10 Things that Great Amazon PPC Managers Do

April 14, 2021
By The Badger

Being a good Amazon PPC manager requires more than just having the technical skills down pat. It also requires strong communication, consistent learning, and more.

Learning how to be a great Amazon PPC manager means adopting certain traits and practices and applying them to the campaigns you manage and your overall campaign manager mindset.

If you’re looking to become an Amazon PPC manager yourself, take these to heart and you will go far. Here are our top 10 tips for being a great Amazon PPC manager!

1. Great Amazon PPC-ers Always Keep Their Word

If you say you’ll do something with your client’s campaigns, do it. Staying true to one’s word and holding oneself accountable really separates the high performers from low performers regardless of industry or trade.

Solid client-manager relationships are built on a foundation of mutual trust, and you want to adhere to that trust. If you develop a reputation for doing what you say you’ll do, that’ll follow you from client to client and allow your clients to put more trust in you.

2. They’re Always Learning

The good news is that if you’re reading this or listening to our podcast, you have this one on lock.

Things are constantly changing, especially in the world of Amazon PPC. You can’t rest on the laurels of your past education and expect what you know about the Amazon Advertising of yesterday to help you manage the Amazon Advertising of tomorrow.

Good Amazon PPC managers are always on the hunt for new or updated Amazon PPC knowledge and how to make the most of whatever changes Amazon throws our way.

There are tons of resources out there to stay informed about new developments in Amazon PPC and continuously sharpen your skills. Check out our guide to Amazon PPC for tons of useful info.

3. They Have an Amazon PPC Support System

Sometimes the best sources of learning when it comes to Amazon PPC are your peers and fellow industry professionals. People who are deep in the weeds of Amazon Advertising are going to notice notable changes first, so your fellow professionals can be a great source of info.

Tons of Amazon PPC professionals in Facebook groups (like ours!) freely exchange tips and pearls of wisdom.

4. They are Flexible

Having an SOP is definitely a good thing; standardization gives you a foundation to use as a starting point. However, you don’t want your whole Amazon PPC management strategy to be ruled by procedure and rigid guidelines at all times. Because every client and every campaign is unique, you may have to deviate from standard procedure to get the client’s desired results.

Besides, Amazon constantly tweaks and rearranges its advertising landscape. If you want to be in the Amazon PPC game long-term, you need to be able to roll with the punches and adapt to those changes quickly.

5. They Isolate Important KPIs and Stick to their Goals

Staying focused on your PPC goals is super critical. To be an effective Amazon PPC manager and get your clients where they want to go, you need to keep your goals in mind. Typically, your client will have an Amazon KPI that they look at and worry about above all others. You need to figure out what that metric is so you can structure your strategy around it.

Look at all of the different angles of attack you can employ to get their chosen metric right where they want it. Then, come up with an organized plan of how you intend to influence that metric.

6. Good Managers Have an Amazon PPC Attack Plan

Not only do you have to have a well-cemented goal, you also know exactly how you plan on getting your client’s Amazon account from Point A to Point B.

What opportunities can you take advantage of in order to propel your client’s sales upwards? How will input X lead to output Y?

Having a clear plan of attack helps you reverse engineer and break down your strategy step by step when explaining it to your client.

7. Great Amazon PPC Managers are Great Communicators

Once you’ve put in the work on your client’s campaigns and are starting to see changes, you have to effectively communicate to your client exactly what’s happening in their account in a way they can understand. The ability to maintain good communication with a client is just as important as having PPC knowledge.

You might have enough experience in Amazon PPC management that what you’re doing seems self-explanatory, but keep in mind that your client probably doesn’t have that same depth of understanding. Be clear and concise about what their campaigns are doing and how it affects them.

Being a great communicator also means being able to have tough conversations with your clients. If their goal is too aggressive or not aggressive enough, or their PPC goals are misaligned with what they want to accomplish long-term, you need to be able to diplomatically steer them back in the right direction.

8. Their Technical Greatness Helps Them Stand Their Ground

You’ve put in the time and effort to be an Amazon PPC pro, so don’t be afraid to be the voice of authority. Be upfront and realistic about what can be done in a certain amount of time.

Some clients may try to hijack your work to force a certain plan of attack. Remember that there’s a difference between offering suggestions and pushing you and their campaigns down a path that won’t yield results. If something won’t work for their campaigns, be honest with them about it.

Trust your gut. If you feel like something is off with your client’s Amazon campaigns, say something to them. Stick to your guns in terms of what you feel is best for your clients’ campaigns. Chances are good that they’ll thank you for it down the road.

9. They Have a Code of Ethics

Good PPC managers have a code of ethics when it comes to their clients and they stick to it. When faced with the possibility of cheating or using unscrupulous means to achieve short-term success, they do the right thing.

If your client is asking you to bend or break Amazon’s rules to try and boost their metrics, have an honest conversation with them about that and what the consequences might be. This ability to be upfront and tell your client no goes hand in hand with standing your ground.

10. They Follow the Amazon PPC Levels of Mastery

Good Amazon campaign managers appreciate that there’s a certain order to things. If you remember Bloom’s Taxonomy from your high school literature class, you remember that it starts off with surface-level, objective questions and slowly gets more and more complex as you go up through the levels. This same concept of increasing complexity with greater depth of understanding can also be applied to Amazon Advertising.

We call this the six levels of Amazon PPC mastery.

Take what you learn about Amazon PPC and apply it to your campaigns. Of course, everyone’s products and campaigns are unique, but truly great Amazon campaign managers know how to tweak and alter Amazon PPC practices to get to where they want to be.

Key Takeaways

While understanding of and experience in Amazon PPC are must-haves for an Amazon PPC manager, there’s so much more to it than that.

You need to stick to your convictions, maybe even have a little stubborn streak. Stand your ground when your clients doubt you, stick to your code of ethics, and stay true to your word.

Never, ever settle for where you are now. Keep yourself in a student mindset, and use the greater community of Amazon PPC-ers to collect more opinions, insights, and knowledge.

Stay focused on your #1 Amazon PPC metric, have an easy-to-understand game plan for how to get from Point A to Point B, and be able to communicate that plan and its progress to your client.

Practice implementing these principles every day until it becomes second nature. Once you’ve conquered these 10 tips, you’ll be an Amazon PPC managing master!