Fun Times At The Crunchies With Yahoo!

Last week, I attended the 8th annual Crunchies with my good friends from Yahoo! Hosted at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, the Crunchies is the Oscars of the technology industry. It’s all about honoring the best innovations in technology from the past year. I had a blast at the event and wanted to share today some of my big takeaways.

Ian Lopuch Crunchies

First and foremost, it’s good to be in digital marketing. It’s good to be a valued Yahoo! partner, the premium sponsor of this event and so many others. Yahoo! really knows how to treat their top partners. I’m talking about a special VIP lounge with amazing food and drinks. I’m talking about the best seats in the house (we sat in a balcony suite right next to the stage, and right next to some of the most important people at the entire event). I’m talking about an exclusive pre-party and after-party. Thanks to Yahoo!, I really had a special time.

Second, it’s all about the networking. In our industry, we all work such long hours. It’s easy to lose sight of the relationships and networking side of things. I’d like to argue today that it’s all about the people and networking. I have built a truly lasting relationship with the incomparable Yahoo! team over the years, and this relationship has added true value to my career. More than that, it’s just plain fun to spend time with great people! Yahoo! has a really special and talented team, and I learn so much every time we hang out. Get out there and invest in your business partnerships, they might just turn into friendships!

Third, it’s important to take time to be inspired. This event honored some seriously incredible accomplishments. I’m a tremendous fan of Customer Acquisition marketing because this career offers so much responsibility. It’s just like being a "Mini CEO". I’m talking about responsibility over: P&L, strategy, huge budgets, large teams (in many cases), technology platforms, cross-functional work, new ideas, growth, results, and so much more. Awards shows like the Crunchies are the perfect time to get inspired. In an inspired state, we all bring our best ideas and work to the table. Combine the overall inspiration of the event with an inspiring premium sponsor (Yahoo!), and I left ready to do my best work ever!

Thanks, Yahoo!, for an amazing VIP experience, and for being the best partner ever!

Hanging Out At the Yahoo! VIP Lounge

PPC Ian and Yahoo at the Crunchies

Images in this post © PPCIan.com

Fun Times At The Yahoo! Sunnyvale Headquarters

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 2 3

On Friday, I had the pleasure and honor of visiting the main Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale. Check out the picture below of yours truly and Justin, the absolute best Senior Account Manager ever. (Justin just wrote this great post on the Yahoo! Advertising Solutions Blog about expanding your keyword list – make sure to check it out!) Being Yahoo!’s 18th birthday, we picked an amazing day to visit Yahoo!

When we arrived, the guard at the front gate directed us to special VIP parking right up front that was blocked off with cones. Talk about feeling like a celebrity! Next, Justin headed down and greeted us. We went up to the Yodel conference room. Honestly, I cannot believe what I saw there! Our company logo was all over the place! I’m talking about on a sign in front of the door, above the massive TV monitor, etched onto the window, even on the name placards where we were to sit. The room had all the beverages and snacks one could want. The Yahoo! purple was all over the place, even down to the delicious Yahoo! chocolates. It even had some really great gifts! I have never experienced anything like this before. Sure, SEM is an industry where large advertisers are treated really well. However, this experience takes it to a whole new level. Wow, Yahoo! thanks for treating us so well, you are the best!

At this point we were so pumped up that the strategy session was unparalleled. At least 50 actionable ideas were generated. We had senior leaders from Yahoo! stopping by. It truly was a meeting made of greatness. SEM is all about energy and energy is what drove our meeting.

After our strategy session, we headed downstairs to the URLs cafe. I was blown away. The steak teriyaki dish was among the best I have ever hard. This place was pure heaven. After lunch, we went upstairs for more strategy, and then a trip to the Yahoo! store on the way out.

I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight a few important things:

Yahoo! absolutely rules. I love Yahoo! and am so excited for their 18th birthday!
The Yahoo! account management organization is among the best I have ever worked with. They are so strong. I’m especially impressed with their actionable, tactical tips and overwhelming energy in helping clients implement and enjoy the benefits of those strategies.
Yahoo!’s campus is amazing. The food is among the best I have had in any cafeteria. If you are considering a career in online advertising, I highly recommend looking into opportunities at Yahoo! because they already rule and are also expanding fast.

Justin and team, thank you so much for the best Friday ever!

Image of PPC Ian and Justin © PPCIan.com

A Great Week of PPC Networking

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 17 4

I’m a huge fan of networking, PPC-style. Building your career within pay per click is all about driving results. However, it’s also all about networking and building solid relationships. Because of the career benefits and also because it’s so much fun, I’m always looking for ways to network. Just last week, I visited the offices of InsideVault and also went on The Free COO radio show. This week, I focused on lunches!

I had two really great lunches this week. One was with my team and our good friends from Yahoo. We work with such bright and amazing people at Yahoo, they are true business partners and personal friends. I could not imagine a better team. Yahoo certainly has an amazing strength in account management, way to go Yahoo! My other great lunch this week was with my friend John Rampton, owner and blogger at PPC.org. PPC.org is a great blog about, you guessed it, PPC. John and I had a true blast and chatted all about our favorite topic, PPC. Both lunches were in downtown Mountain View, a really happening downtown for anyone in the online marketing or tech industry. My advice for anyone looking to grow their PPC career: Get out there and network! It’s all about the people.

Lunch With Our Amazing Yahoo! Friends

Yahoo Lunch Mountain View

Great Lunch With John Rampton From PPC.org

PPC Ian and John Rampton

Images in this post © PPCIan.com

Yahoo! Pushing The Limits of Organic Search

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 9 9

I’m a huge fan of Yahoo! Back in December, I posted about how Yahoo! Rich Ads Are Back. Recently, I have noticed Yahoo! pushing the limits of organic search as well. Go to Yahoo! and type in the word “refinance”. A screenshot of the results is below. Check out the Quicken Loans result. I’m totally thrilled with the integration of the mortgage refinance rate table right into the organic result.

This was the vision of the Search Alliance all along. Yahoo! and Microsoft partnered so adCenter could power the paid and organic results on both search engines. However, Yahoo! always had the plan that they would focus on user experience and advanced add-on functionality on top of the standard results. It’s awesome to see this vision turning into reality. Great work Yahoo! Want to customize your organic search results on Yahoo? Reach out to your account management team and see what beta tests may be available.

Image in this post © Yahoo!

Yahoo! Rich Ads Are Back

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 20 1

If you were a big advertiser on Yahoo! back in the Panama days (before the Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance), you may remember rich ads in search. What are rich ads? They are basically an awesome way to make your brand/trademark ads stand out. I’m talking about adding an image (or even video) to your brand keywords. I’m talking about including sitelinks in your ad. I’m talking about adding a zip code box to your ad so your users can start filling out your form right from the ad itself! When it comes to rich ads, it’s all about customization.

Rich Ads Are Now Powered By adCenter

When the Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance came around, Yahoo! rich ads disappeared. It made sense. adCenter became the platform of choice and adCenter did not support rich ads at the time. Yahoo! Panama was the only platform in our industry offering this capability. However, both Yahoo! and Microsoft promised that rich ads would be back, and they now are!

Capitalize On Your Brand Name Traffic

Check out the screenshot below. You can see Rosetta Stone’s rich ad (screenshot taken today). In this particular rich ad, Rosetta Stone is leveraging an image and also sitelinks. There’s no doubt that they are enjoying a higher click through rate and increased brand awareness. Also, they are preventing other advertisers from showing up in the top yellow bar. Rich ads take up a lot of space so when rich ads deliver they will occupy the entire top bar.

Enjoy Rich Ads On Both Yahoo! and Bing

I’m super excited about rich ads (more so than ever before) because they now display on both Yahoo! and Bing thanks to the Search Alliance. Moreover, the process for uploading rich ads (and the overall bidding framework) is more simplistic and scalable than ever before. If you’re a large advertiser on adCenter, you just have to reach out to your Yahoo! reps about rich ads. You won’t be disappointed and it could turn out to be one of your big successes of 2012!

Want to learn more about the Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance and my perspective on the transition from Panama? You’ll want to check out my Search Alliance Case Study which is now live on Yahoo!’s advertising portal.

Check Out My Case Study On Yahoo! Advertising

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Aug 6 12

I’m a huge fan of PR. From my experience, PR is an amazing way to get your name out there. It’s an amazing way to build lifelong connections. It’s an amazing way to help others. Also, PR Can Drive SEO Results. The more I grow as a marketer, the more I truly respect great PR.

Today I’m thrilled to announce, quite possibly, my biggest PR win ever. I’m featured right now on the Yahoo! Advertising Solutions portal in a Case Study About The Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance. That’s right, I made it to the big leagues, we’re talking about Yahoo! here. For the last few months, I’ve been working very closely with Yahoo!’s PR team. They wanted to talk to me about one of my favorite topics, The Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance. Of course, I couldn’t pass this opportunity by and the rest is history. You can read my case study here. If you’d like to download the PDF version (which I think is really sharp), you can find it here.

I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Yahoo! team. It’s a real honor to have this opportunity. More than anything, I have built lifelong friendships with my Yahoo! account management team and couldn’t be more thankful. The Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance truly is pushing the search marketing industry forward. It’s making life a lot more fun for online marketers like me. Thanks Yahoo! for everything!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of you. I’m talking about my team, my co-workers, past reports, past co-workers, readers, friends, and family. Your support means everything to me. Want to read more about PPC Ian in the press? I just updated my About Me page to highlight my press mentions at the top. Also, I encourage all of you to push your limits in PR. Have a great experience to share? Get out there and share it – I’d love to read about your online marketing experiences in the next big case study!

Want to learn more about the Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance? Following are a few of my favorite posts here on PPC Ian about the Search Alliance: