Archives for 2013

Are You Ready For Google Enhanced Campaigns?

Recently, Google AdWords announced the largest update to AdWords in recent history: Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns. The pay per click blogosphere has been buzzing with posts about Enhanced Campaigns. Some bloggers love Enhanced Campaigns and others are a bit more skeptical.

When my good friends at AdMedia presented the opportunity to write a guest post, I immediately decided to post about Enhanced Campaigns. I decided to take a unique approach and provide tips about “Getting Started”. Enhanced Campaigns provide a unique opportunity for search marketers and right now is the time to prepare for the change. Head on over to AdMedia’s blog and read my post today – Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns: Getting Started. AdMedia has a truly awesome blog and it’s my honor to guest post. Thanks AdMedia for the opportunity!

Image in this post © AdMedia

Interview: Sean Marshall From PPC Associates

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 16 0

Today I am truly lucky and honored to interview Sean Marshall, Senior Director of Client Services at PPC Associates. PPC Associates is Silicon Valley’s SEM Agency. They are awesome! A while back, I had the honor of interviewing their CEO and Co-Founder, David Rodnitzky. Today, I am so excited to interview Sean because his experience is truly exceptional. Joining PPC Associates as the 5th member of the client services team, Sean has enjoyed 3 years of success and is now part of a 50-member team. Without further ado, let’s jump into the interview:

Sean Marshall

Ian: Sean, thank you so much for interviewing with me. I know PPC Ian readers are going to be truly thrilled with this one.

Sean: Thanks for having me Ian.

Ian: You have built an exceptional career in paid search. How did you first get started?

Sean: I took kind of an odd route. I started my career in lead qualification with a company called Tippit in 2006 and quickly realized making 100+ calls a day wasn’t really for me. I ended up pivoting into a freelance recruiting role for them and the first position I helped them fill was that of SEM Manager. I liked the idea of recruiting as a way to explore the job landscape but half of my reqs were for SEM. The exposure to these PPC jobs and the folks we were recruiting got me thinking: hey, I should be doing that.

Ian: How has your career evolved over the years? How did you grow your career in online marketing?

Sean: Well, after getting snubbed by David at Mercantila (true story), I wound up at Webtrends working on their SEM tool. It was an account management gig but more of a hybrid services/tech/SEM role. It taught me a lot and I got exposure to all sorts of programs. In the meantime, I’d kept in touch with David and heard he was getting his agency off the ground. After about a 6 months of back and forth, he decided it was time to scale the operation and I jumped at the chance.

Ian: What’s it like at PPC Associates? What’s your favorite thing about working at PPC Associates?

Sean: I love to build things, break them, and then build them back up again. Working at PPCA gave me the chance to do that. We were a small scrappy team of 6 when I joined and no one really had agency experience. The company was founded by in-house marketers and combining that mindset with some agency experience was a winning formula. I was able to soak in all sorts of marketing knowledge, contribute things they didn’t know about and then teach it to a new wave of account managers after that.

Ian: You’re a leader at PPC Associates. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned about team leadership? Any recommendations for those just starting out in people management?

Sean: Everyone wants to get into management until they actually start managing… and realize how hard it is. The reason is pretty simple – managers put out fires. Now if your entire job is putting out fires, you should probably rethink your process but that doesn’t mean you won’t deal with tough situations. Having a thick skin and understanding that a large part of the job is managing problems and crises is key. The reward comes in creating and implementing solutions to drive continuous improvement.

Ian: What’s your favorite thing about online marketing? What part of the job do you enjoy the most?

Sean: I’’m definitely one of those guys that appreciates the quantifiable aspects of what we do. I’m a poker player and I need a way to keep score. Tracking and measurement are addicting. That said, I love that it’s still a people business. Sure you can bury your head in excel and AdWords editor but the crux of this is to understand audiences and, on the agency side, clients. The mix of math and people means things will be different every day and if you’re tired of one, you can retreat to the other any given day (just not everyday).

Ian: Any tips for PPC Ian readers looking to grow their career in online marketing?

Sean: Be patient and keep grinding. The internet never shuts off and the work never stops. You need to invest the time but make sure you’re being productive. Doing busy work just to say you worked 60 hours a week won’t accomplish anything. Take the same quantitative approach youdd bring to a marketing campaign to measure the impact your work has and use that to adjust where you spend your time.

Managing online programs can feel like running on treadmill so you need to find finish lines. If you can’t find ways to say “mission accomplished” for various projects, it just feels like you’re perpetually working and that will drive anyone crazy.

Ian: Any campaign optimization tips that are top-of-mind for you right now?

Sean: Attribution is definitely top of mind. We’re focused on an RFP of various attribution/tracking vendors to make sure we can offer clients the best of what’s out there. Each channel influences the other in different ways – not to mention cross device implications. Last click is dead!

Ian: Looking forward to 2013 and the future, how do you see online advertising evolving? What can smart professionals do to stay ahead of the curve?

Sean: Well if you listen to everyone out there, it’s mobile and social. They can’t be looked at in a vacuum though. Mobile commerce sucks and will never equal desktop commerce (now it might generate more traffic but the conversion issues wont magically fix themselves). Connect the dots to measure the true impact. Beyond that – I’d pay more attention to tablets than smart phones. Maybe I’m too fixated on usability but tablets (and eventually larger screened phones) will have a greater impact than people think.

Ian: Sean, thank you so much for the amazing interview. This has been a true pleasure. Any closing thoughts/advice for PPC Ian readers?

Sean: There’s a lot of great content out there – keep reading blogs like these!!

Ian: Thanks again, Sean! Wishing you and everyone at PPC Associates all the best, you guys are true leaders in our industry!

Image of Sean Marshall © Sean Marshall

I Have A Top 1% LinkedIn Profile

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 10 2

When it comes to building your career in online marketing, LinkedIn is a truly invaluable resource. I have taken LinkedIn seriously from the early days of my career and it has paid large dividends. I have received job opportunities, forged connections, and built a network I’m truly proud of. For all these reasons and more, I was thrilled to receive last week an email from LinkedIn saying my profile is in their top 1% in terms of views for 2012 (check out the screenshot below). Thanks, LinkedIn, for the email. (As a side note: I think this is great marketing. Why not send emails from time to time commemorating milestones – 200 million users for LinkedIn – and thanking their most active members?)

So, what’s new for me on LinkedIn? These days, I’m having a blast with LinkedIn Skill Endorsements. When I originally wrote the post just referenced, my top skill was PPC with 6 endorsements. Now, my top skill is SEM with 43 endorsements. I have found that skill endorsements are all about user adoption. The more people you endorse, the more endorsements you will get!

I’m always interested in forging connections with new professionals in the online marketing industry. Thanks for reading PPC Ian and please make sure to Connect With Me on LinkedIn.

Tips For Marketing Contracts

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 6 1

When you work in the corporate world of online marketing, you’ll be working with a multitude of search engines, partners, vendors, and technologies. Each interaction will require contracts – NDAs, Ts and Cs, and IOs. When you have a technology and/or marketing background, the legal side of things can often be daunting. Today, I wanted to provide some practical tips for managing marketing contracts, especially for those that work within marketing at a large company.

Contract

Whenever you start talking to a new partner, get an NDA (non disclosure agreement) in place. A mutual NDA allows two parties to share sensitive information without risk of the information being shared with other parties/competitors. Without an NDA in place, you simply cannot have an in-depth business discussion with an outside party. Of course, always keep your confidential numbers close at hand, even with an NDA in place and whenever in doubt ask your legal team (or your manager) if it’s ok to share the information at hand.
Get really good at project management. When you have a lot of contracts in your legal team’s queue, it’s easy to lose track. Keep everything in an Excel spreadsheet. Follow up with your legal team regularly. Make time to fully explain the business side of the contract. Assign a dollar value to the contract (by projecting the value of the program at hand). Keep circling back with your legal team and the partner to make sure the ball keeps rolling. Dealing with legal contracts gives online marketers a true opportunity to flex our project management skills.
Always read your contracts before sending over to your legal team. A good percentage of the time, I find errors in contracts. There’s nothing like providing a first line of defense and truly understanding your contracts. Your legal team will truly thank you and you will do your company a true service by taking this extra step.
Request editable contracts (as opposed to PDFs) from your partners and vendors. This will make it easier for your legal team to add their red lines and save a ton of time. Make sure to do everything possible to help out your legal team.
Never click to accept any contract before running through your legal team. When you’re creating a new search engine account, for example, there are always Ts and Cs you must click to accept. Unless you are an officer at your company, you will not be authorized to accept any agreement without going through legal/officer approval first.
Form a really strong relationship with our legal team (and your finance team too). Make sure to take them to lunch, stop by their cubes, and become friends. Your legal team will truly be one of your greatest assets. Without the support of your legal and finance teams, your marketing initiatives would grind to a halt.
Do everything possible to negotiate a great deal. When you’re in the contract phase, especially with a new vendor, you can often negotiate great rates. When you’re testing, push the limits on pricing and terms. Get your company the best possible arrangement.
Keep a contracts database. Understand end dates and renewal dates. Stay on top of your IOs (Insertion Orders). The worst thing in the world of search engine marketing is when an IO expires and then your campaigns go offline.
As soon as a contract is approved, make sure to file a purchase req / purchase order. You cannot pay a bill at most companies until an approved purchase req / purchase order is in place. Just like your contracts and IOs, make sure to stay on top of your purchase orders and the amount of funds left on them. Just like your legal team, your finance team should be your best friend!

I hope these tips help. When you work at a large company, marketing is such an inter-disciplinary field. Leverage these tips to flex your legal skills and make the most of your contracts!

Image of Contract © iStockPhoto – courtneyk

SEM Careers & Dealing With The Flu Season

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 28 1

Have you gotten the flu this year? It’s horrible! I was sick all last week and that’s the main reason I went a bit silent here on PPC Ian. I’m glad to be back to normal, more or less. The flu this year is the worst I have experienced in a very long time (many years). I was so thrilled to go into work today, healthy!

As you probably know by now, I’m the biggest fan of SEM careers around. The SEM career path is super fun. It’s a very high-powered career with tons of upside. That said, it can be quite the challenge thriving in any high-powered career when you come down with the flu. Today’s post offers tips that will help you get through the flu (or another illness) while thriving in your SEM career.

Tip 1: Stay home and get rest. In our line of work, we tend to be ambitious. However, don’t let ambition get the better of you. Rest is critical. Otherwise, you will not get better. Even more important, the flu can spread. Make sure to stay home and rest. Otherwise, your illness may spread to others at your organization.
Tip2: Work from home when you are up to it. When you start feeling better, start working from home. You will not be super-productive. The first day I started working again last week, my mind was half-working. I was trying so hard but the flu had influenced my ability to power through work. That’s ok. In SEM, some work is better than none. It’s all about keeping a pulse on things and making incremental progress. Each day, you will get more and more productive.
Tip 3: Rely on your team. I have said it many times: SEM is a team sport. Great teams can cover for each other. Those that are healthy can pick up the slack. Then, those that are sick can repay the favor later!
Tip 4: Make up for lost time on the weekend. When you are ill, you will fall behind in your work. Even if you work from home, you will probably start off working at half-capacity. SEM is a career where lost time will catch up with you very quickly. As such, I always recommend working weekends after you are feeling better. That extra work will get you back on-schedule, as if you never got ill at all. I worked all weekend last weekend and am caught up.
Tip 5: Maintain work/life balance. This final tip ties into my last post about Achieving Balance In Your PPC Career. Strive for balance and you will get sick less frequency. It’s that balance (eating healthy, exercising, sleeping) that will keep you in the game for the long run.

Image of Flu © iStockPhoto – KLH49

Achieving Balance In Your PPC Career

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 20 6

The online marketing career path is an intense one. There’s no doubt about it! It’s a career that involves true dedication, long hours, and an unbelievable level of responsibility. Of course, with intensity comes true opportunity and rewards. I wouldn’t want to be in any other career than this one!

Recently, my friend PPCknight asked some really great questions about achieving balance and longevity in one’s PPC career. Google AdWords and Bing Ads are 24/7 marketplaces. When you’re working long hours and have so much responsibility, are there any hacks and optimizations to make things a bit easier? Today’s post is all about achieving balance in your PPC career. From someone who’s thrived over the long run (8+ years in this great industry), I hope the following tips help!

Balance

Rely on your team. Paid search is a true 24/7 marketplace. It’s like Wall Street, except trading never stops. It’s impossible to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As such, it’s all about covering for each other. PPC is not a one-person sport, it’s all about working as a team. If you do not have budget to hire a team internally, check out some of the tips below.
Rely on your agency. Do you have an SEM agency? I recommend looking into SEM agencies, even if you have an in-house team. SEM agencies are always on call and can help you out 24/7 when you are in a true pinch.
Hire help on oDesk. If you don’t have budget to hire an internal team, you can always consider getting help on oDesk (or another outsourced marketplace such as Trada). The more talent on your side, the more you can divide the work and function as a true team!
View your search engine reps as an extension of your team. Search engine reps are amazing. Yahoo! and also Google are truly going above and beyond these days. They keep upping their game, and if you ever need help with anything, make sure to relay on your search engine reps.
Hire interns. The theme of this tip ties into the last few. It’s all about building out that team.
Automate and improve manual tasks with SEM software. I’m a huge fan of SEM automation platforms such as Kenshoo and InsideVault. Not only can they be huge time savers but they can also take your SEM operations to the next level. If you’re not using an SEM platform, chances are you will be working much longer hours for the same (or worse) results.
Get smarter and more efficient. Are there any tasks you work on that can be crossed off the list? Are there any components of your day that are consuming extra time? Sometimes it all comes down to efficiency. The advanced online marketing professional is looking for ways each and every day to improve efficiency.
Consider changing your location. In the world of SEM, it’s all about productivity. Don’t just sit at your desk all day. Visit Starbucks, travel between your offices (if your company has multiple offices), break up the days with work/meetings, and make sure to enjoy industry conferences. The more you break things up, the ore productive you will be.
Remember to take time off. I’m talking about vacations, staycations, and random days off here and there. It’s super important to recharge your batteries in the world of SEM. If you forget to take time off, you will not last the test of time.
Avoid making changes on Fridays and weekends. Also, avoid making too many major changes at one time. SEM can be quite unpredictable when you are not able to watch changes closely. Make sure to phase tests and changes for maximum ease of management.
Work at a world-class company. I cannot stress this point enough. SEM is so much more fun and powerful when you have an incredible product and team behind your marketing. It’s so much more fun and exciting to market a product that truly changes lives. Get behind something great! Marketing is difficult. Make sure to stack the cards in your favor as much as possible by picking a world-class organization.
Focus on your health. It’s all about exercising, eating well, and getting enough rest. If you push yourself too hard, you will not stand the test of time in the PPC industry. You have to pace yourself, it’s a marathon and not a sprint. Bonus tip: If you’re ill, make sure to stay home and get proper rest.
Love what you do. PPC is an intense career path so you’ve got to love it. Make sure to do a sanity check from time to time, make sure you love what you’re doing.

Advanced SEM Trademark Strategies

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 15 0

I just wrote a guest post called Advanced Trademark Strategies For Large AdWords Advertisers on Acquisio’s blog. What is Acquisio? It’s the performance marketing platform of choice for large online advertising agencies.

When presented with the great opportunity to write a guest post, I opted to go with a highly tactical post for large online advertisers. Upon brainstorming a few topics, I narrowed in on trademarks, specifically your own brand name. When you’re a large advertiser, your own brand name is often one of your most profitable and important keywords. With such profitability and scale comes a ton of responsibility. Despite its importance, however, I feel like brand names are often placed on a “set it and forget it” mode. My post is meant to spark some creativity and excitement in taking your own brand name campaigns to the next level. Complete with 5 advanced tips, I encourage you to head on over to Acquisio’s blog today and check out my guest post. I put a lot of effort into this guest post, so I hope you enjoy it. Also, make sure to arrange a free demo today with Acquisio. They offer one of the most amazing SEM platforms around and are the platform of choice for SEM agencies. Thanks, Acquisio, for the opportunity to guest post!

Amazing Free YouTube Advertising Guide

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 8 2

Do you have a YouTube channel? Do you advertise on YouTube? In my opinion, you should! YouTube is a wonderful top-of-funnel channel that can help build brand awareness, therefore increasing the effectiveness of all marketing channels. Moreover, YouTube presents a great opportunity to identify target customers and remarket to them via display ads. (You may want to check out this helpful Google support FAQ on Remarketing To YouTube Viewers.)

Even if your company is not ready to advertise on YouTube (perhaps you don’t have budget just yet), you should still become a YouTube advertising pro. These days, online marketing professionals are required to go well beyond paid search. We are managing a diverse portfolio of online advertising channels, with video advertising (YouTube) being toward the top of the list. This is a must-have skill for your repertoire.

With YouTube advertising evolving quickly and being a bit newer, how can a PPC pro learn all about this exciting channel? Easy: Our friends at Silicon Valley’s SEM Agency, PPC Associates, have written The Marketer’s Guide To YouTube Ads. This FREE 25 page eBook is a true must-read. You will learn about the benefits of advertising on YouTube, YouTube’s two advertising platforms, ad types, targeting options, and so much more. I particularly enjoy the examples/screenshots in this eBook and the careful inclusion of “who should use it” and “who should not use it” throughout. It’s a new year and I cannot emphasize enough the benefits of diversifying your online marketing skill set. I highly recommend downloading this free eBook and very much enjoyed reading it myself! (And, when you’re done, make sure to check out the PPC Associates Impression Sculpting eBook as well.)

My 2013 Goals

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 3 4

Happy new year! 2013 is officially here and it’s time for my 2013 goals post. It’s a long standing tradition here on PPC Ian to blog about my goals for the new year. (You may want to check out my: 2012 goals, 2011 goals, and 2010 goals.) These posts really help me document my aspirations for the new year so I’m able to stay on track and strive for excellence. I try to keep my goals attainable, but still a stretch. Typically, I do not hit all of them (within one year), but I have a great track record of hitting most of them (and a super high percentage of them if you project out more than one year). I feel that if I’m hitting all my goals within the year, I’m not pushing myself hard enough. I hope you enjoy reading this post as a way to spark your own goals. I truly feel that documenting goals on paper (or via blogging) is a critical step in achieving your dreams. Here’s to an amazing 2013!

2013 Goals

Save money and invest wisely.. This was also my number one goal for 2012. While I accomplished this goal in 2012, it’s not the type of goal that is over after one year. Saving money and investing wisely is a lifestyle. It requires many years of persistence to truly get the momentum building in your favor. As such, I’m going to be watching every expense very closely and hunting down passive income vehicles (such as dividend-paying stocks) every single day. Specifically, I’m looking to grow the amount of money I have invested in dividend paying stocks by at least 20%.
Help others and build careers. In 2012, I got promoted to VP. This was one of my longest standing goals. I view my role as the greatest honor and responsibility. At my company and also within the industry, I will strive every single day in 2013 to help others. Whether it’s via this blog, public speaking, 1-on-1s with team members, dinner with partners, or just about any other avenue, I’m going to do everything I can to motivate and empower. In terms of making it specific, I will help at least 5 people every single day, in a big way.
Invent a major new marketing strategy. I love online marketing and the marketing field overall because it’s all about innovation. I enjoy pushing myself to the limits. This year, I want to invent at least one major new marketing strategy (new to me/my company).
Continue to grow my offline marketing expertise. I’m all about pay per click and online marketing. When it comes to online marketing, I have 8+ years of experience. In more recent years, I started getting into offline marketing in a major way. I have built some great expertise across several offline marketing channels and am always learning more. In 2013, I want to deepen my offline marketing expertise and invest at least a few hours each week building my marketing toolkit.
Optimize, optimize, optimize. I just wouldn’t be PPC Ian if I wasn’t thinking about optimization. All day/night, I’m thinking about optimization from a PPC standpoint. However, this goal also ties into my life. I’m looking forward to optimizing my time (get more sleep, and more effective sleep), optimizing my workout schedule (getting out there and working out 4 days/week, one of the goals I did not hit in 2012), organizing our home and making better use of the space (a project Nicole and I are working on right now), optimizing my commute (trying different times to get to/from work as quickly as possible), really finding any and all ways to get even more out of life. I’m a big fan of optimization and 2013 is all about optimizing everything.
Match or potentially exceed our 2012 contribution to charity. Nicole and I donated a record amount of money to charity in 2012. We truly believe in helping others and get a thrill out of giving back. I’m not sure if we will exceed our 2012 contributions this year since we need to balance this goal with the saving/investing goal (which would allow us to donate maximum money long term). That said, we will strive to match our 2012 contribution.
Visit Hawaii. My wife, Nicole, and I love Hawaii. It’s one of our favorite places in the world. We try to go every year. (Here’s a fun post about our 2011 Maui Vacation). In 2012, we took a multitude of smaller trips, but no major vacation to Hawaii. Why? We got super focused on work (which is a good thing since we love our jobs). In 2013, we are already planning a vacation to Hawaii.
Invest in family and friends. It’s all about the big picture. I like to keep this goal on my list each year because it’s easy to get focused on work, blog, business, and investments. However, it truly is all about the people in your life. I’m going to make sure to take time for fun times with family and friends.

I could not be more excited about 2013. What are your goals for the new year!