Interview With Mardig (PPC Specialist)

1) Where were you born and raised? Also tell us something unique about yourself.

I was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I was raised in both Montreal and I lived in Kuwait for 5 years. However, I’m a Canadian citizen of Armenian origin and I’ve been back to Canada since 2012. Something unique about me, I would say I am trilingual , I speak English, French and Armenian.

2) What got you interested in marketing and what was your journey?

Marketing by its very nature is a very diverse field, especially now with the advent of more digitized forms of marketing. Marketing is a very knowledge-intensive field.

I chose to get involved in marketing, in digital marketing in particular because I believed it can make me more competitive on the job market.

This increased competitiveness is due to the fact that a marketer, regardless of which sub-field of marketing they are involved in, needs to master or improve on a whole host of “soft” and “hard” skills.

Furthermore, getting involved in digital marketing got me a foothold and opened up a whole new World I knew little about. Prior to 2022, when I got my current job, I knew very little about the “Software as a Service” (SaaS) World.

I started to study digital marketing on my own in early 2021, then I got a job at a web agency in August 2021, then I got a job in a SaaS company and I have been at my current role since March of 2022.

3) What skills and industry do you specialize in?

My last and current roles are pay-per-click (PPC) roles, hence both jobs had/have a Google Ads focus. My current role involves Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) and some Facebook ads. However, I would not rate my capabilities in Facebook Ads to be very high at this moment in time.

4) What is your best soft skill?

This may be a bit subjective but I would say growing on people and winning them over eventually. Some have said I’m a good conversationalist. However, I think at work and in social situations a lot of interactions come down to how you are perceived (regardless of fairness).

5) What softwares and tools do you use regularly?

Apart from the paid search platforms, I regularly use Microsoft Word (for drafts of ads), Excel (to quantify data), & Salesforce to extract and analyze CRM data.

6) What are your goals for the next year and into the future?

Professionally, 2024 will probably be more of the same. Since our economy in Canada is not doing so well at the moment, I will seek to keep stable at my job.

However, I will want to add new skills both marketing and non-marketing skills. Some non-marketing skills I would like to improve upon are continued improvement on Microsoft Excel, learning more psychology and improving English and French writing.

In terms of marketing skills, I would like to rekindle my SEO knowledge and continue to improve on Facebook ads specifically.

The whole idea is to get ready for the next role as I now have more experience to know what employers implicitly expect.

7) What has been the hardest thing you dealt with in your career path?

I would definitely have to say just navigating the job market. However this difficulty was both true for both marketing and non-marketing endeavors.

I believe that a lot of career success as an employee or even as a business is navigating the complex economic relations in our economy.

For example, if one does not have a large network, they will need to rely on job boards such as Indeed or Monster.

Just the challenge in getting someone to read your resume due to the technological buffers is challenging in itself.

One also needs to remember that non-job related barriers to employment often come with the territory.

Personally, I think COVID did not help a lot of people in terms of networking. Lots of potential for the forging of economic relationships was lost during that era.

8) What is the biggest mistake you made that you want others to avoid?

I would say to never underestimate the importance of people or soft skills. Although overemphasizing soft skills on a resume can be a negative cliche, they are still very useful in working efficiently.

9) Who are your favorite people in the industry that you follow?

In marketing I do like Isaac Rudansky and Frederick Vallaeys . I like Frederick as he does have insightful podcasts and I got one of his books on automation.

Personally, I believe Frederick does a good job instilling a new mindset regarding automation, specifically how one ought to work with and adapt to the automation.

This is because at the end of the day Google is a private company and many new regulations favor more data and privacy protection.

10) Who has had the biggest influence on your career to date?

I would have to say my parents. Even though their lives were very different to mine and my trajectory is going to be very different as well, they did pass on good lessons.

For example, admit when you are wrong, work as hard as you can and just persevere through difficulties. My parents for example lived through most of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), and they only left the country in the mid to late 80s.

11) What has been your favorite course that you have taken and why?

I would have to say Isaac Rudansky’s Google Ads course. Personally, I find the course to be very well structured in terms of separation by themes. For example, he separates the course into themes such as “keywords” and goes into detail about match types, negative keywords, planning, etc.

Another thing I like about the course is that it covers a spectrum of different topics in terms of their complexity. For example, he starts from basic keywords, but then goes into more complex topics such as scripts & formulas.

This means that one can benefit from the course even if they are more advanced in their learning curve. Finally, since Isaac is an agency owner, he highlights his points using real time examples as much as he can without legal implications.

12) What would you tell yourself or someone who is just starting out in marketing?

I would say try to learn as much as possible from books, podcasts, on the job and mentors. Improving non-marketing skills can go a long way.

I would also say if you live in a country or jurisdiction (like Quebec) where a non-English language is spoken, get as proficient in that language as possible. In the United States, Spanish is most certainly an asset.

13) If the entire world was listening to you, what would you have to say?

I would say that everyone has their own struggles in life and that everyone is just trying to get by and do their best.

I would also say that the World is full of possibilities and you never know where your life and your career can take you. One should always take any experience as it comes and learn as much as possible from these experiences.

14) Where can we find you?

Professionally, you can find me on Linkedin. This is the URL to my Linkedin profile. Mardig Bidanian | LinkedIn.