Hi, I'm your new Facebook Marketing Expert: Part 2 - Agency Point of View

The Agency Point Of View

The issue is, when it comes to Google Ads - the customer service approach is a bit scattered.

There are several different types of Google Ads Reps - Here are the main 4 groups

• Account Level Reps
• Agency Level Reps
• Vertical Specific Large Account Reps
• Large Growth Reps

The latter 3 of the group tend to be an excellent experience overall, but the struggle for Google is the individual account reps. It is an understandable struggle due to the number of active Google Ads accounts at any given time and wanting to ensure that they have a rep for every account. Google wants to be able to provide support and guidance to those that are new to the platform to ensure continued use, which absolutely makes sense. The solution was to contract out the account level reps to various companies. Unfortunately, this overall has led to a few issues as previously mentioned in part 1.

Inconsistencies, Aggressiveness, Misguided Direction.

Inconsistency is based upon that you are assigned a rep for only a quarter. Depending on the level of success seen within the account with the given rep, this can be switched quarterly or you may remain with the same rep. If you are sent to a new rep, you then need to re-explain your business, goals, what you have tried and so on. This can become repetitive and time consuming, especially if you have other roles and responsibilities on your plate. The end result here is that advertisers may disengage with the reps, may not see success on Google and grow frustrated with the switches, or some combination of these.

Aggressiveness comes from the reps and how they are gauged on their performance and number of successful calls. It isn’t that they are yelling at you, but the frequency and intensity of word choice can lead you to feel like it is a debt collector. This can also be very off putting and frustrating for the client.

Misguided Direction stems from the inconsistency and not being as familiar with the brand, product, goals and overall platform experience. The most interesting part is that Google did release a recommendations tab, which also summarizes quite a few opportunities that the system thinks may improve performance. Usually this is what the rep is looking at, so I do wonder if Google is planning to switch to a more cost effective approach here.

On the agency side, what I have found to be the largest struggle is that the communication between the various teams is not quick. When a client comes on and has an existing account, their individual account rep will still reach out for months even if an agency rep has also been assigned. If I choose not to engage with the individual account rep, they will then go to the client  and state that there is something “urgent” and that they “need to take action immediately” or “we have tried to contact your agency and they have not implemented these necessary updates”. This type of language implies (as they are aware) that the account is in danger of being shut down, suspended or in general some kind of penalty, but in reality, this is never the case. This type of language can cause unnecessary panic and can cause bumps in the client & agency relationship. 

TLDR: If you have NOT been assigned to a higher team at Google, proceed with caution in executing on your Google reps recommendations. This team is not as experienced and I have seen those that implement all or even some of their recommendations waste quite a bit of money. If you decide to go this route, make one change at a time and watch closely.

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Part 1 of Hi, I'm your new Facebook Marketing Expert
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Kim Wright is a strategic SEM leader with a passion for building actionable insights. She started her career as an account coordinator at an automotive marketing agency where she discovered her love of digital marketing. Throughout her career, she’s handled some of the largest automotive groups, led enterprise level teams, and become a go-to source for troubleshooting, strategy and processes. Kim was also the first SEM hire at PureCars and worked directly with their development team to build, enhance, and grow their in house tech to offer actionable data insights. After 7 years, Kim was ready for a challenge outside of automotive, and went on to be a Director of Paid Search before landing in her role at Stealth Venture Labs. Throughout her career, Kim has learned to quickly adapt to Google changes and find areas of opportunities that others may not be taking full advantage of. When Kim is not analyzing data and optimizing, she is typically out on the boat with her husband and dogs, teaching SEM to digital marketing apprentices, and working on her latest puzzle.