Advertising, SEM, Display, Facebook - and FEES - do you check what is contracted?

[DrewAment]

If a vender is pitching a product - let's say social - and charges a management fees (flat or %%), but then won't give you at least read access to the advertising account.... RUN.

One case in point (of several over the last couple weeks) - dealer had me look into their advertising. One vender was charging $499/month for management of the Facebook spend budget (as stated in contract). With $3000 in spend - I was like "not great but not bad". It' ~16% for those bad at math. However, vender was VERY hesitant to give access to view the ad account - dealer also wanted to verify set-up, targets, etc,etc.

When we did finally get access - found the vender was just doing a radius target (bad due to natural boundaries for this dealer - mountains). The bigger find was that the actual ad spend was only 20% of the budget. So, they were actually charging $499/flat PLUS 20% of spend. So total "fee" was $1,099, for $2,400 in media spend. Long story short, after a few heated phone calls, vender credited back the 6 months the dealer was on the program for the reduced ad spend ($3600 credit).

Now, if in your contract and you agree to the vender charges of a management PLUS a %% of spend - then no worries. However, if you are not verifying what the vender promised - then shame on you.

For those of you that wonder -- you should be able to get at least read access to: Google Adwords, Facebook Advertising, LinkedIn Advertising, Twitter - and a plethora of others. If the vender claims they use a "3rd Party Tool" to serve ads, etc... then request read access to that tool.

Just my 3 cents (inflation)

 

[John.H]

If a vender is pitching a product - let's say social - and charges a management fees (flat or %%), but then won't give you at least read access to the advertising account.... RUN.

One case in point (of several over the last couple weeks) - dealer had me look into their advertising. One vender was charging $499/month for management of the Facebook spend budget (as stated in contract). With $3000 in spend - I was like "not great but not bad". It' ~16% for those bad at math. However, vender was VERY hesitant to give access to view the ad account - dealer also wanted to verify set-up, targets, etc,etc.

When we did finally get access - found the vender was just doing a radius target (bad due to natural boundaries for this dealer - mountains). The bigger find was that the actual ad spend was only 20% of the budget. So, they were actually charging $499/flat PLUS 20% of spend. So total "fee" was $1,099, for $2,400 in media spend. Long story short, after a few heated phone calls, vender credited back the 6 months the dealer was on the program for the reduced ad spend ($3600 credit).

Now, if in your contract and you agree to the vender charges of a management PLUS a %% of spend - then no worries. However, if you are not verifying what the vender promised - then shame on you.

For those of you that wonder -- you should be able to get at least read access to: Google Adwords, Facebook Advertising, LinkedIn Advertising, Twitter - and a plethora of others. If the vender claims they use a "3rd Party Tool" to serve ads, etc... then request read access to that tool.

Just my 3 cents (inflation)

Few things I want to brush up on.

#1: 15 Mile Targeting Radius Minimum through Facebook Ads, as a dealership.

You can't target anything under 15 miles when running ads as a car dealership. Facebook used to allow advertisers to hyper-target communities predominant of a certain race and demographic. Due to a recent suit, which I talked a little bit about HERE, you are no longer permitted "zip code targeting" or "hyper targeting communities" if your ads are running in the special ad category.

There's no way of running outside this category if you're extending loan opportunities to individuals.

I will say, we find our best results stem from keeping a wide radius, and allowing ads to settle themselves. Only building audiences from sales data accumulated over time. (The creation of SAA's)

#2: Vendors that charge a percentage of Adspend normally automate their Ad Creation, Optimization, and all other campaign tasks.

This is kinda one of those "you get what you pay for" situations. No Agency or Vendor with a full staff of Creative Managers, Account Managers, Copywrite Professionals, and REAL HUMANS will charge such a small amount for their services. To see they've pulled a fast one on this dealer is quite sad. Though, if it's too good to be true it probably is.

#3: Read Level access is nice, but account demos are better.

Some dealers don't want their Ad Accounts displayed for everybody and their relatives to see. It can be even worse if you're permitting read level access to competitors, who may just rip off your entire campaigns and internalize things. Just as you wouldn't give the keys to a prospect without someone to accompany a test drive, granting this kind of access to prospective clients is a horrible idea.

What we do is we take prospective dealers into account demos. Showcasing client accounts we're PERMITTED to show prospective clients. We showcase our Ads, Results, Targeting, Creatives, Landing Pages, and much more!

I would NEVER give this access to anybody.

Conclusion:

I think it's important to talk with active clients that the Vendor possesses. It really does showcase their abilities, and what they could provide for you.

 

[DrewAment]

#1: 15 Mile Targeting Radius Minimum through Facebook Ads, as a dealership.

You can't target anything under 15 miles when running ads as a car dealership. ....

Ya -- they were just targeting 50 miles (which is max). While ZIP is not allowed, they should have done 2-3 smaller 15 mile radii.

#2: Vendors that charge a percentage of Adspend normally automate their Ad Creation, Optimization, and all other campaign tasks.....

Agreed -- I know I am not cheap by any means. But transparency, and delivering based on contract terms, is what should be expected. Dealer shouldn't have to tell me (and believe) he is paying a flat "because that is what is on the contract" ... only for me to find something different when I do my digging.

If the vender is open and transparent, and the value is there for what they are doing for the client/dealer -- then they should be transparent on all the "fees" / %% / and other charges.

#3: Read Level access is nice, but account demos are better.

2 different things.... Ya -- dont show another dealers stuff. Account demos ARE better for demo/pitching. I was referring to EXISTING clients having access to their ad accounts.

 

[Alexander Lau]

Goes along the same lines and yes, hold their asses accountable for their wares. Don't tell anyone I told you that, apparently you can be almost BANNED and an IGNORE option created for you when you call out SHIT AGENCIES (whom do a terrible job at digital marketing and are all talk) that are featured in these waters. Again, imagine going to bat for ACTUAL DEALERSHIPS! What a novel concept. . . you see, as a dealership consultant and having worked in attribution, I've seen the loser services that dealers pay for each month and it's a ridiculous waste of money. AKA piss-poor ROAS and ROI.

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[John.H]

Ya -- they were just targeting 50 miles (which is max). While ZIP is not allowed, they should have done 2-3 smaller 15 mile radii.





Agreed -- I know I am not cheap by any means. But transparency, and delivering based on contract terms, is what should be expected. Dealer shouldn't have to tell me (and believe) he is paying a flat "because that is what is on the contract" ... only for me to find something different when I do my digging.

If the vender is open and transparent, and the value is there for what they are doing for the client/dealer -- then they should be transparent on all the "fees" / %% / and other charges.





2 different things.... Ya -- dont show another dealers stuff. Account demos ARE better for demo/pitching. I was referring to EXISTING clients having access to their ad accounts.

Ahhh, I agree completely.

No agency should hold a dealers data HOSTAGE? That's ridiculous. If you're paying for the data, you're entitled to it. Whether that's supplying you the ad account, or passing the pixel data along to your business manager account.

That's why we exclusively run our ads inside of our dealers advertising accounts. So they know what we're running, the results we're getting, in complete transparency.


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The fees should be transparent, and they shouldn't charge every other dealer differently. I think we'll see people transition to a more common practice among vendors - and that is to charge by rooftop.

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2 or 3 15 mile radius targets would be a fantastic choice over 50 miles. Though, I've found keeping things open works best. I can assure you... your costs will drop dramatically. And you might even find some deals outside of what you may "think" is your ideal targeting location.

 

[Morganpaige]

Yes any agency that is holding you hostage please RUN don't WALK away from them. Especially in this time of need. All of our dealerships we are working with and bending over backwards to help as opposed to those who are trying to pinch every penny from them is just wrong.