By: Michelle Ou / Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing & Analytics

In 2019, Google will remain the largest digital ad seller in the world, accounting for 31.1% of worldwide ad spending. As companies look to advertising agencies and professionals to partner with for expertise and skills, digital marketers with a Google Premier Partnership stand out among the herd. Our Google Ads credentials designates &Barr as a trained expert in leveraging and managing Google Ad products.

So what exactly is a Google Premier Partner and how do you become one?

A Google Premier Partner is a badge earned by agencies or individuals who have demonstrated skills and expertise for Google Ads specializations. In order to qualify, there are three criteria one must meet.

1. Certified individuals – A minimum of two company members must be certified across the five different Google Ads specializations: Mobile (will be removed by Google in October 2019), Search, Video, Display and Shopping Advertising. Certifications in these specializations show individuals are subject matter experts who have demonstrated expertise and skills through Google’s Academy for Ads training courses and certification exams.
2. Required spend across managed accounts – A minimum spend is assessed by Google every 90 days to show a healthy amount of activity.
3. Performance – A company must show healthy performance, indicated by company growth and sustained retention of company clients.

A Google Premier Partnership not only signifies a company’s expertise across product areas, but also and unlocks special benefits. Our partnership has allowed clients access to alpha and beta programs that otherwise wouldn’t be available. We were given the opportunity to test Google local store campaigns for a QSR client to drive in-store traffic. The campaign ran across all Google properties including Business Profile, Maps, Search, YouTube, and Display and generated a 13% increase in ROAS and a 259% growth of in-store visits vs. a standard store visit campaign. These results can be attributed to the additional exposure across Google products working in harmony and advanced, in-depth reporting and optimizations.

Access to a dedicated Google account management team is also an additional benefit to a Google Premier Partnership. &Barr’s digital marketing and analytics team taps into this relationship for new business strategy support, comprehensive account campaign analysis and recommendations along with top-tier training programs. We are invited and partake in full-day learning sessions to expand our expertise in different product topics. These topics range from expert series to bootcamps that explore the latest in digital trends, evolving measurements and new solutions. We use this learned knowledge to apply best practices when launching and managing campaign and to improve efficiencies through optimizations to reach and exceed client goals.

If you find yourself wondering if your Google Ads budgets and performance could go further, perhaps it’s time to partner with a Google Premier Partner.