Jeff will be speaking on the “Search In The Marketing Mix” panel at Searchfest which will take place on March 10th, 2008 at the Portland Zoo. Purchase your Searchfest 08 tickets now.
1) Please give us your background and tell us what you do for a living?
“As a digital media company, we must ensure that our clients have the best opportunities to optimize and advertise across all marketing channels. Managing our partner relationships allow me to stay at the forefront of this move toward full digitization. As a result, we can be innovative in our technology and offerings, ultimately leading to our clients’ success.”
Pruitt joined iCrossing in 1999 as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Business Development. Currently, he manages iCrossing’s corporate partnerships, determining how iCrossing will use partner information to create the best solutions for our clients. Pruitt sits on the advisory councils of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft; in addition he has served three terms on the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO), and is the current President and Co-Chair of the Development Committee. He is also serving on the Advisory Board of the Yellow Page Association (YPA). Before coming to iCrossing, Pruitt spent six years at Arthur Andersen in the Audit and Finance divisions. Pruitt has a B.A. in accountancy from Arizona State University, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants.
2) What is the business case for using a large search engine marketing company like iCrossing vs. a smaller, local agency?
I think it all depends on the client’s needs, goals and objectives. With a larger agency you will have strength in many areas across digital marketing (research, persona development, paid search, natural search, display, creative and web dev, reporting and analytics)/ Having all this talent in 1 agency will allow for efficiency in implementation, higher strategic value across disciplines and a holistic approach to digital marketing and creating sites for visibility. This however is not to discount the local agency model. For many clients this works very well. Having a local shop next door gives a client access at every minute and knowledge of each clients business. That is why we have 11 offices around the US. It is important to be close in location to the client.
3) How successful have SEMPO’s education initiatives been? Can somebody with no Search Engine Marketing experience take the SEMPO courses and know enough to an immediately productive search employee?
The SEMPO Institute has sold over 400 courses in it first year. The value that these courses bring to the efficiency of an agency is tremendous. It will shorten the learning curve by 6 months to a year minimum. The courses are not just for those looking to get into search though. Anyone who touches a site or can impact visibility should take the course. IT professionals, brand managers, ecommerce teams, etc. SEMPOs courses are great for advertisers who are trying to build a governance program for search. Having key individuals take it will help in implementation of any and all search related work.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.