Who Is A PPC Specialist: Main Responsibilities And Skills

Today, online advertising is one of the most effective promotion methods. A PPC specialist knows how to set it up, when to launch it, and who to show it to. This is a very popular profession since launching advertising is necessary for any business. What knowledge and skills are needed to become an expert? We will tell you below.

Who is a PPC manager? 

The abbreviation PPC stands for Pay per Click, that is, payment for a click. The peculiarity of this marketing model is that the advertiser pays for the ad only if the user goes to the site. When using other promotion methods, advertising is paid for regardless of its effectiveness. 

A PPC manager works only with advertising of this marketing model. His main task is to attract traffic to the advertiser’s website and increase the likelihood of ordering a service or purchasing a product. To do this, he uses Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and other tools. Thanks to the professional skills of the manager, companies have a targeted impact on potential customers, showing them relevant ads at the right time. This increases the likelihood of making a purchase or ordering a service, which directly affects the profitability of the business.

What are his responsibilities? 

The job requires creative thinking and analytical skills. On the one hand, it is generating ideas for ads. On the other hand, it tracks key metrics and optimizes campaigns based on the results. The responsibilities of a PPC manager may vary depending on the company’s requirements. Let’s talk about the key ones. 

Creating Advertisements

To create a compelling and effective advertisement, a PPS specialist must understand their target audience and their needs. It is also important to formulate a powerful, unique selling proposition. This should be a clear and memorable message that distinguishes the product or service from competitors. This approach will allow you to create ads that will attract attention and make you want to click on them.

Setting up advertising

A PPC specialist must be able to work in Google and Facebook/Instagram advertising accounts. These are the main platforms for launching online advertising. The setup includes the following key aspects:

• Created advertising campaigns and filled them with necessary materials.

• Selecting a target audience based on demographic and other factors to ensure maximum relevance of impressions.

• Competent work with keywords (for Google Ads).

• Set up ad delivery schedules to reach your audience at the right time.

• Setting rates at different levels and optimal budget allocation.

A specialist needs to be able to launch different types of advertising campaigns to find the most profitable option for a specific client’s tasks. It is necessary to understand the principles of the sales funnel and be able to work at all its stages.

Advertising control

A PPC manager is someone who constantly monitors what is happening in advertising accounts. He needs to monitor several key points:

• All ads successfully pass moderation. If they were rejected, they need to be revised in a timely manner.

• Compliance of actual budget expenditure with the planned one. Sometimes, due to incorrect settings, it is spent too quickly. 

• User behavior and target conversions. Poorly worded ads can attract untargeted traffic. In this case, your budget will be wasted.

• Receiving calls from ads if this is an important channel for a given business. 

You also need to monitor other key performance indicators for individual ads: CTR, CPC, conversion cost, etc.

Ad Performance Analytics

When launching an advertising campaign, it is very important to get the most out of your investment and use your budget wisely. Performance analysis allows you to:

• evaluate the performance of various advertisements;

• identify the most profitable and unprofitable of them;

• track the dynamics of key indicators.

Regular analytics with detailed breakdown by ads, keywords, audiences allows you to make informed decisions about changes in strategy based on the data received. 

In addition to analysing the advertising indicators directly, the expert carefully studies the data on user behaviour on the site after clicking on the ads. Particular attention is paid to such indicators as the duration of stay on the site, the number of target actions performed, etc. 

Understanding user behaviour allows you to better understand the needs of target consumers. This data will later help you segment audiences more accurately, select the most relevant calls to action in ads, etc. In addition, analysing behavioural factors on the site allows you to identify problem areas on the path to conversion. By eliminating them in a timely manner, you can significantly increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Optimization of advertising campaigns

The key goal of this stage is to optimise all sales funnels – from clicking on an ad to performing a target action. The PPC manager identifies the most and least successful advertising campaigns by key metrics, such as CTR, conversion cost, ROAS, and others. And focuses on further optimization of the most promising campaigns. 

Effective ads receive priority in budget allocation. To increase relevance and clickability, they are reinforced with the most relevant and conversion keywords and calls to action. The expert also conducts A/B testing of various hypotheses to find the best options that bring maximum conversions.

If the promotion brings non-targeted traffic and has low efficiency, other optimization methods are used. The expert expands the list of negative words – those key queries for which ads should not be shown. This allows you to save your budget.

The landing pages that receive traffic, their usability and content are also carefully checked. If necessary, landing pages can be modified to meet the needs of users.

Reports and forecasts

The employee must regularly provide reports on the results of marketing efforts. They can be built in Google Sheets or Excel, as well as in Google Data Studio, Microsoft Power BI. Sometimes it is enough to simply download a report from Google Analytics if there is no need to make a selection by key indicators.  

In addition, the expert must be able to forecast expected results and evaluate the potential of advertising campaigns based on the analysis of competition, demand, supply and other market indicators. Forecasting skills allow you to choose optimal strategies and rationally distribute budgets. Another important skill is the ability to set realistic, achievable goals. This is critical for effective contextual advertising management.

Continuous learning

A contextual advertising manager is a profession that requires continuous development. Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, new tools, strategies and promotion methods appear. In order to effectively launch advertising, a manager needs to study innovations in a timely manner, test their application and implement the most effective approaches in his work.

How to Become a PPC Advertising Manager?

The official Google guide to setting up advertising will help you master the basics. The main advantage of this source is that it publishes up-to-date information on launching advertising campaigns directly from developers. The materials are regularly updated in accordance with the latest changes in search engine algorithms. The guide contains step-by-step instructions that will help beginners understand the basics and acquire basic skills in this area.

You also need to learn how to work with tools such as Google Analytics and AdWords. Studying these tools will give you a deeper understanding of the principles of operation and will help you effectively set up, analyze, and optimize advertising campaigns at all stages.

What should a specialist know?

The level of required knowledge and skills is determined based on the employee’s work experience and status. Four main levels can be distinguished.

Junior (Trainee)

A junior must have a basic understanding of internet marketing: basic concepts, channels, tools, metrics. He must also be able to create and set up advertising campaigns, know the principles of auction systems and ad ranking, and have basic skills in working with Google Analytics. A junior is an employee who has been working for 4-12 months.

Middle

A mid-level manager should have a deeper knowledge of marketing. Namely:

• understand the principles of A/B testing and be able to conduct tests;

• have experience working with specialized tools (editors, trackers, etc.);

• use automated strategies, etc.

A Middle- level employee manages projects independently. A Junior does this mainly under the guidance of a team leader. 

Senior

To obtain this status, you need to work in the contextual advertising field for at least 2.5 years. At the senior level, a specialist must:

• Deeply understand ranking algorithms and auction systems.

• Be able to build complex targeting and optimization strategies.

• Be able to automate routine processes using scripts and APIs.

• Master advanced data analysis techniques.

Typically, experts at this level have experience managing complex advertising campaigns with large budgets.

Team Lead PPC

This is the team leader . His responsibilities include managing, training and mentoring employees. The Team Lead must also:

• Be able to plan and distribute work processes within a team.

• Track the overall effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

• Monitor compliance with standards and regulations.

It is important for a team leader to have leadership and management skills. And also to interact with other departments (marketing, analytics, development, etc.). They are also required to have the skills of independent decision-making and achieving high KPIs.

Advantages and disadvantages of work 

Every profession has its positive and negative sides. Let’s start with the good.

Pros

The main advantage is the demand for the profession. PPC advertising plays a key role in digital marketing, and the demand for qualified specialists is constantly growing. Experienced managers have a high income, especially if they work in large foreign companies.

It is also a dynamic and interesting job. The field is developing rapidly, new formats, tools and technologies are emerging, which requires constant training and will certainly be a plus for those who like to learn something new and not stand still.

Another important advantage is the ability to work remotely. This profession does not require presence in the office, which is especially convenient for those who want to have a free schedule and plan their working hours independently.

Cons

As we said, a PPC specialist is a profession that requires constant development and the ability to work in a multitasking environment.

Its disadvantages include:

• High competition. There are many agencies and freelancers on the market offering PPC services. To have a job, you need to constantly improve your skills.

• Routine and monotony . A manager’s work is often associated with repetitive tasks: setting up campaigns, reporting, improving indicators.

• High responsibility. The company’s advertising budgets directly depend on the work of the PPC expert.

In addition, you need to quickly respond to changes and keep many processes under control. 

Where to master a profession

There is no such specialty at the university yet. But you can master the profession by enrolling in courses from practising specialists or specialised agencies. You can also independently study the basics using video tutorials on YouTube or Google instructions – information on working with advertising accounts is freely available. Many life hacks can be found in the blogs of digital agencies. But, of course, independent study of PPC advertising will take much more time than attending courses. 

Soft skills that will help you achieve success 

To become a good specialist, it is not enough to have knowledge in the field of advertising. It is necessary to have certain skills – the so-called soft skills.

One of them is perseverance. The work requires painstaking analysis of large amounts of data, careful study of statistics and regular optimization of settings. The ability to focus on this for a long time is extremely important for effective advertising campaigns and career advancement.

The next important skill is concentration. A manager needs to keep many factors in focus at the same time: keywords, rates, performance indicators, budgets, etc. Absent-minded people can make mistakes that will negatively affect the results of promotion.

In addition, the expert must be attentive to details. Even seemingly minor changes in the settings can significantly affect the final indicators. Therefore, it is important to be able to notice the smallest nuances and respond to them in a timely manner.

It is also important to be able to find a way out of difficult situations. Promotion is often associated with the emergence of unforeseen circumstances that require non-standard solutions. The ability to quickly navigate and act in critical situations is a useful skill for a specialist.

And, of course, an expert cannot do without the skill of keeping everything under control. The need to manage several campaigns for different clients at once, monitor multiple indicators and meet strict deadlines requires the ability to correctly prioritise and effectively manage your time.

Instead of a conclusion

Now you know who a PPC specialist is and how to become one. Is it worth developing in this direction? This field of activity opens up broad career prospects and opportunities for earning a high income. At the same time, it requires complete dedication and a willingness to constantly learn in order to be a sought-after specialist in the rapidly changing world of digital technologies. Additionally, mastering effective PPC marketing services, such as optimizing campaigns and managing negative keywords, can further enhance your expertise and value in the industry. We hope that our article will help you decide whether you are ready to devote yourself to this area of Internet marketing and leverage these advanced techniques for greater success.