Transitioning from graduate to PPC guru, you’ll add plenty of strings to your bow.
The world of PPC marketing is excitingly dynamic & driven by data, so you’ll always be learning. Each day is unique, making it an amazing career option, especially if you’re a fan of data!
In this blog we’ll explore the skills that matter most in your transition from graduate to PPC guru, and how to develop these to help you get that PPC guru status.
1. Inquisitive Analytics – Become a Data Detective
In the PPC space, data is everything. Google Ads is a goldmine for anyone into data & analysis. The interface has an immense amount of data which you can use to paint a picture of how your PPC performance looks.
In your transition from grad to PPC guru, you’ll get comfortable with the key PPC metrics that paint this picture.
Key PPC Metrics
The big transition here is learning to connect the dots between all these metrics to understand what performance actually looks like, and why. Use the data, and some inquisitiveness into the wider context, to find the reasons behind these numbers. This is your basis for reporting & optimizations and the start of your PPC Guru journey!
To be a PPC Data Detective, you’ll need to take the time to understand how all these metrics connect together to help you paint a picture of performance. Then you can connect this to the wider context of the account to understand why metrics might have changed.
2. Problem-Solving – Get Confident With Making Decisions that Solve Problems
One you’ve understood what your performance looks like and why, you’ll need to decide what to do next!
Making decisions requires solid understanding of how PPC works- so that you know what impact your proposed changes might have. The most satisfying thing about Google Ads is that once you’ve found a solution to your problem, you’ll be able to see the impact of this change quite quickly through the data!
To build this skill, make sure you’re confident with how changes you make can impact performance. There are plenty of things you can change, such as;
- bids,
- bidding strategies,
- budget,
- keywords
- and match types,
One great place to start is Google Ads’ simulators, which you can use to simulate changes to your bids, budgets & targets.
3. Creativity: Respond to Challenges & Think Beyond The Data
You might think a data-driven industry wouldn’t need creativity, but this skill is essential in your transition to PPC guru.
The PPC landscape is always evolving, because it’s packed full of innovation & automation. As things like match types & bidding algorithms continue to evolve, you’ll need to think outside the box & respond to these changes creatively.
Whether you’re solving problems through data & creative problem solving, creating experiments to test out new approaches, or devising compelling ad copy & CTAs within character limits, creativity is essential.
To build your creativity, you’ll need a bank of knowledge to take inspiration from so that you can formulate a new idea. This connects us to the final skill you’ll need in your transition from graduate to guru:
4. Continual Learning & Adaptability: Keep Your Finger on the Pulse
A PPC Guru never stops learning – how else would you gain & maintain that hard-earned Guru status?
This is what makes the transition from graduate to PPC Guru so exciting: you’re always learning because things are always changing! Google often makes changes & updates to how Google Ads works. There’s a lot of exciting innovation happening with automation and AI, that changes how your campaigns might work. At HOP, this is why we have a monthly forum, to share what we’ve all recently learnt.
Another area you’ll be continually learning, especially if you’re working in an agency, is all the different businesses & industries of the clients you’re working with. You’ll be exposed to experts across different businesses and industries, each with their own priorities and goals.
Even in this author’s first few months working as a (budding) PPC Guru, clients have ranged from solicitors, to jewellery brands, to charities! Each client will have different needs & goals that may even change with seasonality. You’ll need to learn how to best leverage PPC towards their unique goals, making learning and adaptability vital.
For example of this need to learn and adapt is the ‘younger’ campaign type Performance Max, which is AI-heavy and has far less granular data. This makes using the first PPC Guru skill introduced, inquisitive analytics, more challenging.
Luckily, other PPC gurus have used the skills already listed here to cleverly devise scripts (specially designed code) which get more insight into PMax campaigns than Google Ads provides alone.
This ties the other important skills to become a PPC Guru. If you’re going to be constantly learning and adapting, because things are always changing, skills such as inquisitive analytics, creativity & problem solving become exceptionally useful to ensure you respond to the changing context well.
The good news is you’ve probably already planted the seeds of these skills in your degree! Now, the only thing left to do is to apply and practice these in a PPC context, and you’ll be on the way to becoming a PPC Guru!