There’s been a lot of attention lately to the idea that the information we see in advertisements, news reports and on social media, may not be entirely accurate. I know. Shocking, right?
We’ve known for decades that advertising messages can’t always be trusted to be truthful. Today, the consumer has much more power to publicly dispute false claims and it can lead to backlash when attempts are made to stop consumers from spreading the truth.
Another truth in marketing (or lack thereof) occurs between advertisers and the vendors they hire to deliver their messages. The Truth of what to expect.
Take for example, Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC). Also know as SEM (Search Engine Marketing) or by a brand name like AdWords. You can run a PPC campaign yourself and if you have time to review results, analyze ad and keyword performance, work to improve your Quality Score, adjust your bidding so you’re spending enough but not too much, and still have time for the day-to-day needs of your business…your campaign can provide wonderful results. If you don’t have the time, resources or patience to do that, you’ll need to hire someone to run your ad campaign.
And here’s where it can get dicey.
Let’s say you buy a 6-month PPC package for $1,000 per month. If you’ve done any research on AdWords, you know there are sources that provide benchmarks for the average cost per click for your industry. If the average cost per click for your industry is $5, you should average somewhere around 200 clicks per month ($1,000 / $5 = 200). There are many factors that influence cost per click, so even if we pay twice the average it should still produce 100 clicks. Campaigns take time to optimize (that’s why you hired someone), but after a couple of months you’re only receiving 70-90 clicks. The sales rep points to a few good leads and suggests more budget to get even more. And a voice echoes in the back of your brain, “Wait a second…”
The company you hired needs to make money. Somewhere buried in that $1,000 per month is the management fee for running your ads. How much does that take away from ad spend? Is it 20%? 30%? Possibly 50%? Do you think your PPC vendor will tell you? How can you know your campaign is performing at its best if you don’t know exactly what portion is going toward ad spend?
I recently talked with several colleagues who provide PPC and some have adopted greater transparency in their management fees. It does require two separate bills, but you get a clear picture of what’s happening. First, you pay the vendor for managing and optimizing the ad campaign. Second, you pay the advertising platform (Google, Bing, Facebook, etc.) directly for the ad spend. Now you know exactly what you’re paying for ads and for campaign management.
That is Truth in Marketing.
Other Truths that should exist in marketing beyond transparent billing include performance-based services that waive fees for non-performance and freedom from time-based commitments that serve no purpose but to obligate the advertiser to the vendor. Maybe some day, in the ever-changing world of digital marketing, all of these will become more common.
