PPCChat | Finding New Ideas | 12th May 2020

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Hosted by Julie F Bacchini, this week’s PPCChat session has sought experts’ thoughts about trying new ideas in their PPC accounts, Are new ideas working out, What timeframe to give to these new ideas to decide if they are worth continuing or trying in other accounts and more.

Q1: How long, on average, have you been working on the accounts you have right now?

 

Just hit 6 months. Finally getting a hang of them. @ferkungamaboobo

Oooh boy. Would be tough to average, but let’s say 2 years. Have one account that I’ve been working on for 10 years, and one I’ve been working on for 5 days. @CJSlattery

Avg about a year, some for much longer. @JuliaVyse

On average probably 3-4 years. I have had some for 5+ years and I have picked up some new ones lately. @lchasse

The ones that have not paused are less than 6 months for me. @NeptuneMoon

So for me it’s a bit different because I’ve only been at my current agency since October and I’m taking lead on a new line of business, so I’m a new person with new accounts. I would say an average of 4 months. @Mark_from_MKTG

Avg. about 8-9 months or so? Got a few new ones recently that change that avg. Love the long-term ones. We’re able to build great rapport and stronger accts. @timmhalloran

Morning math… Let’s see.. 5 years is my average of all our PPC clients. @ynotweb

Probably 2.5-3 years. Mix of new and old (not many in the middle). @stevegibsonppc

2 years, then we help clients find someone to bring it all in-house. Train them up and hand it all off. @duanebrown

I’d say a good 3-4 years on average. I have quite a few at 5 to 8, and I have two that I’ve had the entire time that I’ve been at JumpFly – which will be **15** years at the end of the month. @nikkijumpfly

We picked up a lot of new account in the last 8 months so the number would be pretty skewed. We have several accounts we’ve been working with for over 3 years now. @adwordsgirl

Average of 11 accounts, 3.5 years give or take. @JonKagan

 

Q2: How do you find new ideas to try in your accounts? Do you have different sources for campaigns in different platforms?

 

A lot of times, I work closely with the marketing teams including the product merchants. We look for trends in apparel, consumer goods, etc… to try and find new opportunities. You also really have to watch search trends to ride the wave on opportunities. @lchasse

Often I get ideas right here! this community is pretty creative. Plus, clients often bring us creative problems to solve. It’s sometimes promo after promo, but it’s often new ideas and expansions from them. @JuliaVyse

My personal biggest source for new ideas is my agency’s weekly marketing team meeting. We swap stories about what we learned the week before and what’s going well in our accounts. These chats spark all sorts of ideas we share between our accounts. @Mark_from_MKTG

I get ideas from you all and from blog posts. Conferences usually provide inspiration too! Sometimes clients have ideas that I need to figure out how to implement and/or if it makes sense to implement them. @NeptuneMoon

I get a bunch of ideas from my coworkers, a lot from Twitter and FB Groups. I feel like I usually have more ideas than money most of the time. Pt. 2: Ya, when I use dynamic source parameters I’ll get different ones based on platform. @timmhalloran

Conferences, workshops, white papers and articles. Most the time I get ideas that are just spawned from something said that triggers a tangent in my mind. @ynotweb

I would also say reading is fundamental. Staying up to date with digital marketing news is a great way to discover new strategies. @Mark_from_MKTG

Since 80% of biz is ecom, we look what is and is not working in one account and see what hasn’t been tried in other accounts. Have others on the team audit accounts and bring ideas to the table. Talk with ad platform reps to get access to betas to test too. @duanebrown

Most of the action items for accounts are a cycle of: “what’s broken? >> what’s the lever to fix that? >> how long does that lever take to pull? >> how does that estimate fit into their retainer?” Rarely is it big-picture shifts, and mostly is reactive to data. @ferkungamaboobo

I read a lot of blogs (and tweets) to see what might have worked for others. I go back to the team and we discuss whether or not it’s be worthwhile to try. @adwordsgirl

We border on crowd sourcing. I pull in team members not on the business for an outsiders standpoint and auditing. @JonKagan

 

Q3: Is there a new idea you’re working on now?

 

Not exactly new, but I’m restructuring an account right now. Moving from vague ‘demand based’ and lots of waste to targeting most profitable markets. @JuliaVyse

We are mostly in reactionary/trend watching mode rather than “let’s try experiments” mode. Keeping closer tabs on ups and downs right now-seeing shifts every week. @ynotweb

That is a secret! Just kidding. We found some traction with products that were working and we were seeing a lot of interest in site search, trend data and some other areas. We created new landing pages and have launch new ads for them. Already doing very well. @lchasse

I am deeply rethinking my process around ad copy creation to include RSAs – the big challenge for me is getting clients to understand how it works and making sure there are guardrails in place for restricted industries. @ferkungamaboobo

Working on a Quora test campaign. There’s so many cool ideas you can do on that platform. The biggest drawbacks right now are 1) finding the volume while still being specific with targeting and 2) proof of concept. Conversion volume is still negligible. @timmhalloran

Not exactly a new campaign idea, but we started tracking changes in intent/use case for a particular client from what lead search, website pages they visit, use case indicated on forms, and conversations with sales. @Mark_from_MKTG

I’m not implementing anything really new right now. I do have a client who is using FB to study audiences and what resonates with them and that is FASCINATING. Nary a mention of CAC or CPA or ROAS… it is glorious. @NeptuneMoon

If you are in ecom/DTC, 375 peers are finding the newsletter we put out great for ideas as we list the best data, trends and reports we come across every 2 weeks. Sign up and see issue 3: mailchi.mp/ca1c00161609/e @duanebrown

Is anyone else going hard on Pinterest right now? everyone is stuck inside and needs a pleasant escape. for me it’s Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, for many, it’s Pinterest! @JuliaVyse

We are going to use this data to add new sitelinks and update landing content to better relate the several different use cases for their product to a lead’s initial intent. @Mark_from_MKTG

I’m helping a client launch an online course to try to pivot his in person courses to the digital world during covid! Leveraging FB/LinkedIn custom audiences, which is relatively new to me. @micheleajaeger

Beyond keeping the newsletter going for ideation. ALSO working on launching a Shopping Ads Academy… make it the place to level up and master shopping ads across paid search and paid social. Soft launch is June 1st. @duanebrown

No, not really. Being home all the time has messed with me quite a bit so I haven’t really been reading. If I have the energy to even get work, in general, done, I’m pretty happy. @adwordsgirl

Oh so many. And for a variety of reasons (largely legal/government policies), I expect 95% to not get implemented (and honestly half of those are prob for the best. When I run out of good ideas, I turn to bad ones to see if one sticks. @JonKagan

 

Q4: Do you find that clients are resistant to new ideas or things to try? Does it happen more frequently for any particular platform?

 

My public sector client fully told us on a call that ‘now is not the time for testing’ which makes sense – creative types were the subject. But in a way, we’re all testing. changed budgets, changed promos, new avails/volumes, it’s one big petri dish. @JuliaVyse

I do find that clients are often resistant to try new things, which is one reason why I always allocate an “experimental” budget for testing. @CJSlattery

I am lucky here. Most of my clients love to experiment and push the envelope if we can. As most of my clients are ecom focused, the tests do have to come with revenue expectations. We are always looking for a new opportunity though. @lchasse

I find it varies by client – their openness to new ideas. It can also matter how you position it. Some respond better to “test” while others to “experiment” and others to “pilot”. Figure out what explanation of trying a new idea will get you to yes! @NeptuneMoon

Absolutely, always, yes. *especially* when suggesting a platform they haven’t tried before. @ynotweb

I find it gets easier when a client has done test campaigns before. Also, if they’re already on the platform we want to test. Harder when we’re trying something new and needing to get all the tracking + logistics squared away. @timmhalloran

I find those who consumer base is an older demographic, rely heavily on traditional, or have a large number of brick and mortar locations, aren’t thrilled with out of the box thinking. Despite what they tell me. @JonKagan

If you can get a pixel on the site and gather data, it can help make your case too. Quora is a great example of this. Install the pixel on the site and then show client that yes, their audience is there. @NeptuneMoon

I think some of my clients struggle the most when I suggest new ideas that are related to their website/LPs. I’ve also been working on finding ways to set expectations more clearly with clients before I even start working with them that this is a 2way street. @micheleajaeger

This has not changed, we have open minded clients who let us do what we want honestly. We are testing new ideas, creative, ad copy, and just leaning in hard to our successes that we see. @duanebrown

I’m in an awesome place right now where I have clients who trust me and are willing to test anything. Past struggles include getting B2B clients to do #fbads for the first time or explaining how conversion focused bid strategies may decrease traffic and that’s ok. @Mark_from_MKTG

Now just trying to get my apparel brands to create outfits we can sell on Fortnite and other gaming platforms, lol. @lchasse

Clients in general hate the words “test” and “try.” It comes off as ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Even if you have a lot of good information around stuff, client are wary of having their cheese moved, and that’s fair! @ferkungamaboobo

YES. some are scared of responsive display ads. @jdb426

Hopping in late! I feel like every client is different but when it comes to willingness to experiment, the clients with a larger budget have been more open. At least that has been my experience. @jord_stark

 

Q5: Do you find that you are hesitant to try new ideas? If so, why do you think that is?

 

No – I like to try new things. I tend to “pilot” a lot of the new things that come up at our agency, and then report back to the other AMs. @nikkijumpfly

Not at all… with everyone online and still shopping a lot. You can find out faster if an idea is going to work or not. This is the best time to test and try new ideas if your brand has been seeing a high number of sales. @duanebrown

If a client is having a tough time with their supply chain or some other operational issues, I would be hesitant to test outside our normal strategy until it was addressed. Other than that, I love testing new opportunities (if they make sense). @lchasse

Not particularly. Balance of time and budget allocation. Throw in KPIs of what is already in the works and that determines how much we are willing to change. @ynotweb

I have troubles with it as research is often light, and budgets are sadly not infinite. But testing should be part of the overall process. 70% tried and true, 20% innovation, 10% unproven for discovery. @JuliaVyse

A few factors: 1) I feel I’m always playing catch-up to my “ideal world” already, so I don’t want to mess up that path by adding 14 more moving parts. @ferkungamaboobo

Mixed bag. Depends on how far it goes outside my comfort zone. Also, please replace hesitant with “stubborn” 70% of the time. @JonKagan

I get excited when something new comes out. I try to be an early adopter (with caution). I’ll give anything a test. It can give you an advantage over your competitors. @jord_stark

I’m generally very open to new ideas, but when I am hesitant it’s almost always performance related. I tend to fall into the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” category. I do try to keep a testing log and make sure I am testing improvements on a semi regular basis. @Mark_from_MKTG

If I had $10K of my own money to test stuff, I’d feel better, but I can’t justify wasting $10K of client money because I think (but not know) that something’s the right call. Every mistake is remembered, every success is forgotten. @ferkungamaboobo

The technician/nerd in me says absolutely not. I love to test everything. The account manager in me is careful with scope/budget, especially when my job is to keep clients happy. Still test quite a bit but I’ll do more leg work/analysis nowadays then what I used to. @timmhalloran

I always want to try new things, especially when I’m applying what I learned in one account to another. Or if it is something that I think has potential for an account. I tend to position it that way too – this has promise or potential for your situation… @NeptuneMoon

I really struggle with a lot of digital advertising. “Who ACTUALLY does that??” is a common question for me (e.g. Amazon Similar Products ads, clicking ads on local news sites) And that’s just me being bad at my job haha. @ferkungamaboobo

 

Q6: Is there something new you really, really want to try right now?

 

I really really want to try Snap advertising. But I haven’t gotten any of the clients to bite off on it yet. I have one who I think it will be perfect for but no luck yet. @CJSlattery

Honestly right now I just want to restart. I want to get back to the stuff we were planning on at the beginning of this year. wouldn’t mind trying out Quiby, and maybe some programmatic podcast ads. @JuliaVyse

I’m very interested in trying LinkedIn’s new company targeting but don’t have any clients that it’s a good fit for right now. @Mark_from_MKTG

@CJSlattery right there with you. I actually had a chat with a Snap employee the other night and I would like to try Snap as well, it’s just last on the list of what people seem to think is important from an advertising standpoint. @jord_stark

Just “new” to particular clients. Really want to apply ad types that work well for some clients to other clients, but limited by their buy-in and discretionary budget. Shopping, Quora, Video & TV ads all on the list we’d like to apply to some of our smaller clients. @ynotweb

Free PLA’s. @JonKagan

 

Q7: When trying a new idea, what timeframe to you generally give yourself to decide if it is worth continuing or trying in other accounts?

 

Timeframe is not as important to us as statistical relevance (volume). But deciding what works on one account is one threshold, deciding to apply to other accounts is another. @ynotweb

I rarely use a distinct time frame. I usually wait until the new strategy consistently out or under performs the control campaign(s) within statistical significance. @Mark_from_MKTG

Depends on availability and excitement level. But usually 2-3 weeks. @JonKagan

I try to get things within the stat sig range. General time frame feels like it’s usually a month. It depends on how dramatic the data is. I feel like there are some calls you can make when money is flying out the door and conversions aren’t there pretty early. @jord_stark

 

Q8: Is there an idea or the start of an idea you have that you haven’t quite formed into something you can do yet? Can we help with that?

 

Have a fully fleshed out idea that’s ready to go into beta but I need a Google Chrome extension developer to help make a reality! Would love intros if anyone has one. @CJSlattery

Does anyone have a good system for keeping LinkedIn retargeting audiences up to date? Unlike Google & Facebook, there’s no easy way to set a date range for time last seen. @Mark_from_MKTG

My dream is no-analytics digital marketing. Extremely few businesses use analytics to even 10% of the depths that analytics can pull, and it’s truly evil what analytics pulls about users. You don’t need it. The business owners don’t use it. What’s the answer?  @ferkungamaboobo

My idea was to schedule a task for myself to set up new audiences on a scheduled basis to control the lookback period, but that would be tedious for complex remarketing programs. @Mark_from_MKTG

I try to get things within the stat sig range. General time frame feels like it’s usually a month. It depends on how dramatic the data is. I feel like there are some calls you can make when money is flying out the door and conversions aren’t there pretty early. @jord_stark

 

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