I’ve met many PPC practitioners over the years and from experience here are some of the pointers you should look out for in someone running your paid media campaigns.
To have the following skill sets, adaptability, problem solving and creativity.
Adaptability
Technology changes all the time, new campaign types appear, new regulations into tracking and changes in the market mean you have to think on your feet and move with the tides. What worked in the past typically will underperform today and what works on one account may fail miserably on another.
A good PPC manager should be able to react to whatever is thrown at them and adjust campaigns accordingly. Rather than blindly following a standard template or process model.
Problem solving
When campaigns are going well – you are on autopilot, letting the machines do the heavy lifting and are there to make sure it is ticking over.
When campaigns go downhill or something breaks you need to think fast and come up with outside the box solutions that you can action right away. Time is money and in PPC every click is a cost. If you are sitting on an issue and it’s not addressed (imagine how much money would be burnt) – The ability to think quickly and address problems is essential for PPC managers.
Think of a PPC manager as a good mechanic and doctor at the same time. They can fix issues here and now, but also can address chronic issues in your campaigns and provide guidance to improve performance.
Creativity
It is easy to set up a pretty campaign, following the standard guidelines from Google or to make a nice neat structure. But how to make yourself stand out from the crowd, how to get your campaigns to convert better than your competition? – You need to have some inspiration both in content and implementation of campaigns. To have an outside the box thinking approach where you can find hidden gems. Rather than battle it out in PPC as this approach typically leads to higher cost/conversions and reduced ROI.
These provide the foundation skills sets for a good PPC account manager who can look after your campaigns, adjust, adapt and scale activity for you.
When working with agencies you would assume each manager has the technical knowhow to operate their paid channel. But finding ones who have the above skills and are able to explain this clearer to clients separates out ok managers vs those who can really make a difference for your account.
