Marketing managers, general managers, and advertising or marketing agencies might not agree on this one: You should create your own ads account whenever you start advertising your business somewhere, whether it’s social media, Google, or anywhere else. Let’s dive into why having your own advertising accounts is a good idea, and what could happen if you don’t.
In the interest of full disclosure: I have worked for a dealership in a digital marketing capacity though I currently work in digital marketing for dealerships.
What do you mean, create your own, don’t companies do that for you?
An advertising agency might sell you on the ease of having them create an account for you. The reality is that in nearly all situations, creating an account is actually pretty easy. Most of the time, you sign up, enter some credit card info, and hand off the keys to an advertiser.
Data is Vital
I would consider your advertising data to be tied for the most important reason why you should have your own advertising accounts.
Even if the account performance was not great, and you didn’t sell many cars or get much service business, the data can be important to tell you what NOT to do. Seriously! Look at how an account is set up; from ad copy to keywords and graphics and if it didn’t work, consider that a template for what didn’t work.
Otherwise, if an advertising campaign was decent, the data can be helpful! You can use that data to make the new campaigns with a new advertiser work better. Most advertising or marketing agencies will jump on the opportunity to use some previous data so that your new ads can start performing better, and faster.
Access is Important
Imagine you spend a good amount of time developing a Facebook page; getting followers, making engaging posts, and posting years of event photos. Then it’s all gone one day because your advertiser closed its doors and you don’t even have a login. You’ll have to fight through Facebook, Instagram, and Google to verify that it is your account.
Instead, starting your own account and inviting an advertising or marketing agency into the account at least provides more assurance that you won’t waste your time trying to fight your previous ad agency for access.
Transparency and training
I’ll be real honest here: it’s not necessarily difficult for you to learn about how well your Facebook or Google campaigns are doing at a glance. The usual issue here is that some marketing agencies don’t give you any access to the account at all.
Having your own account means you can check whatever you want, whenever you want. Want to know more about what conversions your agency is measuring without asking? You can do it.
Some agencies will teach you about what to look for, but in some cases, you might have to do some technical training to understand what some things mean. It’s well worth it though.
Most ad networks have a change history you can view. Are the marketers making at least a few changes per month? Are they doing anything? Owning your account gives you a view into this world.
Conclusion
For a large variety of reasons from transparency to data and time efficiency, the ability to create and own your own advertising accounts will help you in the long run!
