How to Start a PPC Ad Agency (and Why You Should)

Pay per click (PPC) advertising has grown from being a relatively obscure digital marketing strategy for only the most niche websites to being a tool in the marketing toolkit of practically every business with an online presence. If you want to capitalize on that popularity, and turn a reliable profit, you should consider starting your own PPC ad agency.

But what’s the best way to do it?

The Value of a PPC Ad Agency

Let’s start by explaining the potential payoff of starting your own PPC ad agency. You’ll get to be an entrepreneur and enjoy all the benefits of entrepreneurship, such as owning your own business, setting your own schedule, and making independent decisions.

But you’ll also enjoy these unique advantages:

•       Accessibility. I would be lying if I said it was easy to start a PPC advertising agency. To be successful, you’ll need to invest a lot of money and time – and there’s no guarantee you’re going to get the results you want. But compared to other types of businesses, PPC agencies are relatively easy to start. You can learn the basics of this advertising strategy in the span of an afternoon, and you don’t need in office building or any expensive equipment to get started. It’s also easy to get access to someone else’s existing Google ads account (with their permission, of course). Compared to other businesses, startup costs are minimal, making this an ideal choice if you’re stuck with a limited budget.
•       Potential profitability. PPC ad campaigns run themselves, to an extent. Starting a campaign is time-consuming and difficult, and experiments take some time. You’ll also need to monitor and analyze the campaign regularly. But even considering that, PPC ad management is almost a passive income source, allowing you to generate thousands of dollars of revenue per month without requiring a significant outpouring of effort.
•       Scalability. If you’re willing to invest in marketing and advertising, PPC ad agencies are extremely scalable, particularly if you use AI. You can get by with just a client or two, or recruit more people to your agency and ultimately take on hundreds of clients. It all depends on your goals and what you’re willing to manage.
•       Flexibility. There’s also a lot of room for flexibility in your approach to PPC advertising. You could focus on small businesses exclusively or specialize in serving major organizations. You can focus on one specific industry or cater to a wide variety of clients. You can also adopt an aggressive advertising strategy or something more passive and consistent. Whatever your preferences are, there’s a path forward for you.
•       Career development potential. Being a PPC advertising manager also has some benefits for your career. You’ll get to meet a lot of new people and get exposed to a wide variety of different industries. You’ll also learn a lot more about user search behavior and about your target audiences. It’s useful experience for almost any career in business or marketing.
•       Long-term planning. PPC advertising isn’t a fad and it’s not going away anytime soon. Investing in a PPC ad agency is a way to invest in the future. As long as you’re willing to adapt to new platforms and new industry trends, you can continue tapping into this as a revenue source indefinitely.

Paths to Providing PPC Advertising Services

At the center of your PPC ad agency is going to be your provision of PPC ad management services. There are several ways that you can provide these:

•       Self-training and education. one option is to train yourself and learn the basics of PPC advertising. Google, Bing, and other platforms all have curricula you can follow and certifications you can earn. Of course, the best way to learn is through experience; no matter how much you study, your first campaigns are going to be challenging and you’re going to need to keep an open mind to learn the correct way to handle them.
•       Internal teambuilding. You can also hire experts in PPC advertising, or hire trainable employees and teach them how to manage campaigns. This approach is advantageous because it gives you more flexibility, but it also tends to be slower. If you’re trying to start an agency as quickly as possible, this may not be an option.
•       Outsourcing. One of the most popular choices is to outsource your PPC services. Rather than trying to do all the work yourself, you’ll partner with another PPC agency that has greater facility and more experience. They can serve your clients on your behalf, charging a lower fee than what you charge your clients, allowing you to pocket the difference.

Important Phases to Creating a PPC Ad Agency

It’s best to think of PPC ad agency creation as unfolding across several phases, including:

•       Research and planning. You can’t imagine your way into the PPC advertising business. You need to spend time researching your audience, your competition, and more.
•       The foundation. The early stages of your business development will include building a brand, setting up a website, and building the foundation for your marketing and advertising campaigns.
•       Your first client. Landing your first client is a major milestone that will legitimize and strengthen your business.
•       Lead generation and scaling. After that, you’ll need to work on generating leads and scaling your business, ultimately onboarding more clients, automating campaigns, and making more money in the process.

The Business Plan

Your business plan is going to serve as the blueprint for your business. It’s where you’re going to analyze all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that could impact how your organization develops. It’s also your chance to form a strategy and lay a course for your success.

These are some of the most important elements to consider:

•       Your target audience. Who is your target audience? It’s tempting to target anyone and everyone who can benefit from PPC advertising, but if you do this, you’ll sacrifice relevance. It’s typically much better to focus on one or a few specific niches, catering to them specifically with specially designed services. Get to know these demographics well, consider their biggest means and biggest challenges, and optimize your brand and your messaging to be perfectly tailored to them.
•       Differentiating factors. There are already thousands of people professionally managing PPC ad campaigns. What makes your services different? If there aren’t any differentiating factors, your business is going to blend in with the others and you won’t stand out to any potential customers. A beautiful website is a great start, giving your website an aesthetic edge, but you’ll also need to think about your pricing, your strategic positioning, your customer service, and even the qualities of your brand.
•       Key weaknesses and obstacles. Too many new entrepreneurs spend their business plans talking about how much money they’re going to make and how awesome their idea is. You’ll stand a much better chance of success if you analyze your key weaknesses and obstacles that stand in your way.

Landing Your First Client

As you get more experience and develop your reputation, your PPC agency will be easier and easier to manage. That’s one reason why landing your first client is such a significant and important challenge to overcome. There are several ways to get that first client, such as through networking, aggressive price cuts, or even bartering. However you find your first client, do everything you can to make this campaign a success so it can serve as proof of your abilities.

PPC ad agencies happy potential to help millions of business owners make a bigger impact and outcompete their biggest rivals; it’s also a great way to make a lot of money. If you want to get into the digital marketing game or if you just want to futureproof your career in digital marketing while tapping into your entrepreneurial instincts, starting this type of agency could be your best move.

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