Jason Keeler on digital marketing
Tonight our guest is Jason Keeler from Kansas City. He is a digital marketing entrepreneur who created an outsourced digital marketing company that only employees outsourced help. No full-time employees. We have conducted an interview with him.
What are the current trends in digital marketing?
Right now, retargeting and paid social are big trends. This is providing a better return than just using Google Adwords and display ads in general. Native advertising and sponsored content is also very popular and producing an ROI for companies.
What are the challenges as a digital marketing entrepreneur in the current business climate?
Finding the right people to handle digital tactics. There are a TON of people claiming to be digital marketers. Many are jacks of all trades and masters of none. We try to find individuals with a special skill set, and let them work in that vertical only. If they are PPC managers, we load them up with AdWords campaigns. Content marketers write about what they know. SEO’s do technical audits. We don’t ask them to do things that aren’t their forte.
What is your human resourcing policy? Why do you think it helps you to differentiate?
This is the biggest differentiator for our company. We don’t hire anyone full time. We only use hire on a project basis. Some writers a great at B2C touchy-feely stuff like baking or cooking. But they would struggle being a more technical writer for a cloud based tech company. Also, people who do SEO for local companies might not be the best fit for an e-commerce company with a thousand-page site. We know the best talent, and we line it up on a project basis. We have a large pool to draw from!
Which are the challenges facing businesses trying to generate sales and leads online? How can you help them deal with these challenges?
Two words. Wasted Spend. We see people buying from Yelp! We see people buying digital from local TV and Radio stations. We see people relying on junk sites like Fiverr.com for their SEO and not doing any real outreach or on-page. Others spend a ton on PPC marketing and don’t realize they aren’t getting a return on spend. Just wasted spend in general. We help by laying in strategy and improving the tactics that work while scrapping those that don’t. We create a profitable digital marketing ecosystem.
What one piece of advice would you want to give to a new company regarding its digital marketing strategy?
Have one. Don’t just spray and pray. Digital marketing is a collection of smaller tactics. Find the ones that work for you, and outsource the rest to professionals. There are a lot of digital marketing companies out there. Find a good partner you can trust. And, as always, if you need help, you can find Local Search Solutions on the web pretty easily!
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I think I’ll be doing the exact same thing in 5 years…helping small and mid-sized businesses with digital marketing strategy, and getting a return on marketing in general.
