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Recommending the ideal PPC budget to an account is essential to what you do as a PPC professional. Digital marketing often requires you to estimate how much they should spend to get the results you want. It’s a lot of pressure, but you can handle it.
Right?
If you hesitated at all when answering that question, don’t worry. We have all been there. Those of us that didn’t hesitate (much) know that the best formula for working with clients is one part knowledge, one part empathy, and one part more knowledge.
So, the good news is you are in the right place because we have a few tips for you on how to recommend a PPC budget to a client.
How to Recommend a PCC Budget to a Client
- Know the background basics. Shape, a PPC management platform, has a handy list of factors that come into consideration when you estimate an appropriate PPC budget for a digital campaign for clients, which includes:
- How the clients’ campaigns have done in the past
- External and industry trends, e.g., changes in performance metrics, time of year
- Ad testing expenses
- Show them the data. Most clients know that you can’t guarantee that what you estimate will produce the optimal results. However, they do want to know where you got your numbers. So, Shape says to show them the data. From those basics, like past performance and growth numbers, to industry or digital marketing channel-specific statistics. Here’s a list of our favorite automated reporting tools.
- Reduce their risk when you can. Shape also recommends researching if the platforms offer discounts, coupons, or matching programs based on ad spends. The idea is that the client will feel less reluctance to okay the budget if they know they are not footing the whole bill for it.
To read all of Shape’s suggestions for nailing the budget recommendation, please click here.
- Try to nail down a strategy before you make a budget recommendation. As you know, there are a multitude of options and a limitless amount you can spend on a campaign. To deliver a helpful suggestion, getting more information from the client can make a significant difference in the results you can produce and the accuracy of your estimates. Find out things like what their goal is or their anticipated budget for the project. This information can make a critical difference in what you recommend.
- Set proper client expectations. Things change in digital marketing all the time. It’s a good idea to explain to clients that your recommendation is good, but only for now. You should often review the budget to ensure that you are optimizing your strategy to meet your client’s key performance indicators. One way to solidify reasonable expectations is to have agreed-upon metrics to measure success. These can come from the client or you, but they should be chosen at the start of the campaign to help establish a way to communicate success.
- But perhaps most importantly…
Use Google Adwords Keyword Planner
There are numerous ways you can estimate a PPC budget for your client. You can use trending data from monthly reports, create an amplified version of the client’s current CPC, modify a new plan starting with competitive companies’ data in the industry, or, our favorite, take a guess.
Google AdWords Keyword Planner is an excellent resource for data that leads to the most accurate estimates possible for your client’s spending (and certainly performs better than a guess). The keyword research Google provides presents the number of searches for those keywords and what the bidding amount was. It is important to note that you must have an active Google Ads account to use the tool.
Here is a Step-By-Step Guide on How to Use the Google Adwords Keyword Planner:
- Log into your account and click on the wrench icon that says Tools & Settings > Keyword Planner.
- You will be presented with two options: Discover New Keyword or Get Search Volume Forecasts
- If you need to find keywords, choose Discover New Keyword.
- If you already have a list of keywords and want to determine search volume and estimated costs, click onGet Search Volume Forecasts.
- For the purpose of this blog, let’s start from scratch and use the keyword planner tool to help find keywords for our campaign. Click on Discover New Keyword
- Next, you will see this menu. You can choose to start with keywords or start with a website.

- Enter up to ten keywords in the text field. You can also enter a URL to use as a filter, so the tool can suggest relevant keywords based on your website as well. Once you enter the keywords, click on Get Results.
- On the next screen you should see data on the keywords provided, along with Google’s suggested keywords. Select the ones you want and click on Add keywords to create plan.



Communication is vital in any business relationship. How you communicate before, during, and after your budget recommendation is critical to maintaining your integrity and trust with the client. By knowing the basics, showing your client data, and reducing risk whenever possible, you set up a foundation for success with your client. That success is further strengthened by agreeing upon a strategy, doing proper keyword research, and setting reasonable expectations by establishing metrics beforehand. Perhaps most importantly, you will be able to face this high-pressure moment with the confidence that you have what you need to succeed—without hesitation.
Sources:
“Nail or Fail Your Next PPC Budget Recommendation Using These 12 Techniques.” Shape.io. Web. 20 May 2021. < https://shape.io/ppc-budget-recommendations>.
“The PPC Budget Recommendation Predicament & What To Do About It.” intigress.com. 25 March 2021. Web. 20 May 2021. < https://www.intigress.com/blog/digital-advertising/ppc-budget-recommendation-predicament>. >.