What does ad management involve?
Ad management covers all paid-campaign activities: account structure setup, audience definition, ad copy, bidding strategies, conversion tracking and weekly to monthly adjustments.
It's not one-off. A Google Ads account that works fine in January often performs worse in June as search terms, competition and bids constantly change. Without management, return evaporates slowly.
What does an ad manager do?
At account level: campaign structure setup, conversion tracking implementation, audience segmentation, budget allocation, bidding strategy.
At campaign level: ad variant testing, negative keyword addition, search term reports, landing page performance, bid adjustments by location and device.
At reporting level: monthly explanation of what changed, what worked, and which step follows. Not just numbers but interpretation.
Which platforms?
Google Ads dominates search-intent campaigns. Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) dominates interest-based campaigns. LinkedIn for B2B targeting by job title.
TikTok Ads and Pinterest Ads for specific age groups and visually-driven products. Snapchat Ads for young audiences under 25.
Each platform has different rules. A good ad manager knows the UI, bidding strategies and pitfalls of every platform you're active on.
Ad management fees
Agencies usually charge in one of three ways: fixed monthly fee, percentage of ad budget, or hourly rate.
Fixed monthly fee: from €750 for a small account with 1-2 campaigns. From €1,500/month for multiple campaigns across platforms.
Percentage of budget: typically 10-15% of ad spend. Works if you want to scale flexibly.
On top of this come ad costs themselves (click budget). An ads budget of €1,000/month plus €750/month management is a realistic starting position.
When to outsource?
From the moment your ad budget hits €500/month+. Below that threshold, doing it yourself is often more profitable than paying an agency.
When you don't trust conversion tracking or don't know how to set it up correctly. That's the difference between burning money and knowing return.
When you want multiple platforms at once. Combinations of Google Ads + Meta + LinkedIn drift without central coordination.
How to pick a reliable agency?
Ask for account-level access, not just reports. Whoever doesn't give access hides details.
Ask for cases with concrete numbers (ROAS, CPA) and the duration of the relationship. Agencies with clients who stay 3-5 years deliver consistently.
Ask whether the manager is certified (Google Partner status, Meta Business Partner). Not decisive but a minimum bar.
Ask what they DON'T do. Agencies that promise everything usually deliver little.
Common mistakes
Conversion tracking not set up or not tested. Then agencies and algorithms optimise on empty data.
No baseline measured before the agency joins. Without a starting point, growth isn't provable.
Picking an agency on lowest price. A good agency pays for itself, a cheap agency earns less and costs more mistakes.
No clear agreements on reporting frequency and escalation when performance drops.
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