Inspired by some of the comments here. What is your opinion on managing campaigns for clients who are in the same business? Can you manage campaigns for multiple clients in the same market at the same time without it causing a conflict of interest? As an example, let's say I manage an AdWords campaign for a online grocery store. I've been running it for them for 6 months with great success. In month 7 I take on another client who is also an online grocery store. The reality of the situation is I know what's working in the online grocery market because I have access to the first client account. If I use that data to make decisions for my new client am I doing a disservice to my existing client? What if I just straight out copied the entire keyword list and bids for my new client? What if I started running site targeted campaigns for my new client using data from my older client? At what point in multi client / same market campaign management do you feel it's crossing an ethical line?
It is not a problem. You can reuse your experience across your customer accounts with no problem. Also I think that is a good point that you became a specialist in certain areas - this will make you provide a better service for these companies. Imagine an example that you produce a specific hardware for groceries stores. If one of these stores suggests an improvement in your equipment, you would use this experience to improve your product for all your customers range (other groceries stores as it is the same model) is this a conflict of interest? returning to AdWords: If you know a best paying keywords for one customer, you may try it for another without a problem also you can copy the entire list there - you will need to take care of not producing similar ads for different customers. What you can't do is to share any information across your customers, You can mention that you have experience in the area, but I would not mention what companies you promote to another competitor.
So for example if you were my customer and noticed a few months into our relationship that it looked like I had copied everything I had done for you for another client (who happened to be a direct competitor) you'd be cool with that? I understand building up experience in a market and have even suggested that when looking for an AdWords account manager find one who's experienced in your market. Juts wonder other people's thoughts on when it crosses a line between using knowledge you've gained to benefit a new customer vs. taking advantage of and making things more difficult for an older, current customer.
I have a couple of accounts like this - we've always informed them of the situation - and because they have different budgets and conversion rates, their adverts are rarely next to each other in the search results, so I don't think I'm acting against their best interests. The only problems I have surround advert text - if I find something that works on one campaign, can I use it on the other? I don't think that I can, but does that mean I'm acting in the best interests of both campaigns?