How Garrett Graham and I Worked on PPC Advertising

Tuesday 23rd June - 8:33 am

I'm sitting at my desk tapping my pen against my notebook.

Waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Technically Garrett Graham and I were supposed to be discussing PPC advertising at 8:30.

Technically.

I glance at the clock again.

8:34.

Then 8:35.

Then 8:36.

At this point , I've already organised my notes , opened my laptop , checked my email twice , and questioned my life choices.

Maybe he's running late .

Maybe he got stuck somewhere.

Wait - What if he forgot?

I immediately regret that thought because now I can't stop thinking about it .

What if he wrote down the wrong time?

What if he's sitting in a completely different building waiting for me?

What if this meeting was an entire misunderstanding?

By 8:40, I have managed to convince myself of at least six different scenarios. None of them are helpful.

Then the door suddenly swings open and in walks Garrett Graham, looking completely unbothered

"Morning."

I stare at him.

He stares back.

"You're late".

Garrett glances at the clock. "By ten minutes."

"Thirteen".

"That's still technically ten-ish".

I immediately understand why he's the hockey captain and not the person responsible for scheduling.

Without missing a beat, Garrett drops into the chair across from me.

"So". He folds his arms.

"Let's talk about PPC".

I blink. "No apology?"

He looks confused. "For what?"

I huff and try not to spiral out. "For being late".

Garrett thinks about it for a moment, then shrugs.

"I brought coffee."

I look down. He has in fact brought coffee.

Annoyingly, it's my favourite order.

I narrow my eyes. "You planned this."

Ask any of my close friends and family, coffee is my one true weakness. Other than my cat Simmba.

"Maybe".

So I accept the peace offering and open my laptop.

"So. PPC advertising."

Garrett points at the screen.

"Good". Then he asks the one question in true Garrett Graham fashion.

"How much money can we spend?"

I close my eyes. We have been discussing PPC advertising for approximately seven seconds.

And somehow, we have already arrived at the budget question. This is going to be a very long morning.

"That's not how PPC works Garrett".

"Why not?"

I inhale and then exhale trying to remain calm. "Because Garrett, you can't just throw money at an ad and then hope for the best.

He looks disappointed. Like genuinely disappointed. "I thought that was the whole point."

"No."

He tries again. "Okay. Then how about a lot of money?"

"Garrett sweetheart. Still no."

He leans back in his chair. "This marketing thing has a lot more rules than hockey".

I decide to not explain how many rules hockey actually has (I actually don't know how many there are).

Instead, I pull out a campaign dashboard.

"Okay. Let's start with the basics. PPC stands for Pay Per Click."

"So, we pay?"

I nod.

Then he asks again. "And people click?"

"Mhm".

"Sounds straightforward."

"I mean, it would be if we stopped there."

Garrett groans dramatically.

Of course he does.

I explain how advertisers choose keywords, target audiences , set budgets, and create ads designed to attract potential customers.

To my surprise, Garrett is paying attention.

At least for the first few minutes.

Then he points at a graph. "What's that?"

"That's a click-through rate."

"What is a good one?"

"That depends". He immediately frowns. Marketing really hates simple answers.

The more we talked. The more I realised PPC advertising wasn't that different from sports.

You need a strategy.

You need to understand your audience .

You need to know what you're trying to achieve.

Most importantly, you need to adjust when something isn't working.

The strongest campaign doesn't always win.

The smartest campaign usually does.

When I explain that, Garrett suddenly sits up.

"Okay , now that makes sense."

Finally.

Progress. Then he points to something else.

"But Anisha, what if nobody clicks?"

"We change something."

"But, what if they still don't click despite the changes we make?"

"We will keep testing."

Garrett nods thoughtfully. "So, you are basically saying that PPC is a trial and error?"

"Pretty much."

"Still counts."

Fair enough. As the morning continues , Garrett surprisingly becomes invested in the process. A little too invested

At one point he grabs my notebook and starts sketching campaign ideas. His handwriting is terrible and I even tell him this.

He tells me that's not the point.

The scary point is that he's right. By the end of the session, we covered keywords , ad targeting, budgets, testing, optimisation, and campaign goals.

Somewhere along the way, Garrett stopped asking how much money we could spend and started asking how we could spend it more effectively. Which honestly felt like major victory.

As I start packing my things, Garrett stands and stretches.

"That was actually interesting."

I nearly drop my notebook.

"You doubted me?"

"A little."

"I am offended."

"No, you're not."

Unfortunately he's correct.

As we are heading out toward the door, Garrett suddenly stops.

"Oh".

That single word immediately concerns me. "What is it?"

He laughs and says. "I may have told someone else about these marketing sessions.

"You what?"

Garrett opens the door. "They seem interested."

4 Minutes Later

A knock at the door*

"Come in."

I understand why Garrett looks so amused.

Dean Heyward DiLaurentis walks into the room.

For a moment, my brain completely stops working.

Not permanently.

Just long enough for it to be inconvienient.

Because honestly?

How does someone look like that exist? I immediately hate that this is my first thought.

Not because it's inaccurate.

Because it's wildly unhelpful.

Professional Anisha. Be professional.

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

Unfortunately, I have been staring at him for approximately three seconds longer than a normal person should.

"Yeah".

A pause. "Completely okay".

Then another one. "Fantastic actually,"

Dean's grin grows. Which somehow makes the situation worse. Behind him, Garrett is still standing in the hallway. The traitor.

He's watching this with the biggest smile on his face.

"Garrett."

"What?"

"Leave."

He laughs and disappears down the hallway.

I take a deep breath and turn back to Dean.

Right.

Branding.

Professional things. Not whatever my brain is currently doing.

"So", I say. "You're here for branding?"

Dean drops into the chair across from me.

"That's the plan."

I nod.

Professional mode on.

Hopefu