On the one hand there is a requirement to be very flexible and embrace change, but on the other – to create a corporate structure, maintain consistency and build up experience.

This is where the professional ‘Interim Executives,’ are able to make their mark; companies entrust them with full authority to change the state of things. Various aspects affect most organisations:- mergers, acquisitions, divestments and downsizings, together with rationalisation and restructurings. It is no wonder that there is a limited life span of the average Chief Executive, with a requirement for shorter timescales, increased shareholder pressure and the continual impact of new technology.

An annual survey conducted by ‘Mori’ has charted changing attitudes to and indeed the use of ‘management interims,’ at or near board level in the U.K.

Many ‘ captains of industry,’ utilise interims to ‘hold-the-fort’ to cover a shortfall or the sudden departure of a senior manager/executive, through illness, death or disagreement. However, increasingly, these executive management interims are requested to oversee their companies for an uncertain future and for overseeing closures and sell-offs. These specialist ‘interims’ fulfil roles as managing directors, financial directors and global procurement directors, together with special project and logistic directors.

Captains of industry now appreciate the value of ‘interim executives’ over management consultants with regards to implementing change. They feel that they have a good experience with ‘interims’. It is now considered by industry heads that ‘interim management executives’ are more suitable for implementing change or transition and indeed are more cost-effective than management consultants.

Captains of industry source ‘interims’ through specialist providers, via head-hunting and through the ‘Big Five’ professional services.

It is thought that the most likely people to make a decision on having an ‘interim’ would be the chief executive of an organisation, followed by managing directors, chairmen and then finance directors. Some, however perceive difficulties of incorporating ‘interims’ into corporate culture; doubts about motivation, delays in bringing them ‘up-to-speed’ and lack of consistency over time. Those, of course, with experience of utilising ‘executive interims’ are obviously more likely to use them again in the future.

A company will only truly understand the implications once it has taken that brave step of integrating it’s first ‘interim’ resource. Unfortunately the application of ‘interim executive management’ still tends to be thought of as a ‘stop-gap’ measure and the opportunities for the strategic use of and the added value to be gained from a well-selected, highly experienced resource are being overlooked. However, as confirmed by the majority of ‘users’ companies will consider ‘interims’ as an option again, on the basis of a more thorough understanding of the resource.

It seems that generally speaking the trend is a wider application of resources through a specialist provider, who will facilitate a client’s thinking and ensure a higher level of success in a placement. However, whilst the awareness of ‘interim executive management’ has increased in the U.K., the understanding of the importance and opportunities of working with a top quality specialist – one that knows the pool of professional interims in the U.K and can be highly selective from the best available – is less developed. Captains of industry seem to source interim resources through their networks, rather than through ‘specialist providers.’

Dissatisfaction can occur when company heads utilise their own networks for sourcing interims, resulting in poor selection of the right candidate, thinking of the cost-effectiveness of cutting out the middlemen. This reflects a lack of understanding of the true value and application in today’s market. It transpires, however, that statistically, there is a strength of agreement that ‘interim executives,’ are more suitable and cost-effective for change implementation than management consultants.

To summarise the situation:- the awareness of ‘interim executive management’ amongst ‘captains of industry’ is growing. The importance of utilising specialists, who know the interim pool in the U.K, who source the best available, as opposed to a gap-filler, is underrated. It is important that they are guided by the ‘experts’ in the industry, that when they’re introduced to the world of ‘interim management’ that they have a ‘good’ experience, so they don’t miss out on the opportunity for a fast and objective change implementation.

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J Hadley writes on behalf of Executive Interims – Supply Chain Practice. See: http://www.executive-interims.co.uk

Many CEOs face the same dilemma all too frequently: on the one hand is the need to continuously drive programme after programme of change; and on the other to ensure that business-as-usual thrives. The big question often is: where can a business find the extra resources that it needs, exactly when it’s needed?

The people most likely to make decisions about appointing leaders of strategic projects are senior executives; typically the chief executive or managing director, chairman or finance director of a business. Understandably the first place that they typically look for such resources is within the business itself. When the right calibre of resource isn’t available, they are likely to consider using a management consultancy or someone from their own personal network, or an interim manager through an interim management agency.

Changing Attitudes Towards Interim Managers

Attitudes towards executive interim managers are changing for the better. Industry leaders will often happily utilise interim managers for tactical assignments like; holding-the-fort to cover a shortfall or the sudden departure of a senior manager/executive, through illness, maternity leave or resignation. Naturally though, some industry leaders who perhaps haven’t used interim managers are likely to be more reticent about using them for more strategic projects. Interestingly though, research shows that those who have used interim managers for strategic projects are more likely to use them again in the future.

So increasingly, interim managers are being required to run strategic assignments associated with mergers, acquisitions, development programmes, plant relocations, cost reduction and outsourcing programmes in roles such as general managers, financial directors, purchasing and logistics directors. In these strategic roles, interim managers are increasingly appreciated for their value over traditional Big Four consultants with regards to implementing change; not only because of the lower cost of a highly experienced interim manager compared to a branded but often less experienced consultant, but more and more because the quality of the delivery is often better too.

Interim Management Agencies May Not Be Cheap But

Interim management agencies may not be cheap, and whilst it’s an enticing idea to try to cut out the middleman and to try to use an ex colleague, agencies for interim managers do have their value. They know the pool of interim managers and can source not just someone who is available, but the best person in that particular specialist field. Nevertheless, if the assignment you need to fill is a fairly low risk role, someone from your own network may be an ideal solution. However, if you’ve got a high-profile / high-risk strategic role, for a programme that must be delivered, then is it really worth taking a risk? Why not get the best individual available? Although it may cost more, good interim management agencies pride themselves on finding exactly the right interim manager for their clients.

In answer to the question: where should businesses look to find the extra resource that they need to cope with strategic changes and business-as-usual?

The answer is: it depends.

Low risk tactical roles can often be filled through personal contacts, but increasingly users of expert interim management services are finding that they can rely on expert interim managers to deliver high value strategic programmes when previously they would have paid more and used management consultants. However, for high-value high-profile roles, it’s often not worth taking risks. Talk to a specialist interim management agency. Whilst it may be more expensive, from time to time (especially for strategic programmes) its worth paying to find the best person on the market.

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J Hadley writes on behalf of Executive Interims – Supply Chain Practice. See: http://www.executive-interims.co.uk

This meant that organisations were left with little or indeed no spare management capacity. This created space for a breed of management consultants. Later developments however, gave way to a new, better adapted species -’the Interim Executive.’ These ‘Interims’ being freelance executives were brought into a company at short notice to do a specific job. Once the task was completed, they left without a great deal of fuss or a large pay-off.

These new ‘Interim Management Executives’ go into a company for a short time to fix problems for a daily rate, without all the extras that accompany so many pay packages. They prefer to make the necessary changes and move on, rather than manage a stable situation or compete for position in the hierarchy of a large corporation.

When a management role becomes vacant at short notice, ‘Management Executive Interims’ can step in to provide leadership at short notice, while a permanent replacement is found – a process that can and does take many months. ‘Interims’ then seem to offer an ideal solution to a variety of corporate situations, including turnarounds, start-ups, close-downs, acquisitions and mergers and one-off projects.

Interim Management Executives can offer a neat solution to a ‘tricky’ problem and one that can address a whole range of situations. So why aren’t they more widely used? The fact is that many companies don’t consider ‘Interim Management’ as an alternative. Instead they do as they have always done. When they require additional management resources, they either return to head-hunters to source a permanent addition to the payroll or they bring in consultants to fill the gap. Both approaches are expensive and often inappropriate. ‘Interim Executives’ offer a cost effective alternative to this particular dilemma. However those organisations with direct experience of ‘Interim Management’ believe that ‘Interims’ are a more suitable and cost-effective way to implement change or transition, than ‘management’ consultants. Interestingly the three most favourable roles are:- Finance Director, Special Projects Director and Managing Director.

There seems to be lack of understanding about the ‘Interim’ concept generally. The majority of companies have still not tried this approach. Everything is changing in the business landscape. The pace of change is a continuous upheaval. The impact of globalisation, new technologies and other disruptive forces means that companies can no longer remain static. Discontinuity seems to be normal now.

It is now recognised that companies must speedily respond to market opportunities. From those businesses surveyed, a high percentage thought it more difficult to attract talented people, than it was a few years ago and another high percentage thought it very difficult to retain them. Because of these trends it seems as though ‘Interim Management’ wouldn’t fit the bill. Given this information on corporate life, the next thing to ascertain is:- ‘What has prevented the use of ‘Interims’ in senior roles?

The answer seems to lie, in part at least, with the failure of those in industry to make the business case for ‘Interims’ in senior positions. Quite simply Interim Providers haven’t managed to spread the message. However, through research there has been a definite growth in the’Interim’ market. More importantly for the long term prospects of the industry, it was found that there was a high level of satisfaction among companies that had used Interims and a great many saying that they would utilise ‘Interim Managers’ again. Originally ‘Interims’ were utilised as stop-gap managers, but increasingly they are establishing themselves as a strategic resource.

In the past ‘Interim’ providers have been seen as ‘ad-ons’ to executive search and selection companies or consulting firms. Now providers at the top end of the market are now detaching themselves from traditional recruitment and consulting services to establish specialist consultancies in ‘Interim Executive’ provision. Research has confirmed that companies that have tried ‘Interim Management’ have found it to be highly effective. This and other developments make it a good proposition for ‘Interim Management’ They suggest that the industry is now better orientated to address specific market segments. However the greatest difficulties lie in the boardrooms. Many companies still feel that high level executives must be permanent appointments.

Precisely when the first of the ‘Interim Execuytive’ species emerged is unclear. Most agree that this momentous event occurred somewhere in the Netherlands in the mid to late ‘seventies.’ ‘Interim Managers’ apparently offered a flexible way to bring in additional resource.

The shortage of talent in industry is already having an impact. Professional ‘Interims’ would seem to offer a cost-effective alternative – where an injection of management expertise is required for a transition period, the choice has tended to be between employing a senior manager on a permanent contract, or using consultants. The challenge, therefore for ‘The Interim’ Industry as it continues to mature is to present the business case in a more compelling way. At present in an environment where senior executives increasingly arrive and depart with unseemly speed, many companies already utilise ‘de facto’ interims, without really receiving any of the benefits.

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J Hadley writes on behalf of Executive Interims – Supply Chain Practice. See: http://www.executive-interims.co.uk

One such organisation needed a human resources ‘Interim’ to bring about change on a grand scale across several European countries. They acquired a large PLC, which within a hundred years had become the world leader in air and gas handling and the manufacture of large scale fans and compressors. The company was established in eighteen countries across the world, giving it a leading market position in its products.

Following the takeover, the company embarked on a comprehensive review. They found that what they lacked was an HR Executive who had International ‘change management’ experience. The company enlisted a top ‘Interim Management’ Agency to help. Within a couple of weeks an ‘Interim Executive’ was in place. His first task was to tackle the multiplicity of sites across Europe. There were nine production sites spread over the continent, each making the same product, with only slight variations. Rationalisation meant that four had to be closed; two in Scotland, one in France and one in England, accompanied by nine transfers of production across the continent. This was accompanied by an investment programme in new IT systems for each site. Hundreds of staff had to be organised too, as the plan was to reduce the overall head count from 1,400 to 1,100. Timing was critical as was the need to work closely with the council and the local unions. It was essential to get the council on side as it had the power to set the programme back by a significant amount of time. ( Bad past experiences of a company who tried to close a factory, without consulting the works council, thus resulting in the programme being delayed by several months!)

The purchasing was not being carried out in a centralised way and so the company was unable to take advantage of its potential purchasing power. HR personnel were thin on the ground. The CEO wanted to centralise production and turn the factories into centres of excellence for specific products.

During the ‘Executive Interim Manager’s’ year long assignment three key challenges emerged :- There were different cultures and languages operating in the various factories; there wasn’t easily obtainable manpower facts and figures and finally a distinct lack in a training programme for those who were made redundant. The ‘Interim’ professional encouraged the staff in the factories to work together, as opposed to being in competition, this required a high level of commitment and the company had to ensure that their staff were really buying in to the changes. Some of the centres had very little personnel data – really just that of who was on the payroll. The idea was to ensure that the entire enterprise used the same systems, covering everything from personnel data to production schedules and purchasing orders. A system was also introduced to help those made redundant, by giving them every opportunity and training to help them find new work. The company enlisted local business development authorities to help with this.

The ‘Executive Interim Manager’ maintained that they eventually had a clear plan of action and a talented group of managers dedicated to the organisation achieving its aims. The plan had to be detailed and credible and the delivery had to be confident and on-time, despite the complicated various initiatives.

Another example of effective use of an ‘Executive Interim Manager’ was for enhancing the global performance of a large PLC. The brief to the ‘Interim Management’ Agency was to identify a top-level Interim International finance director with experience of working in the U.S and implementing major change programmes. Immediate availability was essential. Within DAYS the prime candidate was identified, fulfilling all the criteria, including the candidate having dual UK/US citizenship. The ‘Interim Manager’s’ main tasks were to be able to upgrade and develop the copmpany’s finance function and to be able to ensure that they performed effectively on a global basis. The PLC was an international speciality chemicals group. The company was moving from being a US-based business to becoming a global company. A financial expert was needed to act as a ‘change agent.’

The company needed someone who was ‘over-qualified’ for the job, who could literally ‘hit-the-ground running’ on day one. This particular ‘Executive Interim manager’ could immediately see the wood from the trees. In that situation you are not developing someone as part of a career move, rather you’re looking for someone who has been a leader and a manager. That person must go in and head the function and play a major role. That particular candidate made it clear that he didn’t want to be seen as a ‘hands-off’ consultant, but rather to be treated as the financial director who was doing the job, sharing the risks and achievements.

He initially won the trust of the team, helped their management team to identify ‘course corrections’ needed to ensure that the company would meet the requirements of its business plan and helped recruit two permanent members of staff- a new financial director and a financial planning manager.

At the end of the three month assignment the company had two new members of staff installed with the right skills set, the finance department was more effective, more structured and more capable and the company had a much clearer picture of where it actually stood in terms of its financial performance.

In both examples the ‘Interim Executive’ effected change swiftly and efficiently and left behind organisations better prepared to meet their challenges ahead.

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J Hadley writes on behalf of Executive Interims – Supply Chain Practice. See: http://www.executive-interims.co.uk

The concept of Interim Managers’ is still a mystery and they are often asked why they would wish to take on such an uncertain way of life. It does appear to be a calling.’ They are obviously not interested in a routine existence and of course there is hunger for a challenge to change the state of things. They know they are able to do it too, because they have successfully done so on numerous occasions.

Having probably reached a point in their career, Interim Executives’, both men and women, who have typically reached senior management level – go-it-alone’ and this would indicate their suitablility for a very demanding way of life.

Until their very first assignment, potential Interim Managers/Executives’ have a great desire to prove to themselves that they are on the right course. Notably there are only a few to whom they can refer as there are merely just a few hundred in the U.K. with many more aspiring candidates waiting in the wings’ for their very first opportunity.

Substantial change and the implementation experience to make it happen are essential qualities of a good Interim Manager / Executive.’ Together with strong interpersonal and communication skills, plus team leadership capabilities. The demonstration of these qualities is paramount, especially when an Executive Interim’ is placed in a crisis situation, requiring a fast turnaround.

Typically Interim Executives’ will have a track record of at least five to ten years at board level within those companies turning over anything between 20 million to 2bn. They will have held a Senior General Management position, i.e Chief Executive or indeed have been a head of function – Either a Finance Director, I.T Director, Sales / Marketing Director, H.R Director and Manufacturing or Logistics Director. They might have gained hands-on’ experience within a mix of blue-chip and smaller organisations; they are far less likely to have worked only for one organisation or to have moved a lot, without evidence of solid achievement in their permanent career. Their C.V’s might indicate that they have progressed on the basis of achievement rather than through political maneuvring.

Within the environment of Interim Management’ typical change’ implementation experience would include :- restructurings, turnarounds, acquisitions, mergers start-ups, down sizing and
preparation for sale or closure. The involvement for the Interim’ would have been very much hands on’ with a proven successful outcome on a multiple basis, in testing situations.

Personal attributes would include being a high-achiever, someone who is proactive, results orientated, positive, prefers a’ hands-on approach’ and is able to make things happen; someone politically sensitive, without necessarily being drawn into company politics. They should have an ability to work at different levels and to be able to demonstrate flexibility. Fluency in foreign languages and an understanding of business and cultural issues are very useful and would widen the opportunities for assignments.

The ability to step into an organisation on day one, high calibre Interims’ will establish immediate credibility – particularly important as it may be the client’s first introduction of an Interim Executive’ to the organisation, at, or near board level. Equally the company might have utilised Interim management’ resources before and so would have very high expectations, particularly if the assignment was very successful. The Interim’ would quickly establish a team relationship with their peer group and generally sell the concept of why they are there’ on arrival. Exceptional interpersonal skills and a very positive attitude should be immediately apparent and their over-qualification’ would ensure quick integration. A sense of humour is not a bad requirement either, especially when under lots of pressure!

Interims are likely to be in their mid forties/fifties are excellent at self-management and have high stamina levels. Interim Management work is very demanding, requiring long working hours and substantial travel. The ability to be flexible regarding location is very important. When the opportunity of a well-matched assignment materialises, the Interim Manager’ must be ready to move quickly and show a willingness to be away from home on most occasions. Most of the Interims’ are away during the week, returning home for weekends and so must have long-suffering partners and families who will offer strong support in those situations. The work can be very intensive and the hours long. There must, therefore, be a willingness to do whatever it takes to reach their goals.

Good Interim Executives’ will have chosen the right time to go independent. Financial security and fulfilled permanent career ambitions are key requirements. They must be able to run their own business, manage themselves (both in/out of assignments) successfully satisfying demanding clients with high expectations of instant results. Prospective clients should move quickly to secure the Interim’s’ interest in undertaking a challenge, to avoid the risk of being snapped up’ by a competitor.

True Interims’ are a rare breed and will always want to test their skills to prove yet again they can make a difference, when given the opportunity.

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J Hadley writes on behalf of Executive Interims – Supply Chain Practice. See: http://www.executive-interims.co.uk

The proportion is significant including such ‘Captains of Industry’ as Chairmen, CEO’s and Managing Directors, representing some of the U.K.’s largest organisations.

Those companies who have utilised an ‘Interim Manager’, were, for very vital reasons; such as ‘taking hold of the reins’ after a very sudden departure or for the ‘Interim’ to manage an acquisition or to ‘manage’ a closure or sell-off. Interim Executives have also undertaken challenges for crisis/turnaround management of a business. They are utilised too, for management development and preparation of teams where a business faces an uncertain future.

Increasingly, however ‘Executive Interims’ are being hired to deal with more difficult situations, as companies seek very experienced, very professional ‘Executive Interim Managers. They merely don’t just advise, as is the role of a typical ‘consultant’ – but actually – ‘do the job’. For example an ‘Executive Interim’ can be part of an organisation for 2/3 years, turning around a business in the role as a Managing Director.

Even though they prove their worth in so many vital ways, ‘Interim Managers’ can experience totally blank looks from many of their business colleagues, when they say that they work as an ‘Interim Manager.’ Most people in industry don’t understand the full scope of ‘Interim Management’. Many people think ‘Interims’ are brought in when someone is off sick or when someone has been fired. Some assignments require that ‘Interim Managers’ are in the role of menoting management, encouraging them to understand their resposnibilities to other people in the company and helping teams to to co-operate between departments. A great deal of experience and even greater understanding of how people relate to each other is needed to do that kind of thing. ‘Executive Interim Managers’ have an abundance of those skills.

Sometimes it’s difficult for people to understand the seniority of the position of ‘Interims’ as the very word seems to imply ‘temporary’ put with the word ‘Executives’ though, certainly helps to outline the seniority of the position. It is necessary to get across to the ‘Captains of Industry’ just how capable Interim Managers are to businesses. The best Interims have worked at the highrest levels, they are used to the boardroom and arte always over-qualified for the assignments they take on, having undertaken more senior roles previously in their careers, unlike other recruits they often ‘step down’ to responsibility, rather than ‘stepping up.’ They are, therefore, immediately effective.

The most important area that requires addressing is the mindset of the’client’ if they haven’t previously been conversant with ‘Interim Management’ – they need to understand that they are buying an ‘Independent Professional’

The more usual way to source an Interim Manager / Executive is through a specialist Agency and these vary considerably. Some agencies can have as many as 5,000 potential candidates on their databases. But some are ‘maintained’ more readily than others with potential ‘Interims’ being vetted and met with face-to-face, thus making it easier to identify the more genuine ‘Interim Managers.’

Interim Management has tended to evolve steadily in the past 20 years and is still evolving. Younger Manager / Executives are entering the role and more women too are moving into ‘Interim Management’ covering a range of functions. However anyone intending to take on ‘Interim Management’ as a career should ensure they have a range of capital to tide them over between assignments.

The advantages of companies taking on an Interim is that they don’t become embroiled in company policies. They are not concerned about ‘manoeuvring’ to further their career. The only worry being, completing the job and adding value. People pay a great deal of money for their services and they need to see the results.

The pre-requisite of being an ‘Interim Manager’ used to be redundancy. Many fine Executives lost their jobs during often ill-conceived ‘clear-outs’ of the nineties. Attitudes have changed, nowadays fewer Interims conceive of being employed by someone for life! They now relish the Interim career. Fortunately too, more and more @Captains of Industry’ can recognise the qualities of the people they engage in these ‘project-based’ roles. Permanency is not recognised as part of the deal.

Interim management should be seen as the way forward. It is risky, tough, rewarding and can be thrilling for people engaged in this work, there is no looking back!

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Despite this though, a recent poll indicated that more than half of CEOs haven’t used interim managers and there remains a remarkable amount of confusion about what interim managers are and how they’re different from temporary managers.

Temporary Managers

Temporary managers are likely to be “in between permanent roles” and be interested in opportunities that are likely to stretch them and add weight to their CV, so that they can get a better permanent role next time. However this usually implies more risk for clients; and a longer time until value starts to be delivered. Whilst they may be fine working for an organisation that they’ve worked in for years, how will they fare in an entirely different place without their usual “support systems”? How credible will they be? Will you be able to rely on them to represent you appropriately within your organisation or to your customers or suppliers? Are their interpersonal skills up to it? Will they deliver the results?

Interim Managers

In contrast, interims are immediately available senior executive managers who have become interim managers as a career choice. They are independent, highly flexible individuals who run their own companies and operate with professional indemnity insurance. They are un-biased by company politics and must have outstanding communication and interpersonal skills to successfully deliver results in a wide variety of different organisations. Their credibility and technical expertise has to be unquestionable because they’re expected to “hit the deck running” and deliver results not just recommendations. Some say they are senior executives and consultants – “all rolled into one!”

Since interim managers can cost anything between $ 1000-$ 2000 per day and interim management assignments can last anything from three months to two years, clients and interim management service providers alike, can’t afford to take risks. In fact, only individuals who have track records that demonstrate they have the ability to thrive in fresh environments and deliver an excellent return on clients’ investments can be considered for such roles.

Interim management assignments are therefore more likely to be higher risk / higher value / higher profile roles. For example often organisations will utilise an interim manager when they need immediate support for a turnaround or when there is a sudden departure of a key executive; or perhaps to release another for non-routine tasks as the business goes through a period of discontinuity. Often though, interim managers are brought in because of their track record for delivering improvements in their particular specialist discipline or industry; for example to deliver synergies following an acquisition or merger or to introduce best practise processes and organisational structures.

Conclusion

Temporary managers may be appropriate for lower risk projects, but there is a big difference between temporary and interim managers. Interim managers are executive “big hitters” with track records of delivering results; who specialise in high value / high risk assignments and approach them with a very practical “hands on” “get the job done” style. They’re more expensive, but for higher profile projects they’re a low-risk solution when it comes to implementing change.

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J Hadley and D Jones work for Executive Interims – Interim Management – Supply Chain Practice

Given the nature of pay-per-click search marketing (i.e.: ideally you would put a dollar in, and get two dollars out) and how easily your ad spend can escalate out of control, clear strategies and tactics will become the impetus of your search marketing campaign.

Before I go any further, it would be prudent to digress in order to define the linguistic distinction between strategies and tactics, and how they will be applied throughout this article. I feel that this distinction could, obviously, be used outside of pay-per-click, and I encourage readers to reflect on other ways that this distinction may be applied throughout perceptions in their organization.

As others are often quite more able to articulate concepts better than I, I will be referring to a paper written by Toby Hecht, founder of The Aji Network, called, believe it or not, “Strategies and Tactics: Ultimate and Interim Situations.”

Hecht states:

“Tactics are the actions we can take in some specific situation to produce a different specific situation Almost all situations we care about require us to perform tactics to produce many interim situations that we do not care about in order to produce the ultimate situation for the sake of which we have acted

“As we act to produce increasingly valuable ultimate situations, we also invent an interpretation of the tactics we will need in order to produce the sequence of interim situations we have specified. This narrative is called a strategy.”

Ultimately, a strategy becomes a series of tactics and the order in which they are executed so as to fulfill an ultimately valuable outcome.

Defining Strategies for Pay-Per-Click

Applying this distinction to pay-per-click, one might define their strategy as over the next three months, increase brand awareness to 100,000 impressions per month at a cost of under $10,000.00, or over the next 6 months, increase ROI above 400% at a minimum ad spend of $10,000.00 per month and increasing to a maximum ad spend of $50,000.00 per month.

Each of these strategies represents the two most common strategies we encounter in the search marketing industry. However, the interesting thing is that we rarely hear people define their strategies as such. Often, they lack boundaries in their assessments of their goals, such as saying “I want to increase my ROI.” And that’s great, but begs the following questions; by how much do you want to increase it? We can increase your ROI with an ad spend of $50.00 per month, but will that still be valuable to you? How much do you want to earn before defining the campaign a success and how much do you need to spend to reach that goal? What sort of time frame and urgency should this strategy be executed in order to be valuable to your organization?

That said, important considerations in defining your pay-per-click strategy might include the following:

• What sort of time frame should you execute your strategy in order for the campaign to be valuable to you and your organization?
• What budget requirements and/or restrictions should be imposed in order for the campaign to be valuable to you and your organization?
• What is your business objective with this campaign? Branding or ROI? A combination of the two? Perhaps it’s to increase conversions, with conversions being anything from the sale of a product to someone signing up on your message board.

All of these are very strong considerations and definitions that must be well thought out before ever considering what sort of tactics you will be implementing towards your strategic goal.

Defining Tactics for Accomplishing Strategic Pay-Per-Click Goals

Applying a distinction of what a tactic is for pay-per-click, understanding the concept of strategies, one then begins to see that every step of the campaign execution then directly relates to the campaign strategy. With a strategy revolving around ROI, web analytics and accurate ROI measurement becomes an essential tactic. With a strategy revolving around branding and impressions, a tactic of bidding on highly searched key phrases might be employed.

Understanding that tactics must both be aligned with your strategy, and that the order in which tactics are executed are just as important as the tactics themselves in achieving your strategic goals, the next step in executing your pay-per-click search marketing campaign is to define those tactics and their order of execution.

Branding Tactics for Pay-Per-Click

The strategy here is exposure to your market. You’re not necessarily measuring clicks, you’re measuring how many times your message is seen and interpreted by your target-audience. Increasing ad impressions, with consideration for bid position, becomes an important part of your strategy.

For this, we distinguish these key phrases that will generally increase visibility in your market as “research” terms. These key phrases, or key words, are usually searched in greater frequencies, but identify that the searcher is not yet ready to purchase. They are at the beginning stages of the buy-cycle and are collecting information about the product category in which they are interested. Terms that might fall under this category for a music store might be “cd,” “music store,” or “dance music” etc. Terms such as these display the range of “research” terms that one might bid on in order to increase their brand awareness. Thus, a tactic of bidding on research-centric terms will likely be employed.

Because the strategy is to increase impressions while still sending your brand message, using campaign negative keywords becomes increasingly important. For example, your music store may not want its ad to be displayed when someone searches for “cd duplication” or “cd printing.” This being the case, a tactic of effectively researching to implement negative keywords in your campaigns would likely be used.

One final tactic for increasing branding and exposure through pay-per-click search marketing with a restrained budget, and there are many, many others, is write your ad copy in a manner that receives minimal click-through rate (reducing cost), while still remaining competitive enough to continue being “visible” by searchers. In doing so, you effectively maintain price consciousness, maintain visibility, and are able to continue positioning yourself visibly within your market.

ROI Tactics for Pay-Per-Click

With an ROI (Return on Investment) or ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)-based pay-per-click search marketing strategy, click price and your margins become the driving force in your tactical campaign decisions.

Relating to the buy-cycle, executing this strategy employs tactics of bidding on key phrases that fall under what we classify as “Buy” terms. Continuing with the music store example, you might consider bidding on “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot enhanced,” an amazing album by the alt-country/folk rock band Wilco. A searcher at this point is well aware of the product they wish to acquire, and they even know that they want the enhanced version of this album.

With a tactic being to find “Buy” phrases, one quickly finds that these kinds of key phrases are searched much less frequently than “Research” key phrases. With an ROI-based strategy keyword research becomes much more acute, and at a depth far greater than a branding-based strategy. Here, you will likely have many more keywords, they will generally cost less per click, they will generally be less competitive, but, ironically enough, they will convert at a much higher rate. We can see, through a new feature that I’ve seen no previous coverage, on Amazon.com, that the enhanced CD converts at 12%, an amazing conversion rate in any industry that will surely assist in an ROI-based pay-per-click search marketing strategy.

Finally, as with a branding-based strategy, ad copy tactics may be used to greatly impact the execution of your strategy. However, the difference here comes in the manner of writing ad copy to both increase click-through rate, while also encouraging the purchase of your products. While this distinction may appear to be obvious, this tactic is rarely seen executed well, or measured against for improved performance.

Rethinking Your Pay-Per-Click Strategies and Tactics

I hope that this article has proven to be powerful in reshaping the distinctions you make in your current and future pay-per-click search marketing campaigns, and that these distinctions prove to be valuable to your pay-per-click search marketing strategies.

In the next article, we’ll be going into great detail of how to effectively measure the tactical progress of your search marketing strategies. After all, if you’re not assessing and measuring the proper metrics for your strategy, you’ll never know if your tactics are effective.

Ben Wills is Director of Search Marketing for Fortune Interactive, an interactive marketing firm specializing in search engine marketing and web log (blog) marketing. Ben has spoken at several conferences including Search Engine Strategies and AD:Tech on topics ranging from setting up web servers for reducing search engine impediments, to effectively executing pay-per-click search marketing campaigns. Handling everything from start-up businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Ben has encountered and solved a wide range of search engine marketing issues. You can reach Ben at BWills@FortuneInteractive.com.