{"id":18217,"date":"2021-12-15T11:34:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T06:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=18217"},"modified":"2021-12-15T11:34:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T06:04:29","slug":"ppcchat-staying-sane-in-ppc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-staying-sane-in-ppc\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | Staying Sane in PPC | 14th December 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mental health is important to each one of us and PPCers are no different. During this week’s PPCChat session, host Julie F Bacchini<\/a> found out the biggest mental health challenges experts face in PPC, what do they try to get through the tough time, have PPCers found any helpful resources for staying sane in PPC and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Q1: How are you feeling, mental health wise, lately in PPC and life?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Very much good & bad? I keep reminding myself of ‘wins’ (therapy trick, thanks Dr!) but it takes very little to not be okay. Feels like if I just focus on surviving I can do it, but any improvements or bigger projects feel impossible. VERY pleased to focus on work! @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not gonna lie… feeling a bit burnt out and restless @Galliguez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling a bit restless and listless. Need some rest and renewal for 2022! @ynotweb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel a bit burnt out and maybe even a bit numb sometimes – the last 2 years have been, A LOT. Things have changed significantly in PPC as well. Been doing a fair amount of thinking about what kinds of work I want to be doing in light of all that. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drain, just drained. @JonKagan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are we defacto good at dealing with this stuff because we’re constantly dealing with giant platform changes on no notice? it’s good practice honestly. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m pretty stressed out. This time of year is always stressful anyway and add on top of it a bunch of new business paperwork and taxes that I have to figure out and file. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel so trying to stay productive & optimistic. @selley2134<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, at the same time, if you had asked, I was feeling miserable and was in ER because of stress. Since I went in-house in Feb, life has been great. This holiday season, I can breathe and enjoy. @sonofgorkhali<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully on a high right now. But it wasn’t like that all year. This year was tough! But from August – all things started showing up Anu. Confidence picked up, my ppl rallied and I just kept winning. #ppcchat<\/a> has really kept me going. @TheMarketingAnu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m speaking first as a husband and father-of-3, second as an agency leader here. My perpetual drive to keep everyone else OK is at a low ebb. I’ve neglected to ask what good it does them when I’m not OK. @heyglenns<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I am finally coming out of the funk from the last two years! Q4 is always chaotic, but I am optimistic with the vax\/boosters and hopefully less severe strains out there. @gregfinn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of change on the horizon though which is making me a bit nervous too. @TheMarketingAnu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I think about the last 2 years…. CHANGE. Just so much change is happening and it is getting harder to keep track of everything. Body and mind is saying just work a normal day. No burning the midnight oil. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am feeling fine I have established a minimum social distancing between me and PPC campaigns. @soanders<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I’m doing okay. My niece’s birth was announced today and I’ve just had a couple of positive phone call with clients today. Getting Reggie (see picture) and seeking professional help for my mental health has made this Q4 a lot more manageable. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tired! I think I\u2019ve been tired every day this month haha December in PA is not my friend but I am excited for January and all that it holds. maybe even some ppc chat surprises. @sonika_chandra<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q2: What do you think are some of the biggest mental health challenges we can face in PPC?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I think there are a few main areas in PPC where mental health can take a hit: – Impostor syndrome can be a real bitch and shows up at usually the WORST moments – It is easy to take on others’ stress and not even realize it – Clients (you know what I mean!) @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rising tide of expectations. Setting precedent after precedent, getting drawn into too many topics or projects, struggling with “no”, explosive complexity @mikeryanretail<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients can be a boost or hurt mental health\/stress. Bad clients can be a strain but I find even if a client is happy (or hasn’t expressed being unhappy) I put a lot of pressure on myself for their entire results. Which obviously a lot of that is out of our hands. @selley2134<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good teams…. actual or virtual. Change is something that will always happen. But if you have people to talk to, uplift, be uplifted by…we will persevere!! @TheMarketingAnu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oracle-ism. We have performance pressure like anyone, but our clients trust us to know google better than they do. and predict facebook which, NO. it’s very humbling to not have the answers, particularly when others really need help. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biggest challenges are dealing with things we cannot control. Learning to let go of a strategy, even after a massive effort or past success, when it’s no longer viable due to changes. @ynotweb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mental health challenges in PPC: Life becomes an algorithm The screen is your friend Performance never takes a break You are being held responsible for whatever the engine delivers. @soanders<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the bigger challenges I see are: – Burnout – Workload Issues – Client Issues(good clients are key!) – Not having a good support system at work – Not seeing people regularly. Safe human interaction is good! @gregfinn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel our neverending changestorm can drag us down. For my shop, I divide a year into arbitrary ‘epics’ (don’t use qtrs, DM me to know why) which then subdivide into sprints. Gives a feeling of some control, as we can look back at our work & see progress. @heyglenns<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re actually a reasonably high-stress profession considering the times. We are simultaneously dealing with a harder advertising environment and an influx of new advertisers with expectations that come from returns of years ago. Combined w\/ *gestures at everything* @CJSlattery<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PPC aside – in general losing the physical office has been a hit. Social ties at work help you through lows at work. @Galliguez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lack of work-life balance, fear of underperformance in the grand scheme of thinks. @JonKagan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are challenges in just the “a lack of planning on your part” and “we the unwilling” aspects of marketing. The biggest thing for me remains that digital marketing is a lemon market, and that it’s (broadly) an unethical product. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s very easy to turn off the chaos around you by focusing on work, but that tends to lead straight into burnout. and it’s burnout that tricks you into thinking the safe thing to do is keep working no matter what. deceitful chaos. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can’t tell you how many prospects (both currently advertising and fresh) come to me with expectations of returns that are simply no longer feasible in the current environment. And the workload to deliver what were once only okay returns has gone up A LOT. @CJSlattery<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone thinking they can do our job and that it takes seconds not many minutes of upload creative and QA. Plus all the changes makes our job and expectations higher externally. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think both of these are exacerbated by business pressures in agencies (and to a lesser degree in-house). There’s 0 reason to be working on new production in the last 15 days of the year. Yet almost every agency has a crunch then. Why? Who does that benefit? @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think not being able to say no sometimes can lead to eventual burnout. The other big issues is not getting the “right” clients for you. Personality fits are more important than the $$$. @lchasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do I start? Imposter Syndrome – we’re in an industry that is changing daily, so the feeling of never being good enough or knowing enough is a common challenge. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Expectation of Instant Results – PPC has a reputation for being an instant returns channel. This can cause clients (or employers for in-house PPCers) to be impatient. While SEO is expected to take weeks to improve, PPC is often expected to work within hours. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admitting you don’t have full control. As someone who finds comfort in knowing I can influence & control aspects of my life. I struggled coming to terms with the fact that there are some things in PPC I cannot control. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Letting the actions of others determine our worth. for example, did our audience convert at the expected rate today? we are literally basing our \u201cjob well done\u201d on whether or not another human decided they wanted to buy something. @sonika_chandra<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q3: What do you wish clients or stakeholders knew about how their actions (or inactions) may impact the mental health of their PPC professionals?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Your urgency is not my urgency. If we can educate stakeholders\/clients to understand the line and plan everything, life would be much more smooth for PPC professionals. @sonofgorkhali<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This might sound so simple – but words matter. Method of delivery matters. Emails are amazing for productivity, but they can be terrible for actual communication on the human level. On the flip side, training yourself to assume best intention can help a lot. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, I think everyone could stand to be reminded that we are all humans first and we are trying our best. if something we do doesn\u2019t work, try again. it\u2019s not the end of the world! @sonika_chandra<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone wants to send creative at 4:30 pm Friday to get it up for the weekend. They are not the only one’s. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an agency side I cherish those clients that treat agencies as if they were an in-house portion of their team. Celebrating wins, keeping 100% in the loop on company dealings and not acting as if interactions are transactional. It goes a long way. @gregfinn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human time needed to execute – we are not bots, we’re people using bots – it costs everyone time and money when we have to drop what we’re doing and deal with your 4:45 ’emergency’ @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a question!! I’d like them to realise that our first instinct is to give them what they asked for even when the answers won’t serve them well. And that their emails may be hitting the inbox of juniors who haven’t yet learnt how to say no. @TheMarketingAnu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That affects very negatively and adds to our imposter syndrome. @TheMarketingAnu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They place too much on making short-term numbers. Let me hasten to add that WHEN they’ve given us room to truly understand the biz\/audience\/positioning, in time the numbers FAR SURPASS what they had set as their goal. #ppcchat<\/a> It’s not one or the other. @heyglenns<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I’d say the lack of understanding that changes on their part impact us at that they should communicate BEFORE making the change. Website changes, ad or budget changes, product changes, etc @ynotweb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes time to test, optimize, & improve. I think we often get sold as the quick fix (compared to SEO) but testing and optimizing don’t happen overnight. @selley2134<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t think it’s necessarily on clients for this. They’ve got their own challenges and pressures. So long as they’re not actively bad clients, their role isn’t to coddle their agencies or marketers. It’s on management to create the processes to make healthy teams. @ferkungamaboobo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1 thing clients and stakeholders need to understand about PPC. “we are doing our best to deliver results, but ultimately it is the platforms that deliver not the PPC’er” @soanders<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your words\/actions can make or break someone’s day. If things are not going as you want them to, you can either chose to be tough on your partner or you can work with them to see what can be done. Remember most of us have several accounts we are working on. @lchasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you panic, I panic 5x more, because of your behaviour @JonKagan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an agency POV: Expecting 3 days of work from a 1-day retainer isn’t good for either of us. If you want something done, give us plenty of notice. We have multiple clients & can’t always be in our inbox. Being prepared and proactive in comms is a godsend. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an in-house POV: If you want the most from us, invest in our development and help us find a mentor\/source of inspiration. We may not understand your business\/industry if we’re new to it. Educate us like you would anyone else in the business. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonus Points: A constant expectation to be able to quote account current performance leads to an unhealthy connection between ROAS\/CPA and our own mental health. PPC can be done in different ways and there is rarely an objectively correct way to do something. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q4: When you\u2019re having a tough time, what do you do to try to make it better or get through it?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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In the moment – I’m a big fan of comfort, and immersive narrative experiences. in other words, hot chocolate, some nice wine, and a very long rpg. something where I can actually win against an opponent, and hopefully cast some cool spells. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of you have seen my new puppy <3. But in all seriousness I will spend some time with my family & pets. Keeps me grounded in what really matters at the end of the day. Profits matter, but not as much as literally everything else (health, family, etc…) @lchasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is a work issue, address it. Shorten that path to resolution! Personally, I’m with @JuliaVyse<\/a> on the comfort angle. Like using half and half in my coffee vs. milk. I very much enjoy wine and food too. And reading fiction is a wonderful escape place for me. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meditate, get outside, go for a walk\/exercise, call a friend to vent. In the before time – I went to the gym with my coworkers giving us apply space to blow off steam. @Galliguez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longer-term – journaling really helps contextualize events. gratitude journals in particular – if you’re like me & you hate the name, just call it something else. and turn off the news for a bit. Get into something fictional, with a main character you care about. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am very thankful & fortunate to work with some amazing humans on our team! It is nice to have a collaborative team to step up to support when people are off & to cover work as needed. Also working with @shepzirnheld<\/a> \/ @JessicaLBudde<\/a> is nonstop LOLs which helps. @gregfinn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuddle my cat! but seriously pray. My faith is a huge part of what keeps me sane. And get in touch with people who always know how to make me smile. @TheMarketingAnu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tough times are a part of life. Whether personal or professional life, I always seek help\/advice from people with different views. Thoughts from people with different perspectives always help. I also hit the gym or ride my bike to clear my head. @sonofgorkhali<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comfort food, activities that totally take me away from screen (book, jigsaw puzzle, long drive). Recentering activities @ynotweb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My daily walks keep me sane. Also, try to chat it out. Some days I think I need to join a sports team. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know ping pong tables are getting a bad rap these days but being able to get away from a screen and get the body moving and have some laughs with @rachel__lowell<\/a> can help a lot. Meditation has also been a great find this year for me. @selley2134<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My best recipe for escaping PPC stress is 2 hours of football practice. It’s the best recipe for many things btw. Stress in negotiations, stress when you are broke, stress when you have to make hard staff decisions… @soanders<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I literally go to bed. I was once reminded that 1. I am not trying to end a war or stop homelessness, so I can’t think I am, and 2. I always make better decisions after I have gotten some rest @JonKagan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For non-work related tough times: To get better I usually go and give Reggie a cuddle or put on a headspace video. If that doesn’t help I talk to family and friends about it and get their opinions. @C_J_Ridley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it’s work-related my steps usually are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n