Paid search management for business is a huge sector and one that is very much in demand. When pitching for new clients though, there are a few questions you will most likely be asked as a digital marketer or PPC manager.

Assuring your clients that you know how to manage their brand and their budget is crucial to building long term relationships. You might not get asked all of these questions in one sitting (that would be a very demanding client), but they’re definitely the type of tricky questions you will be asked eventually.

So, in the name of proper preparation, these are the big questions you should be prepared for as a PPC manager or digital marketing agency.

How will you make me stand out above my competitors?

Reason number one for hiring a PPC manager or agency is to raise a business’ profile. It might be bringing in extra traffic, or it might just be raising the visibility of an ad campaign on social or paid search.

As a PPC manager, you’ll be asked this question pretty much every other client pitch (or a variation of it). Other ways of asking this might be, ‘Can you get me on top of Google for $X per day/week?’, or ‘How much should I be spending to get my ads above X’s?’

Most pay per click marketers will use a mixture of different campaigns and bidding strategies, dayparting and some clever use of keywords, negative keywords and exclusions to ensure that ads are as effective as they can be. 

On top of this, a PPC marketer might suggest optimising landing pages or discuss how social media can tie into search campaigns for best results. 

And of course, standing out above your competitors is going to be industry specific. So, understanding the business goals, industry in general and budgetary constraints are key factors in ad success and the main responsibility of the ad manager.

What strategies do you use to manage keyword bidding?

The bare bones of any PPC campaign is keyword bidding. And, with so many options for bidding strategies, understanding which is best for the business goals can be a task in itself. 

Clients are mostly going to be interested in value for money and seeing results. Once again, this is going to be industry and product dependent, but being able to explain how you intend to use a variety of bidding strategies, or how each one might be of benefit to the clients end goals will help put their minds at ease.

Probably the main skill of any PPC manager is knowing how keyword bidding strategies affect everything from ad spend to return on investment.

Do you have a strategy for updating or optimising under performing ads?

Digital marketing is a results driven industry, and even the experts don’t get it right the first time. Having a strategy for keeping tabs on under performing campaigns and updating or optimising them usually comes down to a few key practices.

  • A/B Testing
  • KPI monitoring
  • Budget/bidding tweaking

Of course, there are a multitude of factors that can have an impact on underperforming ads. 

But, having an answer and an understanding of what you need to be watching for, and how to build on that, is going to be key.

In general, a PPC manager will use A/B testing with both the ad copy and ad targeting to work out what’s hot and what’s not. Clients will mostly want to have a handle on how you’ll make sure they’re not losing too much money on poor targeting in the early days of your account management. 

How do you ensure a good CTR or ROAS for my business?

Clicking is the name of the game, but just getting clicks isn’t the whole story, of course. Getting those clicks to convert to genuine customers is a responsibility that lies with both the marketer and the business owner. So, this is where cooperation between the two parties on a regular basis is going to be crucial.

Getting that CTR up depends on the ad content and targeting, so PPC managers will need to be on top of their game here.

But, those conversions will come from a combination of a good product (or unique offering for a popular product). And also a well optimised landing page or site. 

Helping businesses understand the joint responsibility here is important, and their cooperation can be key to performance.  

Another factor to bear in mind with clicks and ROI is the prevalence of fraud in PPC marketing. Data shows that 1 in 4 clicks on paid ads are from fraudulent sources. This includes automated traffic and malicious human parties. 

Using fraud protection is a clever marketing hack that can boost your key metrics, including return on ad spend (ROAS). The way it works is, with fraudulent clicks blocked, your ads have a higher chance of clicks from genuine customers. So you have in the region of 25% more chances of making a sale. 

What is your strategy for retargeting?

Getting new customers is great, of course. But repeat custom, or targeting people who have bought a similar product before, is fast becoming a focal point for PPC campaign managers. 

Savvy business owners are most likely to ask how you’re targeting the bottom of the funnel to get them back into the funnel again. For most, retargeting means using display ads or native ads across a variety of platforms, including Google Display Network, Facebook/Instagram, Microsoft Ads, and some of the niche RTB platforms. 

Again, this is most likely going to be industry and campaign-specific, but having an overview of retargeting and remarketing tactics is going to put your clients’ minds at ease. Generally, though, it will involve a strategic chat with your client to understand how and where they want to do their retargeting and how much of their budget they have to spend on it. 

How do you protect against fraud on my ads?

Increasingly, business owners and digital marketers are becoming aware of the prevalence of fraud in programmatic marketing. Known as click fraud or ad fraud, the practice involves clicks on your paid ads that have no chance of converting and is estimated to impact around 90% of all PPC campaigns.

So, what do you do to protect ad campaigns from fraud?

The easiest way to automate fraud protection is by using ClickCease. As one of the original click fraud prevention solutions, ClickCease has a huge directory of known fraudulent sources and uses machine learning to stay ahead of the constant developments in fraud. 

As one of the best-known names in click fraud prevention, letting your clients know that their ads are protected by ClickCease will put their minds at ease.

Digital marketing in 2021

Programmatic marketing is constantly evolving and becoming more competitive. However, it still remains one of the most effective methods of promoting a business of any size to the whole world. 

The downside to this is the growth of fraudulent activity, which remains relatively unchecked. In 2020, it’s estimated that around $35 billion was lost to click fraud and ad fraud, with that figure predicted to rise into 2021 and beyond.

Professional PPC managers and digital marketing agencies looking to give their clients peace of mind are increasingly turning to companies like ClickCease. Give yourself the best chance of winning that next client pitch and sign up for a free trial of ClickCease today.

Find out more about click fraud and ad fraud in our complete guide.