Your Complete Guide To Facebook Advertising

Over the last 5 years, Facebook stock (Nasdaq: FB) increased from from $31.91 to $94.97 (using closing prices available on Yahoo! Finance). That’s an increase of 198%. During the same period, the overall Nasdaq composite increased 67%. Why did Facebook perform so well? How did Facebook outperform the broader Nasdaq, comprised of tech-centric companies? I’ll tell you how: Facebook advertising emerged as one of the most scalable and powerful digital marketing ecosystems around. Moreover, Facebook advertising forged the path for incredibly successful mobile advertising, a primary focus of digital marketers everywhere.

A few years ago, I wrote a post here on PPC Ian about How I Drove 3,156 Facebook Likes For $0.31 Each. Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about How I Drove 24,747 Facebook Likes For $0.04 Each. Over the years, I have evolved and improved as a marketer. That being said, my increased performance is also a function of the evolution of Facebook as an advertising platform. Facebook advertising works better than ever and savvy marketers are doubling down on their Facebook advertising investment.

Are you constantly evolving as a Facebook marketer? I know I am! Enter my good friends at 3Q Digital, the same digital marketing agency that hosted the incomparable 3Q Digital Growth Summit. In the must-read whitepaper of 2016, 3Q Digital’s Director of Social, Brad O’Brien, drops 19 pages of pure knowledge on Facebook Advertising. I’m thrilled to share 3Q Digital’s Complete Guide To Facebook Advertising.

Each weekend, I try to read a digital marketing eBook. I have found this strategy incredibly effective in my career, as someone who’s always learning. Below, I’d like to discuss the overall structure of this guide, as well as my favorite findings. First, the structure. Over the course of 19 pages, Brad O’Brien goes into depth on each of the following topics:

Tracking
Account Structure
Elements of Ad Sets
Acquisition Campaigns
Retention Campaigns
Ad Units

Second, my top findings. I took many insights away from 3Q Digital’s guide, with the following being my favorites.

Brad goes into depth on Facebook tracking changes happening later in 2016. Learn how you can set things up correctly, right now, so you avoid changes to your tracking later this year.
There are so many audience-targeting opportunities on Facebook, each with its own strategy. Learn all about custom audiences, website custom audiences, lookalike audiences, audiences by seasonality and customer LTV, and audiences based on interests, behaviors, and demographics. That’s a lot of audiences!
On page 11, Brad includes some incredibly helpful bidding strategy tables that I recommend printing out. With so many different bidding options available, Brad makes your strategic path easy with his decision tree.
On page 15, 3Q Digital includes some wonderful creative tips, a true must-read. At the end of the day, Facebook advertising is only as successful as your creative. I personally took a few creative ideas away from this page.

As always, 3Q Digital’s Complete Guide To Facebook Advertising is free. Download and read this guide today, and raise your Facebook advertising game to the next level. Thanks, Brad and 3Q Digital for the truly outstanding guide.

If you’re looking for a marketing agency to help with your digital marketing, I highly recommend 3Q Digital. They are Silicon Valley’s agency, and truly outstanding. They are also personal friends of mine of many years, and a team I am constantly learning from.

Images in this post © Yahoo! Finance and 3Q Digital

Your Complete Guide To Mobile Website Optimization

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 1 0

Did you notice that I redesigned my blog just a few months ago? In addition to an overall facelift, I wanted to take a mobile-first, responsive design approach. So far, the results of my redesign are great, both from a quantitative/data perspective and a qualitative one too. I hope you noticed and like it too!

Mobile design and optimization are top-of-mind for PPC Ian in everything I do. Whether we’re talking about websites, landing pages, or even marketing creative, it’s all about mobile. When it comes to mobile marketing and mobile design, I’m always learning by testing, sharing strategies with others in the industry, and reading great whitepapers.

I am absolutely thrilled to share with you a free guide from my good friends at 3Q Digital (yes, the amazing agency that just hosted their Digital Marketing Summit at Levi’s Stadium). Today, I’m going to review 3Q Digital’s Mobile Optimization: Reflect User Intent In Site Design.

The guide starts out with some staggering statistics, ones that speak volumes about the mobile opportunity:

U.S. adults averaged 2.8 hours per day on their mobile devices in 2014
Mobile advertising spend is up 34% year over year (outstripping desktop growth)
At the end of 2014, 2.1 billion people owned smartphones

Next, 3Q’s guide transitions into four mobile mistakes. Each mistake contains great detail and great examples of companies making the mistakes, and also those gracefully avoiding the mistakes. 3Q is careful to not only illustrate the mistakes in great detail (with screenshots and analysis), but also solutions with equally clear examples and insights. The guide will help you visualize your own strategy, avoid these mistakes, and turn industry mistakes into opportunities for your business.

My favorite mistake would be Mobile Mistake #3: Not reflecting user device mentality in funnel position. This one really resonated with me because the mobile-first approach is not just about optimizing your homepage. It’s about optimizing every single possible mobile experience with your brand, both on-site and off. These days, the best marketers are segmenting their consumers to a very granular level, a level where it’s almost like one-to-one marketing. Every single personalized experience needs to have a mobile-first approach.

I was especially impressed that Craig Weinberg, VP of Mobile Strategy at 3Q Digital co-authored this whitepaper with Dylan Dullea from Method Hill. Craig just spoke at the 3Q Digital Summit. In fact, you will find knowledge from Craig and team in my Insights From The 3Q Digital Growth Summit.

I highly recommend downloading 3Q Digital’s Mobile Optimization Guide. It’s free and packed with knowledge that is sure to transform your own mobile strategy. Thanks 3Q for another amazing guide!

Image in this post © 3Q Digital

Insights From The 3Q Digital Growth Summit

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 4 1

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

Picking Your Multi-Channel Agency For 2015

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 22 0

With 2015 approaching, it’s the ideal time to think about your team. I’m talking about your internal team, and also your agency team. Do you manage a complex, multi-channel digital marketing program? When I first started in this field, our industry was organized in more of a channel-specific manner. These days, however, it’s all about the multi-channel approach. And, this is where team comes in. To manage an effective multi-channel digital marketing program, you need to assemble a great team, the best team ever!

I’m a huge fan of agencies. One of my favorites is 3Q Digital, the authors of today’s whitepaper: Should One Agency Manage Your Multi-Channel Strategy? I’m thrilled to share today’s whitepaper because it presents all the right frameworks to think about your staffing approach in 2015. It’s unbiased, covers all of the viewpoints, and includes 13-pages of helpful knowledge around choosing the right internal employees and/or agency(ies) for your digital strategy. Best yet, it’s written by David Rodnitzky, CEO of 3Q Digital.

Some highlights from 3Q’s multi-channel agency whitepaper:

How to think about the different digital channels. Which channels build brand, which drive direct response, which do both? Before selecting your team, first think about the channels that are important to your business.
How to determine if online advertising is truly core to your business. Assessing how critical digital advertising is to your business will determine if you build your team in-house, go with an agency, or do both.
Pros and cons of agencies. I really thought this was cool. Even though the whitepaper is written by a digital agency, it’s truly unbiased and shares all of the pros and cons. Before adopting any approach, it’s good to have honest expectations.
What are the three types of agencies and how do they differ? David covers the three types of agencies, and the pros and cons of each. Again, I truly appreciated the unbiased and honest approach.
David shares his "deep dive" approach to selecting an agency. Once you’ve crafted your overall team and agency strategy, you need to audition multiple agencies. David’s framework provides a great way to ensure you pick the right agency for you.

I hope this whitepaper helps shape your strategy heading into 2015. Now is the time to think about your team, and build your team heading into the new year.

3Q Digital: My Guest Post & Their Amazing Billboard

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Apr 20 0

It’s the weekend! I hope you’re enjoying the nice spring weather and taking it easy. As Customer Acquisition professionals, we work so incredibly hard. It’s time to take it a little easy. That said, our market never closes. It’s just like Wall Street with no closing bell. I always enjoy catching up on reading during the weekends. Whether it’s one of my favorite personal finance blogs or the latest digital marketing whitepaper, the weekend offers a great time to learn and expand my knowledge.

Another one of my favorite weekend activities: Giving back. Whether it’s donating money to charity, running in a charity 5k, writing an informative blog post, or simply helping someone out, it’s all about giving back. The more you give, the more you get. And, it’s just the right thing to do.

Today, I wanted to share some fun weekend reading with you, my recent guest post on the 3Q Digital Blog about Great Ways Digital Marketers Can Give Back. We’re fortunate in the world of digital marketing. We’re in a position to truly help others, both in our industry and across the world. Check out some unique ways in which you can give back as a digital marketer.

Thanks for reading, and I want to leave you with one of the coolest pictures ever. Below is 3Q’s billboard on 101 right here in Silicon Valley. 3Q Digital is the Bay Area’s digital marketing agency. As a Customer Acquisition professional, I’m obsessed with both online and offline marketing. As such, I’m particularly intrigued by 3Q’s billboard strategy.

Check Out My Guest Post About Blogging

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 18 2

The weekend is here! That means it’s a super time to read your favorite blogs and catch up on the latest trends. It’s also a great time to write a few blog posts, if you’re a blogger. Today, I wanted to share one of my absolute favorite digital marketing blogs, the 3Q Digital Blog. In particular, I wanted to share a recent guest post that I wrote on the 3Q Blog, The Company Blog – Why You Should Participate.

I’m passionate about blogging. It’s an amazing way to practice your writing skills (especially important for marketers), learn WordPress, experiment with SEO, and so much more. It’s also a tremendous responsibility, it’s like running your own mini-business. Want to gain some of the benefits of blogging without taking on the full responsibility of running your own? Want to do this while also growing your career and positioning yourself as a leader at your company? I suggest writing a guest post or two on your employer’s company blog, the topic of my guest post on the 3Q Blog. Learn all about the best ways to ask, the benefits of doing so, what you’ll learn, and why this matters to your company. Wishing you a super weekend, and thanks for reading!

Sharpen Your Remarketing Skills With 3Q Digital

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 5 2

I’m an incredible fan of remarketing (also known as retargeting). Those who have already visited your site are incredibly valuable. Perhaps they started researching your product, but were not ready to purchase. Perhaps they want to buy your product, but did not have their credit card ready. Perhaps they completed a transaction on your site, and are looking forward to coming back and buying more. Whatever the reason, it’s absolutely fundamental to your digital marketing success (and overall company success) to engage (and provide value to) those who have already visited your website. It’s all about targeted display, search, and even social media remarketing campaigns.

I’m also an incredible fan of 3Q Digital, Silicon Valley’s Digital Marketing Agency. These guys are the experts, and deliver amazing results for their clients. They work with many of the most successful startups and brands in the Silicon Valley. They are good people, and add so much value to our industry.

To kick off the new year, I wanted to share with you a free, new eBook from 3Q Digital: The Complete Guide to Advanced AdWords Remarketing. If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know I’m a big fan of free eBooks and whitepapers. I like to read as many as possible, and always post my favorites here. This new eBook from 3Q Digital is definitely one of my favorites. They not only cover the basics, but also spend 15 pages going into advanced AdWords remarketing topics such as Remarketing Lists for Search (RLSA), Search Companion Remarketing, Similar Users Remarketing, YouTube Remarketing, and Using Google Analytics for Remarketing. I especially enjoyed the section on Remarketing Lists for Search and wrote down a new idea I’ll be sure to try.

Thanks 3Q Digital for starting off the new year with an amazing new eBook! Readers, simply click banner below to visit 3Q and download your free copy. On the landing page, make sure to choose the remarketing whitepaper and any others that interest you (3Q offers an extensive library of whitepapers)!

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!

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.