Interview With Pablo (Paid Media Consultant)

1) Where were you born and raised? Also tell us something unique about yourself.

I grew up in a town called Celanova in the province of Ourense (Galicia, Spain) which is beautiful, surrounded by mountains and incredible landscapes and history. Throughout my life I have lived in Belgium, the UK and Ireland and for years I have lived in Madrid and worked here.

2) What got you interested in marketing and what was your journey?

When I was at university, I studied business management and administration at the University of Santiago de Compostela. I was interested in the subjects of commerce and business strategy, but there was nothing related to digital marketing, but I was curious about advertising.

It was in the UK, working as a waiter, where I began to be interested in the world of advertising and on my own I began to take courses in Google Ads Skillshop and digital marketing. That year, I decided to do a Master's in Digital Marketing at IMF in Madrid, where I planted the seeds of a future professional career and what always caught my attention the most in the great world that this is, the Performance part with Google Ads and social ads.

Afterwards, I went to Ireland to work in a hybrid position of Digital Marketing and Customer Service for an accommodation company where I learned to focus marketing on solving customer Q&A through web design, SEO, CRM and content work.

Later, I worked as a digitalization teacher in a city hall and was a freelancer providing digital marketing services during the pandemic to local businesses from web design, SEO and Lead Gen by Social Ads and SEM.

This allowed me to make the leap to performance agencies and consultancies such as Tidart and Making Science where my clients have mainly been large multinational ecommerce companies, especially in the fashion, cosmetics and retail sectors, developing and optimizing their campaigns in Google Ads and Social Ads (Meta and Tiktok) and developing and implementing digital funnel strategies. In addition, I also put into practice VSL Funnels, Launches and Memberships for special actions, such as User Acquisition for their apps.I have also had Lead Generation clients for sectors such as Real Estate and Mobility and developed my skills in data analytics and client management.

Right now I am working at IG Group, one of the best companies in the trading sector, as a PPC Manager developing and optimizing their SEM strategy. This company is amazing and I am learning a lot from Lead Gen for Trading.

3) What skills and industry do you specialize in?

In fact, I think I've answered this question in the previous one hahaha sorry.....I am a PPC & SEM specialist mainly with Google Ads although I also use Bing.

I come from managing ecommerce clients who are passionate about this world, which has also led me to learn PPC strategy for ecommerce and learn how to use Google MerchantIt has also allowed me to be a much more complete media buyer and to be able to use Meta Ads both in evergreen campaigns and specific VSL, Launch or Membership funnels and experience many BLACK FRIDAYS hahahahaha.

I am currently in Lead Gen and User Acquisition for the trading sector, it is challenging and a super competitive industry and I can only say that I enjoy every day of my work and I have a great team at my side.

4) What is your best soft skill?

I believe my best soft skill is adaptability. Working in dynamic and fast-paced environments like digital marketing and PPC management, I've developed the ability to quickly adjust to new challenges, tools, and strategies. For example, when I worked on campaigns across different industries and regions, I had to tailor my approach to meet the specific needs and cultural nuances of each market. This flexibility has helped me consistently deliver results while fostering strong relationships with clients and team members.

5) What softwares and tools do you use regularly?

In my daily life I use various tools that help me perform my work and tools that I have also used in previous companies.

SEM tools: Google Editor, Google Ads, Search Ads 360, Bing Ads, Apple Search Ads.

Social Ads: Meta Ads, Tiktok Ads.

Analytical Tools, Looker Studio, Google Sheets, Excel, GA4.

Other Tool: Slack, Google Merchant, Notion and Trello, Gmail, Drive, Channable, Chat GPT, Claude.

6) What are your goals for the next year and into the future?

Learn and improve as much as possible both in my skills and knowledge of SEM and in the Trading industryI would also like to become a recognized consultant, so I am going to start developing my personal brand on Linkedin and perhaps on some social media channel

7) What has been the hardest thing you dealt with in your career path?

One of the toughest challenges I’ve faced in my career was dealing with imposter syndrome. In the beginning, when I started managing campaigns with large budgets for well-known clients, I often wondered if I was good enough or if I really deserved the responsibility. I found it intimidating to present strategies and make decisions that had such a big impact. What helped me overcome this was focusing on facts and results. I relied heavily on data-driven insights to guide my campaigns and let the numbers speak for themselves.

I also invested time in improving my skills and seeking feedback from peers and mentors, which gave me a clearer perspective on my capabilities. Over time, I learned to trust my experience and recognize my accomplishments. Now, I see challenges as opportunities to grow and am proud of how far I’ve come.

8) What is the biggest mistake you made that you want others to avoid?

It was my first year in an agency for a very well-known client in the fashion industry. The team I worked for worked very hard and with high demand and the results were good. We prepared the Black Friday strategy and proposed it well in advance, but just as the dates for starting the Prewarming stages approached, the client changed the creatives and copies many times and the work chain was like a bottleneck.

I proposed to my boss that we could do several mock-ups in-house with our creative team and that we take the initiative by presenting these models under the deadline to our client in an emergency meeting. Finally it was possible, but we risked having our campaigns in the learning phase in MetaSince then, in an event like Black Friday, planning well in advance for creatives and copies is key, regardless of the fear that the client has with what their competition does. For that, a good study of benchmarks and trends is key beforehand

9) Who are your favorite people in the industry that you follow?

I have many references to take into account that I love their content and success stories such as PPC Mastery Miles McNair, PPC Cast Albert Roig and Luis Flores, George Clements, Carles Fox, Adriaan Dekker, Thomas Eccel, Why Ads, Francisco Saez, Crack PPC, Aaron Young, Tomasz Abbott, Briann Anndreasen, Nils Rooijmans, Ruben Runneboom.

10) Who has had the biggest influence on your career to date?

My greatest influence in my career was several people at Tidart when I worked there for 2 years. First my manager Carlos de Lucas for his confidence, leadership, knowledge of advanced analytics, his expertise in ecommerce and SEM & Social Ads. Charly Molina the CEO of the company one of the greatest eminences in Google ads and advertising.

In addition to being a great teacher and motivator. Mario Bouhaben, my team leader for his confidence as my right hand and his expertise in Google ads and capacity for leadership and client management.I also do not want to forget my colleagues and clients throughout my career since the professional and person that I am has also been thanks to them.

11) What has been your favorite course that you taken and why?

I have mainly taken many Skillshop courses and on Udemy, mainly on digital analytics.I also use YouTube and LinkedIn a lot to keep up to date with my growthAna Ivar's Meta Ads funnel course has been very good as wellRight now I'm waiting for the new call for PPC Mastery courses to open. I hope there will be one soon because I'm eager to take oneAfterwards I'm thinking of studying a digital analytics master's degree at KS School and I'll probably learn Python or some AI course.

12) What would you tell yourself or someone who is just starting out in marketing?

To my past self I would say that to start on the path of media buyer the winning combination would be Master or PPC or Social Ads course + Internship in a performance agency + Linkedin & Youtube Studying and putting into practice what you study is the best way to advance and understand the concept but above all to work in an agency, even if it is free.

There you will learn to use platforms, learn about the business you manage, deal with clients, expert people who will teach and correct you. After that you have to have the will and desire to, after work, review what you did and continue studying and putting knowledge into practice.

Being a media buyer is like medicine, we are business doctors and we have to diagnose and apply new treatments and our industry, platforms and user trends are constantly changing and we have to adapt or die hhahahaha.

13) If the entire world was listening to you, what would you have to say?

Do what you are passionate about and what makes you happy. If you don't have passion, motivation and goals, what you are doing is pointless and will affect your life. This has to be applied to all areas of your life. Take care of your body, your mind, your family, your relationships and most importantly, yourself. You are the protagonist of your life.

14) Where can we find you?

At the moment on Linkedin. If you have any questions or would like to contact me, I will be happy to assist you and if you are in Madrid, we can meet in person. And soon probably on Instagram and Tiktok but in a professional way.

Thank you Omar for this interview and I hope you enjoyed reading it haha.

Regards.