Taking Your PPC Campaign Management Skills From Average to Awesome

Presented at Hero Conf UK in April 2025

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You’re doing a fantastic job of managing your PPC accounts, and are seeing great results. But what can you do next? What's the difference between the average and an awesome PPC campaign manager?

This talk will cover actionable account and campaign management tweaks and strategies which you can easily implement to improve your PPC efforts. From rethinking how you utilise keywords, to exploring how to utilise portfolio bid strategies, this talk will shine light on the less glamorous, but still very important, aspects of expert PPC management.

Transcript

2. Sophie Logan
3. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist.
4. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist. Platinum Google Ads Product Expert.
5. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist. Platinum Google Ads Product Expert. Pug mum.
6. Sophie Logan B2B lead gen specialist. Platinum Google Ads Product Expert. Pug mum. @marketingsoph
8. The difference between an average and awesome PPC account manager. Content
9. The difference between an average and awesome PPC account manager. Content 4 ways to help you to get there.
10. The difference between an average and awesome PPC account manager. Content 4 ways to help you to get there. Summary and final thought.
12. Average.
13. Me in 2017.
14. Getting consistently good results.
15. My clients were satisfied.
16. My accounts followed best practices.
17. There is nothing wrong with average. But we’d all be lying if we didn’t say we want to be awesome.
18. Average Awesome
19. Fast forward to 2025 And add time, experience and more exposure....
20. An awesome PPC manager is someone who...
21. Understands how the platforms work behind the scenes. (As much as they’ll allows us to...)
22. Manages accounts effectively and efficiently.
23. Appreciates that even the smallest of tweaks can make a big impact.
24. Is driven by data, not ego or rule books.
27. Average - “I use Smart Bidding.”
28. Awesome - “I understand Smart Bidding.”
29. Steer the wheel.
30. Stop wasting time adding bid adjustments for things like devices and locations.
31. Ad schedule = yes Bid adjustments associated with that ad schedule = no
32. About bid adjustments - Google Ads Help Center
33. Don’t be scared to try portfolio bidding.
36. Remember: Rubbish in = Rubbish out
37. Stop blaming the robots when it’s you who has been feeding it...
38. Unreliable date range data.
39. Unreliable date range data. Inaccurate tracking.
40. Unreliable date range data. Inaccurate tracking. Unsuitable conversion windows.
42. Average - “Clicks and Conversion volumes are high.”
43. Awesome - “My Conversions have a great lead-to-sale rate.”
44. Change your mindset.
45. More accurarely report on the value of PPC.
46. More accurately report on the value of PPC. Optimise campaigns for sales or basket value (aka cold hard cash).
47. Ask yourself these 3 questions to help change your mindset...
48. Why are you even running PPC campaigns? What does the campaign really need to do to be a success?
49. What new KPI’s can you set? Think less about ad engagement and more about added value.
50. How do I communicate this with stakeholders? Educate them and manage their expectations.
52. Average - “I NEED to add new Negative Keywords on a daily basis.”
53. Awesome - “My structure and targeting helps to drive campaign efficiency.”
54. Stop relying on Negative Keywords.
55. Matching just keeps on getting broader.
56. So what can we do?
57. Single. Theme. Ad. Group.
58. Keywords. Extensions. Landing page.
59. Choose keywords based on relevance and intent.
60. Control what you NEED.
61. Control what you NEED. Then let the system do the rest.
62. WAIT. People still use SKAG?
64. Average - “I have my task list ready for next month.”
65. Awesome - “I know what I want to achieve in the next 6 months and what I need to do to get there.”
66. Make a plan for your plan.
67. An awesome PPC manager can confidently say...
68. I know what I want to achieve.
69. I know what I want to achieve. I want to improve Conversion Rate.
70. I know what I need to get there.
71. I know what I need to get there. I need to improve my landing pages and hone in my targeting methods.
72. I know how I’m going to get those things done.
73. I know how I’m going to get those things done. I’m going to audit my landing pages and targeting, restrategise and build on the campaigns current successful elements.
74. What. How. When.
76. “What’s next?”
78. Understand Smart Bidding.
79. Understand Smart Bidding. Focus on the metrics which truly count.
80. Stop over relying on Neg. KWs.
81. Stop over relying on Neg. KWs. Set goals and strategise how you’re going to achieve them.
83. Talk to, and learn from, your PPC peers. They’re absolutely invaluable.
84. Thank you! LinkedIn: Sophie Logan BlueSky: MarketingSoph Speakerdeck: MarketingSoph