Blog - Search Engine Strategies - the event for Search Engine Marketing & Optimization (SEM/SEO)

I noticed my friend Chris Zaharias over at Omniture posted about Search Engine Strategies rapidly becoming Search Engine Tactics. Zzzzzzz... Sorry Chris, I've heard it all before and long before your post.

Being a classically trained marketer myself, I've often suffered a furrowed brow when I hear people in the industry who are not marketers getting some terminology mixed up. And yet, it hasn't stopped me saying "wow" when they show me what they mean and I'm blown away with it. Could I correct them on the terminology? Sure. But shouldn't I really just be grateful they taught me something I didn't know?

SES is all about learning. And I can assure you, I learn something new at every show. And a lot of it I put into a very different category which is much broader than trying to pigeon hole everything into strategy or tactics. I put it into the "that was cool" category.

Let's face it, as I've said so many times before, what the heck is search engine optimization (SEO)? I've been in this industry since 1995 and I don't know anyone who has optimized a search engine. Same thing with search engine marketing (SEM). I don't know anyone who's marketed a search engine.

More to the point, who's the nitwit who coined the term social media? That description says more about a bunch of TV people going to a dance than it does about Facebook or Twitter!

I'm afraid we work in an industry where, often, nothing is what it seems and frequently nothing is what it means.

If marketers learn something they didn't know before in any of our sessions, then they can classify and categorize it any way they want. Strategy, shmategy. Tactics... tic-tacs. Whatever!

I think it may be just a tad supercilious to talk about the 150+ speakers at SES as if none of them knew the difference between strategy and tactics. Some of us do, actually.

As for the definition of strategy used in the post.... My colleague and Buddy, Stew Quealy quotes a much better one: "Vision is where the rubber meets the sky. Strategy is where the rubber meets the road. Tactics are where the rubber meets the back of your head." And at SES, we do all three.

70 sessions, 150+ speakers, you're bound to get a mixed bag. But please, let's not consider making everyone read Philip Kotler's classic Marketing Management book and answer questions on it before they can speak at SES.

And just for the record, I believe the last time anyone actually "whoop, whooped" and "high stepped" out of a room, it was the closing night of New York's famous Studio 54 in 1986.

Anyhoo... Come see Mike Grehan take on both Chris Zaharias and Ron Belanger in an arm wrestling match live at the Omniture booth next week (If you guys start selling tickets I want my 20% :-)

Posted by: Mike Grehan on Aug. 7, 2009 | Permalink

August 6, 2009

My Cheese Just Moved

I've been referred to as an agent of change quite a number of times in my professional career. Not just since I moved into online marketing, but long before when I worked in broadcast media. Much as broadcast was a very fast moving medium, it never seemed to change direction much. You had to wait for major innovation such as cable and satellite and digital to see real change being affected.

I came online with my first Internet consultancy business way back in 1995. It suited me well, although it was way ahead of its time, because, taking clients online involved a huge amount of change. Change in technology, change in culture, change in relationships.

Some people easily accept change and some people simply don't want to. If you've read the book, "Who Moved My Cheese?" (where the headline to this post is taken from) you'll know exactly what I mean.

So, having been responsible for helping to effect change with my clients for almost 15 years online and 10 off, it's time for my own big change.

I'm extraordinarily proud to be making a major move from the agency world to the world of publishing and events by joining Incisive Media's interactive division. I've long been associated with its three online-powerhouse brands, Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, and the global conference and expo series Search Engine Strategies. As a long-standing contributor as both writer and speaker, I'm delighted to have been offered an executive position working with this hugely talented team.

And the timing is perfect. As I gaze into my crystal ball I see change, change, change in the online marketing world. No more so than in the field of search marketing. As one surge of technology that got the industry off the ground gives way to the next, change is inevitable. It is perhaps the most exciting period in search to date.

And as the industry changes, we'll change with it, covering new developments in business and technology. As will ClickZ and Search Engine Strategies. We'll look different with a new coat of paint, start to sound different and strengthen our thought leadership in the industry.

But wait...Before I hear the gnashing of teeth from those who don't feel comfortable with change and like things just the way they are, nothing's going to happen overnight. This is subtle and gradual change, so all your usual goodies and faves are going to be exactly where you expect them to be.

But as I work with my colleagues Matt McGowan, Stewart Quealy, AnnaMaria Virzi, and Kevin Newcomb (names most readers and conference goers will be familiar with), we'll be spearheading new initiatives and developing the most timely and relevant content as the industry races ahead.

And for me, it's a feet-first exercise as I jump on board just as the largest search marketing extravaganza on the planet is about to begin. This annual San Jose event is the biggest and brightest of its kind on the west coast and is always a highlight in the marketing conference calendar.

As, literally, thousands of industry folk converge under the glorious California sunshine, we'll be presenting the usual vast array of tracks, sessions, speakers and topics. If it's happening in search, you bet we'll be talking about it next week.

And I, for one, will surely be talking to as many people as I can. Search Engine Watch is the granddaddy of SEO/SEM newsletter/blogs, Search Engine Strategies is the longest running event of its kind and ClickZ is royalty in the online marketing space. So what would you like to see change, or hang dearly to your bosom and never let go for that matter?

I'm pumped up and raring to go. And totally thrilled to be part of future new developments with the Incisive Interactive crew.

See you at SES, San Jose, 2009 for the very best in search marketing!

Posted by: Mike Grehan on Aug. 6, 2009 | Permalink

Next: October 2009
Previous: July 2009

The Leading Search& Social Marketing Event

August 26, 2009

SES Chicago '09 Speaking Submissions Now Being Accepted

August 17, 2009

SES San Jose 2009 - Blog coverage wrap up!

August 13, 2009

SES San Jose Day 3 Blog Coverage

August 12, 2009

SES San Jose Day 2 Blog Coverage

August 11, 2009

SES San Jose Day 1 Blog Coverage

August 7, 2009

Strategy, shmategy... What's in a word?

August 6, 2009

My Cheese Just Moved

The Leading Search
& Social Marketing Event