One of the best things about PPC is that there’s a ton of associated data to look at in conjunction with your efforts. What this means, however, is that you have to be very detail-oriented to find success. It’s important to be able to identify trends, analyze changes in performance associated with changes in strategy, and spot areas for improvement. If attention to detail isn’t your forte, you might need to find management software to help you out in this area so that you don’t miss out on anything.
With so many settings options available, it’s also crucial that you’re able to work with precision and accuracy as you set up and tweak the technical components that serve as the backbone for your account.
Patience
The data that I mentioned before doesn’t come in overnight. Depending on your ad spend, you have to be willing to take a “wait and see” approach after making substantial changes. Failing to have this patience means that you can waste time chasing new approaches when the right one was in front of your nose the whole time. This isn’t to say that you need to just abandon your account, but you have to have enough patience to hold off on making big changes while the data is still coming in from your last modifications.
Audaciousness
As much as marketers want to feel like they have everything under control, there are definitely situations where your PPC feels more like a gamble than a planned strategic move. Whether it’s trying newly released features or combining advanced techniques, there are lots of options to “gamble” with your PPC account. The key to managing this risk appropriately is to make calculated decisions and keep a close eye on the results so that you can minimize losses if your gamble doesn’t pay off.
In addition to being willing to take these leaps, I would also argue that you have to actually relish and appreciate the risk as well. This adventure-seeking personality will drive your passion and help you to innovate over time instead of burning out or succumbing to stress.
Sensibility
Being audacious doesn’t mean that you should be reckless or wild with your management style. You need to find the right balance between being comfortable with taking a risk and also being logical and sensible enough to make good decisions. Sensible PPC managers will list out clear goals before making changes that affect strategy or integrating new features.
Sensibility and patience go hand-in-hand, prompting you to make incremental changes and measure the results after each round without trying to do too much at once. Like a paid search scientist, you want to make one small change at a time so that you can determine exactly what’s responsible for both positive and negative outcomes.
Ingenuity
Any seasoned PPC professional will tell you that from time to time, you have to wing it and experiment with your available options to achieve your desired targeting. This may mean taking an inventive approach to keywords or testing a lot of different ad variations to find the right hack or combination of techniques that will help you achieve your goals.
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and son and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!