Last year, we at Digital People Group DPL launched a PRO support service for contextual and targeted advertising. The essence of this service is that our agency specialists act as external experts when the client already has an in-house employee responsible for online promotion. In this article, we explain why companies need "extra hands" through our collaboration with the Moscow-based brand — Taxi "Shokolad".
Why does the market need this?
We launched the in-house support service in response to market demand: clients started reaching out to us who were already capable of managing advertising themselves, but needed additional expertise and an external perspective in certain situations. It became clear that these clients needed not a one-time consulting session, but a systematically structured collaboration. The goal can vary and change over time: they come to us to solve complex problems, to “work on mistakes,” or when everything is already running smoothly but could still be improved.
In the case of Taxi “Shokolad”, the client came with a general request to improve the efficiency of campaigns in Yandex.Direct and Google Ads (we started working together in mid-February 2022, when Google Ads was still active in Russia).
It’s important to understand that the in-house support format is democratic: we propose changes, and the client on their side decides whether to implement them or not. Every month, we prepare a report marking whether the client’s specialist followed our recommendations or not. Interestingly, in this case, the best results in Yandex.Direct were achieved when the client’s specialist implemented all the adjustments we suggested (from May to August 2022).
What can you do with PRO support?
Over the nearly one year of providing this service, we’ve learned that clients’ requests can vary greatly, ranging from “What can we do to reduce the cost per lead?” to “How can we scale our campaigns?”
If a client is unable to clearly formulate a request but understands that their advertising isn’t as effective as it should be, we conduct an audit of their existing campaigns. Based on this, we provide recommendations, suggest experiments, and assess the results. Essentially, this is all part of the agency’s services, but in this case, we don’t execute the work “hands-on.”
It’s important for us that those involved in the process are fully engaged and invested in the outcome. For this reason, we assign a specialist with relevant experience in the client’s business sector. The client decides who their representative will be— for example, for “Shokolad Taxi,” the project manager and the advertising specialist were involved.
At the outset, we defined the frequency of our meetings and priorities, which, for obvious reasons, were adjusted from the end of February 2022. Conditionally, our collaboration can be divided into three stages:
- Yandex Direct: February 15 – September 5, 2022. In September, the advertising was paused because the client chose a more cost-effective traffic source.
- Google Ads: February 14 – March 4, 2022. In March, Google suspended its advertising services in Russia.
- Yandex Business: April 15 – present.
Below is a list of the processes in which we participated, conducted, or initiated for Yandex Direct and Google Ads:
- Copying and launching advertising campaigns in Yandex Direct and Google Ads.
- Recommendations for integrating analytics systems and the Uis cloud telephony service.
- Auditing Yandex Direct and Google Ads campaigns.
- Reporting on Yandex Direct network placements.
- Reports by devices, gender, and age.
- Weekly and monthly reports on Yandex Direct and Google Ads campaigns.
- Reports on keywords, conditions of display, text ads, and targeting categories in Yandex Direct campaigns.
- Verification of implemented adjustments.
- Consultation on moderation, new formats, and campaign operations.
Currently, the client only runs advertising through Yandex Business — a tool that automatically launches ads with small budgets and requires minimal settings. Yandex Business doesn’t demand serious setup or management, so our involvement here includes:
- Selecting the most effective ad placements.
- Calculating the budget and forecasting the number of potentially interested users.
- Providing recommendations for handling reviews, completing company profiles, and creating advertising materials.
- Consulting on moderation.
- Communicating with Yandex Business support regarding delays in updating statistics and materials after corrections in the account.
While our participation remains advisory, we are still actively engaged in optimizing the overall performance and initiating ideas that can help the business progress more effectively. For the client, this means not only growing their team’s expertise but also having access to specialists who are always available. Additionally, this provides a “safety net” in case the in-house specialist goes on vacation or falls ill.
A logical question would be: “Why is this beneficial for us?” The answer is simple: it’s crucial for us to understand what’s happening in the market, to know our clients’ pain points and needs, and—by doing so—build our expertise. This allows us to maintain a reasonable price for PRO-support, while helping our clients create effective advertising strategies in these challenging new conditions. Win-win.
What the client himself says
Vladimir Polonets,
Marketing Director
When we turned to Digital People Group (DPL) for external expertise, the company already had two marketers in-house handling advertising on Yandex and Google. As the manager, I understood that our in-house employees had reached a certain peak in their productivity, while we still had growth areas, and our paid traffic could be more effective.
I faced a dilemma: hire a highly qualified Yandex Ads specialist or further train and motivate our existing employees. Both options would require significant time and financial resources.
In the end, the ideal solution turned out to be the third option — we needed someone who could analyze our work, fix the mistakes, and advise us on how to improve. Essentially, we needed a classic coaching approach, similar to having a fitness coach in sports. After several rounds of negotiations, Digital People Group (DPL) offered us this type of service — they clearly understood our need and formulated exactly what we required.
The result exceeded my expectations. Here are the key takeaways:
- Advertising became more effective, with significantly better metrics
We monitor metrics daily, yearly, and monthly. Therefore, we can confidently say that the performance has improved significantly. While I cannot disclose our online advertising costs, I will say this: we achieved the desired results.
- Reduced personnel costs
We now have a new employee who spends 10% of their time managing contextual advertising, while the rest of their time is spent working on other lead-generation channels. I am confident that they are doing everything correctly in Yandex Direct, as their work is being monitored by Digital People Group (DPL).
- We eliminated reliance on individual employees, which is important for business
We no longer worry that an employee will leave or get sick — the agency always provides backup. The agency doesn’t take vacations or fall ill — it’s a whole team working together.
- Confidence that the advertising is 100% set up correctly
An agency of professionals who specialize in contextual advertising will always be more effective than in-house employees who have multiple responsibilities.
For us, it was crucial to build a friendly relationship with Digital People Group (DPL), based on mutual understanding and professionalism.
In general, I can confidently say that having an external expert is definitely a good investment in the company and the direction’s development. I have worked as a marketing director for over 15 years in various companies and businesses, and have also provided marketing consulting services.
My professional experience shows that no matter how skilled and knowledgeable in-house employees are, a fresh outside perspective is always necessary. Firstly, only an “unbiased” external expert can see what an in-house employee cannot. Secondly, specialists in a narrow field are always more professional in their area than generalists.
Therefore, I believe that the in-house team model from Digital People Group (DPL) is justified and effective.