SEM Blog

What are the professional development hallmarks of a digital marketing career? Trade shows and conferences are like the Energizer Bunnies of the digital marketing industry. Despite hard times, demand for events has grown. I think I've figured out why. But first let's walk through what it's like to kick off a digital marketing career these days. Someone launching, say, a search marketing career will encounter information overload. Of course, overload's not as bad as ignorance. Narrow specialists...

Do performance marketing, focus on growing the top and bottom lines, and then strategize in your spare time. There's a common misconception in marketing that strategy always emanates from the top down. That companies need to go through rigorous planning processes to determine the appropriate marketing mix, brand strategy, and communications tone. The largest of companies may have no choice. But if they're willing to offer some autonomy to their divisions, they would benefit greatly from taking...

In paid search, companies can waste a lot of cash if they neglect the Campaign Settings screen in Google AdWords. Here is advice on how to approach the five most critical settings. At just about any search marketing conference, someone will ask for a quick site review in a session Q&A because their company has been getting little or no search engine referral traffic. The moderator will stand up, tap a couple of keys, squint, smile,...

You know that Quality Score is important. But here's a look at exactly what it is and what it can or cannot do. In search marketing, it's easy to get people obsessed with a particular metric: you express it on a scale of zero to 10. (Remember Toolbar PageRank?) It's only been a few months now that a significant number of search advertisers have even figured out how to look up Quality Scores on their Google AdWords...

Strong cognitive abilities don't automatically lead to rational behavior in online marketing and life. How to avoid being a 'cognitive miser.' 2009 was a wacky year. Example: I received a perplexing voicemail from the perpetrator of one of the top (alleged) Ponzi schemes of all time. "I want to know your company!," he chirped. Presumably, the fallen guru was seeking reputation management services. I Googled him: it wasn't pretty. You might think it strange that someone thinks...

Got math? Got stats? Think you're golden? Think again. One of the amazing qualities of paid search is its addictiveness. Once in the profession, people tend to stick around. Even CEOs of good-sized companies have been known to cling to the campaigns they initially set up, ceding the work to specialists only after colleagues and family members manage to wrest the mouse out of their hands. We have a remarkable employee retention rate at our agency. While...