September 5, 2022
Grab a cuppa, it’s storytime… as I talk you through my decade in the Paid industry.
A little on how my journey in paid began...
A decade ago (why is the word decade such a scary word?!), a fresh faced, 21 year old me completed my Marketing degree and set about finding my first job in the industry. I landed my first role as a PPC Executive at a local agency that summer - and fun fact: I actually applied for that job just as an “in” to the business, until a role I had my eye on there came up, however, a mere 3 weeks later when the role did come up and the recruiting manager at the time approached me, I turned them down as I had already fallen in love with what I’d seen in the world of PPC and wanted to carve out a career in the channel! (Everything happens for a reason and all that jazz eh?!).
If you remember the days of free Shopping Ads (the first time round) and only manual bidding options on what was then ‘Google AdWords’, congrats on surviving over a decade in paid too!
My career highlights so far
- The people. Meeting life-long friends and building a kind of ‘support network’ in the industry. No two days are ever the same in the marketing world and the rollercoaster of agency life, peak seasons for brands and almost-daily platform updates definitely help you bond with peers and partners on a whole different level! Afterall, you do end up spending a huge chunk of your working week with this group of people (I see and chat to them more than my own family!!). I’ve loved looking back at all of the relationships built over the last 10 years, with current colleagues, ex-colleagues that have stayed in touch personally and professionally, those I’ve worked with brand-side and those I’ve met at some very fun awards evenings and industry events too!
- The opportunities. The opportunities the industry has given me over the years have been incredible! My friends & family are forever asking “can you run it by me again Sarah… what do you actually do?”, as they find it quite hard to believe a job can offer so much in terms of travel, events & benefits. From getting black-tie ready for awards evenings in Munich, to flying to Mountain View, California for a visit to Google's HQ and a (wild) Google party in San Fran, the opportunities and experiences have been ‘out of this world’!
- The knowledge. Whilst my first couple of years in the channel meant I was solely in the ads platforms I needed to be in, as I was promoted through the marketing ranks I then had the opportunity to expand my knowledge outside of just PPC platforms to get to really understand other marketing channels, how they all work together for success and even understanding how different ecommerce businesses operate, by spending time with brands to find out what goes on behind the scenes with them. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be able to speak at Google events, host webinars and co-write whitepapers, guest blogs & even launch our own Ortus YouTube channel and TikTok to share mine & my teams knowledge!
The industry over the last 10 years
Wow. This industry. This section of my trip down memory lane was actually pretty overwhelming to tackle, as so much has happened and changed in the last decade! However, I really wanted to somehow document how far it’s come whilst I’ve worked within it… so here goes!
- Manual bidding → Automation. It is actually crazy and I’ve just laughed out loud thinking back to how things were 10 years ago, when it was a PPC’ers job to manually change every.single.bid within an account (and most times by really small % uplifts/decrease!) each week. I think a lot of PPC’ers like myself found it a struggle when the first automation options were introduced into Google Ads (AdWords back then!) and we were encouraged to release the control we had with bids into the hands of the algorithm.
- Shopping coming full circle. Back in 2012, I didn’t really know anything about PLA’s (Product Listing Ads)… as it wasn’t something us PPC’ers actually managed as they were free listings, so it was definitely a bit of deja vu when it was announced not too long ago this would again be the case (on the Shopping tab). In the last decade, Shopping has become its own beast with so many changes and updates; with newer shopping campaign types emerging every few years, Shopping ads appearing in Image search, the whole CSS service launching as a result of the mighty €2.4 billion Google fine imposed by the EU, and the importance of feed management in this day and age to regain some control over when and where shopping ads appear, as automation and campaign types began to restrict how we can refine shopping campaigns.
- ‘Standard’ text ads were the only text ads. On the search side of PPC accounts, back in 2012, I’d like to think it was a simpler time (manual bidding chaos aside). As the bulk edit option came into play in late 2012, it was a simple Excel template doc where you input your ad copy and made it fit within the character requirements, upload to Editor and you were done - oh and a few sitelinks here and there for good measure. 10 years on, we’ve seen alsorts of Alpha and Beta releases with DSA’s introduced, Expanded Text Ads and now Responsive Search Ads, Image Extensions, Sitelink descriptions, and a whole host of other extensions available at an advertisers fingertips.
- The interfaces and ads themselves have had a facelift. Both Google and Microsoft have come a long way since the platform interfaces I was dealing with way back when that's for sure. Back then, they weren’t too easy on the eye, let’s put it that way! But I do have to say I miss the simplicity of how black and white it was data wise and for user experience ease! Now we have a whole tonne of automated insights available in the platforms, notifications, recommendations based on data, auto-apply options, and more reporting and segmentation options too.
Also not to be forgotten, the difference in where ads used to be showcased. Up until 2016 for example, on google’s SERP, ads used to show down the right hand side - until Google removed these (I’m guessing as a result of the influx on mobile searches, to tie more in line with appearance on that device).
Google AdWords interface 2012
Fast forward 10 years to 2022...
And here I am. In 2022.
One agency move, a handful of promotions, 1929293494 lovely people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, an amazing set of brands I’ve been lucky enough to work closely with… oh and just that little global pandemic to navigate through, it’s safe to say it has been a hell of a 10 years!
If you’re new to the industry or wanting to start a career in paid (or wider marketing for that matter), my advice is to do it - And throw yourself into it!! It’s a fab career and the sky's the limit with opportunities if you are passionate about it!
I’ve got plenty to chat about when it comes to paid. If you’re keen to continue the conversation/stay up to date on my latest industry thoughts and advice pieces feel free to pop me a connection request on LinkedIn here. My inbox is always open to like-minded marketeers so I’d love to hear from you!