PPC Management
PPC Management That Is
Judged on Profit
Google, Microsoft and Amazon run on the same idea: someone is already looking for what you sell, and the job is to be there without overpaying for the privilege. Three platforms, one discipline, one person running all of it.
The Platforms
Three Platforms,
One Account to Answer For
Each one earns its place for a different reason. None of them is worth running just because the others are.
Google Ads
The largest pool of people actively searching, and the most expensive place to be careless. Most of the money that leaks here leaks in three places: branded terms you were already winning for free, search terms nobody negatived, and a product feed nobody has opened since it was built.
Microsoft Ads
Smaller, older, and usually cheaper per customer than Google. It takes about an hour a month once it is set up, because most of the structure imports directly from Google. It is rarely the first channel and it is often the most efficient one in the account.
Amazon PPC
A different animal, because Amazon takes its cut before you see a number. Spend has to be judged against profit after fees rather than against a sales rank, and an account that looks healthy on ACoS can still be losing money on every order.
The Work
What PPC Management
Actually Involves
Not a task list handed to an account manager. The same person reads the data, makes the call and answers for it.
01
The measurement comes first
Before a campaign is touched, the conversion tracking gets verified end to end. This is not housekeeping. Smart Bidding does exactly what the conversion data tells it to, so bad data does not produce mild underperformance. It produces confident spending in the wrong places, and the account looks fine while it happens.
02
Then the structure
Campaigns rebuilt around what you actually sell and what margin it carries, rather than around the platform’s default suggestions. A feed is a budget on an ecommerce account, and most accounts never check which products are absorbing the spend.
03
Then it gets watched
Search terms and negatives weekly, budget moved to whatever is earning, and a monthly report written in the numbers your bank sees rather than the ones the platform reports about itself.
The Number
The Return You
Actually Have to Beat
Before anyone talks about a target, the target is arithmetic, and it is a function of your gross margin and nothing else.
If a product costs you sixty dollars to make and land, and sells for a hundred, your gross margin is forty percent. Advertising has to cover itself out of that forty dollars, which means a return of two and a half to one is your break-even, not your goal. Anything below that is buying revenue at a loss. Anyone quoting you a target return without asking your margin first is quoting a number they read somewhere.
This is the whole reason published benchmarks are useless. Two stores in the same category with different margins have completely different break-even points, and only one of them is being told the truth by a number averaged across the category.
Fit
Who This Is
And Is Not For
Hire someone else if
- Nobody is searching for your category yet, in which case paid social comes first
- You want the cheapest possible management fee
- You need somebody in your office
- You are not ready to change the site, because the page decides what the click is worth
This works if
- You sell direct to consumers and know your gross margin
- There is existing demand for what you sell, which search can harvest
- You want one person accountable rather than a team you never meet
- You would rather see the reasoning than a dashboard
Questions
Questions About
PPC Management
If yours is not here, ask it on the call.
What does PPC management cost?
Channel Management starts at $1,500 a month for one platform. Both ad platforms sit inside Growth Partner, starting at $4,000, which also includes SEO. Full detail is in the pricing section on this page.
What does a PPC consultant do that an agency does not?
The person reading the data is the person making the call and the person you speak to about it. There is no account manager translating between you and whoever is actually in the account, which is where most of the delay and most of the misunderstanding comes from. The trade is capacity: one person cannot staff a launch and six channels at once, and an agency can.
Is PPC management worth it for a small store?
It depends entirely on your margin and whether anyone is searching for your category. If your gross margin is thin, paid search has very little room to work in, and the honest answer is often to fix pricing or product mix first. That conversation is free.
Do I need all three platforms?
No, and most stores should not start with all three. Google first, because that is where the existing demand is. Microsoft once Google is working, because it imports cheaply. Amazon only if you sell there, and it is a separate discipline rather than an extension of the others.
Who owns the ad account?
You do, always. The account is yours, the data is yours, and it stays yours if we stop working together. You should be wary of any arrangement where that is not true.
What is the minimum ad spend?
$5,000 a month for Channel Management, $10,000 for Growth Partner. Below that, the management fee is too large a share of your budget for the work to pay for itself.
How is this different from an agency?
There is no account manager between you and the work, and the person you speak to is the person in the account. The trade is capacity: one person cannot run a brand refresh and a product launch and six channels at once, and an agency can.
Pricing
What Does It Cost
to Work Together?
Published, so you can rule me in or out without booking a call.
Channel Management
Starting at $1,500 /month
You own the plan. I run the channels.
- Campaign build and management
- Conversion tracking and reporting
- Monthly performance call
- SEO is not included at this tier
- Additional channels +$500 each
- Minimum ad spend $5,000/month
- 6 month commitment
Most Popular
Growth Partner
Starting at $4,000 /month
I own paid strategy end to end.
- Everything in Channel Management
- Every channel included, priced as one
- SEO included: technical, on-page and content
- Channel mix and budget allocation
- Creative direction and briefs
- Quarterly CRO roadmap
- 25 hours a month included
- Minimum ad spend $10,000/month
- 3 months, then month to month
Fractional CMO
Starting at $7,000 /month
I own the whole marketing function.
- Everything in Growth Partner
- Email, SEO and site direction
- Contractor sourcing and management
- Quarterly planning with you
- 40 hours a month included
- Minimum ad spend $20,000/month
- 6 month commitment
Let’s Talk
Book a free 30 minute call. I will tell you what I would do with your accounts, whether or not you hire me.
Book a Discovery Call
30-minute strategy session
Prefer to Reach Out Directly?
Happy to talk it through over email or a quick call. I usually reply within a few hours on weekdays.
- greg@digitalkarbon.com
- Massachusetts • Nationwide
Who You Talk To
Me, Every Time
What to Expect
- 30 minutes with me, not a salesperson
- What I would change in your account first
- No pitch deck, no obligation