Insights From A Search Marketing Rookie

By Erin Dailer, Paid Search Coordinator, Advertising Solutions

On a recent trip back to my home state of West Virginia - in a world where my parents live without internet access yet my 90 year-old grandmother talks about Twittering - I began to reflect on my six month anniversary as a member of the Resolution Media Advertising Team. I started my career at RM on a three-day temporary HR assignment that turned into one of the best career opportunities that I ever could have been presented. Completely new to the world of search, I sat at my desk wondering, “What are all of these people doing?” I was confused, intrigued, but most importantly determined to join this new and exciting world of search marketing.

Below are three takeaways from my six month journey to becoming a successful search marketer:

Just Do It

One of Resolution Media’s Core Values is ‘Not Trying is Worse Than Failing’ and I find myself using this as a mantra whenever I start doubting myself or my abilities. I have discovered that one of the best ways to learn a new tool is to dive right in. Whether it’s an engine interface, a reporting tool or even Excel – I say, just do it! As someone new to the functions of Excel, I was extremely intimidated by creating pivot tables but quickly learned that avoiding them in the world of paid search reporting is next to impossible. As soon as I stopped relying on others and gave it a try on my own, I found that creating a pivot table really isn’t that hard and sometimes can even be fun. Becoming familiar with Excel has helped me aggregate information quickly, present data more accurately and analyze performance metrics in a more detailed fashion.


First pivot table

Get Informed

If you are new to the world of search, reading books, blogs or news articles on the subject can be one of the best ways to educate yourself on what’s happening in this ever-changing space. One simple way to get informed is to subscribe to daily e-mails from industry websites that will be delivered right to your inbox. Much of this outside information can help you in bringing innovative ideas to your clients or learning new ways to run more efficient campaigns across your accounts.


My favorite source for industry news

Document, Document, Document

Recently I have had the opportunity to help train a new RM’er and have never learned so much about what I thought I already knew. As a personal goal, I wanted to become an expert in a specific reporting tool that I hadn’t spent a lot of time using. To get the ball rolling on my way to expertise, I started documenting every task I performed in the reporting interface step by step and as detailed as possible. When the time came to teach our new team member I was able to look back at the steps and easily explain the path that needed to be taken to complete our assignment.

So, if there is a specific tool out there you find yourself avoiding, give it a try. You may discover a more efficient way to complete your daily tasks. Documenting a course of action step by step may seem tedious but believe me you will be thankful when you are able to teach someone an entire process or complete a report on your own – and most likely you will impress yourself along the way.

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