In this episode of PPC Live The Podcast, I sit down with Veronika Höller to reveal real-world PPC mistakes – from campaigns that look perfect on the surface to deeper issues that have been quietly killing operations.
From “perfect” campaigns to zero revenue
Veronika Holler did not log into the hacked account. On the contrary. Everything looked right – clean layout, strong art, tight budget, transformations coming. On paper, it was a very effective PPC setup.
But there was one problem: it wasn’t an income.
That disconnect forced a deeper look beyond top-level metrics. Because while impressions, clicks and conversions continued, campaigns weren’t delivering business impact – and that’s where things started to unravel.
The real problem: nothing stands out
The change did not appear within the account. It appeared to look outside of it.
During the competition research, Veronika realized that the brand sounds like everyone else. The message is integrated into the market. There was no clear reason for the user to choose them over their competitors.
From the user’s perspective, the ads weren’t wrong — they were simply forgettable. And in a crowded category, “good” isn’t enough.
That understanding reframed the whole problem: it wasn’t a performance problem. It was a placement problem.
Starting again – from the beginning
Instead of fixing existing campaigns, Veronika made a bold call: rebuild everything.
That meant new messages, new creativity, and a new strategic foundation. Another important change was defining not only the ideal customers, but also who did not want to point him out — anti-ICPs are used to encrypt the message.
They also introduced strong localization, market-specific landing pages, and platform-specific strategies instead of copying campaigns across channels.
It was not a good performance. It was a reset. And it worked.
A mistake that almost broke everything
But at the beginning of her career, Veronika made a very painful mistake – one that many PPC marketers will pick up on.
You used a recommended CPA… without increasing the budget.
The result? Campaigns stopped delivering. Operation is postponed. And worst of all, it wasn’t seen over the weekend.
By Monday, the damage was clear – and the client was not happy.
Error handling — and fixing it quickly
There was no hiding it.
Veronika quickly admitted the mistake, explained what happened, and took responsibility. That loyalty changed the outcome. Although the client was initially frustrated, the situation quickly turned around because there was no deviation – a clear plan to fix it.
The lesson stands: don’t use recommendations lightly, and always understand the full context before making changes.
Why failure is part of achieving excellence
For Veronika, mistakes are not something to be avoided – they are important.
“You can only be good if you fail,” he said.
That mindset now shapes the way he works and the way he counsels others. Mistakes are not a sign of incompetence — they are a sign that work is being done, tested, and improved.
And most importantly, sharing those mistakes helps others avoid repeating them.
The biggest problem is still seen today
Despite all the changes in PPC, one problem keeps coming up: tracking.
Broken implementations, overreliance on small changes, and poor setups in tools like Google tag manager are still common.
In the world of intelligent and automated bidding, bad data doesn’t just limit performance – it misleads it.
Without clean tracking, even the best campaigns will fail.
AI will not fix mediocre marketing
Veronika is clear on one thing: AI is not a shortcut to better performance.
If you feed average data, you will get average results.
Too many marketers rely on AI tools to analyze accounts without first understanding what needs to be improved. But AI can’t make a difference – it can only amplify what’s already there.
Standing out still requires human imagination, strategy, and creativity.
An important concept now
The biggest takeaway isn’t intellectual — it’s psychological.
Don’t aim for perfection. Do not follow recommendations carelessly. And don’t think the tools will do the thinking for you.
Instead, trust your instincts, test your ideas, and accept that mistakes are part of the process.
Because in performance marketing, the real risk isn’t failure – it’s playing it safe and meeting it.
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