It’s been two years in the making but finally, at long last, we are officially Google Partners. The journey started when our Digital Marketing Manager Rachael rocked up for her first week of work with the Pixel team back in the November of 2015.
As a marketer, Google products such as Analytics, AdWords and Google Web Master Tools to name but a few, form a large part of Rachael’s working day, so to be proficient in not until using these tools but also understanding how they work is key, if we are going to get our clients the best results from their digital collateral.
So, without barely taking a breath, Rachael decided to dive right in to working towards earning the Google Partner badge, to gain official industry recognition for that knowledge and understanding. She by no means did this alone though, fellow colleague Lucy Harrison, our Digital Account Manager, also took the Google AdWords exams as well.
Bringing Lucy into the Google Partners project was a strategic move, which ensured that this key Google knowledge existed outside of just the marketing department. Equally, as our most client facing team member, Lucy would also be able to effectively communicate the hows, whys and wherefores of Google’s product range more successfully to our clients, ultimately helping to support them and the marketing team even better than before.
So with our two team members fully AdWords qualified, as well as also passing the Google Analytics and Google Mobile Sites exams too, the next step was to link up our MCC account and wait for our performance data to build.
This is where our two year wait comes in. Google needs a minimum of 12 to 18 months’ worth of AdWords activity recorded in your MCC account, plus a certain amount of AdWords spend before you can be awarded Google Partner status. This is so the Google team can really assess if you have a working knowledge of their arguably most complex tool and ensure you are using it effectively for you clients.
It was a slightly nail-biting wait to see if we would make the grade but in the end, the patience paid off and the badge is ours!
Our hard work is only really now beginning though, as the next step is to ensure we maintain this coveted status going forward and gain even more certifications for some of our other key team members as our business continues to grow.
So who knows, maybe in another two years we’ll be Premier Google Partners…watch this space.