Interview with Casie Gillette ahead of SMX West in San Jose
Could you tell us something about your life, family? Where were you born?
Sure! I grew up outside of Rochester, NY, which if you know anything about the area, you know we have two seasons - hot and humid or snowing. It was pretty great though. Small town, close family and good friends to grow up with.
What education did you get? Something connected with marketing or not?
I ended up with a degree in Advertising and Public relations. I had big ambitions of being the spokesperson for some huge company…then realized that sounded horrible. Imagine having to be the PR person for BP in 2010. Ugh!
When and why did you start your Internet marketing activity?
Like a lot of people in the SEO industry, I sort of fell into it. In 2004, I moved to Raleigh just for the heck of it and ended up connecting with a guy who worked at a search marketing company. Next thing I know, I have a job in SEO, something I knew NOTHING about. Turns out, I loved it.
Now you are the Online Marketing Manager at Grasshopper. Tell us some things about your company and the services you provide.
Grasshopper really is an amazing company (and I’m not just saying that cause I work there haha). We offer a virtual phone system that basically allows small businesses to have a professional phone system with 800 numbers, extensions, voicemail, etc. for a low cost. It’s a nice thing to have when you are starting out. The great thing about the company is they truly care about entrepreneurs and seeing them succeed.
What are the advantages of in-house work compared to working at an agency, or in collective team?
While I love the variety you get working at an agency or consulting firm, the biggest advantage is the ability to get stuff done quickly. It’s amazing to make a recommendation and then see it implemented that day. I’m very fortunate to work for a company that is not only forward thinking but pretty quick on their toes.
You have been in the digital market more than 7 years. How has it changed till nowadays? What critical changes are waiting for us in the nearest 5 years?
I think the funniest thing is that when I started, I spent my days submitting clients to thousands of link directories and writing crappy content that was just for the search engines. We ran PPC campaigns and bought banner ads but those things were so much less accessible. Today there are so many channels and they are right at your fingertips and easy to use. Plus, you are able to really target your ads now through things like retargeting and behavioral targeting. It’s amazing!
As for the next five years…yikes, I don’t know! Search, social, PR…they are already so entwined, I only see that becoming truer. One thing I always say is that despite all the new mediums and the changes in how people find your business, when it comes down to it, you still need to offer a good product or service, you have to be able to identify and reach your market and you have to figure out a way to get your customers talking about you (in a positive way of course).
In your professional experience, what source is easier to get traffic from – search or social media?
Ha. Good question! For us, it’s search. But social does drive a lot of traffic. The thing is, there’s a difference between traffic and GOOD traffic. We have a blog post that’s hit Stumbleupon a few times and has resulted in over 100,000 visits. How many conversions has it driven? Maybe one. Search kills it for us in terms of good, qualified traffic.
Speaking of search, what are the main advantages and benefits of local search compared to global search? Does it provide better conversion rate?
It depends on what you are selling. If you are a service or a retail store that only serves a particular area, it’s pretty amazing to be able to target that particular area. But if you serve multiple states, cities, countries, etc., localized search results can make it a lot harder. You have to figure out a way to be able to get into those local results. Luckily there are companies that help you do just that.
On the 29th of February, we will be glad to hear your speech. It will be about brand building, social media influence and viral techniques in the scope of SEO strategy. Could you share with us some secrets about your prospective speech?
Secrets…hmmm…ok but I’ll have to kill you after. ☺ Right now, there are so many different aspects to search and the way people find you that you can no longer rely solely on traditional SEO. I’m going to show the different things we’ve done at Grasshopper to stand out, in particular, videos, customer outreach and co-marketing partnerships.
They say that different social factors (likes, retweets, +1) will influence a lot the site ranking in Google and Bing in 2012. Do you agree with this statement?
Definitely. SEOMoz and SEL have both put out articles recently confirming this is already happening.
What do you expect from attending SMX West 2012?
I am so excited! I haven’t been to a major search conference since pre-Twitter days and I feel like Twitter has given me the opportunity to get to know a lot of the people who are going to be there…I’m excited to actually meet some of them in real life! Oh yeah, and the content is going to be amazing. I’m excited to see what other people are doing and what’s next in search and social.
Please, try to draw a verbal image of the successful modern digital marketer? How do you imagine him/her?
A couple of years ago I decided that I didn’t want to be known just as an SEO. I needed to get experience in paid search, blogging, social, email and so on and so forth. The reason being, the digital marketer of today and tomorrow needs to know how all of these things work together to form one unified online marketing strategy.
What is your personal secret of success?
Oh man. I wish I had one. If I can give any piece of advice when it comes to being successful in the online marketing world, it’s never stop learning. Stay on top of what’s happening, try new things & don’t be afraid to be wrong.
According to your professional point of view, what changes are waiting for SEO strategies in 2012?
I’m not sure we are going to see anything crazy in 2012 but I do think we’ll see (and already are seeing) personalization playing a much bigger role in SEO. That’s why it’s important to be doing these other things and getting your customers to talk about you, recommend you, tweet you, etc.
Now we would like to ask several personal questions.
Your desk book? – I am currently reading UnMarketing and I love it. One book we give everyone here is Raving Fans. Definitely worth a read.
People you hold up as an example? – Way too many. Jill Whalen is like the top of the ladder when it comes to SEO and she’s just so nice! I would also have to say Lisa Barone. I’ve never met her but she is one of my favorite people to follow in the online marketing world. She has created a presence that is smart, funny, and she just seems to kick ass.
Mac or PC? – I’m still a PC gal.
iPhone or Android? – Android. But only because I feel like I’m just not meant to own an iPhone. My contracts and dead phones have never aligned with iPhone releases. Maybe 2012 will be the year.
Favorite brand? – My favorite brand of late is PretzelCrisps. I love the guerilla type marketing they are doing. We tweeted about them and next thing I know they showed up at the office with bags of Pretzel Crisps, coupons and koozies. I buy them all the time just because of that (well, and they are tasty).
Wishes for 2012? – For Google to stop trying to make me use Google+.
Thanks a lot for this interview! We wish you to show your best during SMX West 2012 sessions! See you soon!
Bizzteams.com
- Categories:
- Search Engine Optimization
Get Our News, Everywhere!
-
-
-
