tl;dr: Nope.  It’s Q&A and establishment if there’s a potential fit – both directions.

A bit more about this meeting:

1. Please be ready for plain talk about your budget, resources, competition and recent experiences.
2. This is usually a take-away-rich Q&A session – please bring your tough questions.
3. We’ll give direct answers about our methods, costs, and timelines.
4. We are likely to be able to build a frank snapshot of your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.

Probably – we’re team players.  Many of our clients have “traditional” agencies and web design firms with whom we collaborate.  We can confidentially discuss your current arrangement and we’ll give you our perspective.

Let’s make sure we discuss this in our discovery meeting.  Not every business / product is well suited for paid ads generally, but many times this is a solvable problem.  We won’t pressure anyone into using them if it doesn’t make sense.

Everything is measured in Paid Ads – and we boil it down to actionable knowledge.  We also go beyond the basics into the business KPIs involved because that’s what matters.  You’ve never been more informed about what’s happening in your ad account than when you work with us.

It’s worth mentioning that 80% of the accounts we review have problems with reporting and measurement.  This goes beyond the reports, however, and into the bidding models the platform uses in its machine learning.  So it’s important we get this right.

While the platform can seem costly in competitive niches, it’s essential to weigh the immediate costs against the potential long-term benefits. With the right strategy, even high upfront costs can yield significant returns in brand visibility and customer insights. Let’s work together to optimize your budget and determine if these programs align with your business goals.

We cannot emphasize enough how important proper campaign setup is to success.  We find so many accounts, campaigns and more set up incorrectly, undermining the ROI potential.

We will fix that immediately.  Thoughtful and well executed targeting is critical – as is ongoing optimization.  Getting to your ideal customer profile (ICP) takes an initial effort and then refinements as we review outcomes.   We utilize a number of types of audiences – all of which are important:

• ICP prospecting
• retargeting (site visits, page visits, other behaviors)
• customer match / company match / ABM
• similar / look-alike / AI expansion
• exclusion
• in-market / high-affinity 3rd party
• 3rd party intent data

We will assist with budget planning / discussion in the feasibility review phase.  We can review competitiveness and estimate valuation of various parts of the campaign.   Usually it’s a mixed bag – and parts of the account must be revised and others removed.  Of course ROI is everything – but there are dozens of factors at play.

In terms of broader budget advice – many CMO surveys suggest that marketing budgets for enterprises should be between 8% and 25% of ARR depending on the phase of growth, the competitive landscape, the industry and the strategic plans you have for market share, etc..  There are dozens of variables here – including the competitive marketplace, overall demand and restrictions of ad platforms (where the product/service involves YMYL (your money or your life) type industries.)

Paid Ads budgets in particular are subject to auction, audience size and intention expressed by users.   Before giving a specific number, it’s crucial for us to gain a deeper understanding of your business objectives, desired outcomes, and any unique challenges you face. This way, we can provide a budget that’s both realistic and tailored to your specific needs, ensuring the best possible return on your investment.

Do you have minimum ad spends?

Yes. We have minimum ad spends because spend-starved campaigns rarely do well. We do have some flexibility here, but when the budgets are too low for us to thrive, we will have to withdraw from consideration.  If your business is unable to lock in a monthly spend budget for Ads  it may be hard for us to work together effectively.

By the way, we do not bill our fees based on ad spend or otherwise tie ourselves to how much you spend, and we encourage you to work with an agency with this approach.

It depends on where you are now.  In any case, this is not going to be fully hands-off for your team, but we will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting.  We have lots of productivity tools and systems to accelerate things.  We are VERY sensitive to time wasting and you can be sure we won’t waste yours.  We prefer snappy, efficient meetings and calls, and come to each meeting well organized.

What about content creation?

Writing content, taking photos and shooting videos is another thing.  We can use AI writing assistance to create scripts and content drafts, but your own subject-matter experts will need to spend time with it to ensure it’s accurate and reflects your brand voice.  No agency can replace that step.  What we can say is that we learn very quickly and will feel like a team member much faster than most expect.

During the discovery process for prospects who seem like a good match, we require an account walkthrough so we can accurately scope the retainer.

But we don’t consider this an “audit.”

We are revising our pricing pages right now – but please let us know generally what you’re needing and we’ll send you a ballpark even before we talk.

No, we use pay for access retainers also known as a Fixed-Price Access Retainer (FPAR) with a six month minimum commitment.  These emphasize flexibility, honesty and transparency elements of our relationships.

Pay for access retainers simplify relationships by paying a set fee for ongoing access to expertise and guidance without the overhead or worry about using too much time solving a problem.. The scope of the work and fees are defined in advance and can be revised during renewals.