Archives for 2013

The Values-Driven Business Professional

Are you a values-driven business professional? Following are some of my favorite core values, those of a true leader in business. The values-driven business professional:

Core Values

Arrives on-time or early.
Has a positive attitude.
Strives to help others – co-workers, business partners, clients, everyone.
Truly believes in their company, and is a proud member of the team.
Is willing to do any task, no matter how small.
Sees someone in the lobby at their office and goes out of the way to help that person, even when already in a rush.
Avoids complaining, no matter what the circumstance.
Stays late and works long hours.
Creates opportunities for others.
Celebrates the success of others.
Finds new opportunities to grow the business.
Uplifts others and finds ways to motivate.
Is a fearless leader.
Drives stellar results without taking shortcuts.
Has an unbelievable level of focus and execution.
Thinks about the short-term and the long-term.
Takes a stand when something is being done incorrectly, or could be done better.
Does the right thing.
Never gives up, no matter how difficult it gets.
Thinks about their job all the time.
Constantly thinks about ways to improve and grow.
Commits to their employer for the long-run, stays the course and drives long-lasting results that take years to build.
Treats their team like family.
Rewards those on their team.
Places trust in others.
Writes everything down so nothing gets forgotten.
Enjoys and thrives in a state of challenge.
Portrays an incredibly positive image of their company.
Is trust worthy.
Checks their work email 24/7, and responds right away.
Finds ways to help others each and every day.
Looks for the best in others in an objective manner, even during challenging times. Sees situations from all perspectives.
Admits when they are wrong, proactively apologizes to others when they make a mistake.
Is not afraid of failure. Learns from their mistakes and shares their own lessons with others.
Truly loves what they do!
Is an “iconic” brand/leader in their industry and at their company, not because of self-promotion but because of what they have accomplished.

Image of Core Values © iStockPhoto – cosmonaut

Holiday Optimizations For All Businesses

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 2 3

Do you work in a highly seasonal business where it’s all about the holidays? How about one that has nothing to do with the holidays? Regardless of which bucket you fall into, there is so much you can do to optimize your marketing this exciting time of year.

Optimization

A such, when my good friends at 3Q Digital offered the opportunity to write a guest post on their amazing blog, I was so excited with their suggestion: How To Optimize Non-Holiday Accounts In Q4. I really had fun with this post and share 7 clever tips on how you can fully embrace the holiday theme even in accounts/businesses that do not typically face holiday seasonality. Please head on over to the 3Q Blog and let me know what you think about my guest post. Wishing you an amazing weekend, everyone!

Image of Optimization © iStockPhoto – alexskopje

Customer Service: It’s The Little Things

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 27 0

If you’re a marketing professional, you should be incredibly aligned with your customer service organization. Great customer care is often the foundation of a great brand. Moreover, you can learn so much from your customers. Partner with your customer service team and you will learn new and exciting insights about your customers which will help your overall marketing strategy.

The moral of today’s post: Always strive for excellence in customer service. In my opinion, customer service is just as much about the little things, as the big things. The smallest of changes/optimizations in your customer service program can truly delight and dazzle customers.

One simple observation: I enjoy dropping by Krispy Kreme on the way home from work once in a while. I’ll treat myself to an original glazed donut, one of my favorite deserts around. I’ve noticed something really amazing about the Krispy Kreme Silicon Valley drive-thru. No matter who is handling my order, they always give me the donut(s) before taking payment. Even if I have payment in hand an I’m passing it through my car window to the employee, they still hand my order to me before receiving the payment! This is such a small nuance/change compared to the typical fast food model of taking payment and then giving you the food, but it makes a huge impact! It makes me feel, as a customer, like the brand has so much more trust in me and values me as a customer. I believe this may be part of Krispy Kreme’s customer service protocol – give the food before taking payment. What an incredibly smart and clever, yet simple, move.

Building one’s brand is not only about great marketing. It’s also about great product and great customer service. Partner with your own customer service team to see how you can collaborate! Take your customer service to the next level and that brand equity will truly come thru in your customer acquisition efforts, making the job of the customer service marketer easier. And, remember, it’s often the little things that set your brand apart from others!

Image of Donut and Coffee © iStockPhoto – kgtoh

Embracing Change In Your Marketing Career

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 19 2

I’m the biggest fan of the digital marketing career path around. In fact, that’s the precise reason I created PPC Ian nearly four years ago! PPC Ian is here to educate and empower those in the online marketing career path. Today, I wanted to write a quick post about embracing change in your marketing career. Change can come out of nowhere. Sometimes, it can catch you off guard with surprise. Sometimes, you may not look forward to change. Other times, you are the one planning the change, via exciting innovations, as an instigator of change and progress. Change is often exciting and fun. Learn to embrace and enjoy the excitement that comes with change and your career will flourish to new heights.

Change Ahead

Change creates so much opportunity for one’s career! There are two main reasons why:

Change and innovation is at the core of a successful business. Only those enterprises that move quickly will remain #1 in their industry. Take it easy and remain complacent in your practices and your business will slowly (or sometimes quickly) go downhill. Push forward quickly and the sky is the limit.
Not everyone is able to manage change. Change requires a unique perspective and attitude. It requires a true leader to embrace change with an open and fearless attitude. It takes an even greater leader to envision the future and lead others through change.

Today, I wanted to share a few types of change to expect in your digital marketing career. Prepare for these changes and you will thrive. Even better: Be an instigator of change and progress and the sky is the limit. One thing is for sure: Never have a closed mind. Always be open and willing to evaluate new opportunities, even if they do not seem intuitive right away.

Just a few changes to be ready to embrace:

Marketing campaign budgets – Be ready for increases or decreases, the beauty of paid media is the flexibility to throttle up and down.
New marketing platforms and technologies – Platforms are always changing. The top platform of yesterday is not always the top platform today. The top platform today is not always the top platform tomorrow.
New managers and leadership
Changes in responsibility
Search engine algorithm updates
Competitive changes on search engines
New office locations, new seating arrangements within your current office
Times of rapid growth and long hours, combined with incredible opportunity
Increased complexity, new technologies, new ways of marketing
Very timely requests, real time adaptive marketing
Changes in overall goals and targets
Changes in strategy and priorities
So much more!

Every day is an opportunity to learn and grow, and change within your marketing career supercharges your growth!

Image of Change Ahead © iStockPhoto – arcady_31

Are You Learning From Your Team and Co-Workers?

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 14 0

What’s the best part of the digital marketing career path? You never stop learning! Each and every day, there are new lessons to learn. I’m always picking up new insights from blogs, first-hand campaign management, conferences, friends, and most importantly from my team and colleagues. As a people manager, I always try to hire the best of the best. When you recruit those “A Players” you as a manager should be learning from your team and you should observe your team teaching and training others. You get a true network effect in this case, a team of teachers and educators within your organization.

Learn Lead Earn

Today, I wanted to share a really cool tip I picked up from one of my team members recently. This is more of a people/communication tip, and is definitely relevant for anyone in the digital marketing career path, especially considering how quickly we move. In our discipline, things move fast. We’re like traders on Wall Street, except there is no opening nor closing bell! The trading never stops. As such, this career is well suited for those who truly embrace what they do and have a high-energy personality.

No matter how good you are dealing with intensity, we all get a little stressed out once in a while. Or, we just get so caught up in our work that we are not thinking about everything we say. It’s at that precise moment that, despite having the best intentions, we may say something to a colleague that just does not come across as hoped! We say something that makes us think twice, and regret the delivery of the communication. Sometimes you know you made a mistake right away, however most of the time it will hit you a few days later.

We all get into these types of situations from time-to-time. My team member has a simple solution! This smart professional makes a point of circling back with others and apologizing for poor delivery/communication. The idea here: Truly care about the well-being of others. Relationships are everything in business and you don’t want to make others unhappy (or upset) with you. It’s all about taking responsibility for our actions/communications and owning up if they may have come out in a sub-optimal manner. Oftentimes, it’s a two-way street and when you open up, the other party will open up to their communication mistakes too!

While seemingly simplistic and obvious, I can tell you from first-hand experience that people dislike admitting they are wrong. They don’t always want to revisit an awkward situation. Moreover, they get super busy and may not “have the time” to circle back on a prior incident. Long story short, most people do not follow this tip! And, if you do, you will truly set yourself apart as a leader.

A few lessons from this post:

Hire smart, “A Players”. You will learn so much from them! Not only did my team member share this tip with me, but this smart professional also explained how they had to drive back to the office to apologize to somebody even though we were offsite coming home from an event. Now, that’s character – someone who is not afraid to admit their mistakes/lessons (even to their manager) and someone who is putting the feelings of others above their own pride and potential awkwardness of an apology situation. I could not be more proud and honored to work with such a leader.
Always listen to others. You can learn from your boss, peers, partners, and those that work for you. Those that work for you should actually teach you more than anyone else.
Be cognizant of your communications with others, especially during fast-moving times. If you said something that may have come out wrong, take the time to circle back and apologize. This is the hallmark of a true leader!

Image of Learn Lead Earn © iStockPhoto – almagami

What Type of Expressions Do You Make In Meetings?

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 6 2

As you grow in your digital marketing career, you will find yourself attending and increased number of meetings. All types of meetings… Leadership meetings, staff meetings, 1:1s, team meetings, project meetings, and more. Over the years, I have picked up quite a few meeting strategy tips. Meetings truly are the medium of the manager, and a great opportunity to influence others, deliver results, and inspire. Today, I wanted to share one meeting tip in particular: Pay super close attention to your own facial expressions as you speak and especially as you listen to others.

Making Faces

Meetings are a high leverage activity. You have a lot of professionals in one room and it’s an opportunity to inspire and gain leverage. I’m a huge fan of active listening. When someone else is speaking, I do my best to smile, stay engaged, take notes, and ask questions. Whenever I’m speaking, I always look for those active listeners in the room – they are the ones to focus on the most. My career tip of the day: Focus on active listening.

By contrast, certain people will make “negative faces” during meetings. They can truly take energy away from the speaker. As a speaker, you start wondering, do they not like my presentation? Do they have a different opinion? Those making negative faces in meetings can really derail creativity and collaboration. A lot of the time, I think those making negative faces are completely unaware what they are doing! My other big tip: Check yourself to see if you make negative faces during meetings, maybe you are subconsciously. It’s all about making a conscious effort to listen actively and inspire those presenting in the meeting. This simple tip has a ton of leverage and can truly help in your digital marketing career.

Image of Happy and Sad Faces © iStockPhoto – PashaIgnatov

Fun Times Playing Golf For Charity

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 23 0

I’m a huge fan of giving back and charity. In fact, giving back is one of my top 2013 goals. Recently, I had the honor of playing golf in the 9th annual Gatepath Golf Classic at the Stanford Golf course. You can see a picture below, it was an amazing round of golf and a true honor. I enjoyed golfing with co-workers, donating money to Community Gatepath (they had mulligans for purchase, a special “Vegas” hole, and a raffle), and overall supporting an amazing cause.

Gatepath Golf Tournament

Community Gatepath is all about turning disabilities into possibilities. The provide support and education to both children and adults with disabilities, helping them learn and grow. Community Gatepath opens up doors and opportunities, and is such an amazing cause to support.

I’m truly fortunate to work at a company that supports and values charity events like this one. I’m all about living and working in a values-driven environment.

I find that the more you give, the more you receive. A fun story… Just about a year ago, I had the honor of playing in several other charity golf tournaments. At most of these events, they have a fun raffle with the goal of donating money to the charity being represented. I always try to participate in the raffles and donate as a fun way to give back. At the Friends For Youth tournament about a year ago, I won a one night stay at the wonderful Garden Court Hotel in downtown Palo Alto.

Nicole and I have been so busy over the past year that we hadn’t enjoyed our free room at the Garden Court yet. So, we decided to take a break this past weekend and enjoy our raffle win. We had a true blast. They upgraded us to a top floor suite. The room had a skylight, separate living room and bedroom, balcony, and large bathroom with separate shower and tub with jets. The hotel has been renovated in recent years and I highly recommend checking it out. We truly enjoyed our time into downtown Palo Alto, and had fun times at some old favorites including Il Fornaio restaurant and Acquarius Theatre. I never expect to win anything in these charity raffles, the fun is truly in giving back and helping others. However, I always seem to find that the more I give, the more I get back!

I wanted to take this opportunity to also give a shout out to my good friend Marc Poirier, Co-Founder and EVP of Business Development at Acquisio. I try to surround myself with others who are values-driven business leaders. Marc is truly that. Despite being one of the most influential and busy leaders in our industry, he always makes time for others. One recent example: Marc is raising money for the Make A Wish Foundation, via biking in the 48-hour Ride For Wishes. I am incredibly impressed, and I was sure to donate in sponsorship of Marc. Just one more reason to check out Acquisio, in addition to their amazing technology, their culture is one of helping others and giving back.

I also wanted to take a moment to call out my good friend Steve Kroll, President of Rocket Clicks, another values-driven business leader. Steve is someone who had done incredible things with his career, and always looks for ways to grow his team. I typically find that those who help others go incredibly far in life and business. If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency, make sure to check out Rocket Clicks!

Do you enjoy helping others and supporting charities? Make sure to give back each and every day, it’s truly an honor and privilege!

Image of PPC Ian Golfing © PPCIan.com

PPC Associates Is Now 3Q Digital

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 17 0

I’m thrilled today to share a mini interview with my good friend, David Rodnitzky. David is a true leader in the digital marketing industry. David and his agency are also long time sponsors and supporter of PPC Ian. I have some exciting news! David’s agency, PPC Associates, is now 3Q Digital. You can read all about the rebrand here. 3Q is one of the best digital marketing agencies around, I cannot say enough great stuff about them. Want to learn all about 3Q Digital? Let’s jump into my mini interview with David…

Ian: David, congratulations on your big announcement!

David: Thanks Ian. It’s been a long journey to get to this point and I’m excited it’s finally arrived!

Ian: How did you decide to re-brand your company?

David: Over the last couple of years our clients have increasingly asked us to do more than “just SEM” for them. The most frequent requests we got involved SEO, Facebook PPC, display advertising, and creative work. We responded to these needs by building out dedicated teams to service each of these areas. Whereas three years ago 100% of our spend was SEM, today almost 20% is a combination of Facebook and display, plus we have about 10% of our customers also using us to manage their SEO. Our name – PPC Associates – implies that all we do is PPC (or SEM, same difference!). While we still see SEM as our core offering, we now have many people on the team that focus on other online marketing services, so it just made sense to come up with a new name that wasn’t so PPC-centric!

Ian: What’s in the future for 3Q Digital?

David: In the short term, we want to just get better at what we are already doing – SEM, SEO, Facebook PPC and display. In the long-term, we are continuing to evaluate different marketing channels that are complementary to our existing channels. If we think we can do an awesome job of servicing clients in these new channels – and we hear from clients that they need help in these areas – we would certainly consider expanding into new areas.

Ian: As a marketer, it must have been so much fun thinking through your branding strategy. How did you arrive at your new brand?

David: We actually had an internal contest where we asked everyone on the team to submit recommendations for the new name. We got about 100 responses and then we narrowed those 100 down to 17 semi-finalists. We had a management team vote on the 17 finalists and ended up with two finalists. We submitted the two finalists back to the greater team to vote and we went with the one that got the most votes. To give you a sense of how much we believe in democracy, the name I voted for lost!

Ian: David, huge thank you for the mini interview. As always, it’s such a pleasure connecting with one of the top marketers ever. I have so much respect for you, your amazing team, and your incredible business. You are an inspiration in our industry!

David: Thanks Ian. We are big fans of you and PPC Ian. If you decide to change your name from PPC Ian to something more generic, let me know, I can help!

That’s it for today, everyone. Make sure to head on over to the 3Q Digital website, and make sure to check out their amazing blog.

Small Agencies Rule

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 14 0

I’m a huge fan of smaller SEM/Digital agencies. I’m good friends with several digital advertising professionals who decided to start their own agencies. They are absolutely thriving! I even considered myself a single-client agency of sorts in years past when working on a consulting project here and there, although it has been a long time. In my professional career, I have had the true pleasure of working with a multitude of agencies of all sizes.

Over the years, I have grown a true affinity for smaller agencies. You get an unparalleled level of attention and dedication. For a smaller agency, every single client truly matters. I especially respect those smaller agencies that embrace all of the advantages of being smaller while also offering many of the advantages of larger operations (technology, scale, and breadth of experience).

Is was not always easy in the past since technology can be expensive for a smaller operation. However, recent technologies such as Acquisio Dashboard Edition open tremendous doors for smaller agencies everywhere, those who may have a lean technology budget and/or want to expand their technology over time as their agency grows. Acquisio is the performance marketing platform of choice for agencies, so Dashboard Edition is a natural fit.

When my good friends at Acquisio offered me the honor of guest posting on the blog, I thought I’d do a fun post about small agencies. In particular, I offer suggestions on Starting and Growing Your Small SEM Agency. Make sure to head on over to Acquisio to check it out. Thanks, Acquisio, for the opportunity, you are the best!

Fun Times Speaking At Google

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 8 3

I absolutely love public speaking. I always get an incredible rush, especially when speaking to large audiences. It’s also a fun and amazing way to give back to the digital marketing industry, one of my core goals each and every year. I have featured quite a few of my speaking events here on PPC Ian over the years. Here are some of my favorites:

Stanford Graduate School of Business (2010) – Part 1, Part 2
Stanford Graduate School of Business (2011) – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Search Insider Summit (2013)

Recently, an amazing opportunity presented itself: I had the incredible honor of speaking to the Google AdWords Product Marketing team. It was a truly amazing experience, one of my favorite speaking opportunities. Formatted as a pure Q&A format, the Google team asked some truly great questions. I particularly enjoyed sharing my large, enterprise-level AdWords experience with Google, and hope my presentation helped spark some ideas in Google’s product marketing roadmap.

I also enjoyed staying after the presentation and forming friendships. It truly is all about your network and friendships, that’s how this unique opportunity presented itself. Matt and Google, I truly appreciate the opportunity, please let me know if I can ever be of assistance!

PPC Ian Speaking At Google

Speaking At Google