Keep that Foot on the Gas Pedal

By Brian Donohoe, Account Supervisor

When managing multiple accounts, I find myself sometimes taking too much advantage of that word—“manage.” I’ll get things to a good spot—clients are happy, partners are happy, and performance is what was promised.

Or sometimes, I’ve found myself in reactive mode. Everything is under control, but ad hoc tasks and a heavy reporting workload make it difficult to really look forward. It gets easy to put things on cruise control and think that no news is good news. But this isn’t a time to continue with the day-to-day, managing, and let the quarter pass by. This is the time to really get innovative and think of how things can get even better.

As search marketers, we must continue to challenge ourselves and improve our campaigns. Even when all is well in the world of your accounts, you should still be looking forward for new opportunities on how to get things to that next level.

Let’s say you work on a CPA-based account. You continually hit or beat your goal each week. You are pacing perfectly and have a large market share of voice. Nice job, Donny Draper. Have a scotch and put your feet up. Not-so-fast. Don’t let a series of good looking dashboards blur that strategic vision you keep claiming you have. Now is the time to put the pedal down and see what else this wonderful world of digital media has to offer.

Don’t get me wrong—sometimes it completely makes sense to adhere to the “If it ain’t broke…” philosophy. Sometimes the parameters you’re working with give you no choice. But calculated, measurable tests that are in line with your program goals should always be at the forefront of our minds.

Let’s say brand keywords are performing phenomenally and you have some room in your budget. Why not consider Yahoo! RAIS and increase CTR? Or maybe you have an awareness based campaign—instead of opting into Content with text ads, why not try banner ads?

One thing that I keep mentioning but would like to emphasize—make sure whatever opportunity you consider is in line with your goals. There should always something you are trying to accomplish with a test, and it better make sense. I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves at times runing creative tests just for the hell of it. Know what you are getting into. Be able to back it up—why it makes sense for the brand and how you are going to measure it.

There are hundreds of different opportunities out there that are worth testing, and believe you me, the search engine partners are more than happy to go over them, in detail. Even if it’s doubtful that a recommendation will be approved, we owe it to ourselves and our clients to make it known that it’s out there. In the end, everyone will be more educated and you will know your account better.

In order for an account to really see its potential, risks must be taken. Now make your move.

0 comments:

 
Copyright © 2008 Resolution Media, Inc. All rights reserved.