Fine Point Digital Marketing

PR, an essential part of the digital marketing mix can provide a major earned media boost to your owned content and brand. But, for those of you investing in PR - how do you show the ROI on your efforts? Cosette Jarrett, PR expert, writer, & outreach specialist shares how public relations experts can value coverage, quantify their contributions and maximize impact by working closely with their SEO team. We also survey the social media landscape, looking at Snapchat's efforts to master advertising, beating the Facebook algorithm, and the death of organic social. We also celebrate the birthday of the GIF on its 30th. (Producer note: That's GIF. As in Jif peanut butter. Think differently? Leave us a comment, or let us know your thoughts @point_it!)   EXPERTS: Cosette Jarrett, Senior Marketing Outreach Specialist at Clearlink Bio: Cosette is a writer, content creator, social media and outreach strategist specializing in the digital lifestyle and personal tech. She has worked in digital marketing and PR f

Robert Rose, founder of the Content Advisory & Content Marketing Institute's Chief Strategy Advisor joins us to help you tell your stories better, drawing insights from Red Bull & Heineken and showing you how to turn your content marketing into a cross-funnel business model that doesn't just build an audience but both monetizes that audience and turns owned content into dollars. We also dive into the news, from Google's latest link testing, the repercussions of human-sounding AI assistants, and how (or if) your brand should be integrated into branded content.   EXPERT: Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Advisor for The Content Advisory (The education & consulting group with the Content Marketing Institute) Bio: For more than 20 years, Robert has been helping marketers to tell their story more effectively, working with more than 500 companies, including 15 of the Fortune 100 in the last 5 years. He's provided marketing advice and counsel for global brands such as Capital One, Dell, Hewlett Packard, M

This week we look at the upcoming Janes of Digital event at SMX in Seattle and the value of building inclusive marketing & tech teams. How can developing a staff that is diverse in terms of not only gender & race but experience level, personality and background improve both your corporate culture, products, & customer experience? We dig in with Frances Donegan-Ryan, SEM Pro with Bing Ads & Co-creator of Janes of Digital along with Maddie Cary, Director of Paid Search here at Point It. The fascinating news that Google has developed an AI that is building, testing & evolving other AI systems for image and speech recognition kicks off a discussion on how underlying assumptions implicit in the design of AI's can impact your brand. We also consider what is going awry when machine learning gets out of sync with customer's expectations at Uber & dig into Google Attribution, which allows marketers to move from last click attribution to customize weights according to their business models. &nbs

As a marketer, you know experimentation is essential to building longterm success. So, how can you build a culture that makes room for experimentation, tolerates the inevitable failures, and continuously learns? We break open one of our own experiments developing an interactive, personalized whitepaper alternative. We're joined by Jesse Fowl, Managing Director for Solomon Solution who partnered with us on the project. We also dive into optimizing lead conversion, the complications of marketing attribution, SpaceX, Google, and satellite broadband as well as Facebook ads' integration of offline conversion data.   EXPERTS: Jesse Fowl, Managing Director at Solomon Solution Bio: Jesse Fowl is a demand generation expert who turns proven revenue generating strategies into reality. He's the Managing Director at gosolomon.com, a Demand Gen agency that has worked with Universities, Luxury Hospitality Brands, and leading Healthcare Providers. He's also a Partner at Prota Ventures, a venture-building early stage inv

This week we consider how investing in your technical skills brings career benefits for general marketers and the value of practical idealism at the office and at home. We also dive into LinkedIn's matched audiences, our take on Amazon's Echo Look (a voice-controlled camera for fashion tips), how "Ready Player One" reflects real life, and the latest on the Net Neutrality debate.      EXPERT: Mike Arnesen, Founder and CEO of Upbuild Bio: Mike Arnesen is a massive optimization geek based in Portland, Oregon. He's also the Founder and CEO of UpBuild, an SEO and analytics agency on a mission to change everything about how great technical marketing gets done. For a taste of what Mike's up to right now, visit his NOW page. Mike has been working in the SEO space for over a decade, but actually started out as a history major who reluctantly took a job at MySpace in the late 2000s. In between answering support emails, Mike discovered two incredible things: WordPress and SEO. The rest is histor

This week we're joined by Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz explaining what Net Neutrality is and why it's important both for digital marketers and for each of us as citizens. We then dive into a report from Forrester heralding "The end of advertising as we know it!", and on to the future of advertising in a post-interruption, post-popup, mobile and voice centered world. We also consider Google's 'Project Owl', a much-needed attempt to improve the credibility of search results and crack down on fake news.   EXPERT: Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz Bio: Rand Fishkin goes by the ludicrous title, Wizard of Moz. He's founder and former CEO of SEO software startup Moz, host of Whiteboard Friday, co-author of a pair of books on SEO, co-founder of Inbound.org, and serves on the board of the presentation software firm, Haiku Deck. Rand's currently writing a book for Penguin/Random House on the ups and downs of startup culture, due out in 2018. HOST: Maureen Jann, Director of Marketing, Po

As an advertiser, is your brand safe? Listen in as we bring good humor and healthy debate to some of the toughest issues facing digital marketers today. Our experts share practical ways you can keep your brand safe in an increasingly decentralized and politicized market. And, just to up the ante, we also dive straight into a passionate debate that kicks off an ongoing conversation around net neutrality. Listen in, and join the debate!   EXPERTS: James Haagenson, Programmatic Campaign Manager, Point It Digital Marketing Bio: James Haagenson is a customer-service focused, strategic brand consultant who is focused on the innovative world of programmatic advertising. James started out serving the Seattle software giant in the Microsoft Retail Stores and now he is an Associate Ad Ops Manager on the Programmatic Advertising and Display Team at Point It Digital Marketing.  In his current role, he helps clients get maximum business results by offering digital advertising strategies and e

In this week's Fine Point, we dig into how you can build a high performing marketing team, the changing freelance landscape, and how to effectively combine specialists with generalists. We're joined by Susan Marshall, a technology veteran and CEO of Torchlite, which extends your marketing department by connecting expert freelance talent, campaigns, and existing marketing technology into one single campaign management platform. We also dig into Coke's latest personalization tactics & Facebook taking analytics in-store.    EXPERTS: Susan Marshall, Founding Partner and CEO of Torchlite Bio: Susan Marshall is a 20-plus year technology veteran who's been deeply involved in the rapid evolution of digital video, audio, mobile, social and data management technologies. Her professional background consists of product management and marketing for some of the most successful tech companies in the world – Apple, Adobe and Salesforce. In 2015, Susan co-founded Torchlite, a software and services solution

Cathy McPhillips, VP of Marketing for Content Marketing Institute shares how "A World of Stories" became the theme for the upcoming Content Marketing World. She discusses how a diversity of viewpoints is essential for crafting content marketing that speaks to customers, as well as sharing how bad ideas are critical to the discovery of good ones. We also cover this week's news, from PR debacles, questions about whether Snapchat is just a flash in the pan, who uses it, & whether machine learning will bring advertisers onboard, to boycotts & the ongoing debate around brand safety with Google at its center.   EXPERTS: Cathy McPhillips, Vice President of Marketing for Content Marketing Institute Bio: Cathy is the Senior Marketing Director for the Content Marketing Institute where she oversees marketing efforts for all CMI properties, including CMI's website, Content Marketing World, Intelligent Content Conference, Chief Content Officer magazine and Content Marketing University. Prior to join

Everyone's talking about machine learning, but how can it help you as a marketer? Mike King from iPullRank joins us to talk about his passion for blending AI with digital marketing. We also get an inside look at his transformation from hip hop artist and entrepreneur to performance marketer. Our host, Maureen Jann also covers the latest news, including YouTube's advertising challenges, LinkedIn jumping into trending news headlines, & Facebook's latest mobile ads venture, Collection.    EXPERTS: Mike King, Managing Director of iPullRank Bio: One of the hardest working, and most unapologetically bold, technical marketer's in the game, Mike King is single-handedly changing the job description of marketers today as a groundbreaking force in the Digital Marketing world. An artist and a technologist, all rolled into one, King recently founded boutique digital marketing agency, iPullRank in order to allow his creative approach free reign. Self-taught, self-possessed, and famously self-assured, Mike's p

It's can be tough to attend every great marketing conference out there. So here's a super-compact recap of the top sessions & lessons from Digital Summit Seattle in a twisted Fine Point!   Maureen, Tim and their guests Joshua Montgomery and Paul Garrison, Point It's business development team share their experiences from the summit in March of 2017.  It is marketed as a place where brands can learn practical, actionable solutions they can immediately apply back at the office.  This quartet talk through whether or not they delivered on the promise as well as overall impressions of the conference, best speakers and ah-ha moments.  Join us as we deep dive into our favorite sessions and speakers, and keep an eye out for more recaps from other great digital marketing conferences.   EXPERTS: Paul Garrison, Associate Business Development Manager, Point It Bio: Paul Garrison is a passionate customer advocate.  His desire to dive deep, understand and resolve challenges for clients

Natural Language is already impacting search whether you know it or not. Dr. Pete, Marketing Scientist at Moz dives into just what that means for you, how to optimize your search strategy & what's coming next. We also dive into big news this week, ANA's call for more social media advertising audits, Larry Kim leaving Wordstream, good & bad bots, and lots of great humor.  EXPERTS: Dr. Pete Meyers, Marketing Scientist at Moz Dr. Peter J. Meyers (AKA "Dr. Pete") is Marketing Scientist for Seattle-based Moz, where he works with the marketing and data science teams on product research and data-driven content. He has spent the past five years building research tools to monitor Google, including the MozCast Project, and he curates the Google Algorithm History, a chronicle of Google updates back to 2002. HOST: Maureen Jann, Director of Marketing, Point It Digital Marketing Bio: Maureen Jann is a veteran B2B marketer whose career in Digital Media has grown up with the Internet. A self-described jill-

This week we dive into how you can optimize your website & content to maximize conversion with Andy Crestodina. Andy joins our host, Maureen Jann to talk through how you can build a digital purchase funnel that delivers, answers customer questions and maximizes SEO. They also talk about how content drives  findability, Pizza Hut's new "Pie Top" shoes bringing ordering ease, live content and YouTube's new subscription service, & the future for Programmatic Radio.    Production Note: Due to difficulties with our remote interview setup, major editing was necessary. Rather than lose what was a tremendously insightful interview, we edited together as best we could. Please forgive any discrepancies in sound quality or oddities in how the cuts were made. These were all due to post-production & not the fault of our guests.   EXPERTS: Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder and Strategic Director of Orbit Media Bio:  Andy Crestodina is a co-founder and the Strategic Director of Orbit

This week we deep dive into how you can convert visitors into customers with SEMrush's Paul Klebanov. Paul joins our host, Maureen Jann to talk through the best ways to optimize each of your platforms, adjust to the changing customer lifecycle & marketing funnel, and the best way to advertise across channels today. We also cover the latest news, from CPG companies spending more on digital than traditional ads, Accelerators & Hackathons, & Martech driving Adtech.   EXPERTS: Paul Klebanov,  Marketing Educator & Speaker at SEMrush Bio: Paul Klebanov is a marketing educator and speaker at SEMrush. Paul was bit by the sales bug in elementary school, where he  was famously earning up to $350/week buying and trading his friends' sandwiches! At 14, he began creating websites for startups and local businesses. Since 2010, Paul has helped businesses generate millions of dollars online through his mastery of inbound and outbound marketing. Paul is one of the youngest Americans to buil

This week we dive into the challenges B2B companies face when integrating paid search (PPC) into their digital marketing mix, who it works for, and best practices to maximize your results. We also take a look at this week's news, Amazon's Alexa surpassing 10,000 skills, Google leveraging machine learning to filter out hurtful comments, emoji's, and Facebook Jobs' challenge to LinkedIn. Our host, Maureen Jann is joined by Brenna Teichen, one of our paid search experts and Frank Coyle Point It's president.   EXPERTS: Frank Coyle. President Bio: Frank Coyle is the President of Point It, a digital marketing agency in Seattle, Washington.  His mantra is "results, results, results" and is driven by making clients and employees successful.  Prior to leading Point It, his career spanned marketing, finance, and programming in a number of verticals. Frank brings both his education, University of Glasgow for his BS in Mathematics and at Stanford University Graduate School of Business for his MBA, and

We're growing! This week we introduce you to some of our new team members, their backgrounds, and their take on digital marketing. We also explore the news – from bad ads to reinventing in-person shopping and dive into how to find top talent, build a strong culture, give feedback well, and motivate your team. Your host, Maureen Jann is joined by Al Lepow, Jason Nowlin, and Jillian Tyack from around our organization.   EXPERTS: Al Lepow, Programmatic Account Manager Bio: Al joined Point It's growing Programmatic advertising team from Big Fish Games where he worked in marketing and user acquisition. He began his career in Tel Aviv working for Jelly Button Games, Scientific Games, and ClickWall working across marketing, media buying, and account management roles. He has a BS in Strategy Advertising from Virginia Commonwealth University and enjoys adding new guitars to his collection, fixing old instruments, and playing music. Jason Nowlin, SEO Manager Bio: With a background in marketing, branding

This week we start out looking at brands' changing digital Super Bowl strategies, a wearable from MIT & Samsung for those who have trouble picking up social cues, & Facebook opening up their Audience Network. Our host, Maureen Jann is joined by Google's Nick Danford and talks about the future of Google's advertising platforms and a test of new profit-driven automated bidding models that Point It is taking part in. In case none of that sounds entertaining enough, stay tuned for a highly entertaining discussion of such crucial topics as haiku versus emoji love letters, cootie catchers, and ballet. How about that for fake news.   EXPERTS: Nick Danford, Agency Development Manager Bio: Nick Danford has worked in sales and marketing in Google's Global Business Organization since 2011. Specializing in agency support and Small & Medium-size Business (SMB), Nick has driven campaign success and crafted AdWords solutions with some of his department's most strategic, digital agencies. Other highligh

This week we explore how Bots, automation, AI, & conversational voice search will fit into our lives & where they meet ad tech. Maureen Jann, Point It's Director of Marketing is joined by Microsoft's Allen Klein & our own programmatic advertising expert James Haagenson who also delve into the 4th computing wave (conversation), Microsoft's CAP framework (Conversation as a platform, Agents like Cortana & Alexa, along with Bots), Amazon Alexa's skills, smart homes, Facebook's rebooted trending topics, native ads with Button, and Google's Penguin 4.0 bringing trust back to SEO.   EXPERTS: Allen Klein, Strategic Account Executive Microsoft Search Advertising Bio: Allen gets excited about technology, that has always been the case, and puts that passion to work at Microsoft. Allen has worked with SMBs as well as some of the largest brands. In tandem with agencies, Allen aligns with their goals to succeed with pay per click advertising with a focus on Bing Ads. With a background in global cu

What big changes are in store for paid search in 2017? How will it impact you? Microsoft Store's SEM expert Ben Carson joins Point It VP of Paid Search Lisa Sanner this week to analyze the evolution of bidding strategies, shopping feeds, voice search, attribution, migration from keywords to users, waning of SEO, seamless transitions between mobile & desktop, & leveraging automation. They also talk through the week's news, Facebook data audits, Matt Cutts moving from Google to run the US Digital Service, and Snapchat advertiser's leveraging app users' offline sales data.   EXPERTS: Ben Carson, Global SEM Manager, Microsoft Store Bio:  Ben is a data-driven eCommerce and Marketing strategist passionate about expanding developing brands' customer reach and revenue. Beginning his career as a psychology and biology undergrad who spent time working with rural clinics in Kenya and Tanzania, started a chicken farm in a leprosy colony in India, and has written and recorded his own music for

As 2017 begins, we kick it off with predictions for the future of digital marketing and particularly what benefits marketers could see from programmatic advertising. We look at what it will take to effectively leverage this powerful tool, taming the programmatic wild west with transparency, avoiding click & data fraud, great programmatic partners including Integral Ad Science, Live Intent (programmatic e-mail), and Sanya TV (TV ads), as well as the experiences of Point It's clients. Our host, Maureen Jann, Director of Marketing is joined by James Haagenson, one of Point It's programmatic marketing experts. We also dive into the advertising trends, blending online & offline retail, and final holiday numbers.   EXPERTS:James Haagenson, Programmatic Campaign Manager, Point It Digital Marketing Bio:  James Haagenson is a customer-service focused, strategic brand consultant who is focused on the innovative world of programmatic advertising. James started out serving the Seattle software