I have been in the Marketing and Strategy business for the last 20 years. I have worked in many roles at local agencies, from creative, through PM and into Strategy. I now work as a Strategic Consultant at Dachis Group | XPLANE in Portland.

https://www.dachisgroup.com
https://www.xplane.com

2) What has SEMpdx meant to you, personally and professionally?

SEMpdx has been a great resource for professional development and companionship in a rapidly changing environment. My association with the group has granted me access to the real thinkers in the region, and a wealth of knowledge and development opportunities.

3) How has SEMpdx influenced the search marketing community in Portland and beyond?

Having a group like SEMpdx in Portland has helped put the city on the map as a collection of thinkers and doers within the space. I am proud to be associated with the group when I travel, as it helps underline our reputation as a progressive and technically proficient city.

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Although I started my career in high tech public relations in 1994, by 1996, I was optimizing websites for a digital agency here in Portland. Since there were no books, classes or professional associations dedicated to SEO at that time, I was self-taught. I started sharing what I learned in a weekly newsletter I called Anvil. Four years later, I decided to use that name and identity when launching my own SEM consultancy. It wasn’t until after I co-founded an email marketing agency in 2002, that I realized my passion was for search and that I needed to focus on building a company full time. I hired Anvil’s first two employees in January of 2004 and never looked back. Today, Anvil Media is 14 employees servicing 50+ clients globally. As Anvil grew, so too did our sophistication, reach and pricing. As such, I decided to launch a second SEM agency geared towards small business (as well as agency and strategic partners): Formic Media. Formic has grown steadily since the fall of 2008 and is now 7 employees servicing over 40 clients. Both agencies are located in one building in NE Portland and we’re able to leverage economies of scale from a larger brain trust. I’m currently responsible for marketing at Anvil and strategic direction at Formic, while supporting sales and marketing efforts. With such talented teams at Anvil and Formic, I’m able to expand my reach within the local community. I’m currently on the board of SMART (Start Making a Reader Today), advisory board for SEMpdx and I continue to manage pdxMindShare, Portland’s premier career community. Although I have more balance in my life these days, my heart is and will always be in search and with my teams and I enjoy speaking, writing and teaching an SEM Workshop at Portland State University as an adjunct professor.

2) What has SEMpdx meant to you, personally and professionally?

When industry peers approached me in early 2006 about forming a industry trade association for Portland-area SEM professionals, I thought they were crazy. Although I’ve been in the industry for a long time, I wasn’t convinced we had critical mass in such a relatively small market. Besides, Anvil was one of the oldest and largest SEM agencies in town and I wasn’t sure what we had to gain as a founding member. That said, I figured, why not? We put together a board and I found an initial sponsor (Site9) to help fund the organization. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased by the response and support in the Portland market. SEM professionals came out of the woodwork to attend our events, and sister organizations like SEMPO (a global version of SEMpdx) as well as IMAs in other markets were very supportive. Personally, I’ve forged lifelong friendships with people I’ve met here in Portland and abroad, thanks to my involvement in SEMpdx. Professionally, SEMpdx has been critical to Anvil’s growth and validity in the marketplace. Our team is highly engaged with the organization, volunteering as well as attending and speaking at events. I’m most proud of what SEMpdx has been able to do for the SEM community: putting search on the map in Portland and Portland on the map in search. I’m also pleased to see the success of the SEMpdx Annual SEM Workshop Scholarship and Charity of Choice. I believe we’ve set the bar for what a professional association should be in terms of validating SEM as a career as well as giving back to the very community that provides us with such amazing opportunities.

3) How has SEMpdx influenced the search marketing community in Portland and beyond?

While it’s difficult to quantify the impact SEMpdx has had beyond Portland, the feedback we’ve received from sister organizations is compelling. We’ve consulted with SEM professionals in the Bend and Seattle markets to help them build sister organizations. As a part of a nationwide consortium of interactive marketing associations (IMAs), SEMpdx is one of the only SEM-focused organizations, yet our input is valued and appreciated by the group. Most importantly, our annual event, SearchFest, attracts nearly 400 SEM professionals from around the country, which is tremendous validation. In fact, one of my primary goals in creating SEMpdx, was to get the godfather of search to keynote at one of our events. Within 3 years, Danny Sullivan keynoted SearchFest. I believe our impact is much more pronounced in Portland. We collaborate actively with complementary professional associations, not only on an event planning and marketing level, but more strategically in terms of how to operate more effectively as non-profits. I’d like to think we’ve helped guide many aspiring SEM professionals into fruitful careers, secured talent and new clients for our member firms and added value to sponsors by increasing their exposure and driving new business. The most exciting aspect of SEMpdx is that we’re just getting our momentum and I look forward to seeing what the next few years holds.

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2) What has SEMpdx meant to you, personally and professionally?
I love SEMpdx. The educational events are awesome, and I feel warmly embraced by a community of SEM experts who can help me learn, grow and build my company’s business. To borrow from a truism of 1970s feminism, in the case of SEMpdx, the personal is the professional, and the professional is the personal.

3) How has SEMpdx influenced the search marketing community in Portland and beyond?
SEMpdx seems to me to model the collaborative and intimate nature of the SEM community. I feel that SEMpdx members really do work to help each other grow their businesses, even where they compete. I’m happy to be part of such a healthy and enlightened business community. Plus, who doesn’t love geeking out about something as slippery and ever-changing as SEO?

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“Dyann and I have noticed over the past month an increase in telephone calls and e-mail inquiries coming directly from the web site. So our real life experiences are matching your numerical predications. You have done a great job of helping me figure out a direction to take my web site and then implement a plan to get me there. Thanks!” Scott Leibenguth owner of www.portlanddivorcelaw.com.

Scott had created 2 websites targeting family law in the Portland metro area. His rankings were weak and calls for service were too few.  Through online keyword research and discussions we selected keywords to promote, and built an entirely new Website around them. Straight-On did technical work necessary to make the WordPress theme more search engine friendly, structured the information to make a strong impact on search engines and worked with Google Places and BING Business Portal to get on the first page. We encouraged and enabled the client to blog and tweet. Scott has done a great job interacting with us and providing content.

I have over 25 years of experience as an electrical engineer and manager with firms like Tektronix, RCA, and Intel. I got an MBA and became Vice President of a high-tech startup. That heightened my awareness of market planning and public relations. I started working professionally with the Web in 1995 and took a liking to search engine optimization. I was doing search engine optimization before SEO was cool. I’ve worked for some firms and with my own business, Straight-On Internet Consulting during that time. I love to partner with Web developers as the SEO on the project.

As you know, I am the Past President of Internet Professionals Northwest which had about 150 Web/Internet professionals back in the day. I brought this background to SEMpdx as one of its founding board members.

I think SEMpdx is great! It is run by a group of exciting winners! They really know their stuff. I enjoy being around these bright and successful people. They are fun, considerate, and very productive. We have built a great organization and community. I am particularly proud that the first SearchFest (05) that Ken Lewis and I put on has been picked up by SEMpdx and made into a national success! SEMpdx helps me keep up with rapidly changing digital marketing through the speakers, events, and comradery. I like that SEMpdx contributes to local charities.

There is no question that SEMpdx is the leading search marketing association in Oregon. It’s members lead in the field through their work, presentations, and ability to draw top quality speakers and attendees from around the nation. Some of its members teach in University and others in institutes.

SEMpdx helps me be a better digital marketer and enjoy doing so.

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1) Tell us a little about yourself
I’m from South Dakota. I’ve been involved in many different business throughout my career. I owned a pheasant ranch. I worked in the in print industry for many years. Most recently, I was Vice President and CMO of Kodak. These days I’m speaking all over the globe, appearing on TV shows, I’ve written the best-selling book, “The Mirror Test” and am working on a second book. And I consult with a variety of great companies as well. I have two children, Tyler and Lindsey. I’m married to a great woman, Tami.

2) What’s the thing you’re most proud of from your time at Kodak?
We took a company that was selling a product that no one wanted–film–and we turned it around. What Kodak had to offer was about hearts and minds–we had the only product people would run into a burning building to save. We made memories. So we took a company that made film and turned it into a company that makes and preserves memories.

3) What prompted you to write your book, “The Mirror Test”?
I watched so many companies and business people fail. Heck, I’ve failed a time or two myself. And that’s when it became clear to me that anyone in business needs to ask the tough questions, know their conditions of satisfaction and be willing to create tension and drive change–all of that in order to grow and succeed. I felt this book was a message that everyone needed to hear.

4) What’s more fun, being a cowboy or hunting for pheasant?
Well I’m passionate about both, but ultimately the “cowboy” part is really who I am, and it impacts how I operate in business and in life.

5) If you could tell companies one thing about how to engage with their customers, what would you tell them?
With social media everything has changed. It’s not about ears and eyeballs anymore, it’s about hearts and minds. Companies need to be radically transparent, listen to their customers and deliver a relevant and timely message. If you don’t do these things, you won’t be fogging the mirror.

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