We have been in discussions with an agency recently about running a PPC campaign, initially for 6 months to drive traffic, primarily great marketing candidates, to our new site. It’s been something we have been toying with for a while and whilst we firmly believe in the power of natural and genuine SEO we do also believe that PPC has a part to play in an integrated marketing strategy. So, it would be remiss of us not to have a look at Google and set up an account to start to try to understand how we might use it. We did this and after a few days started to receive emails from Google suggesting we are only a few steps away from experiencing the world of Google adwords etc.

Our MD then received a call yesterday from Google selling him the virtues of Google and how they can help drive traffic to our site. He was relatively open to the call generally but also suggested that we might be considering an agency to do this work for us as: a) we didn’t have the time b)PPC agencies are specialists so whilst they might cost a bit more they will likely get better results. This was when the discussion got interesting… The sales guy, let’s call him Dave, then started on what can only describe as a tirade against agencies who do PPC. Dave suggested that using an agency probably wasn’t the best way to go as they always ‘want to take their cut’ so we wouldn’t get as much value for money. Dave also suggested that not many of these so called specialists really knew what they were doing and deployed a lot of ‘smoke and mirrors’. Our MD, Jonathan took issue with this approach to sales on at least three counts. 1. Doesn’t Google generate a significant amount of their revenue via specialist PPC agencies 2. Suggesting we can do this work ‘better’ than a specialist agency is more than likely rubbish 3. What is wrong with an agency ‘taking their cut’ if they are adding value along the way Whilst this conversation annoyed me a little I think that this sales guy is missing a fundamental point about his employers’ business model. Clearly they have two channels to market. Direct to the customer and through agencies.

Off-selling the agency channel, in the long run will not do them any good. Respect your business model! In addition we can’t believe we would be anywhere near as proficient in managing a PPC campaign as a specialist. Similarly, we believe that we, as a recruitment ‘agency’ will do a far better job, in general, recruiting marketing staff for a business than if they did it themselves. We do it every day (marketing recruitment) most companies recruit a few times a year. PPC agencies do it all day, every day- it’s a no brainer. Perhaps we could suggest to Google that they approach this type of sales approach with caution. Not only does it alienate us as a potential customer but will undoubtedly annoy agency clients who no doubt spend a significant amount of money with them. Then again, should Google be bothered – it’s not like there’s really any competition at the moment…