What Keeps You Up At Night About Online Marketing?

October 1st, 2007

A few months ago, I attended the EduWeb conference in Baltimore as an expert panelist and my agency, WebAdvantage.net, exhibited. For those of you who are not yet acquainted with my firm, WebAdvantage.net is a nine-year-old Maryland-based agency, and we’re one of the Mid-Atlantic’s premier search marketing and online advertising firms. Our strategic online marketing services include search engine optimization, paid search campaign management, social media and online public relations, lead generation and online media planning and buying. Our high-touch, collaborative, results-centric approach to client solutions has consistently garnered awards and a loyal client following, including such education clients as Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, Towson University, Harford Community College, Connections Academy and St. Timothy’s School.I’m a Cornell Arts & Sciences graduate with a major in Social Relations and a concentration in Communication Arts. The SBA recently named me 2007 “Small Business Person of the Year” for Maryland. I frequently write, speak or comment on the subject of online marketing and advertising for trade media, business publications and conferences. I author a bi-weekly column, “Online Media Buying Agency Strategies,” for ClickZ.com, a leading Internet advertising and marketing publication. I’m also the “resident” online marketing and advertising blogger for CityBizBlogs’ “Business Perspective on Online Marketing,” hosted by citybizlist, currently serving Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Atlanta. Perhaps you’d find my “How Some Football Stadiums Remind Me of Bad Web Sites,” posting amusing…and informative?

While attending the EduWeb conference, my team and I asked attendees to complete a comprehensive survey to get a clearer sense of the state and challenges of online marketing planning and execution for higher education. Shortly after the conference, I shared the results and my conclusions in my biweekly ClickZ column, and with conference attendees via email. What’s your reaction to my analysis? Please post your comments or send me a personal email.

As October’s guest blogger, I’ll try to cover some ground that hasn’t been touched on in a while. Recent guest bloggers have done a pretty thorough job of discussing Web 2.0 and social networking, so I think I’ll stay away from this topic. Are there any particular topics you’d like to know more about? Search marketing or paid lead generation perhaps? Cost justification of online marketing tactics? Overcoming limited resources and budgets? What else is on your mind? Please let this be an interactive dialogue where you voice your questions and concerns, and I can try to answer them. For the month of October, I’m here to help.

Hollis Thomases
President & CEO, WebAdvantage.net
hollis@webadvantage.net

Entry Filed under: eduWeb Conference, Marketing, Web 2.0, Branding, Blogs