As the debate around programmatic transparency rages on and the traditional agency model of media markups and kickbacks crumbles, very little is said about transparency across other marketing channels.
Take paid search[1], for example. With many mid-tier brands spending considerably[2] more on PPC than programmatic, there are often fundamental gaps or flaws in the data and information that is passed between agencies and advertisers.
We’re not talking about financial or commercial transparency (though there was a time when Google[3] was giving agencies kickbacks on PPC spend) – but transparency in relation to campaign management, activity and performance.
This lack of transparency can have a significant negative impact on an advertiser’s performance in the channel.
Here are some practical steps that agencies and advertisers can take to achieve a more transparent paid search relationship and therefore greater return.
Open data is the foundation
Long gone are the days when clients should be waiting for a report to land in their inbox – the report should be ready for the clients whenever they choose to access it.
Advertisers should have instant access to all the same data their agency has access to, in a format that works for them. This open approach to data really is the foundation of a transparent paid search relationship – enabling an analyst and client to work closely together, accessing the same data, and optimizing daily to improve performance and outmaneuver the competition.
Financially and operationally, it shouldn’t be a challenge to take this approach. Through using Google Sheets and relatively cheap tools like Supermetrics, you can build a real-time, auto-updating report that pulls data from Adwords, Bing, Google Analytics, Search Console and, in