Pros and Cons:

DIY PPC Data Warehouse vs. Shape's Managed Warehouse

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The Decision: DIY PPC Data Warehouse or Shape's Managed Solution

If you are setting out to create a custom PPC solution for your team, at some point you are going to have to decide how you store all the PPC data you collect.

Do you use an existing managed data warehouse solution or do you go at it alone and design a data warehouse from scratch?

As a technical partner for multiple PPC agencies over the last few years, we've worked alongside digital advertisers and product teams making this decision.

There are many challenges that come with creating custom PPC solutions. Most problems center around data management. Building technology on top of multiple, constantly changing ad network APIs takes expertise and ongoing engineering resources.

We are happy to say that everyone who has chosen to work with our managed PPC data warehouse has overcome these challenges to provide their employees and clients with truly unique software.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been nearly as successful convincing people to not start from scratch with a DIY solution first. When following up, we often hear about how frustrating the process has been to get to a version one. We’ve heard stories of PPC data engineering projects that lasted years but didn't result in any usable software for the agency’s team or clients.

We can see why people choose the DIY route. In theory, it sounds like a workable problem for an engineer. APIs are ubiquitous now and servers have never been cheaper. But in practice, engineers without deep experience in PPC struggle to get a handle on all the components necessary for building sustainable connections to ad network APIs.

Our managed PPC data warehouse is designed to solve these challenges out of the gate and create a data management foundation on which agencies can build reliable, custom ppc solutions.

We built this managed warehouse solution because we believe it’s a much better route for almost every PPC agency when compared to going the DIY route.

Pros and Cons: DIY PPC Data Warehouse

PROS

👍 Your company owns the systems and all intellectual property. The solution has the potential to be customized to your exact needs including the data pipelines, ad network API integrations, and data warehouse infrastructure.

👍 Your team can select any data warehouse provider. Currently, Shape only supports Google BigQuery.

👍 Your solution can be integrated with any ad platform, third-party CRM, or analytics platform that offers an automated way to extract data.

CONS

👎 Every system is unique. Initial spin-up could take months. If key developers leave during the build phase, the data warehouse could become unusable without detailed documentation and training.

👎 DIY data warehouses generate unique schemas that are unlikely to plug into third-party reporting and data visualization tools without additional customization per integration.

👎 Ad network APIs that will feed your DIY warehouse are constantly changing. Your team will be responsible for maintaining multiple PPC data pipelines.

👎 DIY solutions are MORE expensive to build and maintain than working with existing cloud-based, managed data warehouses. DIY solutions require a longer initial spin-up timeline and increased staffing for maintenance.

👎 DIY data warehouses create security concerns because they cannot leverage the built-in security protocols of managed warehouse solutions.

Pros and Cons: Shape's Managed PPC Data Warehouse

PROS

👍 With a Shape Data Warehouse, the initial spin-up (including data population) requires only a few clicks.

👍 No engineering resources are needed for the data warehouse build or ongoing maintenance. All ad platform integrations and version updates are handled by the Shape team.

👍 Shape assumes the burden of the variable costs for data storage and queries/data requests. We charge a predictable flat fee based on the number of views enabled.

👍 Get near immediate access to normalized data across 7 ad networks.

👍 ADI customers can take advantage of built-in project consulting with our team of engineers. We aren't just a technology provider. We're your partner the entire way.

👍 Easily share/manage access to the data warehouse across you team members or external users.

CONS

👎 Shape's data warehouse is optimized for PPC data. To join data with non-Shape data sources, you can utilize Shape's API to send data to a secondary data warehouse.

👎 Missing data fields or metrics must be added to your company’s data warehouse by the Shape engineering team. Depending on the extent of the data points needed this may require an upcharge.

👎 Shape’s ADI is integrated with a set of existing data sources. Most agencies find that the platforms they need are included. But if your PPC team utilizes niche DSPs heavily, Shape’s managed data warehouse solution may not have the ad network data you need.

Prototype with a Managed Data Warehouse First Regardless if You Build or Buy

Any large scale engineering project doesn’t get approval without a few meetings and a bunch of stakeholders being on the same page.

Utilizing a managed data warehouse is ideal for rapid prototyping. You can show a proof of concept in a matter of days or hours instead of months. In turn, it's possible to launch new ppc products and solutions faster and more profitably.

Go beyond mockups and send stakeholders working tools fueled by your organization's PPC data.

Getting Started with Shape’s Managed PPC Data Warehouse

We want more agencies to see the benefits of building custom solutions for themselves. To help make the first step easier, we have made campaign-level warehousing and API access free.

All data warehouse customers can connect directly with our development team as part of our built-in consulting services that come included. Don’t hesitate to schedule a free consultation with our engineering team today before diving in.


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