Jellyfish - The leading agency dedicated to Search

Who are Jellyfish?

For the last 5 years Jellyfish has differentiated itself from other online marketing agencies by specializing in paid search marketing. Not only have we specialized in this competitive and ever-evolving arena; we pride ourselves with being the first large agency (not super affiliate) to offer a self-financing and risk free solution for running Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns.

Based in London and New York and established in 1999 we have been delivering successful and award winning paid search campaigns since the birth of PPC in 2000.

Our team of 80+ full time employees create and manage marketing campaigns using our cutting edge proprietary management platform (JUMP), whilst applying a deep understanding of user interaction online.

We are renowned for our meticulous approach and attention to detail which is reflected in a prestigious client list.

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What are the benefits of paid search as a marketing channel?

Paid search can prove a better channel to market your company through for a number of reasons:

Tracking - All marketing activity can be tracked, making your activity completely transparent and measurable.

ROI calculations - Your marketing activity can be measured against the return gained from this channel.

Feedback - You can implement learnings from your paid search campaign across the other channels you use.

Brand awareness - On top of the tangible rewards of paid search conversions the secondary benefit of brand building and brand awareness can be considered.

Targeted - All of your marketing activity online can be tailored specifically to the audience, from the ad copy to the landing page, the entire user experience can be manipulated.

Real time - Paid search can be used to react to trends, both seasonal and instantaneous, giving you the flexibility of adapting your marketing strategy to the market conditions.

Instant results - There is no time lag in reacting to the performance of your campaign, results both positive and negative can be addressed immediately.

Scalable - PPC campaigns are scalable and do not discriminate against smaller companies, you can determine the scope of your budgets.

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What is the Cost per Acquisition (CPA) model?

Before a campaign is constructed we work with our clients to define the objective of the campaign. For example the objective may be to drive sales, generate leads or deliver registrations. This objective is then referred to as the 'acquisition' and we agree with the client what they will pay Jellyfish for each new acquisition delivered via the Pay-Per-Click campaign.

This figure is then set as the 'Cost per Acquisition' (CPA) and is used to formulate a campaign which guarantees to deliver acquisitions at this agreed CPA.

The CPA model is still considered an extremely rare pricing model as it offers a risk free, self financing and high volume solution to generating incremental acquisitions, through online marketing.

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Why do Jellyfish use the Cost per Acquisition (CPA) model?

Why do Jellyfish use the Cost per Acquisition (CPA) model? By offering a guaranteed fixed Cost per Acquisition (CPA), we are not just incentivized to increase media spend; we are equally incentivized to increase the efficiency of the campaign. The higher the conversion of the campaign, the more money we can spend on media, thus allowing us to compete in the more competitive and expensive arenas, which ultimately results in much higher exposure and subsequent acquisitions for our clients.

With a standard consultative approach, we found that it takes more time to communicate the campaign strategy and justify the resources required, than it takes to acquire the resources and facilitate the running of the campaign. By introducing the CPA model we have the flexibility and autonomy to apply the required resource, take calculated risks and experiment with different techniques essential to enhancing a campaign's performance; all at no risk to our clients.

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What is involved in setting up a Cost per Acquisition (CPA) campaign?

Although we offer a full solution; it is imperative that we work closely with our clients to deliver campaigns which maximise the opportunity presented by the CPA model. Our main objective is to make our client's experience as smooth and hassle free as possible.

Conceptually the service we offer is very simple. However this does not change the fact that every campaign we launch requires us to follow extremely intricate and stringent processes. We have spent 9 years perfecting the finely tuned methodology used to deliver our CPA Campaigns.

There are 7 steps to creating our campaigns, whether we are transferring over a previously run campaign, or building one from scratch.

  1. The client signs a CPA agreement with Jellyfish.
  2. A handover meeting is held with the Account Management team.
  3. The client account is credited with 30 days projected CPA spend.
  4. Jellyfish begin to create landing pages or a campaign site if applicable.
  5. The Jellyfish Tracking System (JTS) is implemented.
  6. If a campaign already exists the PPC account is transferred & restructured. If one is required then a campaign is built from scratch.
  7. The campaign is launched for a 3 month 'Proof of Concept' period.
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Why do I need a campaign site/landing pages?

The campaign sites we build for our PPC campaigns are specifically designed to convert visitors. These sites do not contain the distractions and exit points found on most websites today. Whilst these exit points (banner ads, Google ads, and reciprocal links) are often necessary to help monetize a website and improve SEO, they often have a negative effect on delivering acquisitions in the form of sales or leads, for example.

The campaign site is extremely effective as it provides a focused sales environment which links relevant content to the millions of searchers using search engines to acquire information on a daily basis. Having linked a searcher with relevant content the campaign site leads them down a 'primrose path' to the sale or lead.

In our experience there is no negative effect of running both a main website which concentrates on organic listings, with its own commercial goals; and a campaign site which concentrates on Pay-Per-Click (PPC) traffic and has a very specific focus e.g. converting traffic. In fact, many of our clients who have introduced a campaign site have found that it actually enhanced the performance of their main site.

The benefits of using one of our campaign sites are:
  • They are more adaptable; allowing us to react and improve conversion according to opportunities identified by our sophisticated behavioural tracking systems.
  • They allow us to perform split testing and compare the performance of different Call to Actions (CTA's), copy, offers etc...
  • There is no distracting content which is not relevant to inducing an action.
  • All CTA's / links ultimately lead to the conversion process.
  • They ensure that our campaigns can be facilitated and measured in isolation to other campaigns or online strategies.
  • They are provided as part of the CPA Model for free!

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How long does it take to have a campaign up and running?

Once a signed CPA agreement is received, it takes 4 - 6 weeks for a campaign to go live. In the event that a campaign site is not required the process can be as little as 2 weeks.

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What is the typical length of a Cost per Acquisition agreement?

In our experience once a campaign passes the initial 3 month 'Proof of Concept' phase the CPA agreement is open ended with a 3 month notice period.

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What Cost per Acquisition (CPA) should I use?

The number of acquisitions that can be achieved with a Jellyfish campaign is directly proportional to the CPA; therefore, the higher the CPA, the higher the number of sales or leads the campaign will generate.

See typical CPA vs. Acquisition curve below

We recommend that for a successful campaign, aimed at generating volume, you attribute the maximum amount you can afford for each acquisition.

Here is an example of how to determine your CPA:
  • Gross profit - On average an acquisition's Life Time Value (LTV) is worth $300 of gross profit.
  • Marketing budget - In our experience a client may spend approximately 25% of GP on acquisition of new business = $75
  • Conversion - If you converted enquiries to sales at 25% you can calculate the value of an enquiry to be $18.75

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Where does Jellyfish make its money?

Our aim is to construct and maintain a campaign which can generate the maximum number of acquisitions possible at a cost which is less than the agreed Cost per Acquisition (CPA).

Like most business models, the economy of scale means that the more volume we can generate, the more cost effective the campaign becomes. The CPA model therefore benefits both parties as the core objective for the campaign will always be continued growth in the form of more acquisitions.

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How does Jellyfish's fee structure work?

We offer a full solution for generating acquisitions using Paid Search technologies; therefore there is no set fee structure. Once we have ascertained the Cost per Acquisition we use the revenue generated by the campaign wherever it will have the biggest impact on improving the campaign's performance.

This may include, but is not exclusive to, more media spend with the search engines, website alterations, more advanced tracking and analytics, Account Management resource, new industry tools and internal technology development.

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Is it possible for Jellyfish to work to different CPA's for different products?

It is possible to have a scenario where a generic keyword such as 'cabinet' could result in the sale of three very different products, with 3 very different CPA's. We deal with this situation by attributing a conversion value proportional to the CPA.

For example: If this campaign was managed to a fixed $10 CPA, conversions would be attributed as a proportion of the $10 CPA.

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What is the difference between Jellyfish and an affiliate?

It is important not to confuse Jellyfish's unique CPA (Cost per Acquisition) model with that of an affiliate offering. We are both of course paid entirely on results, but the similarities end there.

An affiliate will typically bid on the "low hanging fruit" where they know easy conversions are achievable. This approach can actually have a detrimental effect on the growth of a campaign due to lack of reinvestment into the more expensive generic keywords.

Jellyfish PPC campaigns create a much broader and targeted reach driving relevant traffic to bespoke landing environments that provide quality content specific to the product offering. This enables us to deliver high quality conversions that improve our clients' retention figures as well as increase volumes..

We also work directly with our clients ensuring they have a full understanding of how the campaign is performing and which areas are converting well so that this information can be channelled into other marketing avenues.

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Why should I use my brand name in the Jellyfish campaign?

Not all acquisitions are generated with the first visit. Because our campaigns focus on the site's content and not the brand itself; we are often introducing searchers to our client's offering for the first time, even though they may be familiar with the brand.

Subsequently, potential customers are not always willing to commit at this point. However, having now been exposed to the campaign site and client's offering, in the future, when searching, it is more likely that they would search for the brand as opposed to the actual information they require.

It is therefore imperative that the eventual acquisition, albeit from a brand term, is attributed to our campaign in order to fund the media spend on all those search terms responsible for the initial introductions.

Also, if generating acquisitions is the main objective, the best place to deliver search traffic is to a sales focused campaign site. Therefore, as a campaign site is included with a Jellyfish campaign, the best results will be achieved by directing traffic to an environment which is specifically designed to convert.

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What are the implications if we have budget constraints?

Jellyfish campaigns are specifically designed to achieve aggressive, self financing and sustained growth. They are therefore catering for companies who are looking to maximize the number of sales or leads achievable through paid search.

Clients who have benefited most from our campaigns have taken the approach that the Cost per Acquisition (CPA) is a cost of sale as opposed to a marketing expenditure; therefore the demand for a product dictates the budget.

Provided the CPA delivers an adequate gross margin (i.e. lifetime revenue generated by an average customer minus any associated costs) having budgetary constraints can only suppress the performance and potential of the campaign. However, for cash flow reasons, if budgetary constraints are unavoidable, Jellyfish requires monthly budget commitment of $8,000 to justify the initial investment required to set up and run the campaign through the initial 3 month proof of concept period.

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How do Jellyfish manage lead generation campaigns involving phone numbers?

Jellyfish manage numerous lead generation campaigns that involve phone numbers. Usually phone calls can't be tracked to keyword level and in order to gain some degree of trackability we hide the phone number behind a Call to Action (CTA) button.

By inducing an action from the visitor to reveal a number this provides the tracking required to identify and reward keywords, based on their performance.

Jellyfish also implement Infinity™ Call Tracking, the next generation of call tracking, supporting an infinite number of search keywords.

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Can Jellyfish run international campaigns?

Absolutely! Jellyfish employ a number of multi-lingual Account Managers and have an established relationship with a leading translation and interpretation company, to assist with keyword creation and the writing of both Ad Copy and landing pages when required.

This combination is extremely effective and allows Jellyfish to run PPC campaigns in dozens of countries around the globe.

Meet our International Team to find out more.

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Will Jellyfish run campaigns for my competitors?

Yes, in fact there is a distinct benefit to such a scenario:

There is very limited real estate on the major search engines for sponsored links. As a rule, for high traffic generating search terms, there will always be stiff competition for a listing on the first page. It is unrealistic to think that competitor's ads would not appear alongside yours in these listings.

It is therefore important to avoid bidding wars with competitors; in situations like that the only winner is the search engine (i.e. Google, Yahoo, MSN etc...). The end result is that you continuously tussle for a higher position subsequently raising your Cost per Click (CPC) with no real increased exposure.

In a situation like this, if Jellyfish is running both campaigns, each individual search term will be assessed and their position in the listings will be determined by merit according to its relevancy, conversion and the overall campaign CPA. This will avoid blind bidding and rankings that do not achieve the required Return on Investment (ROI).

Also, due to the fact that it is in our best interest to make both campaigns as efficient as possible, whilst concurrently increasing the number of acquisitions, we work particularly hard to promote all the unique selling points of each product or service thus differentiating one offering from the other.

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