Results from my PPC Education Research and 10 tools for more empathic and strategic PPC from my experience of training undergrads for annual Google's PPC competition, GOMC.

1. LESSONSFROM95YEARSOF#PPC
AND4YEARSOFTEACHINGIT
Part 1: PPC Education Research
Part 2: 10 Tools to More Empathic and Strategic PPC
Kahlil Corazo
@kcorazo | corazo.org PPC Pinas 2013

2. Kahlil Corazo
My context: I teach PPC to undergrads
GOMC 2011 Global Top 20
GOMC 2012 Asia-Pacific
Champions
*The Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) is an annual
competition of undergraduate and graduate students all over
the world hosted by Google. It is a great tool for experiential
learning; to compete, teams of students plan, execute and
optimize real PPC campaigns for real businesses. In 2012,
more than 11,000 students joined the GOMC.

3. What should PPC
students be taught?

4. Let’s ask the pros!

5. John Crestani Jeff Ferguson Rene Olano Brent Gaynor
Jason Lancaster Mannix Pabalan Pandiyarajan JP Bisson
Cell Jacela Pablo Kunert Soso Sazesh Hans Koch
95 Years of Collective PPC Experience

6. This is not a
survey.
This is tapping
into 95 years of
collective PPC
experience.

7. Quality of interview data.
Diversity in some areas
and lack of it in others.

14. ♂♀100% 0%
☹

15. Gender Asked Interviewed
Conversion
Rate
Women 7 0 n/a
Men 32 12 37.5%
Hey, I tried.
This reflects the broader imbalance between men and women in PPC. For instance, in PPC Hero’s 25 most influential PPC
experts, only 4 are women. This is a similar situation across science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) fields.

16. Synthesis
Synthesis posts and all interview notes available at corazo.org

17. Key characteristics of good PPC pros
Intellectual
Virtues
Technical
skills
capabilities

18. Key characteristics of good PPC pros
Intellectual
Virtues
Technical
skills
capabilities

20. PPC is a profession where you need
to use both the analytical (left) and
creative (right) sides of the brain.
Jeff Ferguson

21. SEM is equal parts science and art.
Soso Sazesh

22. CreativeAnalytical
Empathic
Strategic

23. Mentioned by everyone.
•Basic Math
•Basic Statistics
•Analysis of data

24. Several mentioned
“creativity” but specific
examples are in its
overlaps with empathy
and strategy.
Copywriting and managing perceptions.
Keyword research.

25. Empathy: mentioned the most
after analytical skills.
• "understanding of human psychology"
• "understanding consumer behavior"
• "understanding motivations behind search terms"
• "marketing"
PPC and online behavior
analytics
Overlap between data analysis and empathy

26. The same way all Marines start as
riflemen, all PPC professionals start
as marketers.
Cell Jacela

27. Strategy
• How does online marketing play within
the business? How does PPC play within
its online marketing? Conversion strategy.
• Understanding the “macroeconomics” of
the platform (behavior and motivations of
its players, including the game master).
Strategy X Analytics
• Structuring accounts for testing and optimization.
• Judging what the key metric are.
• Mental habit and work procedure of hypothesis testing
(eg, A/B testing different copywriting angles, different
targeting options and different landing pages).

28. Creative
Analytical
Empathic
Strategic
• Math
• Statistics
• Data Analysis
Understanding market
segments and their
motivations and behavior
Understanding a client’s
business and the platform’s
ecosystem. Conversion
strategy.
“Alw
ays
be
Testing.”
Know
ing
w
hat the
key
m
etrics
are. Structuring
accounts
for testing
and
m
anagem
ent.
Copyw
riting, m
anaging
perceptions.
Teasing
outthe
m
eaning
from
PPC
and
online
behavioranalytics.
New
angles
in
targeting
(eg,new
keyw
ords).

29. Key characteristics of good PPC pros
Intellectual
Virtues
Technical
skills
capabilities

30. Organized
Diligent
Meticulous
Patient
Perfectionist
Persistent
Hungry for better
performance
Careful
Thinks outside
the box
Creative
3/4 Swiss virtues + 1/4 Hippie virtues
Asian version: 3/4 Japanese + 1/4 Filipino
Political correctness disclaimer: any and all stereotypes here are used purely for explanatory purposes. This does not in any way imply agreement or non-
agreement to any of these stereotypes. Furthermore, this does not imply agreement or non-agreement to the validity of the concept of stereotypes.
Continuous
improvement
and learning
Outward looking
Problem-solver
Structured mindset

31. There are simply no tricks in search engine advertising,
display advertising and search engine optimization.
Mastering PPC requires a lot of deep understanding,
hard work, practice and time. There are simply no
shortcuts, no secrets.
Jeff Ferguson

32. PPC is one of those things that if you
just work hard enough, you will
succeed.
John Crestani

33. Key characteristics of good PPC pros
Intellectual
Virtues
Technical
skills
capabilities

34. Technical skills
★ Spreadsheet Jiujitsu
•The platform (eg,
AdWords)
•Tools (eg, AdWords
Editor, several
keyword research
tools)

35. I
Excel seems to be the favorite tool of PPC Pros.

36. Not understanding each function of
each AdWords feature is like playing
chess without knowing the moves of
each piece.
JP Bisson

37. A guide for planning trainings.
A checklist for PPC candidates.

38. The gap between
skills required
and standard training,
tools and processes.

39. PPC Capability Areas Mentioned in Interviews
Creative-Empathic
Empathic
Understanding clicking behavior - observe your own behavior.
Understanding the customer - using customer personas.
Analytical-Empathic
Google Analytics basics - take the certification course and exam.
Analytical
Basic concepts in statistics - explanation.
Analytical-Strategic
Structuring and optimizing campaigns - demonstration and hands-on.
Mindset of testing - mentoring and hands-on.
Strategic
Conversion strategy - mentoring. Understanding the PPC platform
and its players - background in macroeconomics.
Creative-Strategic
Keyword research - demonstrate techniques. Creative thinking - throw
questions and scenarios.
Creative
Swiss Virtues
Technical Skills
AdWords and Google Analytics basics - take the certification course
and exam. Run a small campaign. Make mistakes in a controlled
environment. Read books. Complete a PPC questionnaire. New features -
follow industry blogs and twitter accounts. AdWords Editor, Excel -
demonstrate and hands-on.

40. PPC Capability Areas Mentioned in Interviews
Creative-Empathic
Empathic
Understanding clicking behavior - observe your own behavior.
Understanding the customer - using customer personas.
Analytical-Empathic
Google Analytics basics - take the certification course and exam.
Analytical
Basic concepts in statistics - explanation.
Analytical-Strategic
Structuring and optimizing campaigns - demonstration and hands-on.
Mindset of testing - mentoring and hands-on.
Strategic
Conversion strategy - mentoring. Understanding the PPC platform
and its players - background in macroeconomics.
Creative-Strategic
Keyword research - demonstrate techniques. Creative thinking - throw
questions and scenarios.
Creative
Swiss Virtues
Technical Skills
AdWords and Google Analytics basics - take the certification course
and exam. Run a small campaign. Make mistakes in a controlled
environment. Read books. Complete a PPC questionnaire. New features -
follow industry blogs and twitter accounts. AdWords Editor, Excel -
demonstrate and hands-on.
Only technical skills
have a lot of systematic
training.

41. You can’t really
teach this.
The focus of current training
and industry blogs.

42. Creative
Analytical
Empathic
Strategic
Opportunity: share
tools for empathy
and strategy.

43. How do you bring ~20
undergrads from zero
PPC to competition
level in a few months?
Sharing tools
developed from this
challenge.

44. And running customer
development
workshops (my other
educational interest)

45. 10WAYSTOMOREEMPATHICAND
STRATEGIC#PPC
Tools from training PPC championship teams.

46. 1
Design the business’
website from strategy
and not from convention
(even if you’re not in charge of web design)
Ensures that the following questions are asked and
answered:
• What is the business all about?
• Who are its customers?
• What are the steps in the funnel, from awareness
to buying to loyalty?
• What are their desires and concerns at each part
of the funnel?
• How do you address those desires and concerns
with a website? What should be its content and
their relative priority.
• What roles can online marketing play in this
funnel? What is the conversion strategy?

47. After this exercise, it
is very easy to build a
PPC account based
on strategy!

48. 2
Documenting the
background of the business
and its customers.
For my students, the pre-campaign
document required by Google for
entry to the competition does the job.
http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/
discover/campaign-reports.html

49. 3
Alternatively, use the
Business Model Canvas
Figure out the role of
online marketing here.
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas

50. 4
Brainstorm for customer
empathy using XPlane’s
empathy map.
http://glennas.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/empathy-map-example.jpg

51. 5
Or Lean Startup Machine’s
Persona Development
Canvas
http://leanstartupmachine.com/

52. 6
Or Alex Osterwalder’s Value
Proposition Canvas
The Value Proposition Canvas
Gain Creators
Describe how your products and services create customer gains.
How do they create benefits your customer expects, desires or would be surprised
by, including functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings?
Pain Relievers
Do they…
Create savings that make your customer happy?
(e.g. in terms of time, money and effort, …)
Produce outcomes your customer expects or that go
beyond their expectations?
(e.g. better quality level, more of something, less of something, …)
Copy or outperform current solutions that delight your
customer?
(e.g. regarding specific features, performance, quality, …)
Make your customer’s job or life easier?
(e.g. flatter learning curve, usability, accessibility, more services, lower
cost of ownership, …)
Create positive social consequences that your
customer desires?
(e.g. makes them look good, produces an increase in power, status, …)
Do something customers are looking for?
(e.g. good design, guarantees, specific or more features, …)
Fulfill something customers are dreaming about?
(e.g. help big achievements, produce big reliefs, …)
Produce positive outcomes matching your customers
success and failure criteria?
(e.g. better performance, lower cost, …)
Help make adoption easier?
(e.g. lower cost, less investments, lower risk, better quality,
performance, design, …)
Rank each gain your products and services create according to its relevance to your
customer. Is it substantial or insignificant? For each gain indicate how often it occurs.
Describe how your products and services alleviate customer pains. How do they
eliminate or reduce negative emotions, undesired costs and situations, and risks
your customer experiences or could experience before, during, and after getting
the job done?
Do they…
Produce savings?
(e.g. in terms of time, money, or efforts, …)
Make your customers feel better?
(e.g. kills frustrations, annoyances, things that give them a headache, …)
Fix underperforming solutions?
(e.g. new features, better performance, better quality, …)
Put an end to difficulties and challenges your
customers encounter?
(e.g. make things easier, helping them get done, eliminate resistance, …)
Wipe out negative social consequences your
customers encounter or fear?
(e.g. loss of face, power, trust, or status, …)
Eliminate risks your customers fear?
(e.g. financial, social, technical risks, or what could go awfully wrong, …)
Help your customers better sleep at night?
(e.g. by helping with big issues, diminishing concerns, or eliminating worries, …)
Limit or eradicate common mistakes customers make?
(e.g. usage mistakes, …)
Get rid of barriers that are keeping your customer
from adopting solutions?
(e.g. lower or no upfront investment costs, flatter learning curve, less
resistance to change, …)
Rank each pain your products and services kill according to their intensity
for your customer. Is it very intense or very light?
For each pain indicate how often it occurs. Risks your customer experiences or
could experience before, during, and after getting the job done?
Products & Services
List all the products and services your value proposition is built around.
Which products and services do you offer that help your customer get either a
functional, social, or emotional job done, or help him/her satisfy basic needs?
Which ancillary products and services help your customer perform the roles of:
Buyer
(e.g. products and services that help customers compare offers,
decide, buy, take delivery of a product or service, …)
Co-creator
(e.g. products and services that help customers co-design
solutions, otherwise contribute value to the solution, …)
Transferrer
(e.g. products and services that help customers dispose of
a product, transfer it to others, or resell, …)
Products and services may either by tangible (e.g. manufactured goods, face-to-
face customer service), digital/virtual (e.g. downloads, online recommendations),
intangible (e.g. copyrights, quality assurance), or financial (e.g. investment funds,
financing services).
Rank all products and services according to their importance to your customer.
Are they crucial or trivial to your customer?
Gains
Describe the benefits your customer expects, desires or would be surprised by.
This includes functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.
Pains
Customer Job(s)
Describe negative emotions, undesired costs and situations, and risks that your
customer experiences or could experience before, during, and after getting the
job done.
What does your customer find too costly?
(e.g. takes a lot of time, costs too much money, requires substantial efforts, …)
What makes your customer feel bad?
(e.g. frustrations, annoyances, things that give them a headache, …)
How are current solutions underperforming for
your customer?
(e.g. lack of features, performance, malfunctioning, …)
What are the main difficulties and challenges
your customer encounters?
(e.g. understanding how things work, difficulties getting things done,
resistance, …)
What negative social consequences does your
customer encounter or fear?
(e.g. loss of face, power, trust, or status, …)
What risks does your customer fear?
(e.g. financial, social, technical risks, or what could go awfully wrong, …)
What’s keeping your customer awake at night?
(e.g. big issues, concerns, worries, …)
What common mistakes does your customer make?
(e.g. usage mistakes, …)
What barriers are keeping your customer from
adopting solutions?
(e.g. upfront investment costs, learning curve, resistance to change, …)
Describe what a specific customer segment is trying to get done. It could be the tasks
they are trying to perform and complete, the problems they are trying to solve, or the
needs they are trying to satisfy.
What functional jobs are you helping your customer get done?
(e.g. perform or complete a specific task, solve a specific problem, …)
What social jobs are you helping your customer get done?
(e.g. trying to look good, gain power or status, …)
What emotional jobs are you helping your customer get done?
(e.g. esthetics, feel good, security, …)
What basic needs are you helping your customer satisfy?
(e.g. communication, sex, …)
Besides trying to get a core job done, your customer performs ancillary jobs in differ-
ent roles. Describe the jobs your customer is trying to get done as:
Buyer (e.g. trying to look good, gain power or status, …)
Co-creator (e.g. esthetics, feel good, security, …)
Transferrer (e.g. products and services that help customers dispose
of a product, transfer it to others, or resell, …)
Rank each job according to its significance to your customer. Is it
crucial or is it trivial? For each job indicate how often it occurs.
Outline in which specific context a job
is done, because that may impose
constraints or limitations.
(e.g. while driving, outside, …)
Which savings would make your customer happy?
(e.g. in terms of time, money and effort, …)
What outcomes does your customer expect and what
would go beyond his/her expectations?
(e.g. quality level, more of something, less of something, …)
How do current solutions delight your customer?
(e.g. specific features, performance, quality, …)
What would make your customer’s job or life easier?
(e.g. flatter learning curve, more services, lower cost of ownership, …)
What positive social consequences does your
customer desire?
(e.g. makes them look good, increase in power, status, …)
What are customers looking for?
(e.g. good design, guarantees, specific or more features, …)
What do customers dream about?
(e.g. big achievements, big reliefs, …)
How does your customer measure success and failure?
(e.g. performance, cost, …)
What would increase the likelihood of adopting a solution?
(e.g. lower cost, less investments, lower risk, better quality, performance,
design, …)
Rank each gain according to its relevance to
your customer.
Is it substantial or is it insignificant?
For each gain indicate how often it occurs.
Rank each pain according to the intensity it
represents for your customer.
Is it very intense or is it very light.?
For each pain indicate how often it occurs.
On:
Iteration:
Designed by:Designed for:
Day Month Year
No.
Customer Segment
www.businessmodelgeneration.com
Use in Conjunction with the Business Model Canvas Copyright of Business Model Foundry GmbH
Value Proposition
Create one for each Customer Segment in your Business Model
http://businessmodelalchemist.com/blog/2012/09/test-your-value-proposition-supercharge-lean-startup-and-custdev-principles.html

53. 7 Or simply write it down.
I found this table helpful in ensuring
that each piece of content is
aligned to a communication or
conversion goal.

54. 8 The ad targeting table
BY PRODUCT
SEARCHERS BROWSERS GEOGRAPHY DEMOGRAPHICS
Bags
* Authentic (brand of bag) bags
* Affordable (brand of bag) bags
* Buy (brand of bag) bags online
* Gift for (insert person here)
* Gift for (insert occasion here)
* Pre-loved (brand of bag)
* Pre-used (brand of bag)
* Brand new (brand of bag) bag
* Online seller of bags
* Bags on sale
* Fashion Trends
* Fashion Blogs
* Dress like (name of
endorser)
* Fashion tips
* Fashion websites (eg.
Mega Publishing)
* Fashion news
* Any point in the
Philippines
* USA
* Singapore
* Dubai
* Mothers (30 years old and
above)
* Working women (20 - 29
years old)
* Teens (16-19 years old)
Shoes
* Authentic (brand of shoes)
bags
* Affordable (brand of shoes)
bags
* Buy (brand of shoes) shoes
online
* Gift for (insert person here)
* Gift for (insert occasion here)
* Brand new (brand of shoes)
shoes
* Online sellers of shoes
* Shoes on sale
* Fashion Trends
* Fashion Blogs
* Dress like (name of
endorser)
* Fashion tips
* Fashion websites (eg.
Mega Publishing)
* Fashion news
* Any point in the
Philippines
* USA
* Singapore
* Dubai
* Mothers (30 years old and
above)
* Working women (20 - 29
years old)
* Teens (16-19 years old)
Wallets
* Authentic (brand of wallets)
wallets
* Affordable (brand of wallets)
wallets
* Buy (brand of wallets) wallets
online
* Gift for (insert person here)
* Gift for (insert occasion here)
* Brand new (brand of wallet)
wallet
* Online sellers of wallets
* Wallets on sale
* Fashion Trends
* Fashion Blogs
* Dress like (name of
endorser)
* Fashion tips
* Fashion websites (eg.
Mega Publishing)
* Fashion news
* Any point in the
Philippines
* USA
* Singapore
* Dubai
* Mothers (30 years old and
above)
* Working women (20 - 29
years old)
* Teens (16-19 years old)
For first-time keyword
researchers, it helps to
have a structure.

55. http://www.triciatjia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/persona2.jpg
9
Brainstorm using
customer personas built
with interviews.
Non-obvious keyword
research could only
come from empathy.
Use customer personas
to frame keyword
brainstorming.
Props to JP Bisson, Ian Callet and Jeremie
Lim for sharing how they used customer
personas at cebujobs.com

56. 10
Master hypothesis testing
and judging what the key
metrics are.
The Lean Startup “movement”
probably has the most developed
tools in using analytics for
hypothesis testing, and selecting
key metrics from analytics based
on business objectives.
The best marketing-specific
articulation I have encountered of
this is Scott Brinker’s Agile
Marketing talk.
http://chiefmartec.com/2013/03/agile-
marketing-for-a-world-of-constant-change/

57. Bonus: The Flipped Classroom
☺
Student
Activities
Traditional
Classroom
Flipped
Classroom
Inside the
classroom
Listen to a lecture
(theory)
Learning activities
with coaching
Outside the
classroom
Do assignments
(practice)
Video lectures
(theory) and some
practice
In case you need to train 20+ students at a time.

58. Bonus: The Flipped Classroom
☺
Teacher
Activities
Traditional
Classroom
Flipped
Classroom
Preparation
Prepare lecture
and exams
Curate content
and plan learning
activities.
Delivery
Deliver lecture and
exams
Orchestrate
learning activities
and coach.

59. Thank you! - @kcorazo
Read detailed posts about this research plus
notes from all interviews at
http://www.corazo.org/ppc-education-research.html