As a PPC Manager, you’ve probably found yourself working quite hard in 2019. There were lots of changes to Google Ads and Microsoft Ads – with updates to ad types, extensions and algorithms. If you work in e-comm, you may have also shifted focus a bit to Amazon Ads which also had its fair share of updates throughout last year.

In 2019, you may have had to balance a large budget or work extra hard with a small one, figuring out how to sustain profitable campaigns while testing new ones. You may have also had to figure out the best way to relay insights to both internal and external stakeholders, and if at an agency, you may have worked extra hard to prove your work to your clients.

Our best advice for 2020, which comes from what we learned in 2019, is to have a year-long game plan for your PPC accounts, and to embrace the mantra of “work smarter, not harder!”

While you are working on fitness goals, swearing off chocolate, or planning your 2020 reading list, don’t forget that you can have New Year’s Resolutions in the workplace too! To help get those wheels turning, we’ve come up with 5 New Year’s Resolutions for PPC Managers.

1. I will try at least one new beta per quarter, if whitelisted – I used the word “try” versus “test” for a reason. The word “test” can be overwhelming for some – do you have enough budget for a test? Do you need approval? Do you have to reach significance for the results to be valid? So, instead of using the word test here, I want you to “try” at least one new beta per quarter, assuming you can get whitelisted. A great way to ensure you do this, is to set a monthly reminder to request the latest beta deck from your reps, and set a reminder to review the deck, since some of them can be bulky. I like to print mine out so I can read them away from my computer for a change of scenery and so I can make notes in the margin. Once you’ve decided which betas are worth trying, email your reps to help answer any questions or get whitelisted. Your clients, and coworkers will be impressed that you are working toward trying new things and keeping their business top of mind. Don’t get too caught up in the details of “testing” if you don’t need to either. Just make a note of the day you start the beta and have a game plan for how and when you will review results beforehand. Then, all you have to do is follow through. In your year-end recap, it will be nice (and impressive!) to review the different betas you tried each quarter and how they may have served to push the business forward.
2. I will not overanalyze test results based on a sample size of 10 impressions – This goes back to our first resolution quite a bit – while PPC can definitely have tests (or “tries) with finite answers, and there is a right or wrong thing to do at times, if you’re a Type A like I am, you are constantly checking in on the results of something when you know the sample size isn’t big enough yet. Quit hitting the refresh button, take that time back and use it to work on something else – maybe to build a template that will allow you to pull your test results? Or a report that will auto-pull in all the data you need? Or, use the time to research something else to test. 2020 should be about working smarter, not harder, so use that time wisely.
3. Condense where it makes sense – In 2019 we ran into a few clients with pretty small budgets, who needed to get the most bang for their buck. Prior to getting that final budget number, our team had tons of great ideas, along with a thoughtful campaign map, showing campaign breakouts by Brand and Non-Brand, match type, location, and more. The trouble? There is no way you can effectively run a large amount of campaigns on a small budget. Most of them won’t even serve if the budget is too low. So, in 2020, look to see where you can condense things. It might not seem natural at first, but ultimately will get you more budget per campaign which can lead to getting results and insights much faster.
4. Automate at least 1 report – Every PPC Manager likely pulls tons of reports. I know my team completes an internal budget tracker each day, a weekly report, and for some clients – a monthly report as well. In many cases, we might even need a special one-off report to share results of a promotion, or we might even put together a year-end report. Since 2020 is about working smarter and not harder, investigate some automated solutions. With so many APIs now available, it’s easy to put together an automated solution to save yourself some time each day. For free resources, look into Google Data Studio or Google Ads Scripts link to Google Sheets. If you’re interested in a paid option, Domo, Supermetrics and Tableau are all great places to start, each with different features, benefits and price points.
5. Work on Your Relationships – That’s right! One of the most important tools in your toolbox of being a good PPC Manager is trust. Trust is gained through how you interact with your clients or stakeholders – what you share with them, and how often you communicate with them. If you want to be trusted with your PPC account, you need to build a good rapport and gain buy-in from those who are most effected by the performance of the account (this can often be your direct supervisor at an agency, or a marketing manager on your client team). So, spend some extra time really explaining things to your clients if they need that, take the late-night phone call from your supervisor when they have a quick question, and importantly – don’t be afraid to admit when things haven’t worked out. Transparency in your relationships is just as important as transparency is in your PPC accounts. It’s okay if that test you ran didn’t work out – there are still takeaways there – and approaching your client team with the right attitude will keep you in the black.

Have any New Year’s resolutions to add? Maybe some of your own? Drop us a comment below! Happy 2020 friends!