Interview with Jessica Dee

Welcome our next amazing woman PPC expert, Jessica Dee!

Jessica is the Director of Paid Search at Reunion Marketing, an Automotive digital marketing agency. Her career success in this male-dominated industry is inspiring to all of us! 💞

Share the story of how you first got into PPC?

Oh, where to begin? Not a lot of people know this but I actually have 4 Associate Degrees – Arts and Humanities, Sociology, Liberal Arts, business, you name it I have it. Eventually, I fell in love with marketing and to be specific digital marketing. Which led me to pursue further education in marketing – ultimately obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications. While obtaining my Marketing degree, I started participating in several internships with marketing companies and even drove 4+ hours one way to LA for one of them. Call it fate or whatnot, my first professional digital marketing job out of college ended up being a ‘PPC’ job for a local marketing agency focusing on driving leads for B2B clients across all verticals. Making that my first taste of Google Ads back in 2010.

What was the proudest moment of your PPC career?

The proudest moment of my PPC career was when I defied the odds despite what the Google reps, Google support, internal teams, and even my colleagues told me was impossible to accomplish. I wanted to incorporate dynamic feeds into display ads for the automotive vertical before it became an actual feature inside the platform. After working with a ‘genius’ of a developer to find ways to make it work and months of testing, we made it happen! This was a career rewarding highlight for me. Just when I thought I couldn’t beat that, months later my first official case study was published by Google. The study recognized the work my team and I accomplished and even made our strategy part of the official guidebook. Not to mention making us the only agency mentioned by Google in a strategy guidebook.

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

I definitely do and I think our current climate has exasperated it even more. Since then, I’ve developed key signals for myself while working from home such as morning routines, forced breaks to get away from the computer screen, and signals as to when to stop working (when the husband walks in the door, the computer shuts off!) I really think this is a moving target and what I’ve learned is the need to be easy on yourself.

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

Absolutely! I feel as though I have to work that much harder to prove myself as a woman in this male-dominated industry. I definitely feel as though I am viewed as ‘weak’ and talked over regularly, which is why that has developed into my biggest pet peeve. It’s even more frustrating when I regularly get dismissed on calls when trying to explain metrics or a simple algorithm. I feel as though I have to develop an entire storyline to back up my points.

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

Actually, yes, I’ve received extra support from other female marketing leaders, friends, and clients. I also return the respect and support to other female marketers/friends because I know how hard it is to be in this male-dominated field.

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

Interestingly enough, I’d never really understood the divide until I got into the automotive digital marketing space both from a client perspective as well as an agency perspective. It was more black and white than ever. I felt as though I was undermined from multiple angles and multiple levels for being female in-person and publicly. In a few cases, I left work questioning my ability to lead and pursue a serious career based on the comments and actions of others – lack thereof in some cases. A few amazing colleagues and some of those few supportive clients lent that supportive shoulder I needed to get through some of those bad days.

Has a client ever underestimated you because you’re a woman?

Again, so true! But I also love this challenge. Doubt me and I’ll prove you wrong.

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

I would love more segmentation and insight into the actions based on placements in campaigns. Local campaigns, for instance, have restricted reporting on where ads actually appear (Maps versus Search versus Display). I would also love to see it.

What about being a PPC do you enjoy the most?

I love the fact that it’s always changing and adapting to what clients want most! There’s always something new to test, a new format or ad type to play with, and new releases that make the customer journey that much easier.