PPC Agency in Phoenix: The Ultimate Vetting Guide

Trying to find a decent PPC agency in a city like Phoenix can feel like a proper nightmare. The market's crowded, everyone promises you the world, and most of them will just burn through your cash with very little to show for it. The first myth we need to bust is the idea that you absolutely have to hire a local agency. It feels safer, I get it, but it's a trap that limits your options to whoever happens to have an office down the road in Scottsdale or Tempe.

Honestly, an agency's postcode is one of the least important factors. What you actually need is an agency with proven, repeatable experience getting results for businesses exactly like yours. An expert in B2B SaaS based in London will run circles around a generalist local agency in Phoenix, 100% of the time. We work with clients all over the world. What matters is expertise, not proximity.

So, what should I really be looking for?

Forget the fancy office and the slick sales pitch. Your entire focus should be on their track record. When you look at thier case studies, you need to be ruthless. Don't be impressed by big logos or flashy design. You're looking for proof.

-> Do they have experience in your niche? If you run a real estate brokerage in Arizona, you want to see that they've worked with other real estate clients. If you're in the booming Phoenix tech scene, you want to see B2B SaaS or software case studies. We've worked on campaigns for software companies where we've hit a $22 CPL for decision-makers on LinkedIn Ads or generated 1,535 trials from Meta Ads. That kind of specific experience is what you're paying for.

-> Are the results real? A case study that says "we generated 10 million views" is mostly useless. That's a vanity metric. What did those views turn into? You want to see hard numbers that affect the bottom line: Cost Per Lead (CPL), Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), and Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). For example, we ran a campaign for a cleaning products company that acheived a 633% return. That's a real number you can take to the bank.

-> Are the results realistic? Be skeptical of anything that sounds too good to be true. If an agency claims they get a 20x ROAS for every client, they're either lying or only showing you their one lucky outlier. Good results take time and testing. It's not a magic switch. Tbh, a good agency will be honest about the challenges and the time it takes to optimise.

Here's a simple way to think about vetting their past work:

How do I spot the cowboys from the real experts?

The PPC world is full of people who talk a good game but can't deliver. The biggest red flag, without a doubt, is a guarantee of results. No one can guarantee a specific ROAS or number of leads. There are just too many variables: your offer, your website, your competition, changes in the ad platforms. An expert knows this and will talk about realistic forecasts and data-driven targets, not impossible promises.

Another thing to watch out for is excessive jargon. If they start throwing around terms like 'synergistic multi-channel attribution modelling' without explaining what it actually means for your business, they're probably trying to confuse you into thinking they're smart. A true expert can explain complex topics in simple terms. They should be focused on your business goals, not their own clever-sounding process.

The best way to vet them is to get on a call. A good agency will offer a free initial consultation or an account review. This is your chance to see how they think. Are they asking you smart questions about your customer lifetime value, your profit margins, and your sales process? Or are they just jumping straight to keywords and ad spend? The former is a strategist; the latter is just a button-pusher. If after looking at their case studies and having a free review call, you still dont trust them enough to ask for references from their other clients, it's probably not a good fit anyway. That's a sign of a trust issue that will likely persist.

What kind of results are actually realistic for a business in Phoenix?

This is the million-dollar question, isn't it? The answer is... it depends. A lot. It depends on your industry, your offer, and how competitive the local market is. A CPL for an emergency plumber in Phoenix will be vastly different from a CPL for an eCommerce store selling handcrafted jewellery.

But let's try and put some ballpark figures on it. Based on our experience running campaigns for service businesses, you might be looking at anything from $10 to $60 per lead. We've run campaigns for childcare services that saw a CPL around $10, but we also currently manage a campaign for an HVAC company in a competitive US city where leads are closer to $60. Both campaigns are very profitable for the client because the value of a new customer is so different.

For eCommerce, the calculation is different. You're looking at Cost Per Purchase and ROAS. A conversion rate of 2-5% is pretty standard. So if your average Cost Per Click (CPC) is $1.50 and your conversion rate is 2%, your cost per sale would be $75 ($1.50 / 2%). If you're selling a $200 product, that's great. If you're selling a $50 product, it's not. It's all relative.

To help you get a better feel for this, I've built a simple calculator. Play around with the numbers to see how CPC and your website's conversion rate can dramatically impact your cost per lead.

What questions should I ask them on the discovery call?

This is where you seperate the professionals from the amateurs. You need to go into this call prepared to grill them. Their answers will tell you everything you need to know about their competence.

Don't ask "How much do you cost?". Ask better questions:

-> "Can you walk me through your onboarding process for a new client like me?"
A good answer involves deep discovery, research into competitors, persona development, and technical setup (tracking, pixels etc.). A bad answer is "You send us your credit card details and we start running ads."

-> "What's your approach to ad creative and copy?"
They should talk about a structured testing process. Testing different angles, hooks, images, and videos. If they just say "we make great ads," run. We often use specialist copywriters because we know how much of a difference professional copy makes.

-> "Beyond managing the ads, what is your view on our current landing page?"
This is a critical one. A great agency knows that traffic is useless if the destination doesn't convert. They should have an opinion on your website and be able to suggest improvements. If they only focus on the ad platform, they're only doing half the job. Poor results are often not the ads fault, many businesses find they get good traffic that simply doesn't convert, and this often comes down to their ad creative and landing page alignment.

-> "How do you measure success and what does your reporting look like?"
They should talk about business metrics (leads, sales, ROAS), not just ad metrics (clicks, CTR). The report should be clear, concise, and tell you what they've done, what the results were, and what they plan to do next.

You can even score their answers to get a more objective view.

I have a B2B tech company. What should I be looking for?

The Phoenix area has a strong and growing tech scene. If you're part of it, your needs are very different from a local service business. Generic consumer-focused agencies will likely waste your money. You need a specialist who understands the long sales cycles and complex decision-making processes of B2B.

Your primary platforms will likely be Google Search and LinkedIn. Google Search is for capturing active demand—people searching for terms like "accounting software for small business" or "cybersecurity provider Phoenix". This is high-intent traffic, but can be expensive. For a deeper look at the platforms, you might want to understand the strategic differences between Google Ads and LinkedIn for B2B.

LinkedIn is for creating demand. It allows you to target decision-makers with surgical precision based on their job title, company size, industry, and more. For B2B, this is often the most effective channel. We've run many successful B2B SaaS campaigns, including one where we reduced a client's cost per user acquisition from over £100 down to just £7. This was done by finding the right audiences on Meta and Google Ads and targeting them with a much stronger offer. Another campaign for a B2B software client generated 4,622 registrations at just $2.38 each on Meta, which is exceptionally low for B2B.

A B2B-focused agency will also talk to you about your funnel in a different way. They'll know that a "Buy Now" button doesn't work. It's about generating qualified leads, nurturing them with valuable content, and using ads to support the sales team, not just to make an instant sale. They should ask about your CRM, your sales process, and how you qualify leads. If they don't, they don't understand B2B.

So, how do I make the final choice?

By now, you should have a much clearer idea. You've ignored geography, scrutinised their case studies, grilled them on a discovery call, and understood what realistic results look like. The final choice comes down to a combination of proven expertise and a good gut feeling. Do you trust these people to be a strategic partner for your business?

This whole process isn't about finding the cheapest option or the one with the flashiest website. It's about finding the right partner who can become an extension of your team and deliver a genuine return on your investment. It's a big decision, so take your time and do your homework properly.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you in a table below to help summarise the process:

Choosing an agency is a big commitment, and getting it wrong can be incredibly expensive, not just in wasted ad spend but in lost time and opportunity. A great agency doesn't just manage your ads; they provide strategic insights that can help grow your entire business.

If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by the process or just want a second opinion on your current advertising efforts, that's what we're here for. We offer a completely free, no-obligation strategy consultation where we can take a look at your business and give you some honest, actionable advice. It's a good way to see if we might be the right fit to help you achieve your goals.