Insights From The 3Q Digital Growth Summit

I’m a huge fan of digital marketing conferences, and just attended the incomparable 3Q Digital Growth Summit last week. There are two main benefits of conferences: The amazing networking (covered in my last post) and actionable insights. Today, I’m thrilled to share my extensive notes, insights, and takeaways from the conference. I took a good 9-pages of notes at the conference, and am including the top highlights below. When you’re done reading, don’t forget to head on over to 3Q Digital, and make sure to check out the 3Q Blog.

Opening with David Rodnitzky (CEO of 3Q Digital)

Attendees:
- Average Market Cap $59 Billion
- 14 Public Companies
- Total Market Cap $823 Billion
- 18 Private Companies
- Average Funding $135 Million
- Total Funding 2.4 Billion
- 9 No data available
“World class people on our team, but we also have world class clients.”
Themes:
- Going beyond SEM, social, etc.
- Understand your data
- Use your 1st party data
- Expand beyond SEM
- Consider offline
- Take a holistic approach
- Get on the mobile bandwagon

Welcome From Top Sponsor, Ryan Gibson at Google

Customer Match announcement, truly a game changer
Use first party data to influence advertising on YouTube and Gmail

Evolution of Agencies and What Clients Should Expect

Scott Rayden (CMO at 3Q Digital), Mason Garrity (VP of Strategy at 3Q Digital), Ron Fusco (Director of Strategy and Analytics at 3Q Digital), and Marcy Strauss Axelrod (Consultant)

How has marketing changed?
- Behavior and expectations – devices, data, technology
- Consumer expectations of what digital (the Internet) can do for you has changed
- Average mobile user checks phone 1,500 times per week
- Look at Facebook as a data company, not just a social platform
- Speed and complexity has outpaced the advertising industry, and most marketers, and quite frankly many agencies
What does all of this mean for agencies?
- We have to change our mindset
- We have to get away from this channel fist mindset
- Customers come first, channels come second
- Marketing strategy and innovation needs to be at the core of sustained growth
- Growth is coming from areas outside of direct channels – technology, attribution
- Can’t just go with mindset that “we growth this channel”
- Marketers need to identify and solve the complexities that inhibit growth
3Q Digital is evolving as an agency
- 3Q Digital Strategy and Innovation Group
- 3Q Strategic Growth Assessment
- We are so much more than a campaign management shop, we are so much more than media buyers
- Future of performance agencies relies on these things
- Adding a ton of resources in these areas: strategy, mobile, creative, analytics, testing teams being built out
- 3Q has a proprietary framework, Digital Strategic Growth Assessment
3Q Built a diagnostic tool
- Rolled out to beta clients, being rolled out to more
- Fill out self-assessment
- Series of interviews
- Have our team assess you
- Output: Set of recommendations and prioritized roadmap
- 1. Customer journey – what process they go through
- 2. User experience across devices – creative, how we’re measuring
- Break them down: Strategy, execution, foundation
- Process takes about a month start-to-finish
Why do clients need this type of consultative work in our space?
- Everyone so focused on execution, partner with that external focus is essential
- Domain expertise, multiple clients, multiple industries and business models – we can share that knowledge
- Foundational work – enables clients and companies to keep growing
Strategy, Execution, Foundation framework – on surface seems like there might be an execution issue, however foundation is really often the issue (foundation is tough for marketers)
Parent company: Harte Hanks
- 3Q historically does not like holding companies
- Harte Hanks was so different – they were so strategic what they want out of 3Q
- Still operating independently, have autonomy
- Really helped with strategy work
How much will this strategic work cost?
- Some cases where it might be free
- Other cases where they might have to charge
- They look at it as a responsibility we have for our clients

Fine-Tune Your LPO (Landing Page Optimization)

Joe Kerschbaum (Account Director at 3Q Digital), Sean McEntee (Account Lead at 3Q Digital), Adrienne Abrams (Sr. Director of Creative at 3Q Digital), and Hudson Arnold (Strategy Consultant at Optimizely)

Curiosity Stream – Client at 3Q
- Nexflix for documentaries
- Lots of exclusives and originals
- Launched by John Hendricks (Discovery Channel)
- Plans start at $2.99 (great price for unlimited documentaries)
- $5.99 for HD
- Goal: Drive free trial sign-ups
Curiosity Stream Landing Page Testing:
- Test 1: Total redesign, didn’t want to do iterative from old page; Results: 31% CVR lift in first test; Accidental clicks on sign-in dropped; Background is less busy; Topic areas help explain the product
- Test 2: Including familiar publications will increase trust; 2.7% CVR lift
- Test 3: Copy and price; Didn’t work
- Test 4: Video; 6.4% CVR lift; Users who entered sign-in process decreased, but those that entered converted better; Video helped educate
- Test 5: Well-performing search copy; 21.8% CVR lift; Matching successful marketing copy across touch points
- They use Optimizely for the testing
- Pluto: temporary, event-based marketing
- Unexpected outcomes: Price – when they first listed $2.99, didn’t work, then when they did video and explained what you get for $2.99, it did work
LPO Tips From Optimizely:
- Segmenting prospects vs. remarketing – going to show general content for prospects, more specific content for remarketing
- MTV: tested thru entire live broadcast – adjusting content on the fly with Optimizely
- Trend that Optimizely is seeing: Adjusting experience based on how far along you are in the lead qualification process
- Start small, make a long plan; have a really good hypothesis; don’t be afraid of tests that fail
- Present test in a form of the game – force audience to say which one won and why – great way to present tests

Increase Revenue with 1st-Party Data

David Rodnitzky (CEO of 3Q Digital), Brad O’Brien (Director of Social at 3Q Digital), Joe Stephens (Director of Native Advertising Strategy at Yahoo), and Russell Sprunger (Advanced Data Strategy Lead at Google)

What is 1st party data? Any information your company exclusively owns or intrinsically owns; CRM and website behaviors
Facebook Custom Audiences: Upload list; Website custom audiences; Lookalikes of custom audiences
Social Media: Interest and intent are not always aligned – 1st party data so much better than relying on actions someone takes on Facebook
Just launched Yahoo!’s version of custom audiences in Gemini; Just launched this week, in beta for some time now; Can target your customers on Yahoo! Homepage in the news feed; Next up will be lookalikes based on custom audiences
Google Customer Match – RSLA, YouTube, Gmail – Can Target Your Customers; Customer match does not integrate with Google for work accounts; Also, AdWords now offers ability to integrate with DMPs
Privacy Customer Match: Google requires advertisers who use this feature the ability for customer to link to the opt out page
RFM – recency, frequency, monetary – send different messages to different quintiles
Top Tips: Segment first party data; Just do it; Have a very clear objective in mind
Flurry acquisition; Flurry SDK; Yahoo! is starting to use this more; Yahoo! also starting to use data from Tumblr too

Attribution and the Channel/Device Diversity Riddle

Ron Fusco (Director of Strategy and Analytics at 3Q Digital), Ramy Mora (VP of eCommerce Marketing at HP), David Perez (Acquisition Marketing Specialist at Convertro), and Ada Pally (Sr. Director of Client Services at 3Q Digital)

Convertro:
- Acquired by Verizon, part of Verizon technology stack
- Work computer vs. home computer – multiple desktops
- Three aspects of attribution: 1) measurement, 2) how much credit, 3) activating upon that
- Email address is often the common denominator
- Convertro offers private co-op
HP:
- HP: Store influence score
- There are a segment of consumers that will only buy from OEM
- There are a large percentage of consumers that come to you as a destination site, but then buy from partners (such as Best Buy)
- Someone coming to site to learn, this has value, need to place a value on it
- Warby Parker – Highest sales per square foot of any retailer today, very successful story; Started online, now went brick and mortar
- If you don’t have your own physical stores, you should have partnerships with physical stores
- Consumers want to shop the way they want to shop, you need to offer all the options
- HP has physical stores in Brazil and India; In the US, HP partners with BestBuy

Fireside Segment – Stay Ahead of the Mobile Curve

Craig Weinberg (VP of Mobile Strategy at 3Q Digital), Wilson Kriegel (CBDO at PicsArt)

PicsArt: 250 MM users, largest photo app in the world
Suite of creative tools
Merge software and community into a single app
Company is 3 years old
Half billion creative assets per month
Over 10 billion views of assets
Profitable
PicsArt 70% Android, 70% international, 20 age group, 60% female
25% in Asia not counting China, 25% Europe, 20% Europe, 15% Latin America
Mostly advertising/sponsorship (70% of revenues) and in-app purchasing
Auto push content into Tumblr and track thru full lifecycle in Tumblr
Every week, hackathons; Bi-monthly releases
2nd highest rated app in the world
Facebook has been very successful for acquisition
Organically seeing huge velocity in a region, double down with paid media

Client Panel

Neal Ungerleider (Fast Company), Erica Yoon (Sr. Director of Marketing at Sungevity), Slaton Carter (Director of Digital Marketing at The Real Real), Matt O’Day (Digital Marketing Lead at Square)

Android has been very successful for Square
Same lifetime value for Android vs. iOS
However, less competitive on Android

Client Spotlight – SurveyMonkey

David Rodnitzky (CEO of 3Q Digital) and Ada Chen Rekhi (VP of Marketing at SurveyMonkey)

There are 1.6B smartphone users
Growing 24% YoY
Growth is not coming from here in the US
52% of smartphone share is with Android
84% of smartphone adoption is Android
SurveyMonkey: 6 years ago, 14 employees; Now 600 employees
85% English (5 years ago)
55% English (today)
17 languages, 28 currencies
How did we do this:
- 1) Speak in their language; Leverage platform called Smart Link that translates text, sits between user and site (on the fly)
- 2) Transact in their currency; Germany – bank transfers (not credit cards); Japan – invoices
- 3) Be visible and compelling; Search Ads; Diversifying Media; Landing page optimization
Start Planning International Now:
- Structural pre-planning for international – content, currency, time zones
- Keep testing – this is a scalable way to test and learn
- Partner to go international – leverage partners to scale to international

Slides From 3Q Digital Growth Summit

Image of PPC Ian 3Q Digital Lanyward © PPC Ian and 3Q Digital

3Q Digital Growth Summit and My Amazing Experience

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 30 0

Yesterday, I had the great fortune to attend one of the best digital marketing conferences of my life, 3Q Digital Growth Summit at Levi’s Stadium.

Ian Lopuch David Rodnitzky Donald Landwirth

Ian Lopuch, David Rodnitzky, and Donald Landwirth

This conference was so good that I’m going to recap my experience in two posts. Today’s goes through the experience side of things: the people, the networking, the place, the wonderful day. My next post will go through the knowledge side of things: the lessons, the insights, the speakers, and the takeaways. The best conferences marry the experience and the knowledge, and this is exactly what 3Q Digital did at their landmark conference.

To the right, is a picture of yours truly, David Rodnitzky (CEO of 3Q Digital), and my good friend Donald Landwirth. Spending time with some of the top thought leaders and executives in the technology space is what 3Q Digital Growth Summit 2015 was all about!

It’s All About Your Friends

Ian Lopuch and Donald Landwirth

Conferences are great places to network and make new friends. They are also great opportunities to reconnect with old friends. If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a long time, you have heard me reiterate this point time and time again. Business is not about vendors and business partners. It’s about friends. Turn business partners into friends. (And, don’t even think about using the word "vendors". It’s just so impersonal and drives me nuts.) Life is too short and we could all use more friends, leverage your profession to make new ones.

To the right is a picture of PPC Ian and Donald Landwirth. Don is a good friend of mine, a serial entrepreneur and C-level executive. I had the honor of working with Don at Inflection, one of the hottest Silicon Valley Startups.

Prior to the conference, Don emailed and asked if I was going. He kindly offered to carpool. PPC Ian couldn’t pass up the opportunity to connect with an old friend. (Don, next time I’m driving!)

The Best Venue Around: Levi’s Stadium

Mason Garrity (VP, Strategy) and PPC Ian

3Q Digital is growing quickly (and has been for many years). After all, they are the digital agency of choice in Silicon Valley. They are known for helping companies grow into unicorns. When it comes to digital marketing, 3Q Digital is an agency that I personally recommend to friends time and time again. Why? They know what they are doing, and have some of the most amazing leaders and employees I have had the honor of knowing. They manage digital marketing the way I personally manage digital marketing.

Being such an amazing company, I expected nothing but the best at their Growth Summit. 3Q Digital did not disappoint. They chose to host their conference at brand new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA, home of the 49ers and upcoming Superbowl 50. Levi’s Stadium, especially the BNY Mellon Club West conference center where they hosted the event, is among the nicest venues I have visited for a digital marketing conference. 3Q and their amazing sponsors (Google, Yahoo!, and Optimizely) went all out. They truly care about their clients, partners, and friends, and wanted to show them a truly valuable and fun day!

My Day At 3Q Digital Growth Summit

So, I mentioned above that Don and I carpooled to the event. What happened after we arrived? Here’s how my day went:

PPC Ian On The Field

Parking was incredibly easy. We basically parked right next to the front door, walked right in, and were greeted by the friendly 3Q Digital team. Upon getting our badges, we walked into the BNY Mellon Club West.
3Q Digital had an amazing breakfast ready to go. All types of food, drinks, and coffee made my day. This was a day to definitely bring your appetite.
We got there a bit early, so I took this time to just walk around and take in the venue. I got a ton of pictures, some of which are featured throughout this post. Make sure to check out the pictures below.
The venue had some glass doors which open right on the field, so I took the opportunity to walk out there for some fresh air. The friendly Levi’s Stadium crew took some pictures of yours truly on the field (thanks, guys!).
Very quickly, the event became packed. Nobody wanted to miss this great event, and I ran into so many great friends. Also, I made a ton of new ones! I was really happy that Don and I were able to snap a quick photo with David Rodnitzky, CEO of 3Q Digital, right before the conference (featured at the top of this post).
Next, we grabbed front row seats for the event. David kicked the event off with some incredible insights about the attendees. All of the speakers were top-notch. Not going to go into the content in this post, since I’m going to write another full post with the takeaways (stay tuned for my next post)!
After a few speakers, lunch time showed up before I even knew it! The venue had a kitchen right there, with expert chefs preparing delicious cuisine right in front of our eyes. Lunch was just great! Also worth mentioning, 3Q Digital provided great snacks and drinks throughout the day. They made sure their guests felt at home and fully nourished. I really enjoyed lunch (and the breaks) because I met so many new people, the networking was simply incredible.
After lunch, we had a few more speakers, and then my favorite: Round table discussions. I personally went to the mobile roundtable and power networked with the top mobile marketers in the industry. The future is all about mobile and it was so incredible to make these connections.
After a few more speakers, it was time for our stadium tour. I truly enjoyed the stadium tour, and have a few pictures to share below.
Closing out the day, 3Q Digital provided an open bar and amazing hors d’oeuvres. While the last speaker was presenting, they started cooking sliders. The smell of the cooking made everyone so ready for the sliders, and we were not disappointed. During happy hour, it was again a time of power networking.

I wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely thank David Rodnitzky, Hillary Read, and 3Q Digital for the amazing summit. It was an event to remember, one of the best I have attended. As a side note, I also wanted to encourage you to visit the 3Q Digital Blog. I guest post on the 3Q Digital Blog from time-to-time and it’s such a super resource.

Make sure to check out my next post, covering all of my notes and insights from the esteemed speakers at the conference.

More Pictures From 3Q Digital Summit

Images in this post © PPC Ian and 3Q Digital

How To Invest Your Next Marketing Dollar

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 27 0

"Where should I invest my next marketing dollar?" If you’ve been in marketing a while, you probably ask yourself this question each and every day. It’s the quintessential marketing question, especially for digital marketers.

I’m a big fan of this question, because it contains the word "invest", and I view digital marketing as an investment. In fact, I recently wrote a post about Approaching Business As An Investor. It’s questions like this that investment-minded business professionals should be asking themselves, their teams, and even their prospective employees!

So, what is the answer to this question? While there are many different approaches, the one resonates the most with me is the Marginal ROI philosophy. How does Marginal ROI work? You evaluate all of your marketing channels, programs, and campaigns, and identify those where your next marginally invested dollar is most likely to drive the largest amount of revenue. If revenue is not your goal, you can optimize against other success metrics such as sales or leads. Find the channel that will yield the most leads for the least amount of money, and that is where you invest your next dollar.

The Marginal ROI way of investing in digital marketing is truly a fundamental strategy. While some advertisers optimize for impressions, clicks, position, or any other number of metrics, those that optimize with the Marginal ROI mindset are true investors, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, all these other metrics have their time and place, especially if you are primarily concerned with brand awareness. The investor, however, always places top line revenue and bottom line margin highest on their list.

I recently read an incredibly insightful whitepaper by Kenshoo that I wanted to share on this very topic, Kenshoo’s Maximizing Paid Search Potential By Measuring Marginal ROI. In collaboration with Bing Ads, Kenshoo really gets to the bottom of this Marginal ROI way of investing, utilizing real data from advertisers. Not surprisingly, Kenshoo’s analysis illustrates that a large amount of the time, Bing Ads offers superior results from a Marginal ROI perspective. While many advertisers spend their time optimizing towards other engines, they may under-invest in Bing Ads. The data suggests that the next dollar invested should go towards Bing Ads for superior return on investment.

In addition to the wonderful Bing Ads data, Kenshoo’s whitepaper also includes some incredibly helpful graphics that illustrate the Marginal ROI concept. I personally found the Marginal ROI Curve illustration on page 4 very helpful. If you have ever taken calculus in the past, you have probably seen this very diagram. If not, no worries, Kenshoo is here to teach you all the advanced math you need to know.

At the end of the day, I find that the data-driven approach drives superior results in digital marketing and business, in general. Take some time to read Kenshoo’s free Marginal ROI Whitepaper and supercharge your marketing and investment knowledge!

Image in this post © Kenshoo

Advanced Strategies For Digital Marketing Job Seekers

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 23 0

I’d like to share advanced tips on how you can land your next digital marketing job. Before we get into the tips, however, I’d like to share some background trends that directly affect the job market.

Background Trend 1: The Economy

We are certainly progressing in the economic cycle. We are almost 7-years into the economic upswing that started on January 1, 2009 when the S&P 500 bottomed at 797.87. Fast forward to September 23, 2015 and the S&P 500 is at 1,938.76, an increase of 143% from the low. (Data compliments of Yahoo! Finance.) Currently, the S&P 500 is hovering around all-time highs.

What does all of this mean? Investors are starting to get cautious. While the economy always marches forward, it’s not always in a uniform, straight line. That forward march is marked with peaks and troughs. As you get close to a peak (many think we are getting close now), investors tend to remain cautious. They tend to park cash on the sidelines in anticipation of uncertain times and potential future deals.

In my opinion, employers are a class of investors. Instead of investing in stocks, they invest in people, projects, and technology. Companies have a fixed investment budget, and that budget may be getting a little more cautious than it was a few years back. Of course, this does not apply to all situations, I’m speaking more in general. Also, it’s worth noting that this generalization is really difficult to apply to Silicon Valley tech scene that always seems to march onward and upward!

Background Trend 2: Our Profession

Digital marketing has matured as a career path. Back when I started in 2004, nobody had heard of digital marketing. It was the Wild West! I’ll never forget that it was nearly impossible to explain my job to others.

In the last 11+ years, a lot has happened. Our profession is the darling of job seekers everywhere. There are a lot of digital marketers out there. The talent pool is strong, and getting stronger every single day. I equate it to getting into Stanford. While it was incredibly, incredibly difficult getting into Stanford when I applied and attended, I’m sure it’s even more difficult now. The trend is towards more competition.

The Solution: Differentiate Yourself

Now, let’s say you’re in the market for a new digital marketing job. Are you going to let these trends frighten you? Are you going to give up? As someone who just started a new job a few months back, I personally encourage everyone reading to pursue your dreams. Your dream job may be your current one. Or, it may be something completely different!

How can you stand out in today’s dynamic job market? I just wrote an incredibly thorough guest blog post on this very topic over at the incomparable Acquisio blog! Please head on over and read my post on Ways To Stand Out In the Digital Marketing Job Market. I hope you enjoy the post!

Employment Tip: Don’t Catch A Falling Knife

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 13 0

If you’re an investor, you have probably heard the phrase, "You don’t watch to catch a falling knife!" This phrase basically means that you want to avoid investing in a stock that is plummeting. You never know when an equity in free-fall will reverse, and you can certainly get cut, seriously hurt, or even destroyed by catching a falling knife that keeps falling. Today’s post applies this very same concept to choosing your employer. You never want to work at a company that consistently underperforms (a falling knife), as this will certainly damage your career.

Now, as an aside, I don’t fully subscribe to this rule 100% in the world of investing. I’m a value investor, one that optimizes towards cash flow. When a stock I like is plummeting, I average down (lower prices mean higher yields as long as the yield is sustainable). I keep buying in small increments and ride the wave down. By avoiding a big lump sum investment, I spread my risk of catching that falling knife, a concept known as dollar cost averaging. Unfortunately, this side note will never work with your career because you are either all in or all out for the purposes of this article. You either work somewhere or you don’t, you can’t average down as in investing.

In Silicon Valley, your experience is everything. When you work at great companies, ones that are constantly growing, doors unlock. Everyone wants their business to grow and flourish. When building a world-class team, such companies hire employees who have experienced rapid growth before, employees who know what it’s like to work in a growth environment. Growth often comes down to the people and their way of operating. If you’ve been through rapid growth over and over, you have the right habits that all the top companies want!

Moreover, employers want top talent, a team of "A Players", so to speak. Just as a big name school (such as Stanford) improves your chances of landing a great job, having that big name success story on your resume improves your chances as well. Great schools and employers are not only about what you learn, they also represent one’s character, work ethic, and overall capabilities since it’s so difficult to get into those top schools and companies. They pre-screen you as a rock star candidate.

When you work at bad companies, ones that are shrinking or consistently facing challenge, doors close. Your experience is a reflection of you. Employers wonder why you stuck around so long at that dud of an employer. Could you not do any better? Did you not have the foresight to see what’s ahead? Did you personally contribute to the poor performance?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I commend those who take risk, those who enter a difficult situation and turn it around. Those turnaround artists are highly sought after in Silicon Valley. The key here, however, is to understand when to cut your losses. Not all turnarounds work out. You need to know when it’s time to throw in the towel, and move on.

Also, I like those who have a true breadth of experience, both good and bad. Bad experiences build character as a business leader. It’s ok to have one or two poor-performing companies on your resume, as long as the others are rock stars and as long as your tenure at those companies carries a story. Again, know when to cut your losses and have the foresight to choose wisely. Your experience is a reflection of you.

As an investor at heart, I like to choose employers wisely. When choosing your employer, you are making two investments. First and foremost, you are investing in yourself and your future, the topic of this post. Second, you are investing in the classical sense (for employers that provide stock options or other forms of ownership). In my opinion, you always want to gravitate towards high-growth companies, and cut your losses when you find yourself catching a falling knife.

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed investment advisor and this post is not investment advice. This post is for entertainment purposes only.

From Digital Marketing To Loyalty Programs

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 7 0

You have a thriving career in customer acquisition marketing. You’re an expert at Google AdWords, retargeting, the ion interactive landing page platform, managing multi-million dollar campaigns, and so much more. One day, you decide to leave your job for a new one, and try something different: loyalty programs. Everyone around you questions your actions, but you are convinced. I actually know somebody who did just this (someone who used to be on my team), and I believe she made an incredible choice. Here’s why…

Starbucks iPhone app

Customer Acquisition Is A Springboard

I’m the biggest fan of digital marketing and customer acquisition marketing around. I have personally grown in this career from Marketing Associate at a startup to Vice President at a publicly-traded Nasdaq company. Then, I springboarded to Partner at a 40-year-old real estate development company, becoming the in-house resident technologist. While I still do marketing and customer acquisition, I also do so much more. I’m an investor. The skills you learn in customer acquisition prepare you for anything! At some point, I recommend that all customer acquisition professionals take advantage of that springboard to broaden their horizons. Enjoy the present moment, but also think about what’s next.

The professional who went from digital marketing to loyalty programs knows about career velocity. There are two types of learning: Depth and breadth. It’s a balancing act. Once you have depth (which is very difficult in something complex like customer acquisition), think about gaining breadth in something else, especially something related. In my opinion, this is the path to true leadership. Most importantly: Think about how you can leverage ideas and frameworks across channels, disciplines, and practices. It’s this high-level breadth of experience and thinking that adds great value to companies. This is only possible when you take risks and expand your horizons, at the right time.

Customer Retention Is Paramount

Those in digital marketing know that cost of acquisition is increasing each and every year. The marketplace keeps getting more and more competitive. CPCs are increasing in paid channels, like pay per click. Even free channels, like SEO, require more dedication and expertise than ever before.

When you acquire customers, it’s all about retaining them! My prediction: Customer retention will become the most important marketing practice. Despite the skepticism of others, the professional who decided to get into loyalty programs knew exactly this! You retain customers through an incredible product and customer service. You also retain customers through loyalty programs. A few examples: The Starbucks App, United MileagePlus, and Chase Ultimate Rewards.

I picked these examples because these are loyalty programs that I personal utilize, programs that keep me incredibly loyal to their brands.

Because of the Starbucks app, I think twice before going to Peets.
Because of MileagePlus, I only fly United, even if the route is not as ideal.
Because of Ultimate Rewards, I mostly use Chase credit cards.
Because of the ability to convert Chase Ultimate Rewards to United MileagePlus miles, I’m even more dedicated to these programs.

Loyalty Programs Bridge Marketing and Product

One of my favorite trends in marketing is the convergence of off-site and on-site experiences. Marketing is just as much about conversion rates as acquiring traffic. Marketing is just as much about back-end retention and lifetime revenue as it is about volume of orders. The professional who jumped into the loyalty programs made a move that gives her direct control over customer experience and ultimately lifetime revenue. Great marketers these days are also great product managers. Getting into the loyalty programs space gave this professional a great opportunity to leverage both disciplines at once.

Do you have any favorite loyalty programs? Have you taken any risks or big moves in your career?

Productivity: It’s All About The Warm-Up

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Aug 31 0

It was an incredibly productive Monday for me, and I’m so thankful. However, not all of my Mondays are like that. Have you ever had a Monday where you just can’t get started? The time seems to pass by, but you just can’t gain any momentum? You don’t know where to start and your mind is still in the weekend? Today, I’m thrilled to share a productivity hack that could take your Mondays to the next level. I want to share my warm-up strategy for generating great momentum, on Mondays and any other day that you need a little extra push!

Warm Up Vomero

As a running enthusiast, I’d like to leverage a running analogy today. That said, you could really think about any sport. What’s your favorite sport? Would you just jump into that sport without a proper warm-up? Definitely not advised!

Whenever I go running, especially at fast pace (when participating in a charity 5K for example), I always warm-up. Why? My body is not ready for the intensity of the running without a transition period. The body cannot just jump from one thing to another. An intense race is a very different undertaking than the activities that typically precede the race: Getting a good night’s sleep, eating healthy food, drinking plenty of water, and driving to the event. I warm-up to tell my body it’s race time, and no longer sleeping, eating, hydrating, and driving time. I warm-up to get my muscles ready so that they do not get torn. I warm-up to perform my best, while minimizing the chances of an injury.

Let’s think about the mind for a minute. My warm-up strategy for Monday mornings is based on the observation that my mind also needs a warm-up period. What did I do all weekend? While I certainly work some weekends, I really try to take as much time as possible for my family and myself. Weekends are about relaxing and doing fun things, with some household chores thrown in. While I do try to think out-of-the-box and accomplish some reading, my mind is not in intense Excel modeling mode.

Enter Monday Morning: An incredibly complex Excel model is so different from my weekend activities. Oftentimes, my mind is not ready for that immediate jump. Without a warm-up, I may go slower than normal, and not do my best work. I may even risk a mistake (the work equivalent of the sports injury). My solution: I warm-up my mind.

Let’s use today as an example… Heading into today, I knew that I had an incredibly complex Excel model to build. However, being a Monday, I wasn’t quite ready to build that model first thing in the morning. So, I spent all morning on emails and easier tasks. I crossed five easy tasks of my list.

After lunch, I was fully warmed-up. I felt a great sense of accomplishment since I completed so many tasks in the morning. While they were easy, warm-up tasks, they got me moving. Just like a runner, I started gaining momentum about half-way through the race. At the exact moment my momentum really started kicking in and I felt my strongest surge of energy and focus, I went for it and built my model. I got my model completed in about four hours, and I had complete focus and peak efficiency the whole time. I also felt completely exhausted afterwards, just like the runner who’s momentum builds right into that sprint towards the finish line.

After building my model, I did a little bit of cool-down work (another easy task or two) before calling it a day. It’s all about accomplishing as much as possible in as little time as possible, and leaving the office knowing that you had a rock star day! I hope the warm-up strategy helps you operate at peak productivity.

It’s The Little Things

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Aug 25 1

Jimboy’s Tacos, man is that place delicious. I was in the Sacramento area the other day and just had to stop by! (If you are ever in the Sacramento area, I highly recommend trying them out, they have many locations and are so amazing.)

PPC Ian At Jimboy's Tacos

I would have never known about Jimboy’s Tacos if it wasn’t for my amazing friend Suki (most amazing Executive Admin in existence), and that would have been really sad since Jimboy’s is so incredibly delicious. Suki scheduled regular team outings to restaurants like Jimboy’s. Suki has a passion for food. More importantly, however, Suki has a passion for her team, her people. She knew that something little, a single lunch, could literally transform someone’s day. It could get the creative juices flowing, it could become the genesis of the next big idea, it could create a lasting bond between teammates. Suki’s lunches became legendary and made our workplace enjoyable.

I’m here to submit a business leadership strategy for those who care about building amazing, long-lasting teams. I’m here to submit a business strategy for those who care about their people: Focus on the little things, especially the little things not directly tied to the work at hand. It’s the little things that make all the difference. It’s the little things that motivate, empower, and grow careers. It’s the little things that make life fun. As an employer, manager, teammate, or friend, you are responsible for others. Take that responsibility with great seriousness! Strive each and every day to make business amazing for everyone.

Perhaps lunch is not your thing. That’s ok, you have to find your unique way of creating culture. Some ideas I’d like the share (mix several of them and the little things will add up into tremendous culture):

Remember birthdays and do something special and unique for each of them. Include everyone from the team, make it a true celebration.
Take each team member to Starbucks once a week, on you. Spend your time together talking about the big picture, brainstorming big ideas.
Schedule a team lunch and movie day after each big milestone.
Don’t be cheap! Invest in your team and send them to the conferences that count. Even during a period of cost cutting, never save money at the expense of your team learning.
Have someone on your team that is working especially hard? Give then a half day off (or even a full day off). Tell them they don’t need to use PTO, and can save that for another day.
Don’t forget happy hour! Don’t want drinks at the workplace? My favorite happy hour had nothing to do with the drinks, and everything to do with the fresh Samosas each Friday.

Work in an environment with none of these fun, little things? You may have a boring culture, one that is prone to losing top talent. Take a step back from the work and invest time in your people. Find little ways to reward and empower. What you create may become legendary!

Suki, thanks for crafting all those special team lunches. Those are my highlights from our time working together, cherished memories I will not soon forget. Taco Thursday is now part of my schedule forever!

Approaching Business As An Investor

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Aug 17 0

I’m an investor with a lifelong obsession for cash flow. If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you probably already know that (from my posts about topics such as Lending Club ). I recently started a new role, one where I’m able to combine my passions for investing, marketing, leadership, technology, and general management. My passion for investing seems to enter all aspects of my role. Today, I want to share some thoughts on how you can approach business with the investment mindset.

Think Long-Term

There’s a big difference between investing and speculation. Investing is all about the long-term. Investors think five, ten, and even twenty years out. Speculators, those trying to earn a quick dollar, actively trade in and out of stocks (and other financial instruments). I’m here to argue that the patient, long-term approach is fundamental to both investing and business. Some practical examples applied to business:

Treat people well and build long-term relationships that turn into friendships. It’s all about the people. You cannot carry the weight of the world on your own shoulders. Build long-term relationships, and build careers. Those very relationships will drive long-term results for you and the company.
Integrate technologies and build systems that offer long-term efficiency and gains. Don’t write sloppy code, don’t build short-term bandaid solutions. You may have to invest more money and time (at the sacrifice of short-term results), but your efforts will drive compounded results in the long-term.
Make smart decisions that provide predictable business growth over the long-term, not just the next few months. Do you want to experience super high-highs and low-lows, a roller coaster ride? Or, do you want to experience continuous, incremental highs over time? With the right long-term approach, you can smooth out volatility and create predictability. Those predictable investments are often the best ones. In parallel, there is nothing better than creating a solid, predictable business environment for growing one’s career and winning the trust of the investment community.

It’s All About Dividends and Cash Flow

I’m an investor who truly appreciates dividends. I’m of the "Show me the money" mindset. Those enterprises that consistently put cash in my pocket (in the form of growing dividends) are my favorites, and almost always turn out to be the best investments.

In business, nothing changes. Why are you in business? Aside from your top-level mission statement and charter, you’re in business to turn a profit, to generate cash. The quicker you turn a profit and the bigger the profit, the better. Whether you’re running digital marketing campaigns, analyzing a real estate opportunity, or making the case for a new hire, always understand the implications on your company’s cash flow. Generate increasing cash flow over time, and you’ve got a truly winning business.

Have a stockpile of cash on hand? Even if your business is privately held, you can pay out dividends. I have worked for several employers who have done just that, turning my career into a true investment!

Take Action When Others Are Not

In the investing world, industries fall in and out of favor. I like to take advantage of temporarily depressed industries, especially with big, sustainable dividends. When others are selling, I’m buying. That said, I’m also very careful not to catch a falling knife, so to speak.

From a business standpoint, I encourage you to face your fears head-on. Take advantage of those opportunities others are ignoring. Tackle the seemingly impossible. Is there a neglected are of your business, one that is really difficult and intimidating, or just plain mundane? Embrace those opportunities! Take a calculated risk when your modeling proves over-and-over that it is warranted. Don’t ever take the easy, safe route. Leaders forge their own paths and drive companies forward. Take action when others are not!

Note: I am not a licensed investment advisor and this article is not investment advice. This article is for entertainment purposes only.

Acquisio Summit: Don’t Miss Out

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jul 12 0

In the world of digital marketing and business overall, I’m a tremendous fan of conferences. Conferences provide the ideal opportunity to network, meet new people, see new places, and learn new things. There happens to be an amazing conference just around the corner, the coolest of the summer: Acquisio Summit 2015.

If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know that I’m a tremendous fan of Acquisio. Their co-founder and CEO, Marc Poirier, is one of the kindest and smartest people in the digital marketing industry. Acquisio offers an incredibly high-powered performance marketing solution, one that automates around 90 percent of the work so you have time to focus on the real strategy. In short, they are amazing, and a platform you absolutely must audition.

At the beautiful Hyatt Regency in Montreal, conference attendees have access to preferred room rates. With Acquisio Summit spanning Wednesday July 29 – Friday July 30, it ends just in time for you to enjoy a weekend of music at the world-famous Montreal Osheaga Music Festival.

Getting down to business, what can you expect to learn at Acquisio Summit?

The mobile and local PPC environment
Automated campaign management at scale
Bid and budget optimization
Acquisio’s open platform and partner ecosystem
New features and releases

Want to share the conference with your boss, and get approval to attend? Upon navigating the conference website, I was really impressed to see that Acquisio shares a helpful tutorial on How To Justify The Conference To Your Boss. Just remember to move quickly because the conference is just a few weeks away!

Need even more justification? It is my great pleasure to announce that Acquisio is extending a special 10% discount to PPC Ian readers. Simply enter the code "PPCIAN" and you will get 10% off your Acquisio Summit pass.

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