When PPC Performance is Down, handle it with a Measured Approach
When you’re in the paid search game long enough, eventually, you see PPC performance begin to take a downturn. A lot of the time, this can happen in very unexpected ways. For times when you’re caught with an unexpected tumble in your PPC paid search performance, the important thing to remember is to accept that your campaign will not meet its expectations and with that comes consequences. The result of such a falter could be partners losing trust in your abilities and/or could see someone else come in and take over, leaving you with wheels spinning.
Though the last thing anyone wants to see is a PPC performance downturn, it will happen at some point and when it does, your response needs to be measured. By approaching this as simply a problem in need of a solution and communicating confidence to stakeholders, you may be able to turn a negative into a positive.
Identify and Diagnose where the Problem is At
When you see your metrics take a swing down, you need to find out why. People are going to be depending on you to explain to them why a paid search campaign is not performing and you need to know. This can’t be guesswork. Look for when the problem first began to occur, what metrics are lagging, and examine whether there is any relationship to metrics that are working. Sometimes, this can mean hours of research. It is well worth it though because you’ll know where needs fixing.
Communicate the Problem Confidently and Directly
Communication skills count for a lot in a situation like this. When business begins to fail, business relationships can oftentimes begin to crumble as well. The ability of a PPC account manager to communicate the problem that exists and the solution that they will take to address it head-on can mean the world of difference. To retain your perception as a PPC expert, own an underperforming campaign and do not deny it or minimize it. Communicate it verbally, in written form, and educate as to where the problem exists. Be detailed in explaining the fix and never leave a stakeholder with just the issue to mull around.
You Will Come out of this stronger
In paid search, just like in business, failure is inevitable. It’s what you do with failure that will determine whether you can survive it. Be prepared for it and respond in this manner.
This approach is a necessity in being able to successfully overturn a bad performance in time. By reacting the right way and doing it right, you can actually build credibility and trust from stakeholders.
The key to all of this is in removing the emotional response that comes with finding out a paid search campaign is not working out. Don’t lash out and if/when stakeholders get emotional about it, take the lead in solving the problem.
Finding out you have an underperforming property is never a fun message to receive. Even so, it’s not anything you should run away from. Confront it head on, identify the root cause, and don’t wait to take a course of action to remedy everything in a prompt manner.