My Experience Speaking at G5 In Bend, Oregon

If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of public speaking. It’s so much fun and such an adrenaline rush. I enjoy adding great value to the audience, while also learning from audience questions and other panelists. More than anything, I enjoy the thrill of becoming a better public speaker each and every time.

Ian Lopuch At The G5 Headquarters In Bend, Oregon

Just recently, I had the tremendous opportunity to present on an esteemed panel at the G5 all hands meeting. For those that don’t know, G5 is the leading digital marketing and technology platform for commercial real estate (verticals like self storage, multi-family residential, and senior living). G5 is one of my personal favorite business partners and I cannot say enough great things about their platform. (A Fun Fact: My history with G5 and public speaking has quite the track record. I Presented at the Self Storage Association Conference in New Orleans with Christine Munther, and I more recently Presented at the California Self Storage Association Conference in Redondo Beach with Ryan Barnhart.)

The Oxford Hotel In Bend, Oregon, My Favorite

This time, G5 hosted my teammates and I for a fun week at their headquarters. We met with all of their teams: executive leadership, product, marketing, sales, client services, and others. In addition to collaborating, brainstorming, and having fun in beautiful Bend, Oregon (the home of G5 and an amazing place overall), G5 invited me to present on a panel at their all hands meeting. A rapidly growing technology company, I had the opportunity to share insights and answer questions (the client’s perspective) in front of hundreds of employees. Our panel lasted over one hour, so we had a great time going into depth about all topics related to digital marketing.

Incomparable Drake Park In Bend, OR

Some of my favorite takeaways from this business trip:

In-person meetings are everything. I work with G5 on a day-to-day basis via email and phone. However, having that in-person face time with the team took our relationship to the next level. Business is all about the people, and it’s important to make time for in-person meetings, meals, and fun activities. I thank G5 for taking the initiative to invite us out, and for the amazing 5-star hospitality. You went above and beyond to make our experience a memorable one.
Great companies truly value customer feedback and insights. I’m incredibly impressed with the entire G5 team, and this experience took everything to the next level. G5’s level of dedication to customer success serves as a case study.
Bend, Oregon is a really special place. While it can get quite chilly in the fall and wintertime, Bend ranks amongst my favorite places ever. It’s all about the amazing downtown (with incredible shops, cafes, and restaurants), the scenic outdoor active lifestyle (it’s the best being in a very active and athletic city), and the people. Case in point: I found myself striking up conversations with random people at the hotel, cafes, and airport. People here are friendly and down-to-earth. Coming from a big, busy city atmosphere, I really cherished the Bend, Oregon experience.
The Oxford Hotel is one of my favorite hotels around. I had the pleasure of staying at this beautiful place a few years back when I visited G5 for the first time, and I enjoyed it even more this time around. The Oxford Hotel ranks among my favorite hotels in the entire world. The vibe, customer service, size (not too big, not too small), location, amenities, and quality of this hotel place it in a league of its own.
It’s a very different experience running in the cold! I went out for an early morning run my last day and it was incredibly chilly. I think it’s the first time I went running without breaking a sweat (while still pushing myself quite hard). As a traveler, I did not bring the right attire (a hat and gloves would have helped). Needless to say, I felt frozen in my hands and head. After taking a warm shower after, I felt so incredibly refreshed. I’m going to have to try this more often. While running in cold weather has different challenges from my typical running routine (warm and sometimes hot weather), it’s a really special and invigorating experience.

I wanted to close out by sincerely thanking the entire G5 team, especially Dan Hobin (CEO), Patrick Davidson (COO), and Taylor Kimberly (our incomparable Account Manager). Without the people behind G5, our digital marketing (and so much more) would not be where it is today. Here’s to many more years of amazing partnership.

Just For Fun: My Video From Drake Park

Having a little free time while visiting Bend, I made sure to spend some quality time in Drake Park, one of my favorite places in Bend (and arguably one of the most beautiful parks in the world). While chilling in Drake Park, I enjoyed filming some PPC Ian YouTube videos about investing (I always travel with my selfie stick and microphone). In the inspired state this type of setting creates, I especially enjoyed filming this video about how Dividend Growth Investing Brings Hope and Purpose To One’s Life. I hope you enjoy the content of the video, and also the scenery.

Images in this post © PPCIan.com

Ian Lopuch Interviewed By G5

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 20 0

If you checked out My Free PPC Webinar Co-Presented With G5, you know that my business partnership with G5 is top notch. As many of you know, I pursued my lifelong dream of being a full time investor about a year and half ago, entering the commercial real estate space. One of my favorite partners is G5, the platform that powers some of the best commercial real estate marketing strategies across self storage, multi-family, and senior living. Today, I have more G5-related news! I had the honor of Being Interviewed By G5.

What will you find in my G5 Interview?

Ian’s passion for digital marketing: How it all started.
PPC: My career started here. What’s my outlook for the future of PPC?
Mobile: How it’s affecting our business and how we’re embracing the change.
The Future: What will happen in digital marketing over the next 5 years.
Our Business: Learn about our company and our website strategy.
Online Self Storage Pricing: It’s all about the back end data layer, and G5’s integration with SiteLink.
Partnership: How I work with G5 every single day.
So much more!

I hope you enjoy the interview, and I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank G5 for the honor. You guys are the best business partners around, and I am so thankful every single day for the G5 team.

Speaking At Programmatic I/O

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Apr 25 0

I’m a tremendous fan of public speaking, it’s so much fun and a true adrenaline rush! Recently, I had the honor of speaking at Programmatic I/O San Francisco. I co-presented with my good friend Chris Innes from SteelHouse, in an exciting session called The Agency and Marketer Connect.

As someone who’s been acquiring customers for a very long time (11-years), my favorite channel these days is programmatic. The world of programmatic advertising is evolving rapidly, infinitely complex, and the talk of the industry. Programmatic I/O is the conference for leaders in the programmatic space, and it truly was an honor to present.

During our session, Chris and I highlighted our client-agency and client-technology partnership. When it comes to cutting-edge digital marketing, great partnerships truly mean everything. It was fun presenting our strong partnership, areas of collaboration, and results!

I wanted to take this opportunity to truly thank John Ebbert, AdExchanger, and the Programmatic I/O team. Hosted at the historic Westin St. Francis hotel, I have some fun pictures from the event below.

Programmatic IO

Programmatic IO Speaking

Images in this post © PPCIan.com

Speaking At The Marin Software All Hands Meeting

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Mar 4 2

If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know that I’m a tremendous fan of Marin Software. Marin Software is an incredible digital marketing platform for enterprise-level marketing professionals, teams, and agencies. Continuing their rapid trajectory of growth and success, Marin just acquired social media platform Social Moov.

Ian Lopuch and David Yovanno

As a long-time client and enthusiast, I recently had the incredible honor of presenting at Marin Software’s all hands meeting. Presenting at their headquarters in San Francisco, to the right is a picture of yours truly and David Yovanno, CEO of Marin Software. I cannot thank David and Marin enough for the great opportunity! It’s motivational moments like these that I truly cherish. The goal of my presentation: Thanking the entire Marin Software team for everything they do to make my life better!

I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the importance of building strong business partnerships. In the world digital marketing, we work in a truly unique space with amazing people. I view my strongest partnerships as friendships. Thanks Marin for being an amazing partner and friend!

Ian Lopuch Marin Software Presentation

Images in this post © PPCIan.com

My Big YPO Keynote Presentation

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Apr 11 0

This past Wednesday, I had the immense honor of being the keynote speaker at the YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) Wisconsin Chapter meeting. This particular meeting was all about Internet Marketing, and getting businesses excited about opportunities in digital. YPO is an esteemed group since I was speaking directly to the Presidents of extremely successful businesses. I wrote back in my 2014 goals that public speaking was at the top of my list, and had this particular event in mind when writing that goal, since this event has been many months in the making. I’m really excited that this opportunity worked out so well, it was a true honor! Today, I wanted to share a bit about the event and what I personally learned.

It’s All About Your Network

Ian Lopuch Speaking At YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization)

This event came to me, from my good friends at Rocket Clicks Digital Marketing Agency. I have been great friends with Rocket Clicks for a number of years now. I see them at nearly every digital marketing conference, and we stay in close touch. They have been loyal friends and supporters, and an all-around amazing team. They are true values-driven business professionals. (If you are looking for a digital marketing agency, I highly recommend checking out Rocket Clicks.)

Back in 2013, I got a call from my good friend Nicole (VP of Operations at Rocket Clicks) and couldn’t believe the opportunity that was coming my way: An all-expenses-paid trip to Wisconsin and an opportunity to keynote YPO. I’m in! Honestly, I was (and still am) humbled that Nicole and the Rocket Clicks team thought of me. I try to be a good guy, a values-driven business professional who helps others whenever possible. I feel like this opportunity was a reflection of the luck that comes when you help others, and my strong network with the best-of-the-best in our industry.

Lesson: Always help others and invest in your network. Especially invest in good people like the Rocket Clicks team.

It’s All About Preparation

Dinner With My Good Friends From Rocket Clicks

A 45-minute keynote presentation is no joke. As a busy customer acquisition professional, I have extremely limited free time. How did I prepare? Nights and weekends! Honestly, I left most of it until the last weekend and then worked super hard to pull it all together. I took advantage of a surge in energy and basically completed my presentation in one (long) sitting. After preparing my presentation, I felt a great sense of relief. My deck is great, I have speaker’s notes on each slide so I can easily remember all points, and now all I have to do is deliver.

Lesson: Always prepare early. Time spent ahead of time will truly set your mind at ease. Take advantage of surges in energy to get it done!

My Presentation and The Event

What happens at YPO stays at YPO. It’s an open and trusting forum for collaboration, and I owe it to everyone to uphold that trust. I’m not going to blog about the specifics, other than the fact that everything went incredibly well. Everyone was so kind, the questions were great, and my preparation paid off. I’m truly proud of this presentation and accomplishment, and look forward to future opportunities with YPO and Rocket Clicks.

Spending Time With Rocket Clicks

PPC Ian Speaking At The YPO Wisconsin Event

While my YPO keynote speaking opportunity was amazing, I had just as much fun meeting up with my good friends from Rocket Clicks. We had multiple gourmet dinners (Wisconsin has amazing food), caught up, and I even got a tour of the Rocket Clicks office the day following the conference. The highlights of my tour:

Meeting the amazing Rocket Clicks team. I don’t know how to describe it, but they are truly unique, in a values and goodness way. I don’t think I’ve run across a nicer group in my career. There is nothing more important in business and life than values, honesty, and kindness.
Meeting 1:1 with Jeff Hughes, the CEO of Biz Lab (the parent company of Rocket Clicks).
Sitting in on a very special meeting at Rocket Clicks that truly impacted me and my overall perspective.

Rocket Clicks, I cannot thank you enough for your hospitality, kindness, friendship, and generosity. You have a friend and supporter for life. Special thank you to: Jeff, Nicole, Matt, Liz, Amanda, and Chris. You truly made this event memorable.

Lesson: Cherish those friends who truly care. It’s all about the people! Gravitate toward good, honest, kind people. Go out of your way to help out good people.

PS Other Random Lessons

Southwest offers the only nonstop flight from SFO to MKE, to the best of my knowledge. How pleasant to have a direct flight on the way there.
Wisconsin is really cool, and the people are incredibly friendly.
Silicon Valley could stand to learn a lot from Wisconsin.

I’m In The Acquisio 14 On ’14

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 16 0

I’m excited! My good friends at Acquisio just published the must-have eBook of 2013/2014. Their free eBook called 14 On ’14 highlights 2014 digital marketing predictions from leaders in our industry. I’m especially passionate about this particular eBook because I’m one of the 14 in the eBook. (Thanks, Acquisio, for the amazing opportunity and honor.)

Are you planning for 2014 right now? Trying to determine the best strategies to grow your digital marketing in the new year? Look no further than Acquisio’s 14 on ’14. It’s a great collection of thoughts, predictions, and insights. It’s easy: Simply click the following banner for your free copy, and see what I (and 13 other digital marketing professionals) foresee in 2014!

I Have A Top 1% LinkedIn Profile

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 10 2

When it comes to building your career in online marketing, LinkedIn is a truly invaluable resource. I have taken LinkedIn seriously from the early days of my career and it has paid large dividends. I have received job opportunities, forged connections, and built a network I’m truly proud of. For all these reasons and more, I was thrilled to receive last week an email from LinkedIn saying my profile is in their top 1% in terms of views for 2012 (check out the screenshot below). Thanks, LinkedIn, for the email. (As a side note: I think this is great marketing. Why not send emails from time to time commemorating milestones – 200 million users for LinkedIn – and thanking their most active members?)

So, what’s new for me on LinkedIn? These days, I’m having a blast with LinkedIn Skill Endorsements. When I originally wrote the post just referenced, my top skill was PPC with 6 endorsements. Now, my top skill is SEM with 43 endorsements. I have found that skill endorsements are all about user adoption. The more people you endorse, the more endorsements you will get!

I’m always interested in forging connections with new professionals in the online marketing industry. Thanks for reading PPC Ian and please make sure to Connect With Me on LinkedIn.

Check Me Out On The Free COO

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 12 3

Yesterday, I Was Live On The Free COO, my friend Donald Landwirth’s radio show. The Free COO is an awesome radio show on Spreaker offering business advice for entrepreneurs and small businesses. If you have been reading PPC Ian for a while, you may recall that I was live on The Free COO a few months ago (you can check out that episode here). Things went so well that Don invited me back for the 2nd time. In fact, I’m the first guest to come back to The Free COO for two shows!

On Air

I had so much fun, the show flew by. I couldn’t believe it, the show lasted 1.5 hours, but it honestly felt like just 1/2 hour. We chatted about all kinds of online marketing topics, including:

Careers in online marketing. Why the online marketing career path is one of the best careers around.
My top 3 tips for advancing your career in the corporate world of online marketing.
Trends with search engines in 2012. Focus on Google instant search and ad extensions.
Online marketing technologies and SEM platforms (one of my favorite topics of all time).
So much more. 1.5 hours of awesome content!

I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Don and Spreaker for having me on the show, again. It was a true honor. I’m a huge fan of Spreaker and highly recommend checking it out. It’s super easy to leverage the Spreaker platform to broadcast your own radio show. Or, you can just listen to existing radio channels. They even have an app so you can listen to Spreaker radio shows (and broadcast) on the go! You can listen to The Free COO featuring PPC Ian here. Thanks for listening!

I Was Live On The Radio Today

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 16 4

Hey Everyone,
I’m thrilled! Today, I was on the live radio for the first time. My good friend Donald Landwirth, Consulting COO at Spreaker, invited me to be a guest on his radio show. His show, The Free COO, is the top business radio show on Spreaker. What is Spreaker? It’s an amazing Internet radio platform that allows you to have your own radio show. Today’s show aired at 4:00pm PST, but it’s now available for replay. I discuss all types of topics around online marketing, especially PPC, SEM Agencies, and PPC Platforms. By clicking the following link, you can listen to a Replay of Today’s Episode of The Free COO. I start speaking at 20:30 and the interview lasts around 70 minutes. The time flew by and I had an amazing experience. I’m super impressed with Spreaker and can’t wait to be on the air again! Live radio is truly thrilling. Big thanks to my friends Don, RT, and Francesco from Spreaker. It was a true honor being on The Free COO.
All the best,
Ian

Check Out My Case Study On Yahoo! Advertising

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Aug 6 12

I’m a huge fan of PR. From my experience, PR is an amazing way to get your name out there. It’s an amazing way to build lifelong connections. It’s an amazing way to help others. Also, PR Can Drive SEO Results. The more I grow as a marketer, the more I truly respect great PR.

Today I’m thrilled to announce, quite possibly, my biggest PR win ever. I’m featured right now on the Yahoo! Advertising Solutions portal in a Case Study About The Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance. That’s right, I made it to the big leagues, we’re talking about Yahoo! here. For the last few months, I’ve been working very closely with Yahoo!’s PR team. They wanted to talk to me about one of my favorite topics, The Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance. Of course, I couldn’t pass this opportunity by and the rest is history. You can read my case study here. If you’d like to download the PDF version (which I think is really sharp), you can find it here.

I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Yahoo! team. It’s a real honor to have this opportunity. More than anything, I have built lifelong friendships with my Yahoo! account management team and couldn’t be more thankful. The Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance truly is pushing the search marketing industry forward. It’s making life a lot more fun for online marketers like me. Thanks Yahoo! for everything!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of you. I’m talking about my team, my co-workers, past reports, past co-workers, readers, friends, and family. Your support means everything to me. Want to read more about PPC Ian in the press? I just updated my About Me page to highlight my press mentions at the top. Also, I encourage all of you to push your limits in PR. Have a great experience to share? Get out there and share it – I’d love to read about your online marketing experiences in the next big case study!

Want to learn more about the Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance? Following are a few of my favorite posts here on PPC Ian about the Search Alliance: