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Interview with Chrissy Holleman

Please welcome our next amazing woman, Chrissy Holleman, and her PPC career story! Chrissy is the Marketing Director of Proclaim Interactive. 🌻

 

 

Share the story of how you first got into PPC?

I was running my one-woman-show “agency” until I was able to hire two part-time helpers. I was then approached with a client that needed converting traffic to their site – but people were not actively “searching” for the product they were offering, and the guys were not going to spend time and money waiting for SEO to kick in. We opted for a display campaign with targeted placements and lo-and-behold — it worked! PPC was now on my menu of services. Wow! That seems like ages ago!

What was the proudest moment of your PPC career?

Ha! every day that I don’t accidentally spend 10x more than a client’s budget is a proud day! Just kidding, luckily we now have scripts and processes in place not to overspend (even though it does happen!) My proudest moments in PPC are when a client agrees to use tracking and listening to their calls. We report on the number of new customer calls vs existing customer calls. Providing reports that show outstanding NEW customer growth is the icing on the cake for me. It’s really validating and you glean so much information to help inform your next campaign.

Do you struggle with maintaining a healthy work-life balance?

Well, work-life for me is a non-balance. I feel strongly that I (and many people) can be great at one thing at a time. Therefore I schedule my life to be 100% – whether that’s 100% focused on work, on being a mom, or on being me. It is a challenge to find enough hours in the week to give focus to all the areas of life, but as my kiddo grows up, I’m finding more time each week and am looking forward to getting my tennis game back!

Have you ever experienced any problems or challenges as a PPC because you’re a woman?

Luckily, I’ve not had any direct challenges. I do feel awkward networking at conferences — and often feel in the minority although I know that balance is changing :)

Have you ever had any advantages or benefits as a PPC because you’re a woman?

Yes! I have had a number of clients that were women… in fact, they made up 80% of my business, and for that I was grateful! It’s excellent to have female role models who are successful at growing their own businesses. I had a client in the sports industry and it was impressive to see the strength of the network of women in sports. I had no idea these groups existed and were so instrumental in the commerce and growth of other women-owned businesses.

Are there any differences in how you’re treated as a female by clients?

That’s a hard question. I’m analytical. I can be aggressive and passionate. I’m a marketer (don’t we tend to group and stereotype more than any other industry?). It’s really hard just to separate out why people may treat other people differently, as they carry their own baggage as well. I’ve been paid more: because I’m a female … or was it because I was good at my job and wasn’t afraid, to be honest about it. I’ve been lowballed: was that because they thought a woman wouldn’t negotiate … or because they didn’t value the service?
I think that’s one reason I enjoy working for Proclaim. They place a strong value on transparency and honesty in everything we do.

If you could wave a magic wand and change something in the PPC world, what would it be?

I’m a person who tries not to put all her eggs in one basket, because if something happens you have no fallback. I would wave my wand and want more competition for Google. The transparency (or really lack of transparency) means that Google holds a lot of folks’ eggs in one basket. They drive a lot of traffic both paid and organic – to businesses around the world and if they stopped… what would that look like? It might be more difficult for PPCs and newly launched brands. It might be easier for established brands. Either way, I’d be interested in seeing how that world would look like.

What about being a PPC do you enjoy the most?

Seeing money spent directly turns into more money for my clients! It’s an amazing cycle and pretty cool to see it go from concept to reality.

About the Author

Morgan F.

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