PPC Agency vs. Consultant: Which is Right for Me?

Not sure if you should hire a pay-per-click (PPC) agency or consultant? It’s a common concern. After all, the lines between the two are often blurry. Below, we’ll break down what sets these two groups apart and provide a PPC agency vs. consultant comparison, so it’s easier to find the right professional for your needs.

PPC Agencies: What They Do and How They Work

A PPC agency manages paid ads on platforms like Google, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The goal is to bring in people who are ready to take a specific action, such as buy a product, request a quote, schedule a call, or fill out a form.

The agency handles everything from strategy to execution. That includes choosing where your ads appear, writing the messaging, building the campaigns, and improving performance over time. You’re hiring a team to make sure your budget is being spent in ways that actually move your business forward.

How PPC Agencies Operate

Every agency is different, but most follow a similar core process to get campaigns running efficiently and effectively.

• Initial Onboarding and Discovery: This stage focuses on understanding your business model, goals, target audience, and past campaign performance. It often includes a review of your existing ad accounts and analytics setup.
• Strategy Development: Based on that discovery work, the agency creates a plan outlining which platforms to use, how to allocate your budget, and what kind of messaging will resonate with your audience.
• Campaign Setup: At this point, the team builds out your campaigns. That includes writing ad copy, choosing visuals, selecting keywords or audience segments, setting up tracking tools, and configuring the campaigns inside the chosen ad platforms.
• Ongoing Campaign Management: Once ads are live, the agency monitors performance and makes regular adjustments. This can include testing new creatives, shifting budget toward top-performing ads, refining targeting, and improving cost efficiency.
• Reporting and Recommendations: You’ll receive updates showing how campaigns are performing. The agency should walk you through the numbers, explain what they mean, and outline next steps to strengthen results.

Common Services PPC Agencies Provide

Most agencies offer a mix of performance, creative, and technical support. 

• Search Engine Advertising: The agency runs search ads on platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising to capture people who are actively looking for your products or services.
• Social Media Advertising: These campaigns reach specific audiences based on interests, behaviors, or job roles by placing ads on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.
• Display and Retargeting Campaigns: You can stay in front of previous website visitors or reach new audiences through banner and video ads shown across websites, mobile apps, and YouTube.
• Landing Page Design and Optimization: Some agencies build landing pages designed to match your ad messaging and increase the chances of conversion, often using A/B testing to improve results over time.
• Creative Services: Agencies may offer copywriting, visual design, and video production services to create ad assets that align with your brand and meet platform-specific requirements.
• Analytics and Conversion Tracking: They set up and maintain systems like Google Analytics and Tag Manager to track which ads drive results, to help you tie ad spend directly to business growth.

How the Relationship Typically Works

PPC agencies tend to follow a retainer-based model, charging a flat monthly fee or a fee based on your ad spend. Within the agency, your account is usually handled by a team.

• Account Manager: Your main point of contact who communicates performance updates and gathers input from you.
• Media Buyer or Campaign Manager: The person responsible for the technical setup, monitoring, and performance adjustments inside the ad platforms.
• Creative Team: Designers and writers who produce visuals and copy that meet platform requirements and resonate with your audience.
• Strategist or Director: A senior expert who guides the high-level approach and ensures your campaigns align with business goals.

PPC Consultants: What They Do and How They Work

A PPC consultant is an individual who helps businesses plan, manage, or troubleshoot their paid advertising efforts. Some consultants actively manage campaigns, while others act as strategic advisors who guide your in-house team or marketing partners.

What sets consultants apart is their focus on customization. Instead of running clients through a standard process, a consultant looks closely at your specific goals, challenges, and internal resources before deciding how to help. You’re getting direct access to their experience, and they often draw from years of working inside agencies or managing large in-house accounts.

How PPC Consultants Operate

Consultants take a more personalized approach. They typically work with fewer clients at a time, which allows for deeper focus and direct involvement.

• Initial Evaluation and Goal Setting: The consultant begins by understanding your business model, pain points, and growth targets. They may audit your ad accounts, landing pages, analytics, and overall funnel before recommending any action.
• Custom Strategy Development: Instead of using preset frameworks, the consultant builds a strategy based on what will work for your specific market, budget, and internal team. That might mean developing new campaigns, refining an existing structure, or shifting your budget across platforms.
• Hands-On or Advisory Execution: Some consultants run campaigns directly, while others coach your internal team or agency. They may take full control of accounts or guide your staff through step-by-step improvements.
• Ongoing Optimization and Problem Solving: Consultants are often brought in to solve specific issues, like poor return on ad spend, high cost per lead, or underperforming creatives. They stay involved to refine the strategy, run tests, and keep performance aligned with your business goals.
• Performance Reviews and Adjustments: Most consultants meet with you regularly to explain what’s working, what needs to change, and how to move forward. These reviews tend to focus on business impact more than just ad metrics.

Common Services PPC Consultants Provide

While consultants offer a narrower set of services than agencies, their support tends to go deeper and more directly into strategy, troubleshooting, and performance improvement.

• Ad Account Audits and Restructuring: The consultant reviews your ad account setup in detail and recommends structural changes that improve efficiency, targeting accuracy, and performance tracking.
• Custom Strategy Development: You get a tailored plan that outlines which platforms to use, how to allocate your budget, and what messaging and offers will resonate with your audience.
• Platform-Specific Execution and Optimization: Many consultants run campaigns inside Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, or YouTube directly, making daily adjustments to improve performance and cut waste.
• Conversion Tracking and Attribution Setup: Consultants often help businesses set up or fix tracking systems to ensure leads, purchases, and other actions are measured correctly.
• Landing Page Feedback or Collaboration: While consultants usually do not build landing pages, they often review existing ones and work with your designer or developer to improve clarity, consistency, and conversion rates.
• Training and Coaching for In-House Teams: If you have a marketing team, the consultant may train them on campaign management, performance tracking, or copy and creative best practices so your business can become more self-sufficient.

How the Relationship Typically Works

Consultants generally work on a monthly retainer, an hourly basis, or a project fee, depending on the scope. What makes the relationship different is how direct and collaborative it tends to be.

• One-on-One Access: You work directly with the person doing the work. There’s no go-between or account manager filtering communication.
• Flexible Support Structure: Some consultants operate like an external CMO for your paid media. Others step in only when there’s a performance issue to fix or a short-term need to cover.
• Clear Accountability: Because consultants work independently, there’s rarely confusion about who owns what. They are hired for their judgment, speed, and ability to solve problems quickly.

PPC Agency vs. Consultant: A Quick Comparison

If you’re trying to decide between hiring a PPC agency or a consultant, start by considering what kind of support your business needs.

PPC agencies offer access to a full team. They can manage everything from ad creation to reporting and often handle larger workloads with defined processes. This structure can work well if your business needs speed, scale, or extra hands.

PPC consultants provide direct, strategic input. They typically work alone or with a small network of collaborators and focus on tailoring the strategy to your business. If you need custom guidance or want someone to challenge your assumptions, a consultant may be a better fit.

Let’s take a quick side-by-side look at how they differ.

• Structure: Agencies operate as teams with separate roles for strategy, execution, and communication. Consultants usually work solo and handle all aspects directly.
• Support Style: Agencies provide full-service execution. Consultants offer either hands-on help or strategic advice, depending on the engagement.
• Communication: With an agency, you usually speak to an account manager. With a consultant, you speak directly to the person doing the work.
• Customization: Agencies follow proven processes designed for efficiency and scale. Consultants build around your unique business needs and internal structure.
• Cost and Flexibility: Agencies often require long-term retainers with minimum ad spend commitments. Consultants are more likely to offer flexible terms or short-term engagements.

When to Hire a PPC Agency 

Hiring an agency makes sense if your business needs support across multiple areas of campaign management and does not have in-house bandwidth or expertise.

You may want to hire a PPC agency if:

• You Need Full Execution from Start to Finish: The agency can handle creative, copy, targeting, tracking, and performance reporting without needing heavy input from your team.
• You Want to Run Campaigns Across Multiple Platforms: Managing ads on Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and YouTube at the same time can require a large amount of work, which an agency is built to handle.
• You Value Consistency and Predictability: Agencies follow standard operating procedures, making it easier to forecast timelines and deliverables.
• You Plan to Scale Your Spend Quickly: An agency can adapt to higher ad budgets and increased campaign complexity without needing to restructure your account.
• You Prefer Working with a Defined Team Structure: If you want a dedicated account manager and access to specialized designers, analysts, or writers, an agency can give you that support.

When to Hire a PPC Consultant

A consultant is the right choice when you need deeper strategy, better performance, or someone to help your team move in the right direction, without adding unnecessary layers.

You may want to hire a PPC consultant if:

• You Want a Custom Strategy Designed Around Your Business: Consultants are best at tailoring their approach based on your goals, market, and internal resources.
• You Need to Troubleshoot Poor Results: If your current campaigns are underperforming and you need someone to diagnose and fix them, a consultant can offer fast, focused solutions.
• You Already Have a Marketing Team in Place: A consultant can work alongside your internal staff to guide execution, train team members, or improve existing campaigns.
• You Want Direct Access to the Expert: If you prefer working one-on-one with the person making the decisions, a consultant removes the middle layer and gives you that visibility.
• You’re Not Ready for a Long-Term Retainer: Consultants often take on short-term projects or month-to-month engagements, making them easier to work with when budgets or goals are still evolving.

Find the Right Match for Your Business or Get the Best of All Worlds

A lot of PPC agencies behave like consultants, and a lot of consultants behave like agencies. That can make it difficult to assess what’s being offered and ensure the advertising professional you choose is capable of working in the manner you need and delivering the results you deserve. 

We help you cut through the noise by meeting with you for a free consultation. During this brief meeting, we get to know your business and what you want to achieve, then match you with the right professional or team for your goals. 

If you’d like to be connected with a vetted PPC professional, request a complimentary consultation now.  

PPC Agency vs. Consultant FAQs