What a 5-figure Google Ads agency did to an 8-figure brand...

The other day, I was having a audit call with a brand owner when he made this comment:

“I've been around in the game long enough to know a lof of agencies aren’t worth it. Spent a lot of money. Burned most times. I’ve kind of had enough of agencies to be honest.”

Have you ever felt like this before?

You’re paying 5 figures for a team of “experts” to run your ads, but the results aren’t quite what you think they should be.

It’s frustrating really.

I've talked to brands where their agencies can't even get their GMC unsuspended.

That means they can't run Shopping Ads, the most important channel on Google.

Like seriously?

You're supposed to be a top agency and you can't figure that out?

It’s weird because it seems like there’re new agencies and so-called “experts” popping up every single month.

But so few brands have had a great experience with any of them.

So what separates the agencies and in-house teams that are crushing it from the others?

Let’s explore this…

1. Systems

You'll be surprised how many companies out there operate without a solid system in place.

They've got a team of employees, but each one runs their own playbook.

There's no unified approach. Each person has "their way" of doing things.

So you're not actually working with an agency that generated all those case studies they showed you.

You're working with whoever gets assigned to your account, someone operating on their own principles and preferences.

If you get a great media buyer, fantastic.

But what if you get someone who's not competent enough for your situation?

This isn’t just about their skills btw.

Maybe they’re less experienced in that niche.

Or they usually work with smaller budgets when you’re spending a lot.

Or they’re used to different business models (i.e, a MRR supplements brand vs. a clothing brand)

You need a team that has both the systems and the talent in place to handle all these variables.

This way, no matter what your situation is, they know exactly how to deliver the best results.

2. Knowing how to navigate tricky issues

This is massively underrated, especially for ad platforms with strict policies.

Take the example I mentioned earlier.

Your GMC account can get suspended for a wide variety of reasons.

You need to know how to diagnose each issue and get the account back up and running fast.

Another case…

One of our clients was crushing it with YouTube Ads, spending around $150k/month in September.

Without any prior notice, Google converted all their YouTube campaigns into Demand Gen and tanked performance overnight.

We helped them rework the entire setup and relaunch everything in one day.

A week later, spend was back up to $5k per day with stable performance.

If we didn’t know how to handle this and pivoted quickly…

They could have wasted 6 figures in ad spend.

And their account would be in terrible shape heading into BFCM.

Ad platforms and algorithm changes will occasionally throw curveballs at you.

At scale, a small issue like that could cost you thousands in wasted ad spend per day.

So it’s key to have:

• Systems to catch problems as soon as they arise

• Someone who knows to fix them fast

3. Data

The reason why Facebook or Google became such powerful advertising platforms is because of the mountains of data they have.

They know everything about their users and they know what works for their advertisers.

The same applies when choosing an agency or building a team.

For example, we’ve worked with over 500 ecom brands.

We have data from hundreds of millions in ad spend.

We’re managing 150+ accounts so we see what’s working right across dozens of industries.

That’s a huge dataset compared to a senior media buyer who’s worked at 3 brands.

We’ll know how to manage almost any type of ecom brand from day one.

We’ll know how to deal with difficult situations instead of wasting time “learning” how to do them.

We’ll have more testing ideas by taking inspiration from other niches.

And when you have this much data, you develop pattern recognition.

It’s kinda like a basketball veteran who’s played 10,000 games.

You’ll see plays that a rookie misses.

You’ll spot insights faster, make better decisions, find “hidden” keyword opportunities, etc.

Now, I'm not saying a new agency or someone with less experience can't deliver good results.

They can.

The probability is just smaller. 

4. The drive to push performance beyond acceptable

This might sound a bit corny, but I believe this is one of the most important factors. Maybe the most important one.

A lot of teams simply don’t have a winning mindset.

Their employees don’t enjoy the work. They clock in, do what’s assigned, and move on with their day.

For them, managing ad accounts is about checking boxes on a task list… rather than hunting for new opportunities to drive more profit.

They don’t feel any urgency or have any desire to push client results.

Sometimes, it's the company culture.

Sometimes, the team member isn't incentivized properly.

Sometimes, they're burned out from managing too many accounts.

The reason doesn't really matter.

If you've ever hired people for your company, you definitely know what I'm talking about.

There’s a clear difference between someone who's passionate about the work and someone who's just going through the motions.

You can feel it in the way they talk, their Slack messages, the number of changes they suggest.

In many cases, it’s mental things like this that kill performance.

You can have all the skills and systems in the world, but if your team isn't driven to win, you'll never get the results you're paying for.

Okay I know this is a long email with a bit of ranting from my end, so what can you do with this information?

I know some of you reading this are agency owners and media buyers. You can use these to level up your own operation.

And if you're an ecom brand…

Hope this gives you a better lens to evaluate whether you're working with the right team/hiring the right person.

Jackson

Founder and CEO of Echelonn.

How we can help:

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