You’re hiring a new PPC marketer, or you’re looking for an agency to run your ads for you.
You’re hiring for someone who’s a spreadsheet genius, someone who can knock together the World’s Most Useful Pivot Table Ever. They’re data-driven, can spot trends, accurate, and even have great communication skills.
But more increasingly, you need someone who is creative. Has a way with words. Is at least capable of writing confidently. Can they write engaging copy – in just 30 & 150 characters? It’s a skill. And it’s completely underutilised in digital marketing in general, and especially within PPC.
Content is still king
In a world where despite your match type, and however you set away your dynamic remarketing campaigns, be mindful of automation. If Google is slowly erasing our ability to control essentials like placement, delivery, and even bids, content becomes an increasingly important differentiator. Can your team/agency manage this effectively?
In a search result, you’ve got your headline to grab someone’s attention, and your description to make them click. Do your current ads do that?
As ever, try a few variants of your ad. But instead of just swapping out a few of the headlines / descriptions (as Google itself might do…) bring out your inner copywriter.
What makes your product or service offering unique?
Can you speak directly to your target customer? Can you grab their attention in a way that the competitors aren’t? We’re all used to seeing a pack like this:
Why should I click any of those? Because there’s a warranty? I expect one. Because you’re local? I guess that helps. Because they only stock <25,000 mile cars? Now we’re getting somewhere…
But none of these results really grab me and say “I’m the best”. The opportunity in search marketing is rife. It often boils down to ‘it does the job’ vs ‘it does the job well’.
Landing page optimisation
Ah, the forgotten child of search marketing. Who’s had this discussion with an angry client:
Agency: So, we’re happy to report your traffic is +1500% this month on last ☺️
Client: But we didn’t get any new sales!
Agency: Did you implement those on-page changes we recommended? And removed the line where it said ‘pretty please buy our product NOW’?’
Client: ….
A good search marketer can drive new traffic to your site, sure. But a great one can also help with that juicy on-page optimisation that will make the difference between traffic and conversions.
This is seemingly obvious when it comes to direct sales, but more often than not, it’s B2B sites that have dreary, out of touch landing page copy that struggles to convert. Like this one! We see them all day long. You can do better.
Ask the question ‘who cares’ and if the only ones who care are ‘the shareholders’, you’ve got a problem.
If you’re hiring an agency, or someone to work on your digital marketing, test them on on-page changes. Can they write a simple product description for you? Can they improve your calls-to-action at the same time? It can often be minor, but spotting a terrible product page will tip the balance from digital marketing spend to digital marketing growth.
Creative angles for growth (when there seemingly are none)
Say you’ve been running your search marketing for years. It’s doing really well and you’re super happy with it. But the board wants more (don’t they always…)
Where does the growth come from? You’ve maximised your Google Shopping campaigns, the organic traffic is going great, your brand is flying. Where to next? A good marketer will be able to creatively spot and create something the business hasn’t even thought of yet.
Perhaps it’s a unique spin on a competitor campaign, like the much-lauded basecamp effort (which we covered here):
Or more broadly – having the creative mind to approach the problem from a new direction. Is there a USP which as a business you’re just not shouting about enough, or underplaying? Are there keywords that you haven’t explored yet? Can you interview an actual customer about their pain points or how they engage with your messaging? There’s a million ideas that could be applied to any given search result.
Creativity is far too often overlooked when choosing an agency or a search marketer. But being able to spot a new opportunity, engage your target market in a more exciting way, or adding a level of shine to a web page that will in turn make a wider campaign perform better should always be part of the equation.
