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CEO Spotlight
 Steven Sollinger is a qualified Chartered Accountant with a passion for solving business conundrums. Based in Cape Town, Steven has held a number of directorships in companies in the retail and other industries. His work experience has seen him take responsibility for driving down costs and increasing efficiencies, but he firmly believes this can only be achieved with the buy-in of the entire staff compliment. Since joining Clicks2Customers in 2006, he has grown the business from a small multi-focused operation to a multinational, globally respected business with offices on three continents.
Background and role in the company
Steven moved to Incubeta, the Clicks2Customers holding company, in April 2006 as the CFO / COO. At the time of his arrival, Clicks2Customers was one of five Incubeta subsidiaries. Each of the subsidiaries was subsequently spun out of the holding company and Steven took over the role of CEO at Clicks2Customers in October 2007. The company now has offices in the UK, the US, South Africa, as well as partner presence in Australia. Clicks2Customers is also looking into further expansion into Europe.
With an accounting and legal background, Steven is most comfortable examining new business deals, managing growth and ensuring that the company meets its stringent performance standards.
Main Services
Clicks2Customers has a specialised pay-per-click offering which involves developing, setting up and managing campaigns that deliver fast and sustained return on investment. Using bespoke business intelligence software developed by the C2C team, Clicks2Customers can build pricing algorithms, dynamically monitor campaigns and make changes ahead of the industry curve, enabling lower costs, higher traffic and better value for money.
What makes Clicks2Customers different
The best skills
Since its inception, Clicks2Customers has sought out people that are at the top of their game. While there is no accredited course in managing PPC campaigns, Clicks2Customers has created its own diploma course which trains campaign managers who have a deep understanding of the methodology as well as a natural instinct for spotting opportunities. There is no tertiary qualification necessary to manage accounts, but Clicks2Customers has a number of ex-stock brokers, traders and even biochemists and engineers in its employ.
The best technology – all developed in-house
The trading platform, Media Manager - also developed by the C2C team – is now in its third iteration and integrates paid search with the business intelligence software and client management sides of the business to provide seamless operations. It has also been developed to quickly add other plug-ins as they are developed, keeping C2C ahead of the technology curve in the industry.
Sticking to its knitting
Clicks2Customers specialises in PPC. This focus has allowed to it to study the market, adapt to changes quickly and develop its methodology to keep delivering real return on campaigns.
The company has also ensured that it focuses on specialised markets with campaigns that range from a million search terms upwards.
Success story
Clicks2Customers has developed its business model on shared risk. This means that clients are billed on success rather than time. Also, because C2C develops and runs campaigns in South Africa, it can achieve excellent results at an attractive price – putting it ahead of its global competition.
The compelling pricing and the fact that Clicks2Customers has established blue-chip international clients, has meant that its reputation in the industry has grown quickly. The company has increased its client base by 40% over the past year. It has secured long-term clients that play in the retail, travel and financial services space. Some of its clients include a top-3 Australian retailer and three of the Top-30 USA online retailers.
Questions clients should ask their PPC partner
Fortunately PPC campaigns are easily measured at Clicks2Customers: If you spend X, you will earn Y. Companies should be looking for clear deliverables depending on their requirements. If you are looking to grow brand awareness you should be more interested in page impressions, if you are trying to drive sales, then clicks are your measurable with conversations on these the ultimate goal.
Therefore it is imperative that your PPC partner can deliver on these requirements, quickly, dynamically changing as lessons are learned. Clear proof of ROI should be the first and last requirement asked for.
Anyone can do a PPC campaign and other industry myths
There is a perception in the industry that PPC is easy. While it is not necessarily complicated, it is a complex endeavour and measuring, adjusting and managing large campaigns demands experience and aptitude.
There is also a perception that the more money you throw at a campaign the higher your ranking. Using a credible partner means you are using your money in the best way possible. Understanding that you shouldn’t necessarily be bidding on the most expensive terms, but rather structuring campaigns that deliver results in the most cost effective way possible, is what sets companies apart.
Developing skills
Keeping skills sharp in this mercurial industry is something of a challenge and Clicks2Customers staff are involved in regular updates. As with many things in the Internet industry, the collective is stronger than the individual. By making sure all Clicks2Customers’ team members have access to the collective knowledge base the company and its management can keep up to date with trends, new ideas and new ways to deliver faster, smarter results for clients.
The immediacy of the PPC world also means that learning by trial and error can happen in as a little as an hour. These findings can then be implemented and results seen and again analysed.
Future of the industry
Two things can be counted on: the industry is here to stay and change is the only constant. With this in mind, the next six months will be very interesting. Many folk are predicting a large shift in ad spend from traditional media to online. While this may be true in the grander scheme, how much spend is available to go online still remains unclear. Clicks2Customers is certainly experiencing good growth and expects this to continue, but economic downturns still need to be navigated with caution. If anything, it is now more important than ever to be sure your company is delivering good returns for your clients.
The other logical expectation is that we will experience some consolidation in the industry. This is a natural reaction as companies in the entire Internet economy look for greater economies of scale and advertising agencies search for the ability to deliver full-service offerings.
Five years is a lifetime in the Internet Age
Clicks2Customers will continue with its niched focus. This model has suited the company well and this is where the opportunity lies in the future. The company will continue to look at global expansion and extending its client base into other market verticals.
On a personal note, I hope that in five years time I will still be sane. I am very curious to see where the Internet goes and what new business opportunities will be developed. This is an industry that expands at the speed of thought and I expect the next half-decade will be a heck of a journey – and one which I hope to be on.
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