Let go of your AdWords prestige

As a business leader, it’s a little embarrassing to admit, but we’re a group of people who often behave like three-year-olds. “I can do it myself” is what made us entrepreneurs in the first place—but it can also be what’s holding us back.

Leading instead of being led—“I can do it myself” is the foundation of many businesses. Starting a company requires the desire to solve problems on your own, to do things better, smarter, and cheaper than others. In the beginning, this is necessary. But after a while, it can become the very thing that holds you back.

Sooner or later, as a business owner, you have to dare to delegate tasks—to employees, consultants, and even customers. This can be really hard for someone who has built their life around doing everything themselves, especially if they take pride in their accomplishments. That’s why today we’re going to talk about AdWords prestige.

You need to stop managing your ads yourself

Google sells the idea that advertising in their search engine is as easy as uploading money and picking keywords. AdWords is simple in its basic form, much like the games Othello or Chess. The system itself isn’t the problem—it’s the cutthroat competition that’s always ready to snatch your clicks and drain your budget.

It looks simple: just launch a broad match ad and bid as much as you can afford. The problem is, your competitors are sharp—they have better account structures, better ads, and smarter bids. Their Cost Per Acquisition is lower, so they steal even more clicks from you. The only thing standing in your way is your prestige. If you let go of that and bring in a specialist—an employee or agency—you could win the game.

I understand advertising is crucial for your business, and I know you’ve spent countless hours managing your account. It’s tough to let someone else take over the work you’ve done, but is your prestige really more important than revenue? Isn’t it obvious a specialist will be better at advertising? You have an entire company to run, while the specialist lives and breathes AdWords. Just as I never accept a general “search marketer” (SEO and SEM are two very different disciplines), it’s unrealistic to expect yourself to be both CEO and Ad copywriter at the same time.