We had the opportunity to interview Dave Schwartz, who will be speaking about enterprise PPC and Ad Testing at Hero Conf 2013.
Dave leads client engagement and marketing strategy for DataPop. He joined DataPop after leading Category Development for Local and Automotive at Yahoo! Search Marketing. Prior to Yahoo!, Dave was an Engagement Manager for J.D. Power Consulting, working with leading brands such as Toyota and Acura. David holds an AB/MS in Economics from Stanford and an MBA from UCLA.
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Want a chance to meet Dave and other big names in the PPC industry yourself? Well, by attending Hero Conf 2013 you can! The design of the conference allows for a low speaker to attendee ratio, making your chances of meeting and learning from our top notch speakers in a one-on-one setting, very real! If you would like to hear more about Hero Conf, you can register or visit the Hero Conf website for more information. Sign up before Friday, January 11th to take advantage of the Early Bird Special by saving $200!
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PPC Hero: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Dave: Florida-born, LA-based, 2x dad (3x if you count DataPop!) — I’ve always been passionate about helping marketers exceed their performance objectives. I believe that very few advertisers have unlocked the true potential of their PPC campaigns by ignoring arguably the most important piece, the ad itself…optimizing the ad and the message that it conveys about the advertiser and the experience delivered will drive the next wave of PPC innovation, much like bid optimization systems did 5 years back.
PPC Hero: Why did you decide to become an PPC professional?
Dave: I always had a sense that advertising was moving towards something that was pulled by the consumers as opposed to pushed by the marketer. I was in business school when the shift started and immediately went to work at Overture/Yahoo! to help accelerate that market. I haven’t looked back and continue to believe that the best marketing experiences provide information to help consumer decision vs. interrupting a consumer when they are interested in other thing.
PPC Hero: What has your experience in PPC taught you about Account Structure?
Dave: Account Structure = Control The more control you have as a marketer the better data you will get and the better you will perform.
PPC Hero: Tell us a little about what you’ll be speaking on at Hero Conf 2013. (Only speak to those topics above that you are sure on.)
Dave: The importance of creative to the long term health and performance of your media campaigns. So much attention has been paid to things like keyword selection and bidding, but without the right message, those functions are going to be suboptimal. I’d also like to give the audience a sense that creative management is not as daunting as it looks, even in massive PPC accounts.
PPC Hero: What features would you like to see AdWords and BingAds come out with in the future?
Dave: AdWords – more programmatic control of ad elements like SiteLinks, PLA image ads, Places listings, etc. Right now these occupy so much real estate but your optimization levers are very limited. BingAds – more scalable/usable desktop tool, Product Listing Ads, and more transparency around their landing page algorithms
PPC Hero: If you could predict where PPC will be in 3 years, what would you say?
Dave: Real time bidding across all channels, ability to do very accurate hyperlocal and demographic targeting, much more integration of dynamic data on SERPs (images, pricing, availability, promos).
PPC Hero: What do you think is the most important thing to keep in mind when managing a PPC account?
Dave: Know which metrics you are trying to optimize to drive your business. Most businesses don’t get compensated based on their click-through rate — always keep that in mind when making campaign management decisions.
PPC Hero: Outside of paid search and the Internet, what are your favorite ways to pass the time?
Dave: With a startup and two young boys, its hard to find too much ‘me’ time, but an occasional round of golf, single malt scotch, or meal at an LA sushi bar keeps me afloat!
