- Every product/service is outdated and limited by an outdated process. The company restricts you from being able to do basic marketing tactics like A/B testing. Recently, the social ads released a “big update” which included doing different URLs for a set of static ads and allowing all package levels to do geographic radius targeting. The company is spending a lot of time catching up and not a lot of time understanding how to be profitable.
- SEO Product doesn't usually work. The team recently (launched June 2016) updated the product to more closely align with Google's Hummingbird update (released 2013). However, the new product doesn't include a link acquisition strategy, update onsite content (they create content on a blog page hosted on your site if you have one already or can install it otherwise they push you to a "web 2.0" or off-site blog like Wordpress that doesn't always link back to your website, boost trustworthy authority, fix website architecture, or improve social sharing (i.e. they do post to your social pages, but act more as a broadcast channel assuming you’ve already built your own audience. The reporting metrics are based off their proprietary system and allows very little insight into how the website is performing i.e. no data comparing desktop to mobile specifically, no traffic acquisition report, no content efficiency report for specific pages/pieces of content, no keyword analysis report (as a part of their talking points, they try to avoid keywords in general), no breakdown of visitors beyond number of sessions, and all of their reporting is generalized into one website vs. per page. Additionally, your AM is likely not going to have a lot of experience with SEO, and you’re not going to get a lot of specifics addressed for your questions especially if you’re looking at Google Analytics.
- Search Advertising, their primary service/product, is limited. The company uses PPC on the search network and display network, primarily. If you’re looking to do shopping ads, you’re either going to be a T1 client spending at least $10,000 / month or go somewhere else. Sorry small business eCommerce sites and those wanted to learn all of Adwords capabilities. Also, if you’re looking to understand cost per acquisition or Return on Ad Spend, you’re not likely going to get it here. The team focuses on click / CTR data. So in short, it’s a good place to learn PPC if you have no experience at all, but if you’re even at a basic level, you’re not going to advance your knowledge much here.
- Slow to change and overly process oriented. The team leads and management have pretty set processes and “standard operating procedures”. The internal teams do not always work the greatest together to find solutions that best fit their customer’s needs especially if it goes against SOP. I often felt like I was fighting against the internal teams instead of collaborating because “that’s not the G/O way”. Also, they have set SLAs for every task with fulfillment. This is great for task management for the fulfillment team to plan ahead, but you need to be a strong person if you want to be an AM. It’s going to take a lot out of you to explain why a simple change like adding in a few negative keywords will take 3-5 days. Also, there is a disconnect between pre-sales and post-sales. Often times, the first thing you need to do is reset expectations because you're not sure what the pre-sales team told them, but it's no where near what is actually going to work / what you're even capable of doing at this spend level. This disconnect comes in with lack of communication between these departments and digital marketing training for the pre-sales team.
- Ambiguous Performance Evaluations. The company has annual reviews set in place with criteria each employee in various positions needs to meet in order to qualify for a bonus and/or a pay increase. This would be fantastic if it wasn’t for the fact that the criteria is pretty ambiguous when you really analyze it. You get plenty of feedback from your manager, but each department is only allotted to give a certain amount to their team. So the percentage distribution isn’t always fair especially if you are only a fairly even team. For example, if everyone on your team was equal, they would give each person a 3-star rating and a 2% raise (using that as a hypothetical), but if there was one stand out, the stand out could get a 5-star rating and a 3% raise while everyone else would be dropped to a 2 or 1% to accommodate. To some, this way seem pretty standard, but the criteria for a stand out doesn’t always mean highest producing based on pre-set qualifications. It may mean that person was more tenured in that department. This could negatively impact you if you were promoted early on in the year, and therefore not as tenured to that department by the end of it. Additionally, your direct report manager does your annual review, but if the company needs to do a lay-off, they do not even consult your direct report manager before handing out unemployment packages. If the company is going to hit another downturn, which is very possible, do not expect to take comfort that your manager will be able to save you. Chances are, they’re as in the dark as you are.
