Presentation by Jeb Banner for the American Marketing Association in Indianapolis covering the future of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and digital marketing. Ideas originally posted on the SmallBox blog here: http://blog.smallboxweb.com/2011/09/12/the-future-of-seo/

1. BRAND DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

2. Thesis We are in the middle of a big shift Companies have lost control of their brands Culture, Brand, HR, SEO, PR and Marketing are merging Companies must shift fromleading to being led We must help them make this shift because… They really have no choice, it’s time to adapt or die

3. The Old WayReach & Frequency Top-down branding / shotgun approach Individual campaigns vs. integrated systems Difficult to measure

4. The Current WayRank & Traffic Targeted / sniper approach Data informed campaigns SEO: Winning searches

5. What is/was SEO? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving visibility of a website or a web page in search engines Links and keywords = rank & traffic But not for long…

6. Enter: The New York Times “Thank you NYT for screwing things up!”- SEO Agencies The Dirty Little Secrets of Search

7. New School SEO: Google Panda PANDA: A New Ranking Factor Designed to spot what Google believes are low-quality pages Too many low-quality pages, and your entire site is ”flagged” Flagged sites lose rank and traffic

8. SEO Today: Keep the Panda Happy User-friendly websites Consistent and diverse, quality content Frequent social “sharing” of pages

9. Google’s World Can create and destroy businesses Looks to reward deservingbrands Means organizational changes- not just marketing

10. SEO is Digital PR Since everything Digital is measurable… Google measures and weighs a brand’s digital signals… PR is about creating signals SEO is Digital PR…with a twist and and then

11. The Impact of the Social Web Social (and Panda changes) are forcing transparency and accountability Companies are losing control of their brand Customers and employees now have a voice PR and marketing must echo this voice

12. Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos “Your brand is a lagging indicator of your culture”

13. HR is Marketing If Culture informs Brand… your Brand drives Marketing & Sales… HR is Marketing and then

14. So what does this all mean? Brand Culture PR SEO HR Marketing Pandas “Maybe we need a systematic approach, not a symptomatic one!”

15. BRAND DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

16. BRAND DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM Phases DEFINE / REFINE The foundation of a digital ecosystem is strategy. CREATE Content is what fuels a digital ecosystem. MEASURE Managing the success of a digital ecosystem is critical. REPEAT AS NECESSARY

18. Blog Posts

19. Facebook

20. FAQs

22. PPC Ads (Google, Bing, FB)

23. Display Ads

24. SEO-Targeted Landing Pages

25. QR Codes

26. Email Promotion

28. Live Chat / IM

29. User Surveys

31. The Big Opportunity Companies are freaked out - they need our help Story telling (i.e. content) is at a premium Web marketing is growing up: from tricks to tools Ongoing retainer relationships to manage Digital Ecosystems Accountability can work to our advantage – clear ROI

32. Final Thoughts We must change too We must practice what we preach We must educate and train our clients We must trust our team to carry our brands out into the world

33. Q & A