It’s very apparent based on my wonderful experience at SMX West 2011 today that the search marketing industry is absolutely on fire. There is no time like the present, the SEM career path is the best career path in my opinion. Today, I’m looking forward to sharing with you some of my favorite SMX West 2011 conference highlights!
SMX West Had Some Great Advanced Content
PPC Ian, Marc Poirier, and the Amazing Acquisio Team
SMX West has historically been more of an introductory conference, one geared towards those newer to digital advertising. I consistently attend each year because it’s in San Jose, just a short half hour drive from my job. By contrast, SMX Advanced has been more advanced (as the name implies).
This year, however, I was pleasantly surprised. SMX West 2011 totally delivered and included great content both for beginners and seasoned industry veterans like myself. I was definitely at the edge of my seat, taking diligent notes! In terms of advanced content, it was especially exciting hearing all about Microsoft’s adCenter quality score algorithm directly from Microsoft product managers. Moreover, I was totally floored when a panelist on the Google AdWords Extensions seminar predicted that Google will be launching sitelinks on an adgroup level (they’re currently set on a campaign level). In my opinion, this would be a tremendous opportunity to fine tune ad copy to the next level, now that sitelinks are showing up on many generic queries.
PPC Ian and My Great Friends From Kenshoo
A few other exciting topics from SMX:
- I learned all about Google product feeds. I used to be in retail back in 2004-2006 when I managed SEM at comparison shopping giant NexTag. Since then, however, I’ve been in services-oriented verticals. A lot has changed over the years and it was really great to pick up some product feed insights.
- Efficient Frontier presented some truly amazing industry trends. Basically, they compiled data across all their clients and reported it on an aggregate level. An incredibly important part of our jobs as SEM professionals is answering questions about macro industry trends. Efficient Frontier helped me out quite a bit with their data points.
SMX Is Great For Networking
PPC Ian and My Great Friends From Marin Software
What’s my favorite part of search conferences? It really comes down to networking. Whether it’s catching up with old friends or making new friends, conferences like SMX West are ideal for networking. When it comes to your long term career within search engine marketing, a strong network is everything. It’s because of my strong network that I’ve made it this far in the world of SEM and I continue to invest in relationships each and every day.
As you can see throughout this post, I had the great opportunity to catch up with my close friends from Acquisio, Kenshoo, and Marin Software. If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you’ll know that I’m totally obsessed with SEM automation. Acquisio, Kenshoo, and Marin Software are three of the absolute top leaders when it comes to search marketing software, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to establish close relationships with all of them. It was really great catching up with my friends!
I had a real blast chatting with Marc Poirier, Co-Founder and CMO of Acquisio. I had the opportunity to chat with Marc at length about my personal career trajectory and truly enjoyed it! Also, I scored two of those amazing Acquisio t-shirts (one for myself and one for my wife). I will be highlighting them in a future post. Side note: Make sure to check out my exclusive interview with Marc Poirier.
As you can see in the image on the right, Marin Software really went all out this year. They had, in my opinion, the most impressive booth at SMX West. It was truly great catching up with Matt Lawson, VP of Marketing at Marin Software. Side note: Make sure to check out my exclusive interview with Matt Lawson. Making their booth even more enticing, they had an Xbox giveaway!
Last, I had an amazing experience chatting with Geoff Shenk, Managing Director of Kenshoo North America. Kenshoo has a new product called Watchdog that’s truly amazing and I’ll be blogging about it soon! While I don’t have a interview directly with Geoff here on PPC Ian, I recently interviewed Chad Baldwin – Kenshoo’s VP of Sales.
This Year, I Just Went To The First Day
This year, I decided to just attend day one of SMX West. Why? I’m in a leadership position and it’s my responsibility to balance conferences with my day-to-day responsibilities. As such, I decided to share the excitement and am having my team cover for me the rest of this conference. This will be a tremendous experience for my team, and I’m truly excited that I got an opportunity to enjoy day one of SMX West while still leaving myself time to get my important projects done! Did you attend SMX West this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
All Images In This Post © PPCIan.com
That is AWESOME!!! I’d love to go to one, I have been so busy and haven’t even thought about event prices for that. What would you say are the top few keys to networking at an event like that is? Saying your goal is to advance your career like you stated above. Unless you are going to blog about that too 🙂
Jeffrey Gitomer wrote the little Black Book of connections. I really need to re-read it to brush up on my networking skills and am very interested in your face/face networking strategies.
Best,
Darren
Darren,
Thanks so much for the comment, I truly appreciate it as always! 🙂 In terms of cost, these events can be pricey, but here are a few tips:
1. Search for “early bird” specials. The conference will often extend discounts if you buy your ticket early (usually a few hundred bucks cheaper).
2. Check out organizations such as SEMPO (search engine marketing professionals organization), they often offer their members coupon codes (good for a few hundred bucks off).
3. Consider getting an “expo only” pass. Expo passes are typically free (if you reserve yours in advance).
4. Also, it doesn’t hurt to work for a large company that kindly pays for you to attend (my situation).
In terms of networking at SEM conferences, you ask an amazing question, one that should probably be the topic of an entire future post (mental note to self)… In terms of giving you a answer now, however, here are a few of my top networking strategies for conferences:
1. Just walk up to the speaker or panel of speakers after a session that you find particularly interesting. Start asking questions and exchange business cards.
2. Talk to the people you are sitting next to during the seminars and also at lunch. Exchange business cards.
3. Spend time at all the booths in the expo hall. Get to know the people behind the companies and exchange business cards.
4. If you’re traveling to a city you don’t frequent that much, arrange meetings ahead of the conference with key people you’d like to see. When I attended SMX Advanced last year, I made a point of meeting up with Chris Guthrie from Make Money on The Internet. Next time I’m in Seattle, I have a long list of people I’d like to meet.
5. Make sure to attend the parties if you have time. The best networking can often happen in a more relaxed, personal setting. Also, this is where online marketers often share the best tips!
6. Make sure to email everyone you meet after the conference (this is where all those business cards come in really handy).
7. In general, don’t be afraid to be outgoing. People at SEM conferences are really friendly and everyone is there to have a great time. We’re in an amazing industry!
Thanks again for the comment and awesome questions! I appreciate it!
All the best,
Ian
That’s some valuable info Ian, thanks so much for the reply with those helpful tips since I’ve never been to one before. I have seen where if you attend a webinar for certain individuals they will give like 50% off tickets sometimes. That great to know about the Expo only passes 🙂 & seems I need to bring a backpack full of business cards too haha!
I think this would make a great future post/ ebook???… I know I’d read it lol. Thanks again for the value info as always!
Kind Regards,
Darren
Great post – it’s fun seeing the pictures from the event. Also, thanks for snagging me a free shirt 🙂
You are very welcome, Darren! Totally agree this would make a great future post and/or eBook. I’m definitely adding it to the list! 🙂 Hope you have a super weekend!
All the best,
Ian
Thanks so much, Nicole! 🙂 I really love the Acquisio t-shirts! I’m glad I was able to get two of them for us, thanks to Marc at Acquisio.
Wow great recap of the event and tips! Also looking forward to attending one of these events in the future as well 🙂
Thanks so much for the comment, Dino! Much appreciated as always! 🙂 Please let me know know when you’re going to attend one of these in the future, I’d definitely like to meet up if we’re both at the same conference.
All the best,
Ian