All businesses want to make money – it is the point of business. With every initiative a business launches, it does so with the purpose to drive revenue. And every year, it hopes to drive even more revenue. Year over year growth is imperative for a business to be sustainable. As account managers, we are held accountable for revenue growth goals from digital marketing. And with that accountability, comes pressure and a lot of it. From lead gen clients to e-commerce clients, we all have to show a return on investment and sometimes we will miss the mark.
How to monitor revenue from PPC?
A sophisticated account will have a backend tracking to measure revenue from leads and sales generated (Google Analytics, CRM platforms, etc). As an account manager, I advise you to get access to these metrics and this data as soon as possible. Be pushy with your client about giving you all their internal reports that measure spend and profits. Furthermore, put that in your weekly reports. Talk about it on every weekly call. If your client isn’t transparent with you, be as transparent as possible on your side. You have to drive the PPC revenue conversation, do not wait for your client to start it.
From experience, I have fallen short in getting this data and it has thrown me for surprises. Here is a list of questions I encourage you to ask your clients:
- What internal data do you measure your costs against profits/sales?
- What assumptions went into your revenue growth goals?
- With [x] amount of growth, how much are you growing in spend?
- Does your business have the capacity and inventory to keep up with the growth goals for this year?
How to handle pressures when revenue isn’t growing in PPC?
I frequently get frustrated with digital media because there’s only so much we can control. And year over year, search grows in competition and in costs. Then, I get peppered with questions about why results are changing for clients year over year and there’s only so much I am able to say. I show data, I show the differences in volume, I show that this year we are not able to get the same volume for the same price through rises in CPCs, CPAs, additional competitors, loss of impression share, etc. Does it help? Yes. Does it satisfy clients? No. I’m still held to that revenue goal.
When I feel excessive pressure to drive revenue from PPC, I always step back. I quit taking things personally and realize that this is business, it’s just business. It’s cyclical, things fluctuate and will be consistently changing. That doesn’t stop me from wanting to do the absolute best I can for my clients.
How to feel about revenue?
Do the best you can. Show that you are providing value as an account manager with or without the revenue growth. We as PPCers can only see so much; we leave a lot up to Google, to users’ behavior, to the weather, to fluctuations in sales, etc. There are a plethora of external factors that go into digital media that impact revenue. Be proactive as an account manager. Do your digging, do your research into the company, know that business inside and out and if you don’t know something or you have a question, ask your client. Performance isn’t always going to be great. Goals aren’t always going to be met. However, if you become part of the client’s internal marketing team, you become as invaluable as if you were one of their own employees. You are just as much invested in their success as they are, and you become their teammate.