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A Lesson in Poor PPC Campaign Management

Whenever Pay-Per-Click comes up in a conversation with one of our contractor clients, we typically get one of three responses:

  1. “I’ve tried PPC and it didn’t work” / “I’m doing it with XYZ Marketing Company and I don’t know if it’s working”
  2. “I’m doing PPC now with a company (not MYM), and I love it…” (We’ve heard this exactly once)
  3. “I’ve never tried it” / “It’s too expensive” / “I know it won’t work”

It’s safe to say that the majority of contractors have either been burned by a PPC company or just aren’t properly educated on how it can and should work.

Here’s an example of a contractor getting totally ripped off by PPC

One of our clients spent quite some time with a marketing company that prides itself in claiming to be the “leading” internet marketing company. While they were getting high level of traffic to their site, there was very little conversion – if any.

Not only did they fail to see any results from their investment, our client had no idea how to read the reports that they were given.  All they wanted to know was whether their PPC was working, and if it was, where were the leads?

Whenever they’d inquire about their results or lack thereof, they were told simply that ‘Yes, it’s working. Look at your traffic! That means you’re getting leads.”

That’s the explanation that they got.

No coaching. No guidance. No strategy sessions. No answers to their questions.

Complete and total ripoff.

How We Changed the Way Our Client Sees PPC

When our client came to us with their story of being burned by PPC in a big way, we weren’t surprised. We knew that we had to overcome their doubts and fears of being burned again, and prove to them that PPC can work if it’s done right.

What we didn’t do:

  • We did NOT add money to their click bank and cross our fingers that it would work
  • We did NOT tell the client to focus on the website visits as a sole measure of success
  • We did NOT keep the client in the dark, letting them guess whether their campaign was working or not.

What we did and continue to do:

  • We DO provide weekly reports with carefully calculated results
  • We DID Split A/B testing to see where we were getting more bang for our buck in advertising
  • We DO record and transcribe every single phone call and chat and give coaching opportunities for better phone call handling when necessary
  • We DO review the campaign daily to ensure money is being spent properly
  • We DO have a bi-weekly check in call with the client to address any concerns, answer any questions, and review the campaigns successes / struggles as they happen

How The Campaign Did

We drive about 1/10th of the traffic that the previous marketing company did – but the traffic that we do drive converts. To date, we’ve driven 144 leads at a cost of $66.71 per lead.  This month, the client increased their budget based on our proven results.

We don’t just tell you what we’re going to do – we actually do it and then review what we did every single week.

Lesson Review

  • It’s crucial to understand that no matter what you’ve been told, or who told you: traffic alone is not the measure of a home improvement contractor’s PPC campaign’s success. Leads areA website visit is not a lead. An interested, potential customer who takes an action (calls, engages in a live chat session, fills out a form) and wants the services that you provide IS a lead.
  • You should be getting reports every week showing you the leads, calls, chats, and forms that you received from the prior week.
  • You should always know exactly what your current ROI, Cost Per Lead, and Ad Spend is for your PPC campaign. (Remember, always dig into your numbers!) If your marketing company can’t tell you your cost per lead is, you’re being ripped off. Run away fast.

Class dismissed.

© 2016, Rich Harshaw. All rights reserved.

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