Your Online Strategy 

IS Your Business Strategy

Marketing in the Age of Google

"I don’t understand people who don’t drink coffee." 

Vanessa Fox is the author of  Marketing in the Age of Google: Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy (Wiley, 2nd edition, April 2012), which has been called the “first must-read-to-survive business book of the twenty-first century”

In today’s searching world, customers turn to online search engines first. Yet many companies simply don’t realize acquiring customers from search engines should be a core business strategy. Instead, they usually focus on narrow goals, such as boosting page rankings. These oversights leave a huge channel for engaging with potential customers largely untapped. Businesses that use data about how people search to inform their product strategy will reach customers before the competition.

Vanessa created Google’s Webmaster Central, which provides both tools and community support to help website owners improve their sites with an eye towards gaining more customers from organic search. She was instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search. Fox has also been an entrepreneur-in-residence with Ignition Partners and has served as an advisor for several startups.

In 2013, she sold the company she founded, Nine By Blue, to digital agency RKG. She works with RKG as chief product officer to evolve Blueprint Search Analytics, which she created at Nine By Blue to help companies of all sizes better integrate search engine optimization (SEO) throughout their organizations– from product design and web development to audience engagement and conversion.

Vanessa Fox, Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy is a general session for all tracks at ICBA 2014.


Speaking of the Super Bowl...

"In 2010, we searched for information. In 2011, we went to Facebook and went to YouTube to see the videos again. In 2012, we talked about commercials on Twitter using hashtags. And, we didn’t replace one activity with another. We mostly added these new behaviors to what we were already doing. So, now we’re searching and Tweeting and Facebooking and YouTubing. What will we add this year? (I’m pretty sure we won’t start QR coding.)"

 - Vanessa Fox, The Lead Up To the Super Bowl: How Are We Searching?

The Naked Brand

Leading the Advertising Revolution

"The Naked Brand is a story about how the advertising industry can

help save the world one small step at a time."

Jeff Rosenblum is the founding partner of the Questus advertising agency, and co-writer and director of The Naked Brand film. When Jeff discovered that his behavior as a consumer was totally different than his behavior as a professional he began a deeper investigation into the fundamental assumptions and processes of marketing in light of our digital world of search, social and mobile. It is not just about old marketing models using new technology. His conclusion was that brands are defined on the basis of their behavior, not their advertising. By trying to answer the question, What does the future hold for advertising?, he discovered that the key to creating a break-through brand is to "be great, not just say you are great."

"Advertising can't bull#*!% anyone any more"

Porter Gale, CMO Virgin Brands

The Naked Brand film takes aim at traditional advertising and its future. With their constant use of technology and social media, today's consumers are smarter and more invested in what they buy and marketers are taking advantage of this newly empowered customer by creating transparent and positive stories about their companies and products.Retailers must also learn new ways to be great, transparent, and to tell our stories.

Jeff Rosenblum and The Naked Brand is a general session for all tracks at ICBA 2014.

Jeff Rosenblum is a pioneer, a disruptor, an innovator and an admitted pain in the ass. Widely regarded as one of the leading innovators in the field of digital marketing, Jeff focuses on developing processes that break down the boundaries that exist between research, strategy and creative. He regularly contributes to Ad Age, iMedia Connection, and has been featured in Newsweek Magazine and on Bloomberg TV. He presents at industry conferences, including iMedia, IAB, Shop.org, Webcom, Adweek and Game Changers. He has been a guest lecturer at NYU and The London Business School. 
Questus counts among their clients Capital One, General Mills, The NFL and Suzuki Motorcycles among others. Questus is the recipient of iMedia's Small Agency of the Year Award for two years running.

How to Run a Successful Social Media Contest

Visit How to Run a Successful Social Media Contest for advice on how to successfully and effectively target, market to and capture your social media audience by running a social media promotion.