Today’s #Heroview featured Crystal Anderson (@CrystalA) as she shared her experiences as a PPC Marketing Manager at SEER Interactive. As one of the founding members of SEER’s PPC division, Crystal reveals the secret behind setting up a successful PPC management process. But you don’t need me to tell you, check out the streamcap below!
Thanks again to everyone who participated in this month’s #Heroview – real-time discussions with the PPC industry experts via Twitter. Stay tuned for next month’s Heroview!
October 26, 2011.
PPC Hero: To get started, tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been working with PPC?
Crystal: I’m excited to be here, thanks for having me! I’ve been in the PPC space for about 6 years now and am Adwords and adCenter certified. Prior to SEER, I worked at an international Spanish agency and got some great international PPC and media experience. I also worked in SEO and media.
PPC Hero: When did SEER Interactive first launch their PPC division?
Crystal: SEER really began to focus on offering PPC as a service and expanding our team around 5 years ago. We started with around 2 people back then, and now we have a dedicated PPC team of 13 Adwords and adCenter qualified PPC team members.
PPC Hero: What was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome when designing a PPC management process from scratch?
Crystal: Figuring out where to start was a big one. Fortunately we had such a solid proven SEO process that we were able to use it as almost a “template” and adapt certain pieces to fit a PPC management process to at least get a start. The other major hurdle was trusting your knowledge in PPC enough to make decisions on what needed to be included.
PPC Hero: I can imagine… What was one thing you wanted to ensure the process included?
Crystal: The biggie was that we wanted to ensure the process was developed so that the questions “What are you doing?” or “Why are you doing that?” were never on our clients’ minds. We wanted to make sure the process facilitated a partnership as opposed to the stereotypical agency/client relationship.
PPC Hero: Are there any specific tools you included that enable your agency to manage the PPC process and tasks more effectively?
Crystal: Definitely! Using tools to help organize and automate PARTS of PPC management are half the battle when it comes to creating an efficient, scalable process. Acquisio is our PPC management tool. Excel is another huge time saving tool, especially pivot tables and functions like VLOOKUP or LEN. Basecamp is our project management tool that does wonders for organizing and collaborating internally and with clients. We didn’t start with all of these but now I don’t know how we’d function without them.
PPC Hero: What do you think are critical components to a PPC account management process?
Crystal: Transparency, accountability, scalability, and flexibility. The first two really go back to what I mentioned earlier. Clearly and proactively addressing the “what” and “why.” Scalability and flexibility are also extremely critical. PPC is a fast paced, ever changing industry. Your PPC account management process needs to be nimble enough to adapt scale and change with it.
PPC Hero: Now that the PPC process has been in place for a few years, what is your favorite part of having the process?
Crystal: It helps in driving a consistent experience across all projects. It’s our goal to always have an “A” team and having a process helps ensure projects receive the same service and process, to a degree of course. Remember that flexibility is key, to drive success. It also is a huge help when it comes to training new team members and when it comes to team collaboration.
PPC Hero: On the flip side, what is the least favorite part of having the process?
Crystal: Having a process can make it too easy to fall into the “follow the process” mode. No process should ever be the final product. A stagnant process probably means you are missing a lot of great ideas that could have a significant positive impact on driving results for your clients. It’s critical to communicate and re-communicate that the process if flexible and is meant to be adapted, changed, and improved over time.
Think of your PPC management process like a fine wine – it should continue to improve over time.
PPC Hero: Haha nice analogy! What advice do you have for others building their PPC Account Management process?
Crystal: Start by determining what your goals are with a process. What you want out of a process will really help drive the development. Also, to put it bluntly-take your ego out of it. Processes should change and improve all of the time. It doesn’t (and shouldn’t) always have to be the same person. Template documents and messages, create documentation on optimization techniques/strategies, template or document all deliverables from the start and consistently.
Oh and last make sure all your PPC peeps get dual monitors-you’ll be amazed how much more efficient they’ll be!
PPC Hero: Dual monitors are one of the best things since sliced bread!
Crystal: I don’t know how I functioned before having 2 monitors, so spoiled now that I have them at home now too!
PPC Hero: Looking back on developing the PPC process, would you have done anything differently if you had the chance?
Crystal: I would have worked into the process the “process” for creating resources for documents, messages, deliverables, strategies, optimizations, case studies, examples, etc. from the very start. For example, resources like this blog are a huge time saver internally. And yes, that advice is from experience.
PPC Hero: Well we’re about out of time for today, does anyone have any questions for our guest?
Additional Questions:
Michelle Morgan (@Michellemsem): Awesome job today! Do you collaborate on accounts regularly? Or is it only whenever someone’s looking for advice/help?
- Crystal: Definitely regularly! No documents/strategies go to the client without at least two other eyes or thoughts on it.
- Michelle: Nice. I think that’s one of the challenges with in-house. Right now, I’m the only one looking at our accounts.
- Crystal: Agreed. In-house vs. Agency has diff. pro/cons w/each .. One of the big pros w/agency is def. the team aspect of it.
PPC Hero: Thanks again to Crystal and all of our awesome followers for another successful #Heroview!
Crystal: So happy to be part of it! Thanks to PPC Hero and everyone who joined in today!
