This is a question I get asked at least once a week.
Hiring a ppc agency is a real adventure. They all know how to sell themselves—flashing case studies, offering (sometimes) free audits, flooding YouTube with videos, and building sleek landing pages (well, some of them). Even an average agency can convincingly explain why they’re “the one.” But…
Not all agencies are created equal.
People often underestimate the risks, but they’re always there:
• The agency fee.
• The ad budget.
• The lost revenue if the campaign flops.
The good news? You can calculate these risks. And numbers have a way of sobering people up.
The bad news? Those numbers are rarely small.
How Do I Know If an Agency Is a Good Fit?
I look for a few simple signals. You might want to do the same:
• What kind of questions do they ask? Are they just running through a standard checklist, or are they digging deep into your business?
• How do they measure success? Do they use cohorts? Are their metrics aligned with your expectations?
• Where do they start? If their first move is brand campaigns, that’s easy money for them but bad for you (hello, organic cannibalization).
• How do they charge? Fixed fee + a % of sales? Reasonable. Pure CPA with no fixed payment? A rare and risky setup—be cautious.
• Do they know the rules of the game? Can they navigate moderation issues, GDPR, and ad policies? Try throwing a tricky case at them and see what happens.
• Do they understand ConsentMode? This is critical for GoogleAds in Europe and other heavily regulated regions. I’ve lost count of how many agencies have never even heard of it.
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