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iClick Advertising
6 roles covered

Which PPC seat do you actually need?

Agency versus freelancer versus in-house — with the salary math, the day-to-day, and the tipping points that decide which one wins.

Amazon Ads Specialist

Hire an Amazon Ads Specialist: agency, freelancer, or in-house?

An Amazon Ads specialist owns Sponsored Products, Brands, and Display, but the role is really about the loop between advertising and retail: listings, reviews, price, and stock all move ad performance. They steer to TACoS, total advertising cost of sales, not just ACoS. US costs span mid five to low six figures loaded; agency and freelancer models price seniority differently.

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eCommerce PPC Manager

Hire an eCommerce PPC Manager: agency, freelancer, or in-house?

An eCommerce PPC manager lives in the product feed, Shopping and Performance Max structure, and margin-tier bidding, because in feed-driven advertising the feed is the targeting. In the US, in-house cost sits in the mid five to low six figures loaded; agencies and freelancers price seniority differently. The right choice depends on catalog complexity, spend, and how much feed work the account needs.

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Google Ads Strategist

Hire a Google Ads Strategist: agency, freelancer, or in-house?

A Google Ads strategist owns campaign architecture, bid strategy, conversion tracking, and the monthly narrative that ties spend to revenue. Fully-loaded in-house cost in a US metro is $95K-$155K/year plus tools. Agency retainer for equivalent seniority is $2K-$6K/month. Freelancer contracts run $4K-$8K/month for 15-25 hours. Which one wins depends on your spend, complexity, and how much strategy hand-off you can absorb.

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Meta Ads Strategist

Hire a Meta Ads Strategist: agency, freelancer, or in-house?

A Meta Ads strategist owns creative strategy, Advantage+ structure, the Conversions API signal, and audience seeds, the inputs that actually decide performance now that targeting is automated. In the US market, fully-loaded in-house cost typically runs in the mid five figures to low six figures a year plus tools; agency retainers and freelancer contracts price seniority differently. Which wins depends on your creative volume, spend, and channel mix.

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Paid Search Analyst

Hire a Paid Search Analyst: agency, freelancer, or in-house?

A paid search analyst owns the data layer beneath strategy: conversion-tracking integrity, reporting, search-term and query analysis, and reconciling platform numbers against the backend. They are not the strategist who sets direction, they are the person who makes sure the numbers everyone trusts are actually true. You need one once the account is complex enough that measurement is a job in itself.

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PPC Director

Hire a PPC Director: agency, fractional, or in-house?

A PPC director owns strategy across channels, not the buttons in one platform: budget allocation, the measurement framework, channel mix, and the commercial narrative to leadership. In the US this is a senior six-figure in-house role; a fractional director or agency lead delivers the same judgment part-time. You need this layer once spend spans multiple channels and specialists need coordinating.

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Unlock expert-led
advertising strategy
for your business.

Every agency is not the same. At iClick Advertising, we don't offer ‘free audits’, we provide actionable insights that improve real growth.

  • Ad Performance Analysis - Learn what is working, what is not, and where hidden opportunities exist.
  • Audience Targeting & Precision - Use advanced and data-driven insights to refine your ideal customer profiles.
  • Strategic Campaign Optimization - We'll guide you on structuring pay-per-click campaigns for better ROI and lower CPA.
  • Competitive Analysis - See how your ad strategy compares to industry leaders.
  • This isn't a common audit. It's a high-value strategy session for businesses committed to growth. Submit your details & let's get started.
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