Marketing Sherpa’s 2007 Paid Search Agency Buyer’s Guide came out in mid-September. It’s designed to help marketers who think they might want to outsource their search engine marketing efforts, decide on an agency to hire. The report provides in-depth analysis of the services provided by the SEM agencies, types of clients served, revenue ranges, tools used, etc. The report is very helpful and provides some great insights of the 62 agencies who answered the Sherpa’s questionnaire in spring 2006.

One of the more… interesting things about the report is that they do argue strongly that marketers should hire an outside person or agency to do SEM. Interesting, because the same report states that only 27% of paid search advertisers currently outsource their SEM. And, the Jupiter Agency Constellation report from August 2006 indicated that a majority of the surveyed mid-size marketers (under $1MM per year in search spend) are dissatisfied with their current agency. Does the Sherpa guide just take this position because they are selling this report to the audience of potential customers who are already considering outsourcing paid search? Is it a “tell them what they want to hear?”

An argument that the Sherpa guide gives for outsourcing PPC is that agencies have the in-depth knowledge of the paid search space, acquired through immersion and experience. While this is true, there is certainly a growing number of client-side marketers who are gaining that same experience through hands-on management of their own campaigns. And, what about all the people who formerly worked at paid search agencies who are now getting hired onto the client side? Surely they take their experience and knowledge with them. Many companies are creating full-time search marketing manager posts; in fact, search is now such an integral part of a marketing team that the Search Engine Strategies conference this past August had a panel called “The VPs of Search Marketing.” What? Executives overseeing little ol” paid search? We love this!

Bottom line? You need not worry if you are not hiring a search agency. There are reasons for hiring one, and reasons against. You need to evaluate your needs vs. what an agency can offer you. The Sherpa report gives some great insights on that front as well, which we’ll report on in a separate post.

Posted in: SEM Agencies | Search Industry Trends