It’s a story we hear far too often.
A property management company wanted to grow, so they hired a marketing company to run Google Ads. (We’ve also heard variations of this story that involve hiring Google directly, asking ChatGPT to write the ads, or even letting your son’s friend’s cousin “handle it” because he’s “good with computers.”)
At first, it all sounded promising. They were told clicks would start rolling in and leads would follow. But here’s the problem: the ads weren’t set up correctly in the first place — and after that, they were simply set and forgotten.
The Wrong Target — A Fatal Mistake
In just three months, more than $10,000 vanished into the night — fueled by over 3,000 clicks. The problem? Fewer than 1% of those clicks came from property owners or investors. The rest were tenants, job seekers, and people searching in markets they didn’t even serve.
To make matters worse, all that PPC traffic was being sent to a landing page without even a form. That’s right — thousands of clicks, and no way for a potential lead to actually contact them. How were they supposed to get leads?
The Budget-Eating Beasts
When we peeked behind the curtain, here’s what we found lurking in the shadows:
Tenant-focused keywords devouring the budget
No negative keywords or negative audiences to block unqualified traffic
Set-and-forget management, where the budget would be eaten alive in the first two weeks of the month
No on-page conversion points, leaving visitors with nowhere to take action
By the time we audited the account, 65% of their ad spend had been eaten up by tenant searches, and another 18% went to people outside their service area. Over $8,000 of that $10K was completely wasted.
How to Avoid a PPC Nightmare
When it comes to PPC, the scariest thing you can do is let the wrong clicks creep in. We know what it takes to keep the budget monsters away and run a profitable property management campaign:
Tight keyword targeting so you’re only reaching property owners and investors
Negative keywords and negative audiences to block irrelevant searches and unqualified traffic before they drain your budget
Full tracking of calls and form submissions so you know exactly where your leads are coming from
Manual bidding strategies to maintain control over spend and prioritize high-quality clicks
Regular optimization to make sure your ads are never “set and forgotten”
From Horror Story to Happy Ending
Once we took over, we rebuilt the campaign from the ground up — shifting focus to property owners and investors, adding layers of negative keywords and audiences, creating high-converting landing pages with clear calls to action, and tracking every single lead.
The results? We brought their cost per lead down to $300 — right within the industry average of $250–$350 per lead — and, most importantly, they started closing deals. This client was finally able to gain new owners and grow their portfolio instead of throwing money into the void.
No more ghost leads. No more budget zombies. Just a campaign that worked.
Don’t Let the Clicks Eat Your Budget
If your PPC campaigns have ever felt like a Night of the Living Clicks, you don’t have to keep living in that nightmare. With the right strategy, your ad spend works for you — not against you.
Ready to see what a well-managed PPC campaign can do? Contact us for a free PPC audit and let us bring your budget back to life — no garlic, silver bullets, or exorcisms required.
