How much does it cost to outsource PPC to India?

As you sit on your couch, huddled near the fireplace, cradling that cup of hot chocolate, you wonder how to increase sales and conversions for your cakes and flower shop in the plaza!

You have your website designed by the best web developers, designers, and amazing bloggers to write engaging content and emailers for your subscriber base, but there is still something amiss. 

Yes, you guessed it right! To reach a wider audience (your Ideal Consumer Profiles, ICPs), you need to target tailor-made ads that appeal to your target demographics. This can be done by adding paid advertising to the mix (search engine marketing or pay-per-click).

You have been considering outsourcing your PPC requirements to agencies in different locations and want to know more about the benefits, costs, and challenges of outsourcing to Indian agencies. 

You don’t want to buy a lemon, and we at Mavlers completely understand your concerns. 

With a team of 120+ professional PPC experts and 50+ dedicated resources deployed over the past 12+ years, we have catered to the PPC needs of 7000+ global clients. To be precise, we have felt the concerns and pain points of those on the other side, those in your shoes. 

In today’s blog, you will find honest and transparent insights on the following concerns that you may have regarding the costs of outsourcing PPC requirements to Indian agencies.

• Factors influencing PPC outsourcing costs
• Breakdown of PPC outsourcing costs
• Benefits & drawbacks of outsourcing PPC to India
• Tips for selecting the right PPC outsourcing partner

We contacted Nisarg Joshi, our PPC expert, to help us investigate the above-mentioned concerns more thoroughly so that you are more empowered to make the best outsourcing decision for your firm. 

Factors Influencing PPC Outsourcing Costs

The real cost of hiring a PPC agency on Clutch can range between USD 100 and 149 per hour. The ultimate monthly PPC cost may vary from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of USD.

At this point, it is important to note that the agency fees are separate from the Google Ad campaigns budget.

The final number on your PPC invoice will be an outcome of various factors, such as:

• Ad platforms you choose to run your ads on
• The number of ad campaigns you plan on running
• Location of the offshore agency
• The size of your company
• Your industry niche
• The PPC agency’s experience and expertise

The services you opt for will have a role to play in the final bill. Here’s a look at the average hourly costs for each channel that companies may use for PPC advertising;

1. Amazon Advertising: $25 – $49
2. Baidu Advertising: $25 – $49
3. Google Ads: $100 – $149
4. Bing Advertising: $100 – $149
5. Spotify Advertising: $25 – $49
6. Yahoo Advertising: $25 – $49
7. YouTube Advertising: $25 – $49

To gain a deeper understanding of the costs of outsourcing PPC advertising at Mavlers, you may read our blog titled “How Much Does A PPC Project Cost At Mavlers?”

You can read more about how the above factors influence PPC costs in our blog, “Cost Comparison: In-house vs. Outsourcing to Paid Media Agencies.”

Let’s take a look at how the geographical location of your partner PPC agency influences the final PPC costs.

The cost of living in that particular region, as well as the expertise, knowledge, and experience of the partner PPC offshore agency, will take the costs up or down.

The lower the living costs in a particular country, the less the management fee charged by the PPC agency in that country will be. Also, the higher the experience and expertise of a PPC company, the greater the costs involved. 

At Mavlers, an Indian digital marketing agency, we charge USD 25 per hour for PPC services. The annual cost of hiring a dedicated SEM/PPC resource at Mavlers is USD 38,400.

If you would like to know more about the pricing offered by freelancers, you can read our blog titled, “Can an offshore agency match the pricing offered by freelancers?”

Here’s why India is such a popular choice for outsourcing PPC requirements:

• India is the second largest English-speaking country in the world, which reduces the chances of communication barriers between you and your partner offshore agency
• India is home to an ever-expanding pool of skilled PPC professionals who are familiar with the latest industry trends and challenges
• Reduced time to market and on-time project completion
• Favorable Government policies

You can read more about the benefits of outsourcing to Indian digital marketing agencies in our blog. 

Breakdown of PPC Outsourcing Costs

To understand the breakdown of PPC outsourcing costs to offshore agencies, you must familiarize yourself with the different pricing models and then choose an agency that offers a pricing strategy best suited to your needs.

1. Flat rate pricing

If you have a clear understanding of the tasks and services that you seek, then this pricing model should be a good fit for you. 

Some PPC agencies charge a fixed fee based on the client’s media spend monthly budget and scope of work and accordingly come up with the final costs.

This model works well for business owners who don’t like to be taken by surprise and prefer fixed advertising expenses per month with relatively static campaigns. 

However, if you plan to run seasonal, more dynamic campaigns, this might not be a great fit for you as the management fees and ad spends need to be more flexible.

2. Hourly charges

Quite a straightforward pricing strategy; here, you pay a fixed amount multiplied by the billable hours to the PPC agency.

You sign up with an agency on a project or retainer basis for a certain number of hours every month and pay accordingly. 

This ensures that your campaign doesn’t get ahead of you, as you don’t overspend and know exactly what you are getting instead of what you are paying the agency. 

Quite a scalable option; you can increase or decrease the hours as your campaign grows and achieves the set targets. 

3. Percentage of ad spend

Quite a prevalent model among PPC agencies, you are asked to pay a fixed pre-determined percentage of your monthly ad spends to the agency managing your PPC campaigns. 

Some agencies that use this pricing model have a minimum ad spend requirement. The percentage may increase or decrease depending on the ad speed and the workload.

For bigger businesses or enterprises, this might be a more cost-effective option in the long run, as a total increase in the budget usually accompanies a percentage reduction.

However, for small businesses with lower budgets, your monthly ad spend might not match the minimum ad spend requirement, and you will end up paying hefty fees to the agency.

4. Performance-based pricing

In this model, you pay for lower-funnel actions like calls, sign-ups, demo requests, email subscriptions, etc. The PPC agency might charge a small percentage of the final review on a commission basis.

At Mavlers, the fee structure for PPC campaigns includes the following:

1. Management fees, either a flat fee or a percentage of the monthly ad spend, depend on your budget and unique requirements.
2. A one-time campaign setup fee accounts for the activities undertaken by our PPC professionals in setting up your PPC campaign. 

Read our blog on PPC costing at Mavlers to know more about the pricing models and fee breakdown you can expect from partnering with us. 

Benefits & Drawbacks of Outsourcing PPC to India

Here are the pros and cons of outsourcing to Indian agencies at a glance!

Tips for Selecting the Right PPC Outsourcing Partner

If you have been burnt before in your quest to partner with an offshore digital marketing agency, you surely wouldn’t want to repeat the experience!

We have a ready checklist of factors you should consider before signing a deal with an offshore agency for future digital marketing requirements. 

Here are some questions you should ask your prospective PPC agency before making a deal. 

• How long have you been doing PPC? Do you have Google Partner or Microsoft Ads credentials?
• Who will manage my account? How many points of contact will I have to communicate with?
• How many other accounts will my account manager be handling?
• Do you offer other digital marketing services as well?
• What are your PPC  management fees? What makes it go up or down?
• Which ad platforms will you be targeting?
• Why do I need to pay one-time set-up fees?
• Do you carry out an audit for my existing campaigns? Is that chargeable?
• Can I pause the contract at any time?
• What if I am not happy with the service? Do I still have to pay the full price?
• How often will you provide reports?
• Do you have industry-specific PPC knowledge?
• Can I change my monthly advertising budget?

A huge red flag to watch out for is someone or an agency that is too much of a yesman and doesn’t set realistic expectations. Please note that PPC is more of a long-term endeavor, and expecting instant results can be a dampener. 

The Road Ahead

Now that you are familiar with the costs of outsourcing PPC requirements to Indian agencies, you might want to decide between choosing a full-service vs. specialist offshore digital agency for your varied digital marketing requirements.