In a world where an online presence can make or break a business, you can’t afford to leave your internet marketing on autopilot. Cut-from-the-cloth websites, ads and marketing copy doesn’t set your company apart, especially when your competitors are using the same pattern.
You need a whole new approach. Custom-made marketing materials inspired by the way your company works. A website that reflects your company’s unique appeal, targeted to your specific audience, with detailed reports on marketing performance. A traditional print company can’t deliver that. It’s time to cut the Yellow Pages from your marketing spend.
Click Optimize has created cutyp.com to expound on our firm belief that the Yellow Pages can’t offer your business the online exposure it needs to succeed. In the web’s rapidly-changing environment, your marketing strategy needs to evolve. Adapt. Stand out.
We can help you get there. Visit cutyp.com to learn more.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be introducing you to the Click Optimize team through a series of posts. I sat down with my co-workers here at our Raleigh offices and asked them some quick questions so you could get to know all of us a little better. Ready to meet your marketing team? We’ll start with Tim Payne, President of Click Optimize:
Name: Tim Payne
Title: President
Hometown: Greensboro, NC. Been in Raleigh for 5 years now.
Favorite book: Chet Holmes’ The Ultimate Sales Machine
Favorite movie: Forrest Gump
Favorite food: BBQ shrimp
Best part of your job: Meeting new people
One piece of marketing advice you’d like to give clients: To reach your company’s full internet marketing potential, it takes constant attention, effort and refinement.
Favorite example of a successful marketing campaign: E*Trade’s baby commercials…especially this one:
The Internet is staggeringly powerful, incredibly pervasive, rapidly growing (and not likely to stop). It’s a tool of empowerment, for individuals and businesses alike. How will you use it?
That’s right – Click Optimize is looking to add another member to our team. Think you might be a fit? Check out the details below, and if you’re still up to the challenge, apply to info@clickoptimize.com.
Associate Project Services Manager
This full-time (40 hr/wk) position would handle the following tasks on an ongoing basis:
Oversee project management on small-scale Web development projects. Also, provide support to Lead Project Manager on an as-needed basis for ongoing, large-scale Web development projects.
Manage all maintenance cases and service requests submitted by existing clients via the Web, email, or phone. The Associate Project Services Manager will be tasked with prioritizing incoming maintenance requests and then assigning maintenance tasks to support staff accordingly. The Associate Project Services Manager will manage communication with the client, gathering relevant information or materials necessary to assist the support staff in successfully completing maintenance cases.
Determine needs for new, value-added services for existing clients by conducting periodic client account reviews. This includes:
Courtesy call 10 business days after Website launch for informal feedback gathering
Courtesy call after 6 months to gauge need for new/add-on services and subsequently setting an appointment with the client to discuss those needs
Keeping track of all client service expiration dates, including domain expiration & yearly hosting plan expiration, and contacting the client to renew these services 30 days before expiration
Manage all invoicing and accounts receivable for client Web development projects and Website maintenance cases. The Associate Project Services Manager would be tasked with keeping track of incoming payments, outstanding payments, overdue payments, and any tacit issues involving client billing. S/he would also be tasked with keeping the President and Project Manager informed of billing issues on an ongoing basis.
Relevant skills:
Customer service and account management experience in a business-to-business setting required.
Previous project management experience, including working with budgets and timelines, is required.
Previous experience with Web development and/or online marketing services is required.
Ability to communicate effectively and clearly with clients and fellow team members is imperative.
Familiarity with Quickbooks is a plus.
Experience using online customer relationship management software to manage client accounts and tasks. Experience using Zoho CRM is a plus.
Knowledge of the latest Web trends and technologies and strong desire to learn about emerging Web trends.
As a young guy I ran around with a funny crowd of characters. We loved fast music and valued personal freedom. As a general rule our t-shirts were black, our appearance was unkempt and our record collections were huge. It was an unruly clan that had no hierarchy and was devoted to fun, great music and the perpetuation of the ideology of punk. Our soundtrack wasn’t The Sex Pistols as much as it was Fugazi, Kid Dynamite, Against Me! and The Bouncing Souls. It wasn’t about nihilism as much as it was about creating an enclave of DIY ethics, authenticity and mutual support. Reflecting recently, I realized that the reason social media makes so much sense to me now was because I learned all the essential aspects of it ten years ago from the punk rock community.
DIY
In my punk days we did it all ourselves. We made our own t-shirts using spray paint, stencils and clothes picked up from dollar stores. We recorded our own records in the basements of our friends’ homes and burned copies of it to distribute at shows we organized in living rooms and VFWs. These days I’m using this same guerrilla style in the professional world.
This aesthetic works for social media because its quick and dirty. You can blast out fresh content to your audience using crude tools like Flip Minos, iPhones or laptops. You edit it yourself and put it up on the blog you manage. This is the very essence of “Do It Yourself” and the emphasis is on speed and having control of what you create. It’s about keeping it authentic.
AUTHENTICITY
Punk rock kids are not known for being forgiving. When a band would roll into town with a smoke machine, professional equipment and a tour manager we would snicker. This wasn’t punk! Too much production on an album? Not punk! Trying too hard to fit the mold? Still not punk!
The key was to be natural and be yourself. That came across in how the people we interacted with presented themselves and acted. It was clear who was out to become a rock star and those who really cared about the community. I’m sure you’ve come across sharks in the social media waters. The most successful folks in this industry are personable, real and knowledgeable. They stick to what they know and offer real value to their audience.
MUTUAL SUPPORT
I can’t tell you the number of awful shows I’ve been to and the piles of CDs I own for bands that played less than 10 shows and knew less than five chords. Why did I bother to plunk down my cash for a seemingly worthless product? I supported these bands because they were my friends. We all supported each other.
In the social media realm there is intense competition for attention. Without someone plugging your blog on their podcast, retweeting what you post or blasting an email to their list about your webinar, you don’t stand much of a chance. I try and support the people in my sphere that I feel are excellent human beings and that provide expertise with regard to their core competency. Punk rock is about community and so is social media.
Social (Media) Distortion
Today I’m a lot more mellow and even wear a tie to work (sometimes). I’ve still got tour stories, silkscreened posters and the ideals of my old life underneath my professional veneer. It brings a smile to my face to inject a little punk into the social media campaigns I work on and to see the parallels that connect the two seemingly disparate worlds. Feel free to link up to me on Blip.FM or on Twitter to talk punk, social media or to request a photo of me with a mohawk!
Our graphic design guru Andy Waldrop walks us through some of his favorite sites and explains what makes their design stellar. Click Optimize Podcast 1.1 from Nick Miller on Vimeo.
Posted on October 28th, 2010 by Hannah
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