online marketing career

Growing Your Marketing Career With Golf

Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to attend my company’s leadership team offsite. It was held in the Sacramento area at Thunder Valley Hotel and Casino. After an incredibly productive and intense offsite, we went over to the Granite Bay Country Club for a round of golf. This marked my second big work-related golf outing in the last few months (I played in the Randy Cross Invitational at Stanford Golf Course back in May). And, I’m already set to play in another tournament in September, again at Stanford Golf Course. I really enjoy these golf opportunities, and highly recommend them for anyone in the online marketing career path. Following are some of the main reasons I love these golf outings…

They present an amazing opportunity to really get to know your co-workers. After a round of golf, you can truly get to know somebody.
Golf presents a great way to meet co-workers who you may not work with on a day-to-day basis.
If you’re on an upward career trajectory (as I’m sure you are since you’re reading PPC Ian), golf helps build leadership skills. Golf helps make a name for yourself at your company.
Oftentimes, golf tournaments benefit charity. It’s an honor and privilege to represent your employer in that capacity. Giving back is so important. Remember to donate whatever you can afford as well, whether that’s time and/or money.
Golf is a great way to connect with partners and clients. Marin Software took a co-worker and I to the US Open recently. It was an amazing experience, thanks Marin! If you work at an agency (side note: I recommend Rocket Clicks and PPC Associates, they truly rule), you could leverage golf to connect with your clients.
It’s great fun and super exercise. You can enhance your online marketing work by staying in great shape. Golf keeps your mind clear.

As a closing tip, I wanted to point out that our golf event had players of all levels. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner. Get out threre and have fun. Even if your score is not great, just remember to have fun and keep a great attitude. Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to career success, while having a blast!

PPC Ian Golfing At Granite Bay

Image in this post © PPCIan.com

Three Online Marketing Career Tips

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Apr 12 2

I’m the biggest fan of the online marketing career around. This career has been amazing to me. I don’t think there are too many corporate careers that offer such rapid growth as online marketing, especially search engine marketing. It’s been a while since I’ve done a career post so I wanted to share a few tips today that will help anyone grow within their online marketing career.

Tip 1: Place Your Company First

Career

There may be days that you go into work and think, “What can I do today that will make me shine?” You may wonder, “How can I get noticed?” Those are definitely great things to be thinking. After all, these types of questions are top of mind for anyone looking to progress in their career.

However, I would first recommend asking yourself such questions as, “What can I do today to help my company?” Ask yourself, “What can I do to catapult the numbers forward for the benefit of everyone?” When you start thinking about the company and your team, and place your own career aside, you will be doing the absolute best thing for your career. Your career is closely tied to results and the success of the company. Help build your company and you will in turn build your own online marketing career.

Tip 2: Arrive At Work Early

If you work in the Silicon Valley like me, you may have noticed that there’s a culture of getting into work a little later at some companies. This isn’t the case at all companies, but at some folks will arrive anywhere between 9:30 and 10:30. These same people totally pull their weight and stay late. That said, if you’re looking to grow your career fast, I recommend being one of the earlier employees in the office. If everyone arrives at 9:30, why not shoot for 9:00 am? If everyone shoots for 9:00, why not arrive at 8:45 am? There are a few benefits of arriving early. First and foremost, it’s easy to think clearly and get a jump start on the day. Second, it positions you as a leader, someone who’s dedicated to the company. Third, it’s a great way to have a strong handle on your numbers as early as possible (especially important for those of us in search engine marketing).

Tip 3: Make Time For People

The greatest asset of any company is its employees. In the world of online marketing, it’s so easy to get ultra focused on work. And, that’s a good thing because the work drives numbers and the company forward. However, don’t forget to take some time to form lasting bonds with your co-workers. Make sure to go to lunch with others. Walk around your office and introduce yourself. Work on cross-functional projects. The more time you spend with everyone, the more everyone will be able to accomplish as a team.

I hope you find these tips helpful! While they are applicable to any career path, I have especially found them to be helpful in my own online marketing career.

Image of career © iStockPhoto – PashaIgnatov

Online Marketing Business Etiquette

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jun 27 15

Hey Everyone,
I recently did two former business colleagues huge favors with absolutely no thank you at all. As a huge fan of business etiquette (being humble, grateful, and thankful got me where I am today), I’d like to share my recent experiences and make the case to think twice about the "small" stuff. Rising fast in the world of online marketing requires etiquette. If you master the numbers and the game, your online marketing career will seriously thrive.

Bad Business Etiquette: New Job, No Thank You

Thank You Note

It’s all about your network. I have invested substantial time over the years building my network, both in person and also on LinkedIn. Why is my network so strong? I like to do favors for other people and help them out. The more you give, the more you receive – It really is as simple as that! I truly care about others and enjoy growing careers in this great industry.

So, when I noticed that one of my bright former business colleagues was out of work, I went out of my way to leverage my network to help them out. I ended up landing them a really sweet job! Here’s the problem: I got absolutely zero thank you. Can you believe it? I sure find it hard to believe! No thank you note, no dinner, no lunch, no thank you at all. My advice to you: Never take a favor like this for granted. No matter how busy you may be, take the time to really say thank you.

Bad Business Etiquette: Letter of Recommendation, No Thank You

I recently spoke about online marketing at Stanford GSB. I was thoroughly impressed with the strong caliber of students at Stanford. As a Stanford Computer Science major, I aspire to attend Stanford GSB one day. As a fan of business school and higher education in general, I always am more than happy to write strong letters of recommendation for old reports and co-workers!

This year, I have enjoyed writing several letters of recommendation. Most of the time, I will get a sincere thank you note, lunch, dinner, or at least an in-person thank you. Recently, however, I wrote a really strong letter of recommendation and got absolutely no thank you! I really can’t believe it, can you?

My advice to you: Always take the time to write a heartfelt thank you note. We’re in a crazy industry where time is at a premium. However, I can tell you for a fact that the leverage of focusing on etiquette is extremely high. I always place etiquette at the top of my list because it has totally fueled my career. I now have an army of friends and colleagues ready to help me out. Focus on the small stuff and your network will propel your career to the next level.

Bad Etiquette Has Negative Leverage

It’s important to really focus on leverage in online marketing. Getting more done with less will exponentially impact your career. However, leverage works in both directions. Bad etiquette can really add negative leverage to your career. Just think about it: Not only will I be reluctant to help out these individuals again, I’m sure their bad etiquette has also impacted other situations with other people. People like to talk in general and this type of stuff can really start spreading! My advice: Be humble, grateful, and thankful – It will work wonders for your SEM career!

All the best,
PPC Ian (Ian Lopuch)

P.S. My blog commenting contest is almost over! However, it’s definitely not too late to enter. You have a few more days and I’ll announce the winners on June 30th. The comments have been amazing and I can’t wait to review the winners.