PPC Geeks

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a London-based data center operator. We design, build and operate data centers and have grown from a grassroots place to where we are now.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We had dipped our toes in PPC before, but it’s extremely complex to get it right. It also takes up a lot of time and you really need to know what you’re doing. As a smaller company, we didn’t have the time or in-house resources to do it. To ensure our budget was spent properly, we hired PPC Geeks as a third party to handle those efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PPC Geeks handles all of our PPC campaigns and efforts so we can be hands-off. They started with a deep dive to understand what we do and what we’re trying to achieve. We fund our Google Ads account and they come up with the ads, keywords, and manage the spend.

Their team comes up with new ideas on how to better spend the budget. For example, we’re exploring whitepaper downloads which they recommended. 

What is the team composition?

Matt (Senior Client Manager) is our main point of contact and he’s our go-to person, but we’ve also had some interaction with Chris (Managing Director). 

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

I believe we followed a recommendation. They were offering a free audit of what we had in place already, so we went ahead with that. From there, they pointed out glaring errors and laid out a plan for how they’d fix it, so we decided to use them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around £1,500 (approximately $1,900 USD) per month on their fee, and then we spend around £2,000 (approximately $2,500) per month on ad budget. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re seeing more inquiries that are of better quality. All of the reports also show that we’re trending upwards, but the more meaningful result is the increase in inquiries. 

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They send us a report each week to make sure we’re seeing an upward trend. The report is a summary of improvements and headline figures. They also get in touch with us frequently to explain the results and where they see further improvement. 

It was really vital for us to be as hands-off as possible, so their ability to be succinct and recommend improvements has been great. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their deep dive was impressive. They don’t just want to get us more clicks, they want to get us more clicks that we want, which is more important. They really know what they’re talking about. Their management of the efforts has been great, too. Google Ads can be a nightmare to manage since it’s always evolving and changing, but they know what they’re doing with it. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve been happy with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The best bet is to just let them do what they’re good at. It would be detrimental to direct them too strongly. Have faith in them for the best results. If you’ve been managing your own spend, it can take a few months to right that ship and see results — you need to have your eyes up instead of down. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the MD of a home care marketplace platform. We’re a startup open marketplace and online platform in the home care sector. Our objective is to match care seekers with carers in the home environment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We launched our platform last year and had been doing some in-house PPC efforts. Essentially, we wanted to drive marketing towards increasing the number of carers and clients who use our platform. After a while, we realized we needed external expertise so we brought on PPC Geeks.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They took over running our PPC account in its totality. Upon initial engagement, they conducted an audit of what we were doing and where we could improve. Those results led to the creation of targets focused on what we should strive for. They also did a diagnostic around our UX design and how to improve our quality score.

What is the team composition?

There are about three people. Our team works with Chris (Client Director), he's our main point of contact. We also work with Matt (Senior Client Manager) and another individual who works on the optimization of the ads, she is a little less involved.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

We discovered them through a direct marketing email that was sent to me or my partner. At that time, we were in the process of looking at a couple of other companies but ultimately went with PPC Geeks.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about £15,000 (approximately $19,000 USD) a month for Google spend and then there are fees on top of that.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in October 2019 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The initial audit and UX diagnostic were very useful and helpful. As for impact, it’s a bit tricky to give an exact answer because there a number of factors involved. We were initially stabilized in November or December with our unit cost but then we went down a little bit.

Throughout the engagement, we’ve been doing a lot of upgrades to the site in terms of new technology and releasing features. There were a lot of interruptions such as tags on the site being deleted or outdated. On top of that, we changed the frontend of our site once or twice as well. It was all a bit messy in terms of the direct results of PPC Geeks’ work.

There were also a few breaks in terms of consistency. Their team didn’t have a consistent platform to work with for the full period of time, and then we hit COVID-19 in March. We had gotten to a point in late February where had a stable platform. PPC Geeks was able to slightly improve the numbers.

However, we were disappointed in terms of expectations of what we thought we’d get. It’s not fully their fault because of internal matters. It has been hard to engage, and there are external market factors as well. Everyone in our space experienced an increase in conversion costs.

All-in-all, there was some impact from PPC Geeks’ efforts, but it’s hard to tell because there are many external factors. It’d be unfair for me to judge them on a final score because of those things. This is unusual because it means I can’t give a definite answer if they were brilliant or not.

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve dialed up their ads a little bit, and they’ve been performing very well. We switched partners last week. Overall, we’re a complicated sector, but I can see that their team produces smashing deliverables.

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great with project management. We receive weekly reports on time and in full. There’s also good management and communication. Our teams hold a weekly phone call that allows us to touch base. Apart from that, if I wanted to look at where we were falling in quality score or even run back over some of the UX, they had no problem doing that work and coming up with pretty comprehensive feedback.

They’re responsive and proactive. When they realized we were struggling to reach the numbers we wished for, they analyzed the situation in efforts to find out why. Through this, we saw that competitors were throwing money into the sector pretty quickly along with other factors. Overall, their management structure is good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The thing that stands out the most is that Chris is very honest. We would have lots of different opinions from our internal team, but Chris was very good at listening and taking that on board. He is good at coming back with an objective, data-driven stance rather than a subjective one. Chris is very strong with that, and it’s clear he has the desire for us to be successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would’ve loved the numbers to have been better. We didn’t give them the smoothest of runs in terms of being able to do that. But to me, it comes down to the bottom line, and we didn’t get there because of the many reasons I explained.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have a constant, open dialogue. Also, you must be on top of the data. This means constantly questioning the data and reviewing it rather than waiting a month at a time to do so.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a sales rep for Atlantis Tanks. We’re a manufacturer and supplier for liquid storage solutions for diesel, oil, and water.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We had a website that we needed to get out to prospective customers as quickly as possible. We had some issues with PPC in the past, and we were looking to resolve those. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PPC Geeks took over over our Google Ads campaigns. To start with, they overhauled the set-up and developed a strategy that maximizes efficiency and traffic gain. They then made changes to the campaigns themselves and provided best practices for us to follow on budgets and other factors. The team also advised us on some landing pages that they wanted and suggested changes to make to the backend of the site for Google optimization.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people: a Google Ads manager, a strategy manager, and an overall account manager.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

We found them on Clutch. We searched through quite a few companies and did a gradual whittling down of teams. PPC Geeks wasn’t the cheapest option, but they came out on top as being the most trustworthy and helpful to us for what we were trying to achieve.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership ran from July 2019 until January 2020. Other challenges came up so we had to pause their services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

PPC Geeks set us up with a data studio dashboard on Google. We had a lot of input as to what metrics we wanted to see on that and what goals we wanted them to achieve. We then had regular reviews every week, month, and quarter to make sure we were on track. Some of those metrics include our bounce rate, conversion rate, page views, and organic traffic. What we saw was quite a significant decrease in our bounce rate and a lift in page views and conversions. The number of conversions wasn’t quite what we were hoping for, but that was due to internal issues, not something on PPC Geeks’ end.

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. I’m a big fan of project management, and I didn’t have to push PPC Geeks. They drove us instead, taking the effort and resources we put into PPC onto themselves. We got good value for their services.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What really stood out about them was their open and honest approach. They didn’t promise anything that they couldn’t do. They set expectations and exceeded them. We were left feeling like we’d found a good partner that we’d use in the future.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Costs are always a key thing. We especially have a low margin level. I’d speak to them about account management costs in the future just for long-term sustainability.

Any advice for potential customers?

As with any partnership, it’s got to be based on trust. Chris (Client Director) and I developed a good level of trust early on. Once you have that trust and maintain, that’s all that’s really necessary.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Winebuyers.com is an online eCommerce platform connecting vineyards and distilleries directly to the end consumer using custom built technology. My role is Head of Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire PPC Geeks = Get Your 100% Free Google Ads Audit?

As a start up growing extremely quickly we needed to ramp up our PPC activity, most specifically to build and manage our Google Adwords account.

What were your goals for this project?

With over 50,000 products on the website our aim was to increase quality traffic to Winebuyers.com and achieve maximum conversions at the best possible ROAS.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed a number of PPC Agencies but hired PPC Geeks for their specialist skills on Google Adwords. I was particularly impressed by the initial conversation I had with Chris when discussing our personalised audit. PPC Geeks also immediately understood our business model while other companies did not.

Describe the project in detail.

We hired PPC Geeks to build and manage our Google Adwords account for a four month period before we brought activity in house full time.

What was the team composition?

Right from the off we had three senior members from PPC Geeks on the Winebuyers PPC team. Chris, Dan and Kate were always up to date about our account throughout the project. I was continuously impressed with their attentiveness and incredibly advanced knowledge.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Kate's work on building out and optimising our Google Ads account significantly increased traffic and sales to our platform. After 4-6 weeks our Google Ads sales, specifically through PLAs, had jumped significantly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I was impressed by the organisation of our account. We received weekly progress reports and received in-depth monthly phone reports with a phone call with the Director Chris.

Due to the nature and size of our portfolio of products, I spoke to Kate several times a week over emails and the phone. Their service was impeccable and one of the team was always available to answer questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Chris, Kate and Dan were a pleasure to work with. PPC Geeks really went above and beyond any other advertising agency I've worked with, even helping launch our Bing Ads account which was outside the project scope.

The team at PPC Geeks was always professional, helpful, and happy to share tips and advice. I cannot sing their praises highly enough.

Are there any areas for improvement?

PPC Geeks were always very good at incorporating and responding to feedback.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager for a growing company that manufactures and stocks a range of steel doors for the UK national market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire PPC Geeks Ltd?

We hired PPC Geeks to run our Adwords PPC campaigns across all our product range.

What were your goals for this project?

At the time we hired PPC Geeks, although we had dabbled with Google Ads int he past, we had no clear strategy or indication of likely budget. We wanted advice and help to establish the various campaigns, quantify opportunities and to deliver a measurable return on investment.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had already been in contact through Linked In and had met several times. We selected PPC Geeks because of their persistence, enthusiasm and their absolute belief that they could do a great job for our company.

Describe the project in detail.

We set up initial meetings, where we discussed our requirement in detail, before getting to the technical requirements of landing pages and tracking. Once PPC Geeks had access to the website they set the ad campaigns up. They now monitor and tweak the campaigns to make sure that they are running at the optimum levels, both in terms of quality of enquiry and cost per lead. We receive regular performance reports and they are very contactable and responsive to requests for advice or account change.

What was the team composition?

Initially we worked with the Sales Director, Chris. In his absence I know I can contact other members of the PPC team. I know that Chris handles the client interface and that he has a growing team who look after the technical aspects of the business.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since the start of the campaigns, the account has always run with a lower cost per lead than we ever predicted. We have a regular and plentiful supply of leads. Our quote bank has more than quadrupled in the time we have been working together.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We work together very well, some weeks we discuss new ideas and strategies every day. Some weeks we go without any interaction whatever. I feel I always have access to their support and over time we have aligned our expectations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Personable, efficient and responsive. I was initially reticent about letting go of any control of the companies advertising. However, PPC Geeks have become trusted consultants and a good place to start for advice on new projects.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, neither business is static. I quite like that we can and often do disagree about strategy or implementation, but that friction often produces the best results and we both learn in the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing manager at Housing Hand, a rent guarantor service located in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks Ltd?

We were aiming to improve our return on marketing spending and grow the revenue that we were generating with our ads. We also wanted to reach people seeking accommodations and inform them about our service.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team updated our Google Analytics platform, giving us the ability to track revenue earned through each sale. We then set goals for our PPC campaigns and other digital marketing initiatives, primarily focusing on exposure and brand awareness.

Keyword research has been a collaborative effort. We offer our expertise in terms of industry-specific jargon, while they ascertain search volumes and identify keywords that we can utilize. They’ve also guided us in wording our ads correctly to avoid potential issues. For example, the majority of our competition for keywords and ad space comes from loan guarantors. Despite being a completely different product, these sites include much of the same text and copy related to sales and pricing. PPC Geeks Ltd arranges our content to be separate and distinguishable.

Though this was not part of our initial plan, they also recommend best practices for SEO and web UX. They work directly with our development team to review site updates, making sure that every page fits with our PPC campaigns.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked primarily with Chris (Managing Director, PPC Geeks Ltd) and Kate (Senior PPC Account Manager, PPC Geeks Ltd) and we occasionally review progress with Dan (PPC Director, PPC Geeks Ltd).

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks Ltd?

After having a few conversations with their team, my director came to me and suggested that we begin working with them. He and I scheduled a meeting where they gave us a rundown of their services, and we initiated the project soon after.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in February 2018, and we plan to continue using them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Through Google Analytics, we’ve been able to directly link sales to our PPC campaigns, and we’ve seen growth in terms of our return on ad spend. Their work has driven a high level of revenue, and they routinely meet our monthly ROI targets for each marketing initiative. Also, we’ve had noteworthy success in advertising to people seeking new accommodations. 

Their team’s collaboration with our internal web developers has been hugely beneficial. They’ve helped us avoid technical hitches, and they’ve eliminated the burden of managing two distinct groups.

How did PPC Geeks Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via email and phone call, and that has worked well. We initially received monthly reports from their team, and have since moved to weekly updates.

Their team is very proactive, and they let us know when adjustments need to be made. During periods when we’ve seen lower numbers in our metrics platform, they’ve been quick to reach out and provide solutions and ideas. They’ve also set aside time to explain their work to our leadership team and board of directors, which we greatly appreciate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been impressed with their flexible, client-focused approach. They’re always searching for ways to maximize our ROI, even when that leads to a decrease in spending. I’ve also been pleased with the full range of services that they offer, many of which we didn’t initially expect to receive. They’ve made an effort to expand all of our campaigns, and they’ve run different experiments to find new avenues for growing our impact.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of any ways for them to improve. They’ve been excellent in each area of their work.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Dedicate time to clarifying your needs both upfront and throughout the project. This will enable their team to deliver precise campaigns. Also, be willing to give them plenty of targets, along with the information they need to reach them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of Books2Door, a seller of children’s books.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire PPC Geeks Ltd?

We hired them to manage Google Ads for us.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to grow our online sales and position it as a significant sales channel.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have looked at their references and their capabilities and decided to go ahead with them.

Describe the project in detail.

As part of their Google Ads management, they arranged our products in different segments and defined shopping ads with different KPIs. We also worked on remarketing ads, display ads, and search ads, and we continue to experiment with different kinds of ad types on different products. We are also working on ads in different countries as well.

What was the team composition?

We usually work with Dan (PPC Director, PPC Geeks Ltd) and Kate (Senior PPC Account Manager) but Chris (Managing Director) is always in the loop and engages when necessary.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and impact of the engagement?

We had great results working with them in our busiest quarter. Our website sales increased massively, and our site is now a strong sales channel.

How did PPC Geeks Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive and they give us honest feedback about our campaigns and let us decide how to proceed with enough data. We’ve also received feedback in supporting areas such as SEO, UX, and mobile experience. They have nice dashboards and detailed reporting so we can always see where we are.

What impresses you about PPC Geeks Ltd?

They deliver amazing results. They’re quite flexible with changing priorities of a small business.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re very satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing of SkyParkSecure. We help users compare prices between parking lots at and nearby major UK airports.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks Ltd?

Our in-house PPC manager left and had a hard time filling their position with the expertise we needed. We engaged PPC Geeks Ltd to take over our PPC accounts. They needed to be tidy, airport specific, and profitable for our ad spend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first set a return on our advertising spending (ROAS) target for PPC Geeks Ltd. We then gave their team full scope and an unlimited budget to run multiple campaigns at our partner airports. They aggressively pursued our target at first. However, throughout the engagement, we scaled back our campaigns, to which they adapted quickly.

What is the team composition?

Chris (Client Director, PPC Geeks Ltd) was our general account manager. We also worked with a Google Ads account manager who handled day-to-day tasks.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks Ltd?

They reached out to me after they saw our ads recruiting for a PPC manager. We weren’t looking for an agency at first, but it provided. That’s when we responded to PPC Geeks Ltd’s inquiry.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £50,000–£60,000 (approximately $64,000–$77,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January 2018–January 2019. Manchester Airport Group acquired our company at the end of 2018, and once our integration is complete, their internal team will take over our PPC campaigns.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

PPC Geeks Ltd always hit their targets and met their performance metrics; they’ve definitely played a role in our company’s exceptional success this year

How did PPC Geeks Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicated clearly and reliably from start to finish. We held strategy meetings to begin every quarter and then checked in over the phone every month. PPC Geeks Ltd gave monthly reports and cleared up any discrepancies between our data and their day-to-day view of our Google Ads accounts. They explained any issues that arose and suggested new focuses and ideas as needed. Whenever we had a question, they took the time to answer it right away, even if it meant going over our designated hours for a given month. We communicated via email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team at PPC Geeks Ltd is highly receptive to feedback and excellent at listening. They also made sure that the people who ran our account had as much experience as the people who met us before signing a contract. We also had the same account manager from start to finish; we appreciated the continuity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. Whenever we had a question that they didn’t know how to answer, PPC Geeks Ltd reached out to Google.

Any advice for potential customers?

Ask questions about any part of the process that you don’t grasp. PPC Geeks Ltd knows their field well and is willing to share their knowledge. Even though our contract is ending at the end of the month, their team still offered to call and explain any part of our account that we don’t understand.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Lead of Eversend

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We help customers around the world send, pay, and spend money globally

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire PPC Geeks to accomplish?

• Google ads set up & configuration
• Media buying and conversion optimisation
• Advisory

SOLUTION

How did you find PPC Geeks?

Email

Why did you select PPC Geeks over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from PPC Geeks were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Google Ads media buying: Optimising ads for better cost per acquisition and conversion

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Reduced CPA
• Higher conversion
• Better Ad tracking

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The PPC Geeks team always responded promptly to all requests and advised us well for the success of the project. They helped fix account and Ad optimization issues

What was your primary form of communication with PPC Geeks?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

• Competent
• Professional
• Prompt

Are there any areas for improvement or something PPC Geeks could have done differently?

not in this case

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Director of Henry Seymour & Co

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Commercial Insurance Broker

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire PPC Geeks to accomplish?

• Increase Leads
• Increase Conversions
• Reduce Ad Spend

SOLUTION

How did you find PPC Geeks?

Online Search

Why did you select PPC Geeks over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from PPC Geeks were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We tasked PPC Geeks with taking over our PPC and Social Media marketing campaigns with the specific objective of reducing ad spend while increasing returns.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Return on ad spend

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

PPC Geeks consistently delivered work on time and their communication and reporting has been excellent.

What was your primary form of communication with PPC Geeks?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

PPC Geeks price themselves on data and being able to measure results. This is particularly important to us and not something which is always so visible with other agencies.

Are there any areas for improvement or something PPC Geeks could have done differently?

No