Use PPC Audit Software to Improve Turnaround Times on Proposals

So, you have a prospect on the line and are performing an audit of their account. As an agency that offers PPC services, you know that you won’t always spot the best opportunities right then and there, but you need to show potential areas of improvement to get the prospect hooked.

Once you have a potential client through your door, you’ll need to produce a solid proposal quickly. An effective proposal is essential to your success and will add value to the engagement so you can close the deal.

Let’s take a closer look at PPC audits and proposals and highlight the key elements that address the prospect’s expectations and equip them with sufficient knowledge to make a buying decision.

PPC Audits For Existing Advertisers

Audits of an existing PPC advertising account are a plus, not only because you’ll be able to give better insight to the prospect but you’ll also know what it will take to build a robust proposal that is too good for the future client to reject.

The most common scenario your sales team will face is performing on-the-spot ad-hoc audits for an existing advertiser’s Google or Microsoft Ads accounts. When it’s done right, it can give your team an important advantage when you have the prospects’ time and attention.

Where to Begin?

You’ll need to have a Google or Microsoft Ads Manager account so that you can send an invite to the prospect’s account to gain access. After this has been accomplished, you can start looking at their current strategies and find opportunities in the account to discuss with the prospect.

What Should a PPC Audit Include?

At times, there will be areas of improvement that jump out at you more than others, but it is wise that you stick to the essentials at first and leave room for future optimization should you acquire the prospect as a client.

Some key components to be on the lookout for are:

Quality Score

• Comb through their keywords stats and make sure their score is never less than 7.
• It affects Ad ranking and may be the culprit behind higher CPCs and lower impression share.

Landing Pages

• Ensure there are no 404 errors or redirects since this could be the main reason why Ads are disapproved.
• Quality score relies very much on the relevance of a landing page to its keyword and Ad copy.

Bids

• Bidding too high can cause early budget depletion which leads to a low impression share.
• Bidding too low can prevent anyone from seeing their Ads because of Ad Rank on the first page of the SERP.

Ad Copy

• Including keywords in the ad copy is crucial to increase relevance and quality score.
• Should lead to the most relevant landing page.
• Display URL paths and all potential extensions should be implemented.

Targeting

• Is the right geographical area being targeted?
• Should computers be targeted given the business nature?
• Is there relevant audience targeting in place?
• Are Ads showing at the right time and day?

Keywords

• Disapproved keywords and the underlying issue is excellent to pinpoint.
• Analyze match types, especially the CPCs.
• Take a look at the search queries brought in by the high spending keywords. Are they relevant?
• Is there a negative keyword list? Are some keywords being blocked?

Take a look at more areas you can audit.

Breaking It Down In Layman’s Terms

While you can put forth all of the PPC jargon that comes from Google and Microsoft Ads accounts, it’s best to keep it simple. This will help business owners see the bigger picture and understand why these improvements and a new strategy will benefit them.

A few of the common scenarios that encompass our findings through the majority of our audits are:

• Disapproved Ads
• Unprofitable ad spend
• Targeting wrong geographical areas
• Lack of account structure
• 404 errors on landing pages
• Ads on a 24/7 ad schedule with a limited budget

Delivering the Audit

Seldom do we find our sales team delivering an audit to prospects post-meeting. In most instances, they give it a go as soon as they have access to their account during the meeting.

You probably reread the previous paragraph to make sure you understood it correctly. Yes! We use PPC audit software to perform on-the-spot audits for our prospects.

In the past, we’ve dealt with antsy leads wanting us to pop the hood and take a look with them to give them something that could ensure their time was being well invested. It takes having extremely savvy sales team members in the PPC realm to take on these leads, and overall was not productive.

So our innovative team got together to brainstorm on a more effective and efficient way to help us grow and scale. From this, AdInsights was born.

PPC Proposals

When it’s time to formalize your offer and closing the deal is a signature away, a proposal puts together market analysis, strategy, timeframe, and budget necessary to take the owner’s business towards achieving PPC marketing goals.

If an audit was performed, you would attach this to the proposal to supplement what they can expect moving forward.

How to Put Together a Proposal

While proposal automation solutions can speed up this entire process, you still need to acquire all the information necessary to perform the robust market research that will impress your prospect. It can be time-consuming and require additional information and resources, but you can’t skip this step.

Preliminary info you will need from your lead is:

• Website URL
• Main keywords that represent their service or product
• Monthly budget
• Geographical target locations
• Products or services

What Elements Should Be Included?

If you want some sex appeal when it comes to your proposals, make sure the following key components are included:

Search Volume Estimates: Based on industry keywords for a particular location, provide potential traffic volume.

Competitor Insights: Show the percentage of market share the business has compared to their direct competitors, based on a set of main keywords.

Keyword Research: Suggest the best selection of keywords for your client’s new campaign strategy.

Budget Recommendations: Based on avg. CPC for their business, industry, and location, suggest tiers of the required budget using the client’s actual budget as the lowest tier.

Lead Projection: Project performance when possible (based on industry benchmarks if access to their account performance is unavailable).

Sending Over The Proposal

Ah, now the easy part: attach and hit send.

You’re done.

But looking back at how long it took to put it together, by this time, the lead may have grown cold and already in some other agencies.

Turnaround times get crucial at this point, and when you have the volume to deliver, finding the solution to create quality, deal-closing proposals becomes paramount for your agency. We recommend providing proposals in no more than 48 hrs post-meeting with leads.

We have made leeway for innovative solutions for agencies offering PPC by developing a proposal engine that can compose proposals in minutes, just by adding a few drops of information.

The Takeaway

It’s been over ten years since we started as an agency. Our experience has driven us to develop PPC audit software that encompasses everything your sales team needs to get deals closed and lead your agency through a repeatable process that can promote scalability.

Compass includes AdInsights and a proposal engine that works hand in hand with your sales team to become more efficient at achieving sales growth that at one point you thought impossible.

We welcome you to see what Compass is capable of. Give your agency the potential it needs to level up.