Kent is Vice President of Operations and Co-Founder of EngineWorks, a Portland, Oregon search engine marketing (SEM) company. Kent is responsible for overseeing the search engine marketing strategies of all EngineWorks clients, including, search engine optimization (SEO), paid seach management and social media marketing.
1. Tell me about EngineWorks. What is a typical client engagement for you?
EngineWorks is a full-service search marketing company, started in
2005 by former founders of one of the nation’s most successful SEM firms, that enables mid-tier sites and medium-sized companies to compete with the largest companies on the Internet. Typical client engagements range from local companies, such as Focus Semiconductors in Hillsboro, all the way to worldwide firms such as Copyright.com, Bytemobile, and Shape Magazine.
2. Can one still be an SEM “generalist” or has the age of specialization arrived?
We have found that each type of search marketing campaign is more likely to achieve its goals when managed by individuals with specialized skill-sets. That is, our Natural search optimization engagements are implemented by search engineers with design/ development experience and site code knowledge. While our Social Media Marketing campaigns tend to excel through campaign managers who have substantial copywriting skills. And, finally, our Paid Search engagements are best run by our personnel with substantial research backgrounds. I’m not saying that an individual in the search marketing industry can’t possess all of these skill-sets. All I’m saying is that we, at EngineWorks, have realized that it makes sense to align specific talents with specific client projects.
3. What’s the ideal level of client involvement in a SEM campaign?
For us, the more input and response we can get from our clients the better. We typically have a touch-point once a day with all of the companies using our search marketing services, and we usually speak with them at least once a week. One of the most important components to a successful campaign is to fully understand our clients’ overall purpose for their online presence. This is followed closely by keeping them fully informed of our progress. Both of these elements require substantial involvement by our clients.
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.