What Do PPC Managers Do? Job Description + Salary

A PPC supervisor is a digital advertising and marketing specialist who launches, manages, and optimizes PPC campaigns. Essentially the most profitable PPC managers work with a number of PPC channels, handle large advert budgets, and analyze knowledge with knowledgeable proficiency.

Right here, you’ll discover:

1. What is a PPC manager?
2. PPC manager: job description and technical skills
3. PPC manager salaries
4. What to consider when hiring a PPC manager
5. Questions to ask a PPC manager
6. Red flags to look out for when hiring a PPC manager

The best pay-per-click (PPC) supervisor can remodel your advert campaigns to carry you critical clicks, leads, site visitors, and income. You’ll need to choose one with a stable mix of expertise, abilities, and business know-how. In any other case, you may end up with a leaky pipeline and wasted advert spend.

We chatted with Angela Cuadros, HawkSEM’s expertise acquisition strategist, who focuses her recruitment methods on relationship constructing. She shares the within scoop on what distinguishes a profitable PPC supervisor, key abilities to search for, and measure their impression.

 What’s a PPC supervisor?

A PPC supervisor is a advertising and marketing skilled who oversees all promoting duties that encompass PPC campaigns, together with artistic design, audience targeting, metrics monitoring, and optimization. They usually work for full-service digital advertising and marketing businesses (like ours), independently as consultants and freelancers, or in-house for varied manufacturers’ advertising and marketing groups. 

Some PPC managers concentrate on search engine PPC channels (like Google Ads and Bing Advertisements), whereas others may give attention to social media PPC channels (like Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads). However Cuadros says the finest PPC managers prioritize methods that embody all PPC channels: 

“[What sets apart a great PPC manager is] an omnichannel and growth-marketing method to accounts,” explains Cuadros. “Not simply instant PPC outcomes but in addition how these outcomes may also help with long-term enterprise development.”

She additionally says essentially the most skilled PPC managers showcase the next: 

1. Business: Expertise with quite a lot of completely different industries versus only one (finance, training, tech, retail — simply peep HawkSEM’s diverse clientele)
2. Enterprise mannequin: DTC/ecommerce, B2B lead technology, B2C lead technology, enterprise accounts
3. Digital advertising and marketing methods: Versed in implementing adaptable methods to constantly enhance and apply the most recent and best practices in digital advertising and marketing
4. Budgets: Expertise with varied sizes of budgets; there are completely different challenges with a $1,000 month-to-month price range versus a $1 million month-to-month price range.

So, what does a day within the lifetime of a PPC supervisor seem like?

 PPC supervisor: job description and technical abilities

Consider the whole lot that goes into your Google Advertisements (beforehand Google AdWords) marketing campaign. You arrange the account construction, A/B take a look at completely different touchdown pages, and spend hours on key phrase analysis. However guess what? That’s the tip of the iceberg for PPC managers.

So, what are the standard duties concerned?

Analysis and seek the advice of on key phrases

PPC managers will conduct viewers analysis to establish related search phrases and create high-intent key phrase lists accordingly. Equally, they should additionally establish detrimental key phrases to keep away from in campaigns and forestall wasted PPC advert spend. 

As soon as a PPC supervisor has a listing to work with, they’ll take a look at out completely different key phrase mixtures and bid changes on every marketing campaign.

Most PPC managers have entry to search engine marketing (search engine optimisation) instruments like Semrush or Ahrefs to establish key phrases with excessive conversion potential by way of metrics like quantity, competitors, problem, and intent.

Audit campaigns

How did that final promotional marketing campaign go on your model? 

It’s your PPC supervisor’s job to know the outcomes right down to the final click on. They’ll audit your model’s current advert campaigns to find out what’s working and what isn’t.

Handle campaigns

Marketing campaign administration entails the set-up, enlargement, and enchancment of current and new campaigns. PPC managers don’t simply arrange PPC account buildings for one marketing campaign and name it a day.

They’ll have a number of advert teams and campaigns working simply on one channel. From bid changes to good bidding and viewers concentrating on to metrics monitoring, campaigns demand a ton of consideration and group from a PPC supervisor.

A/B take a look at campaigns

A/B testing is a should within the PPC world. It entails testing two adverts with one variant element, like a special key phrase, touchdown web page visible, or bid. 

PPC managers know what to check, how lengthy to check it, and flip A/B testing outcomes into useful insights that direct your model’s marketing campaign technique. 

Write compelling advert copy

PPC campaigns aren’t nearly clicks and conversions (although that’s the aim). The trail to success lies in an expertly crafted tagline and outline, also called your coveted advert copy.

PPC managers should use viewers analysis, advertising and marketing information, and their writing chops to create compelling advert copy that engages audiences and entices them to maneuver additional down the funnel.

Create optimized touchdown pages and picture adverts

Touchdown pages take your target market from to transformed. And that is an artwork kind. You want extremely persuasive advert copy paired with the proper branding, graphics, and lead kind to succeed.

In response to HubSpot, 10% is an efficient benchmark for conversion charges. However what in the event you had a talented PPC associate in your nook? 

HawkSEM shoppers see larger conversion charges that quantity to a median of 4.5X ROI throughout our campaigns. Simply take a look at our collaboration with California State University – Northridge, the place we doubled its conversion charge.

Monitor conversions and optimize conversion charge

Consider your advert as a piggy financial institution. Each click on is like tossing in a penny, they usually all depend. However conversions are the Benjamin Franklins that your PPC supervisor actually cares about.

They’ll meticulously monitor conversions and create an overarching internet advertising technique that prioritizes conversion charge optimization, which implies rising the conversion charge on your campaigns over time.

Key phrases, A/B testing, viewers analysis, and monitoring outcomes, too? That’s a hefty checklist. What’ll it price you? 

Ask in case your potential PPC supervisor has case research they will offer you, or the contact information of a reference you’ll be able to join with. (Picture: Unsplash)

 PPC supervisor salaries

The average PPC manager’s annual salary is about $68,000 within the U.S. That’s what you’ll pay a mid-level PPC supervisor in the event you rent one in-house. 

Should you take a look at managers with a long time of expertise or area of interest campaign-type experience, that determine can shoot as excessive as $110,000 yearly.

The draw back of hiring in-house? You’re probably not paying for outcomes, which implies a dip in marketing campaign efficiency received’t reduce your payroll. For this reason partnering with a PPC company like HawkSEM is the good transfer. However what makes an company a super alternative?

Cuadros says it’s extra about gaining invaluable time and sources: 

“An company is extra more likely to have already got the suitable sources to handle PPC efforts, like key phrase analysis instruments, automation instruments, reporting platforms, and many others.,” says Cuadros.

“Businesses additionally might have extra time and sources to spend money on steady training to take care of finest practices than a sole individual might discover on their very own.”

So, how will you be sure to get one of the best return in your funding if you work with a PPC supervisor?

 What to contemplate when hiring a PPC supervisor

Time to get your advert campaigns again on monitor. Now let’s cowl discover PPC expertise that ticks all the proper packing containers.

PPC supervisor credentials

You need your PPC supervisor to have expertise. After all, they need to be conversant in the large gamers like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. Ideally, they’re additionally well-versed in Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Service provider Heart.

For sure firms, understanding buyer relationship administration (CRM) and advertising and marketing software program instruments (like Salesforce and HubSpot) will even be important. Being an knowledgeable in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets isn’t essential, however a fundamental understanding of these packages will make issues simpler.

How about skilled levels?

Let’s say one PPC supervisor candidate has a bachelor’s in digital advertising and marketing, and the opposite has a six-month boot camp certificates. Is the previous extra appropriate than the latter? 

Not all the time, in response to Cuadros:

“Education just isn’t essential, however a level is usually a good signal of a candidate’s work ethic. Many universities now additionally provide digital advertising and marketing boot camps that may be a useful expertise to search for even when the candidate doesn’t have an ordinary bachelor’s diploma,” says Cuadros.

The finest training on a PPC channel comes from the individuals behind that channel themselves. Cuadros says to search for platform-specific certifications over basic levels:

“Certifications like Google Advertisements and Meta Blueprint, and many others. are a good way to confirm if a candidate has hands-on expertise within the PPC platform of alternative,” explains Cuadros. “It’s a good suggestion to search for certifications that come immediately from the advert platforms as they’re tougher to achieve.”

Guess what? HawkSEM is a Google Premier Partner and Meta Business Partner.

The credentials is perhaps the recipe, however confirmed expertise is the chef’s kiss.

Demonstrated, related expertise and outcomes

The credentials cowl the theoretical, however with advert campaigns, sensible expertise is the whole lot. How would a PPC advertising and marketing supervisor know when to remarket to an ecommerce viewers, handle a million-dollar price range, or goal the proper profession niches on LinkedIn?

Profitable PPC is all about outcomes, and also you desire a supervisor who can get them. Ideally, your PPC supervisor ought to bolster your technique with stats, testimonials, and different proof demonstrating prior successes for his or her shoppers. This manner, you recognize your funding is in the proper palms.

A good way to evaluate outcomes and expertise is to look at a PPC company’s case research. As for what metrics you must search for, Cuadros says saved advertising and marketing {dollars} are most telling:

“Whereas development in clicks and leads is effective, one of the best PPC managers converse in outcomes and discuss of their successes in reducing price per click on (CPC), rising return on advert spend (ROAS), and many others,” says Cuadros.

Should you’re an ecommerce model, you may want a PPC supervisor that doubled ROAS for his or her on-line swimsuit shopper.

Should you’re a B2B SaaS model, search for outcomes like decreased cost per acquisition (CPA) by 80% for an organization that sells enterprise administration SaaS.

Lengthy story brief: the numbers have to point out a worthwhile ROI. Wouldn’t you need the identical for your advert campaigns? Cuadros continues:

“Search for expertise working with sizeable budgets within the hundreds, and expertise with the proper advert platforms that your model will acquire essentially the most return from (an company may also help you work this out!)” says Cuadros.

Now, let’s take a look at the bridge between credentials and outcomes: abilities.

PPC supervisor abilities

Earlier, we touched on among the technical competencies that PPC supervisors want for achievement (like key phrase analysis, A/B testing, and area of interest experience from Google Advertisements). Nonetheless, it’s the mushy abilities that actually piece the whole lot collectively.

Listed below are some abilities HawkSEM seems for in our PPC strategist candidates:

Analytical abilities with an emphasis on knowledge

The most effective PPC managers are analytical thinkers and numbers-minded drawback solvers. These traits are ideally suited on this subject, because the extra thorough your PPC supervisor is, the much less doubtless they’re to make errors (or repeat them). 

Cuadros says your PPC supervisor ought to be capable to analyze and current efficiency studies in a digestible method. This might seem like clear, accessible summaries and bullet factors, reporting dashboards, or intuitive charts to measure efficiency.

At HawkSEM, efficiency evaluation is our bread and butter. The top baker?

ConversionIQ, our distinctive proprietary tech that compiles hundreds of viewers and marketing campaign knowledge factors throughout all of your PPC and internet channels for actionable insights. Each HawkSEM shopper positive aspects entry to ConversionIQ’s dashboards, making monitoring ROI a bit of cake.

Robust group abilities

PPC campaigns, and digital advertising and marketing on the whole, contain many transferring elements. Skilled execs know one of the best campaigns are examined, analyzed, tweaked, and examined once more. 

Due to this, you need to belief that the individual managing your search adverts is very organized. With the ability to monitor modifications they’ve made, particularly large ones, can also be essential.

You would think about creating calendar reminders for 2 weeks, a month, three months, and so forth, to the touch base on any modifications that come up after every marketing campaign launch. 

Should you’re repeatedly getting responses like, “Oh proper, I forgot we mentioned that,” or “Whoops, meant to ship that earlier!,” you could need to have a dialog together with your PPC supervisor about what their group course of seems like and whether or not that aligns together with your expectations.

Communication abilities

We all know that communication is vital in all points of enterprise. Your PPC supervisor ought to be no completely different. Communication is particularly essential on this function, whether or not you’re working with somebody in-house or at an company.

Your supervisor shouldn’t solely be well-spoken however well-written too. Cuadros says expertise writing compelling advert copy is a should for a profitable PPC supervisor. If not, you’ll be able to in all probability anticipate low click-through charges or worse, a foul impression of your model. 

Think about studying an advert that had a number of typos and poor grammar — you in all probability wouldn’t click on it. Plus, you may keep away from that firm since you understand them as unprofessional.

Whether or not it’s a proportion of your total advertising and marketing price range or primarily based on previous advert spend, you must have a ballpark in thoughts for what you’ll be able to spend with a PPC service company. (Picture: Unsplash)

 Inquiries to ask a PPC supervisor

So that you gathered a stable checklist of contenders with area of interest expertise and demonstrated ROI. Candy! Now it’s time to place them to the take a look at.

Along with Cuadros, we rounded up just a few of HawkSEM’s prime interview questions for potential PPC managers: 

• What shopper industries have you ever labored with? Should you’re an ecommerce biz and the candidate solely serves fintechs? They could nonetheless be a stable contender, however PPC managers together with your business expertise will doubtless be a extra promising and aligned match.
• What marketing campaign sorts are you skilled with (Google Search, Show Community, Buying, Video, Efficiency Max)? Think about the advert codecs your model makes use of and ensure your PPC supervisor candidate has demonstrated expertise with them. 
• What month-to-month budgets are you snug managing? It is a large one as a result of massive advert budgets can dwindle shortly with an inexperienced PPC supervisor. Contenders ought to have expertise working with price range ranges that really feel aligned with yours.
  
• What’s a latest change inside Google Advertisements (for instance) that you just like or dislike? This reveals in the event that they’re maintaining updated with the most recent developments.
  
• How do you talk? Suppose Groups conferences, emails, common telephone calls — and the way frequent? You must guarantee your communication fashion and expectations are aligned.
• What instruments do you utilize to remain organized? Does the PPC supervisor use Excel, frequent touch-base conferences, challenge administration software program, or a mixture? Learn how they hold issues from slipping by means of the cracks.
  
• How do you monitor and analyze knowledge, and measure success? Search for KPIs like conversion charge and ROAS, and success benchmarks that align together with your objectives.