Exploring the PPC Landscape: Insights from Expert Reese Garcia

We recently interviewed Reese Garcia, a self-made PPC master who managed to change his career path. Reese majored in English Literature at university. However, he decided to teach himself Google Ads. He succeeded with the help of hard work, patience, intensive programs, and mentoring.

Today, Reese is helping companies develop and grow through paid search as the E-commerce Director of Paid Search at KlientBoost. He started in 2014 as a Digital Marketing Analyst. Back then, Reese had no experience and no education related to marketing or business. His path is a confirmation that anyone can start something new and succeed if they’re willing to put in the effort. 

Maryna Sharapa, an OWOX BI Growth Hacker, spoke with Reese Garcia via Skype and gathered useful information related to PPC. We’re sure that OWOX blog readers will be inspired by Reese’s experience.

Maryna Sharapa: What skills does a PPC specialist need to succeed in the future?

Reese Garcia: ​That’s a good question. You know, I like this question because I came to the PPC field with a zero base and no prior experience. I had just finished college and knew nothing about business. I remember when I was getting a start in this field and my knowledge was based only on PPC blogs like PPC Hero and other sources. I remember seeing a lot of stuff about analyzing or optimizing data, and it was totally new for me. I spent a lot of time figuring out what kind of data these blogs were talking about. I tried to learn how to get analytical skills. I even googled how to have an analytical mind. It’s funny, but it’s true. I always rephrased the question Why? at least five times. If you can do that, you can figure out the true cause of something. It’s the key to knowledge. 

This kind of thinking is super useful when you build up new knowledge with Excel and Google Sheets, combining things and analyzing data. I think they are super important tools. The success of building long-term relationships with your clients is based on your knowledge and experience. 

Communication is equally important. Being able to simplify everything in your analysis and present it to everybody (your clients, CMO, or CEO). All these people have different priorities, but they have to be able to understand your information and understand the true value that you’re bringing for them.

MS: What are the top five tools you can't imagine working without? 

RG: I have four already. Maybe it’s going to be boring, but they’re really important. Of course, it’s Excel and Google Sheets – they are very similar. Another one is Google Ads Editor. My work always requires this tool. I’m a big fan of Google Ads Scripts. We use the N-gram Script a lot. It breaks down your search term into basic phrases or even single words. This script helps you identify wasted AdWords spend using n-grams. Also, it’s a combination of Funnel.io and Google Data Studio. So we use multiple platforms like data connectors and put all the resources together. Then we use Google Data Studio to present the data in a way that looks a lot nicer.

MS: What are five blogs every PPC specialist should read?

RG: Of course, everybody should check out the KlientBoost blog. It has a lot of good content. Also, the PPC Hero blog and Search Engine Land. The Shopify Blog is great for e-commerce marketers; it includes e-commerce marketing trends. And the last I’m going to say is Search Engine Journal. 

MS: What are the top conferences every PPC specialist should visit?

RG: I will tell you a couple that I’ve visited: SMX Advanced and the Unbounce Call to Action Conference. They were very useful for me in terms of paid search and CRO issues. These two conferences are very good.

MS: What services do you use for reporting?

RG: We have a lot of tools: Funnel.io, Google Data Studio, Supermetrics in Google Sheets. These services depend on the KPIs that we want to track. These can be conversion and cost per conversion, revenue, or return on ad spend (ROAS). Sometimes, multiple reporting services can show specific data that we can use to match the needs of the organization.

MS: Who usually builds reports on your team?

RG: Our managers create the reports themselves. In the future, I can see a time when we have one person for reporting who deals with all data connectors and makes all the reports for us.

MS: What are the main limitations of existing reporting tools?

RG: There is a kind of limitation in using analytics a lot. We’re not always able to track something, for example, the LTV [lifetime value] of a particular client. Tools like Google Analytics (or other Google-based platforms) don’t capture personal data on individuals (their names, etc.). Therefore, it’s difficult to track one individual person. I think it would be interesting to get this data for analyzing and calculating CAC [customer acquisition cost] and other changes.

MS: What PPC KPIs are you focused on?

RG: For example, our company, KlientBoost, is focused on making more money for clients. So the KPIs are the following: lead generation, conversion, cost per conversion, closed leads, and cost per closed leads. I’m working directly with a lot of e-commerce clients, so the main KPIs for me are revenue, return on ad spend (ROAS), profit, and growth margin.

MS: Does offline data matter for evaluating advertising campaigns?

RG: Yes, it does. I think it totally matters because I work with clients who have physical stores. So they can see the effects of Facebook Ads, the amount of visitors, different locations, etc. and track other things. It’s one of the issues that I want to learn more about.

MS: How do you usually set annual marketing goals?

RG: It’s important for us to see the perspectives of our company and our clients. Usually, we negotiate goals with the sales team and analyze the data we have after campaigns. We always make decisions and set goals together. This is our goal-setting process. For example, one of the managers who works with a particular client can offer some realistic goals that we can achieve together. Two of the biggest goals are to get more money and set realistic goals for the company.

Reese Garcia has impressed us with his career path and his PPC tips for those who are at the beginning of their career in the marketing field. He shared a lot of relevant information that will come in handy for our blog readers. 

The main insight from Reese Garcia is that anyone can start doing something new, as there are a lot of resources to learn from. Subscribe to the OWOX BI blog to read other articles on marketing and get valuable insights for your business.