Do You Have Battered PPC Syndrome?

Picture this; You wake up tomorrow morning and you get beat over the head with another bill from your PPC (pay-per-click) Agency. You’re thinking to yourself, “What have they been doing, are they really billing me again, what did I do to deserve this?”

At this point you realize that you’ve felt like this before, many, many times. Every agency always passes the blame. It’s either you, your website, the market, or something else but it’s never their fault. We call this battered PPC Syndrome.

I coined this term from the many years I’ve worked with businesses that have been abused, or are afraid of being abused, by ppc agencies. The cycle is always the same, much like battered person syndrome.

Battered PPC Syndrome

• The abused business is lead to think that the outcome was his or her fault.
• It is difficult for the abused business to pin the blame on the agency.
• The abused business fears for the survival of their business success.
• The abused business has an irrational belief that the agency has omniscient control.

The Cycle Of Battered PPC Syndrome

Battered PPC Syndrome develops in response to a three-stage cycle found in ppc abuse situations.

• First, tension builds in the relationship. Usually due to underperformance from the agency.
• Second, the abusive agency releases tension while blaming the victim for the problems. (the problems are always you, your website, the market or some other reason)
• Third, the abusive agency makes gestures of contrition. However, the agency does not find solutions to avoid another phase of tension building so the cycle repeats.

The repetition of the abuse despite the agencies'' attempts to "make nice" results in the abused business (you) feeling at fault for not preventing a repeat in the cycle.

The thing to understand is that this is almost never your fault!

“In a 2002 study, Gondolf found that more than half of women had negative future relationship views because of negative experiences.”

We found similar results in a study of our clients and leads over several years. More than half of the clients I work with have had a bad experience with ppc companies in the past. This cycle makes it increasingly difficult to trust ppc agencies and take proper actions with their advertising dollars.

How Do I Break The Cycle?

Luckily, Battered PPC Syndrome is not as serious (psychologically) as Battered Person Syndrome. Because of this the cycle is quite easily broken.

1. Choose and agency that “gets you”

Most agencies are comprised of well over 20 employees but most businesses that run ppc campaigns are much smaller. If you are an entrepreneur or growing company then make sure to look for an agency like that.

2. An agency should be flexible, just like you

Think about how many hats you wear in your day to day business life. A proper ppc agency should be amazing at other things besides just ppc.

3. Make sure your next ppc agency is VERY knowledgeable about the following:

Choosing an agency that can effectively implement these services could be the difference between a successful ppc campaign and losing a lot of money.

• Landing page
• Split testing
• Advanced tracking & analytics
• Conversion Optimization
• Design
• Retargeting/Remarketing
• SEO (optional)

4. Say no to contracts

You should never have to sign a contract for ppc services because they are a month to month service. Chances are, if they are making you sign a contract then they aren’t confident that they can keep you around as a client without it.

5. Make sure they are willing to prove themselves to you

Look for an agency that offers a trial of their services before requiring you to shell out large sums of money. If they are offering this then obviously they are confident that they can handle the job.