Learning From the Best of the Best in Online Marketing

ClickZ kicks off the year with 16 seasoned marketing pros who will share their expertise in search marketing, social media marketing, analytics, and more.

Dear Readers,

Staying on top of the latest online marketing trends requires an extraordinary amount of time and resources. Because of that, our team at ClickZ — under the leadership of Mike Grehan — is committed to building upon our 13-year legacy as a central source for in-depth news, stats, commentary, best practices, and how-to’s in online marketing.

We kicked off the new year with the addition of Christopher Heine as staff writer for ClickZ News, and Caitlin Rossman, copy editor. Chris comes to ClickZ from MarketingSherpa; Caitlin — who goes by Caitie — previously worked at “The New York Post.” Their contributions will build on the solid reporting being undertaken by Zachary Rodgers, Kate Kaye, and Jack Marshall on ClickZ’s news team.

Look for ClickZ to play a bigger role in offline events, too. Kate, for instance, will serve as a moderator of a panel discussion, “NYC Mayor’s Race ’09: The Social Media Impact A Discussion with Bloomberg’s Digital Media Strategist,” during Social Media Week in New York City.

ClickZ Experts, columns written by and for online marketers, got a big boost with the addition of 16 marketing professionals, including nine from our sister site, Search Engine Watch. (And no worries die-hard search marketers: Search Engine Watch — led by my colleague Jonathan Allen — is evolving to become a collaborative business network of SEM practitioners and journalists who will share instantly actionable how-to’s coupled with news and commentary.)

To better serve your online marketing needs, here’s a who’s who of the newest of the 40 online marketing thought leaders sharing their advice and insights on ClickZ.

Social Marketing and Social Commerce

In the column, “Social Commerce,” that launches next month, Bazaarvoice CMO Sam Decker will examine how brands can tap customer insights about products and services into a strategy that directly impacts a company’s bottom line. The author of two books on word-of-mouth marketing, Sam will be drawing from his experiences at Dell.com and his current company to help you bring value to consumers and your business.

What’s more, Liana “Li” Evans, director of social media for Serengeti Communications, and Erik Qualman, global vice president, online marketing, for EF Education, will bring their social media chops to ClickZ’s “Social Media Marketing” column. Li is also owner/editor at SearchMarketingGurus.com, while Erik is the author of the book, “Socialnomics.” Continuing as a contributor to that column is Dave Evans, consulting director with 2020Social, based in New Delhi, India, and author of “Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day.”

Search Marketing: Get Integrated

While search marketing accounts for nearly half of all online marketing expenditures, smart marketers know that the most effective campaigns tap offline and online channels. With that in mind, these experienced pros will be sharing their search marketing expertise:

  • Joshua Palau, vice president of search at Razorfish, and Sage Lewis, president of SageRock Digital Marketing, will contribute to the “SEM” column, looking at how marketers must ensure that search marketing initiatives are integrated with online and offline campaigns and other factors.
  • Andrew Goodman, founder and president of Toronto-based marketing agency Page Zero Media, will examine “Paid Search Strategies.” We also look forward to Kevin Lee, cofounder and executive chairman of Didit and ClickZ contributor since 2001, to continue to offer his thought leadership on paid search and other online marketing strategic issues in coming weeks both on ClickZ and Search Engine Watch. Andrew’s the author of the book, “Winning Results with Google AdWords,” while Kevin’s the author of the book, “Search Engine Advertising,” among other titles.
  • Seeking the perspective from someone in the trenches at a large enterprise? Crispin Sheridan, senior director, global search marketing strategy at SAP, will contribute to the “SEO” column. And tackling search optimization from an agency’s viewpoint will be Mark Jackson, chief executive of Vizion Interactive, a leading SEO company based in Dallas.
  • As more and more people tap their smartphones to track down local services and products, local search marketing efforts take on greater importance. Round out your expertise here by catching up with Gregg Stewart, president of 15miles, TMP Directional Marketing’s interactive division.
  • Need to get steeped in the basics of search marketing fast? In coming weeks, Ron Jones, chief executive of Symetri Internet Marketing, and Julie Batten, e-marketing manager at Klick Communications, will share practical tips in the column, “Search Marketing 101.” Julie’s name should be familiar to ClickZ readers; she has been a ClickZ contributor since 2007.

The Renaissance Men of Online Marketing

If you think topics like online marketing analytics or conversions are a bore, you haven’t caught up yet with Jim Sterne, godfather of Web analytics, or Tim Ash, an Internet marketing entrepreneur. These pros are not only great marketers — they are also fantastic writers who clearly spell out what online marketers should know to improve their results.

And There’s More

Look for thought leadership in other online marketing disciplines, such as e-mail and behavioral marketing and marketing apps. Look for these pros to complement our coverage:

  • Is e-mail marketing your specialty? We’re excited that Simms Jenkins, chief executive of BrightWave Marketing, based in Atlanta, joins ClickZ’s all-star roster of e-mail marketing experts. He’ll be writing, “E-mail Marketing Best Practices,” weighing in on what works and doesn’t work in e-mail marketing and evaluating how e-mail best fits in with other marketing approaches, including social media.
  • Delving into behavioral marketing is Andrea Fishman, partner and VP, global strategy, at BGT Partners in Chicago. Topics she’ll address include using behavioral marketing to navigate complex product and service offerings and how A/B testing can be a precursor to behavioral targeting.
  • “Global Marketing” will be the focus of Bill Hunt‘s column. In addition to serving as CEO for two of the largest global search marketing firms — Global Strategies and Outrider — Bill is on the board of SEMPO.
  • Thinking about using marketing applications in social networks such as Facebook, on mobile devices such as the iPhone and Android, or desktop to promote your brand and engaging with your customers? Count on Rob Weber, cofounder and VP, business development, at W3i, to draw from his experience working with dozens of companies using app marketing effectively in his column.

To usher in the new decade, look for other — even bigger and long awaited — changes at ClickZ that include a new interactive publishing platform and increased coordination with Search Engine Watch, our sister publication, and the Search Engine Strategies conference group. Stay tuned!

As always, please let us know here what you think, including what topics you’d like to see us cover in coming weeks and months.

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