Why Can't I See My Ad? Bridging the Knowledge Gap Between Agency & Client

Why can’t I see my ad when I search for it?

Why aren’t my ads always at the top of the results page?

What is a good CPC?

Over the course of a digital marketing career, we’ve all seen these questions and others like them. Seemingly simple requests for information with complex answers that require information from multiple sources to answer correctly and with full detail.

What’s interesting about these questions is they’re the most visible layer of a wider problem that, if not addressed correctly, can lead to challenges and friction down the line. That problem - the knowledge gap between a client and the agency or freelancer that they’ve hired to run their activity. How can someone with years of experience and a deep understanding of their marketing platform communicate complex, technical information to a contact who only has surface level knowledge?

1) Give Clear, Concise Definitions

Like any industry, digital marketing has its own language that takes years to become fluent in. Without even realising it, every day marketers hold conversations with acronyms, abbreviations and technical terms that are unintelligible to someone outside the industry. Without understanding the language being used, how can two people with vastly different knowledge levels effectively communicate and work together?

Luckily, every platform provides resources that give clear, easy to understand definitions of commonly used terms. Meta & Google have comprehensive glossaries that are useful to refer to & ensure that everyone in the conversation understands what’s being discussed and how it relates to the point at hand.

2) Keep It Personal

Along with working on these platforms, we all use them in our day to day lives. Linking the conversation topic to a user’s personal experience helps create a level of understanding not possible from purely theoretical discussion.

Take remarketing for example. Someone with a basic knowledge of digital marketing may not understand cookies, audience creation and a purchase funnel, but everyone understands what you mean when you refer to “those ads that follow you around the internet”. Linking a tactic or strategy to your client’s own experience will help bridge the knowledge gap and get to the core of the conversation.

Similarly, when you’re discussing technical conversion tracking and lookback windows, the details can get lost in translation. Instead of going into specifics, ask your client about the last purchase they made online and the journey they took to get there. Reflecting on their personal experience of researching a product, returning to the site at different times and on different devices before finally completing the purchase will help them conceptualise the conversation in a way that technical detail can’t.

3) Ask Your Own Questions

For someone with a basic knowledge of digital marketing, sometimes even knowing what question to ask is a challenge in itself. Taking a step back and asking for more detail can ensure that you give the most useful answer possible.

If a client isn’t seeing their ad when they search, you need more detail on how they were looking for it. Maybe there’s campaign scheduling in place that meant it wasn’t live at the time of the search. Their office IP Address could have been excluded to ensure that budget wasn’t spent on accidental impressions and clicks. They could even have made a search on a keyword that you’ve decided not to use in the account.

Whatever the question, getting more detail will allow you to get down to the root of the issue and help your client deepen their digital knowledge. The role of the account manager is increasingly focused on strategy & education so having a client who understands the input that goes into a successful strategy will help set any account up for success.

Like any relationship, communication is key to a strong & successful marketing partnership. Recognising the knowledge gap and actively working to reduce it through smart, simple communication helps to give your account the edge over your competitors by ensuring marketing expertise and business knowledge is shared as effectively as possible.

For clear, transparent marketing guidance, get in touch.