This week we had the pleasure of an interview with Crystal Anderson. Crystal spearheads the Paid Search division at Seer Interactive, and will be sharing her expertise in Advanced Mobile PPC at Hero Conf.
PPC Hero: Crystal, thank you for interviewing with us.
Crystal: Thank you so much for having me!
PPC Hero: To begin with, how did you get your start in PPC?
Crystal: I luckily fell right into the PPC world right out of college. I was an International Business/Spanish major as an undergrad and knew I wanted to focus my career on marketing and not the traditional side of marketing. I wanted to be at the forefront of marketing and online marketing was where that led me. My first position was at an International firm and was focused mostly on online media but is where I got my first exposure to International PPC. I quickly realized that while I loved all aspects of online marketing, PPC was where I wanted to focus my career. I joined SEER Interactive about 5 years ago, actually as an SEO associate and when I had the opportunity to focus on PPC, I quickly took it! I’ve been focused solely on PPC ever since, spearheading our 13 person PPC team.
PPC Hero: What is your favorite part about managing paid search?
Crystal: My favorite part about managing paid search is that you get (nearly) instant feedback on the tests you’re running, the optimizations you’ve made, the strategy you’ve implemented and can make tweaks to improve what’s not working or capitalize on what is. Having that level of insight so quickly allows you to strategically and consistently test in order to find new ways to drive leads and sales for businesses. Being able to see every day the impact you are having on a business is an incredible thrill. (In short – I’m competitive, love winning & with PPC I can see that very quickly! J)
PPC Hero: What suggestions would you give someone who is just starting out in PPC?
Crystal: First, be a sponge. Make time consistently to read industry blogs, attend webinars, watch recorded webinars, etc. The industry changes so often that you should always be learning, otherwise you will miss out on great opportunities to drive even better results from your campaigns. Boost CTR has a great list of PPC blogs that can help get you started: https://www.boostctr.com/blog/paid-search/best-ppc-blogs
Second, network and involve yourself in the industry. Connecting with other PPC marketers through social sites, like LinkedIn, Twitter (#PPCchat), Facebook and participating in knowledge sharing leads to some incredible ideas.
Third, take risks; strategic, calculated risks, but risks. As I’m sure many of us have learned in our Finance 101 classes- the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Those who try to avoid risks and stick with what has worked in the past, often fall behind those willing to take the risks and reap the benefits of those risks. In the PPC world this really equates to testing and staying on top of all of the changes and new opportunities. If you aren’t testing, you will never find the new opportunities that may blow the doors off of your campaigns.
PPC Hero: What are your thoughts on Mobile PPC?
Crystal: It is such an exciting time for Mobile PPC! The growth and innovation of the Mobile space in general & Mobile PPC over just the last few years has been incredible to see. According to e-Marketer Mobile Advertising is estimated to reach $4.4 billion by 2015, with search making up 40% of that pie! (https://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008622)
Despite that incredible growth, it is still such an untapped segment in PPC. Many advertisers are just not there yet, so for the advertisers that can see the opportunity that is front of them, it’s such a great time to get in the game early and really capitalize on the Mobile Explosion happening.
PPC Hero: Do you have any predictions for the coming year regarding Mobile PPC?
Crystal: I see Mobile PPC continuing to grow this year and remain a focus in the space. As such, I anticipate we’ll see the space become more saturated and more competitive as businesses will no longer be able to ignore that Mobile should be a piece of their marketing strategy. Given that with Mobile PPC there is limited space for ads, I think that we’ll see an even faster increase in CPCs than we did on desktops.
PPC Hero: What is your advice for someone trying to achieve branding through PPC?
Crystal: Don’t forget that PPC isn’t just Search. Search can be a great tool for branding, but the Display Network and Remarketing should absolutely be part of that mix. Tie in your offline Branding messaging as well to create a uniformed Branding message (optimized for search!).
Specific to Mobile PPC, the AdMob and GDN offer such a wide coverage of the Mobile space. You can run interactive video ads, user initiated ads, click to download app ads, YouTube Mobile InStream video ads, roadblock ads and even Mobile channels.
Basically, think beyond just text ads and incorporate Display ads, Flash ads and video ads to really push a strong Brand campaign.
PPC Hero: Are there any sessions in particular that you are looking forward to hearing or meeting at Hero Conf? Why are you excited to speak at Hero Conf?
Crystal: I’m really looking forward all of the sessions – so many great speakers and sessions lined up! One in particular however is Retargeting- it is such a powerful tool within PPC and I’m looking forward to picking up some new ideas and tips! I also cannot wait to meet so many of the PPCChat folks to finally put some faces with names (or Twitter handles). I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to speak at Hero Conf, especially as it is an entire conference devoted solely to PPC. I’m excited to knowledge share with the other speakers and attendees and to leave the conference pumped to test some new ideas!
PPC Hero: Crystal, thank you again for joining us today. We are looking forward to hearing you present at Hero Conf!
Crystal Anderson will be presenting on advanced mobile PPC at Hero Conf on April 16-17, 2012, in Indianapolis, IN. You can register here to listen to Crystal and over 20 other great speakers!
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Crystal Anderson spearheads the Paid Search division at SEER Interactive (www.SEERinteractive.com), an Analytics-first Search Agency. Over the past 6 years, she has focused on strategically using PPC as a means to drive leads and sales for various businesses across various industries, from B2B and Education, to E-commerce and Entertainment. She has managed international PPC accounts across multiple platforms (Adwords, adCenter, 7Search, Facebook, LinkedIn, SuperPages, Marchex, Looksmart, Ask, etc), with budgets ranging from a few thousand dollars to six figures monthly. Prior to focusing solely on PPC, she also manged SEO projects at SEER.
Prior to joining SEER, she worked at an International Media Agency as the VP of Business development, where her main focus was to develop and manage international advertising campaigns, including PPC and media. Additionally she was responsible for building strategic business alliances with companies and agencies worldwide. You can follow Crystal on Twitter: @CrystalA
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