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Future of careers in ppc?
Posted by on November 8, 2025 at 10:46 pmI know there are some long time paid media buyers here. I’m about 2 years into the game and have been in an entry role and led/ managed a handful of media buyers now.
Curious what your projections are about the skills needed for jobs in the next 5/10 years?
With PMAX on google and Adv+ on meta a lot of the lower skilled tasks like targeting and placements seem to be taken over….
I’m asking because I want to pursue this as a long term career, but don’t want to learn hacks that will be obsolete.
I know it’s impossible to predict, just thought I’d ask some more experienced operators
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1 Reply
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Master the tactical skills because that’s an important foundation, but I think the future proof skills that will separate the best from all the rest will be soft skills. The art of storytelling with data, earning a client’s trust early on, the ability to see the big picture and read in between the lines. These are the things that can’t be replaced by AI or learned online.
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the stuff in platform is going to be automated, there is nothing long term in that. You need to think of post click stuff like offer selection, LTVs and sending data back to the ad platforms. Anything you can click inside the platform, its likely the machine will do better in a years time.
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don’t stress about automation replacing you. It’s not getting rid of marketers, it’s just getting rid of the busy work. If you focus on understanding customers, shaping offers, improving landing pages, and making creative that actually connects, you’ll stay valuable for a long time.
I think of it as AI taking the guess work out of buying.
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Wait, so you spent six months learning and then started teaching?
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Beef up your strategic skills, those are a lot more secure against what AI will be able to do over the next couple of years. Tactical stuff like split testing, keyword strategy, targeting will become almost fully automated for most advertisers within the next couple of years.
I don’t know if PPC management will be a thing after 5 years to be honest.
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Like digital marketing, PPC too have a lot of moving parts. You have to evolve with the trends. With small and big platforms entering into PPC you may have to update yourself with the latest.
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Heres the part I get confused about… if Google uses the same targeting methods, the same ai copy, the same everything what differentiates one company from the other? Only thing I can think of is the bid amount. But that doesn’t seem sustainable, it becomes pay to win for every bid.
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Strategy. Top to bottom. Digital Advertising, specifically media buying, relies on so much outside the traditional circle of responsibilities.
Content and landing page are more important and will continue to be. So I’ve been expanding into owning the funnel. Which demands more responsibility and more money. But I found that it’s inevitable. If you want results, you will more than likely have to start pushing content creators or web dev to really match your expectations.
If your campaign results suck, that’s hard to keep pinning on other people, even when it’s true. Eventually, the client will get push back from them or figure you/ads isn’t for them, etc. A loss for you either way.
I’m painting a negative picture there, but tldr is build a moat on top of your expertise. Prepare for when a rug gets pulled. My advice is top down digital marketing strategy expert. Be the General. Command the soldiers. But bigger responsibility. So get paid more money.
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