having to keep finding advertising spend that produces nothing is a burden on the business.
Some agencies allow you to cancel partway through the term, so check at the outset.

2.6 Fees

Fees vary by agency, by the services provided and by the level of advertising spend, but
the going rate is 15% to 20% of advertising spend, which comes to 100,000 yen and up if you are spending 500,000 yen,
and the fee generally rises in proportion to the spend.
There are also performance-based arrangements, where you pay according to the number of results the ads produce, and
and where the spend is smaller still, some companies charge a setup fee or a fixed monthly fee.

There are even companies that will only take on accounts from 1,000,000 yen upwards,
so fee structures differ a great deal from agency to agency; always check.

2.7 How the work is staffed

There are two staffing models: split-role and dedicated.
In the split-role model the work is divided between a salesperson who handles communication and planning, someone who works in the management screen to run the ads, and someone who produces the reports.
In the dedicated model one person does everything: sales, running the ads and producing the reports.

Choose the split-role model if you want a lot of work done,
and the dedicated model if you want someone focused purely on running the ads and fixed on results,
whichever fits your own position.

2.8 Reporting

Reporting is an important chance to see whether the ads did well or badly and whether the business is growing. It is usually monthly.
Some companies do not include reports in their standard service, and in some cases there is a separate charge for producing them.
Reporting is not only how you follow the progress of the work; it is also a valuable chance to settle any open questions and agree where you go next, so it is worth doing in earnest.
Check whether you will get reports, and at what frequency and in what form.

Reports vary widely, and there are plenty of agencies that hand over a document of bare numbers and call it a report.
“Why are the numbers, and the results, what they are?” “What are we changing next month?” – check that the reporting shows a proper improvement cycle at work.

3. When to consider changing agency

If you are using an agency and
the results you hoped for are not coming, consider changing agency.
So let us look at the specific cases in which switching is worth considering.

The work is noticeably sloppy
Slow responses, repeated mistakes in the report figures, poor-quality reports, and the like.
The likely explanation is that for some reason the ads are not being run properly: the person assigned to you is carrying too many accounts, or does not know search advertising in the first place.

No proposals for improvement
No proposal to raise the budget even though results are good, no proposal for a new platform –
be wary, too, when nothing is put to you proactively.
It is not yet a problem when results are good, but no improvement work coming forward when results are poor does real damage to the business.
Once there is no prospect of growing results any further, it is better to consider switching.

Little information comes your way
People usually go to an agency in the first place partly because they expect the person assigned to them to have a range of know-how
and to know the industry well.
If it becomes clear that very little is coming your way on trends or new advertising methods, there is no benefit in carrying on indefinitely.

Even so, start by establishing whether the agency you are using is in fact running the ads properly. Changing agency blindly can send the numbers and the results down further.
It takes time, but examine the position thoroughly, a free ad account audit included, before you decide.

4. In closing

Choosing the agency that runs your search advertising has a big bearing on how the business grows from here.
But it is rarely easy to judge which agency is the right answer.
When choosing, hold firmly to the points raised here and give yourself plenty of time to consider carefully.
We hope this article helps you find an agency that will work alongside you as a good partner and build a strong relationship of trust.