John Moran was nominated for a Spotlight Profile in July 2023.
How long have you been working in PPC?
8 years.
How did you get started in PPC?
We used to be a full funnel agency and realized that, if Google Ads didn’t work, the rest of the Pixel Content, Tripwire, Core Offer, Value Optimizer, etc. didn’t work. So, we became experts in Google Ads and work with proven companies that are looking to decrease nCAC and scale without reducing MER.
If you went to college or university, what did you study? If not college, do you have any other degrees or certifications?
No college or degrees. Everything has been self taught.
What was your first job that involved PPC?
Our own agency that we started in 2016.
What is your current position and how long have you been in it?
Co-Founder. It’s been 7 years.
What kinds of things do you currently handle or manage in PPC?
We manage over 200 clients and over $90M a year in Google Ads (would be happy to share our 5 MCC accounts so you know I walk the walk lol) ad spend. 75% is eCommerce and 25% is lead generation.
Has your career path had any hiccups or nontraditional aspects that you’d like to share?
We used to outsource PPC when we first started. In 2018, after 2 years, we became very good at Google Ads and we think it threatened the white label partner. Overnight, we were let go of by the partner and had 60 accounts with just my Business Partner and I to manage. We scrambled to hire 20 people within 1 week did not skip a beat in management.
What are you most proud of in your PPC career?
We have been recognized as a major thought leader. I have over 1,000 free instructional how to videos on advanced strategies in YouTube and now am speaking all around the world. I spoke at Affiliate World in Barcelona as an example: https://affiliateworldconferences.com/europe/speakers
However, I teach this all for free. I do not sell education, courses, etc, just free content and if people agree that we know what we are doing, we would love to be hired by them.
What, if anything, do you wish you could “do over” in your PPC career?
Ignore in-app Google Ads metrics. Using quality campaigns in Google Ads and watching Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER). New Customer Growth is such a better quality metric than ROAS.
If you could give advice to someone either considering or just starting out in PPC, what would that be?
Choose a goal based on your specific client. Do not shoot for arbitrary metrics. Make sure your paid strategy goal is good for your client both in the short and long term. A 400% ROAS usually means warm traffic, branded traffic or existing customers. Focus on company metrics, not “what looks good in your report”.
Are you interested in speaking opportunities? If so, what topics are your jam?
Absolutely! I love teaching detail leveled strategies and have live case studies to prove it. Reducing nCAC, increasing MER, identifying omnichannel overlap rates that are eating into bottom lines, measuring first time vs returning sales so that you are not overspending on your own customers, etc. Mostly eComm related topics as I have more examples to share of our strategies.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Nope! This has been great!
Where can people find you to connect (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)?
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@solutionseight/videos
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmorangads/