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6 months new into an agency issue
I have been working for this small agency for about 6 months and went in wanting to learn about how Google Ads works. I ended up learning it all on my own and from me asking coworkers on the same level as me. Now the bosses want me to manage the entire companies conversion tracking system which I have no want or skillset to feel confident doing that. I joined to learn Google ads not just conversion tracking. The sad part is the owners know little to nothing about their industry so I’m essentially running the entire backend of their Google search/display and now conversion tracking of all of the other Google Ads managers all for 20$ Hourly not even salary lmao are all agencies like this where it just makes more sense to freelance? Let me know your thoughts on the whole agency mentality because this is my first taste and it’s been horrific. Hoping to see some insight into good agency practices that compete with freelance.
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5 Replies
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A few thoughts here: if you don’t like it, get out. Is it reasonable to expect the bosses to know 100% of what you do? Should the bosses just do it themselves? How much have you learnt and is that going to boost your earnings for the rest of your life? Have you said thank you for the opportunity?
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Depends on how much experience you have.
If you’ve just started your career, I’d grit my teeth for a year or 2, build some confidence and successes then move on.
The difference in skill & mentality from somebody who understands the tracking elements of Google Ads, is far more important than working the console itself. Potentially the difference between the Google Ads reps that everyone on this sub hates vs the ones on this sub giving sound advice!
However, if you’ve got years of experience under your belt, this is 100% how it is in a small agency. I dealt with tracking all campaigns from start to finish, hands on optimising the account, Landing page | Ad copy | Messaging AB / CRO experimentation, building rapport and anything related.
Good luck!
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Own an agency here but in a past life I worked for small and large agencies. Sadly your experience can be typically. Lots of agencies are started by people who have no knowledge and or are just sales people. They see it as an agency way to make money
Most agency jobs… at least in Canada… are on salary. At smaller agencies you will more hats because of the small size. Bigger agencies you do one thing but that is all you can do. So you don’t get to learn as much. Though you sometimes get paid worse at big/large agencies.
Everyone wants to freelance and maybe if you just stay a company of one it works. But you do need to do marketing of your skills, sales, HR, payroll and all that back-end work that most getting into freelancing don’t always realize. You spend a lot of time on non-paid search work.
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Get out and freelance or start your own agency.
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Hi there, welcome to the wonderful world of Dat Smol Agency Lyfe.
Kidding aside, I have 10 years experience managing all facets of digital marketing (paid search, gdn, paid social, programmatic ad buying, dsp management). My pathway was similar to yours: trail by fire in nearly every position because the agency (a.) didn’t want to direct hire and (b.) saw the “shiny object” and offered it to the guy willing to do anything. All these “trials” created a “sink or swim” mentality in me and, while stressful at times, has made me pretty confident in the things I know, and I’m compensated accordingly and have a lot of autonomy where I’m currently at.
If you genuinely have no desire to learn about conversion tracking, then ignore all of what I’m about to say. Take other folks’ advice here and move on. It is absolutely the fastest way to make more money in this industry, and plenty of places need people who know how to run and optimize ads. That said, hear me out…
Try being willing to learn and do anything related to the digital ad space, but set **firm** rules.
Be honest with your employer. Let them know you’re apprehensive about learning a new skill after you already have all this shit on your plate and that you feel under-compensated for the work that you are doing. Inform them they’ll need to pay you to learn a new skill and you need time to do that, which will cut into your ability to do your other existing functions. Explain that you are concerned the quality of the accounts you’re currently managing will diminish because the time you’re spending learning about conversion tracking is eating into your ability to manage the ads accounts (if that is indeed a concern of yours).
Mostly though, stay humble and be open to communication. I’m not saying you think people owe you anything, I’ve just seen a lot of folks burn out due to their own internal anxiety getting the better of them because they don’t want to have a difficult conversation with their manager. I’ve managed lots of younger paid search and display ad buyers, and they’ve expressed frustration about how much they’re getting paid, even after having only been at the job 2 months out of college… To some of those folks, we just said “best of luck”, but there are others that I’ve advised have a direct discussion with their boss, and they’ve had their compensation AND role definitions adjusted accordingly. I’ve personally gotten raises by pulling average salary figures from [Glassdoor](https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/paid-search-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,19.htm) (a wildly random and unreliable metric) as a means to start a conversation. My boss at the time said he knew I was under-compensated, but didn’t have the time to ask the CFO about budget for raises and the screenshots were “just what he needed”. I’m proud that I’ve cracked 6 figures, and have friends telling me I can “make a lot more money”, but I’m happy with where I’m at.
Have a deeply honest discussion with your boss. If you strongly feel that person wouldn’t be receptive to your plight, then absolutely abandon ship.
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Hope this helps.
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