Emina Demiri talks surviving firing your biggest client

On episode 352 of PPC Stay The Podcast, I spoke to Emina Demiri Watson, Head of Digital at Brighton-based Vixen Digital, the place she to shared one of the crucial candid tales in company life: intentionally firing a consumer that accounted for roughly 70% of their income — and what they discovered the laborious method within the course of.

The choice to let go

The consumer relationship had been deteriorating for round three months earlier than the management staff made their transfer. The choice wasn’t concerning the consumer being tough from day one — it was a relationship that had slowly soured over time. By the top, the poisonous dynamic was affecting your entire staff, and management determined tradition needed to come first.

The error they didn’t see coming

Right here’s the place it obtained painful. When Vixen sat all the way down to run the numbers, they realized that they had a severe buyer focus downside — one consumer holding a disproportionately massive share of complete income. It’s the sort of factor that will get misplaced once you’re busy and don’t have subtle monetary techniques. A fast Excel method later, and the fact hit more durable than anticipated.

Warning indicators companies ought to look ahead to

Emina outlined the indicators {that a} consumer relationship is shifting — past the apparent drop in marketing campaign efficiency. Exterior elements contained in the consumer’s enterprise matter too: firm restructuring, staff adjustments, even a safety breach that forestalls leads from changing downstream. The lesson? Don’t simply watch your Google Advertisements dashboard — perceive what’s occurring on the consumer’s facet of the fence.

How they clawed again

Restoration got here down to a few issues: monitoring consumer focus correctly going ahead, returning to their firm values as a decision-making compass, and accepting that rebuilding income merely takes time. Dropping the consumer freed up the psychological bandwidth to pitch new enterprise and re-engage with the trade group — issues that had quietly fallen by the wayside.

Frequent account errors nonetheless haunting audits in 2026

When requested about errors she sees in audited accounts, Emina didn’t maintain again. Broad match with out correct viewers guardrails stays a persistent downside, as does the absence of unfavorable key phrase lists totally. Over-narrow concentrating on is one other — notably for purchasers chasing high-net-worth audiences, the place the info pool turns into too skinny for Sensible Bidding to perform.

The precise method to consider AI

Emina’s tackle AI is pragmatic: the largest mistake is believing the hype. PPC practitioners are literally higher positioned than most to navigate AI skeptically, given they’ve been working with automation and black-box techniques for years. Her most popular method — and the one she quietly enforces with junior staff members by way of a robotic emoji — is to deal with Claude and different LLMs as a primary cease for analysis, not a substitute for essential considering.

The takeaway

For those who’re sitting on a deteriorating consumer relationship and nervous about pulling the set off, Emina’s recommendation is straightforward: return to your values. If industrial survival sits on the high of the listing, hold the consumer. If tradition and staff wellbeing matter extra, it could be time.