A Visit from Google
I attended the Lansing Economic Club Luncheon at the Kellogg Center yesterday, and we were able to hear John Kelley, of Google Adwords to speak. Aside from the surprisingly good chicken lunch, it was very good. John primarily heads up the Google AdWords division, I believe the official title is Manager, Online Sales and Operations, and works in the Google office in Ann Arbor. John dida very good job of laying out Google’s history, direction, and current opportunities for advertising.
And he did it in a way that resonated with a group of business people that really don’t have an understanding of tech, yet of course use Google every day. The event had around 200 people in attendance. I am not sure who on the Economic Club was responsible for bringing John in, but it was a good move, and a great move for our new company.
Having him in front of that audience was a great way to heighten awareness to the advertising potential, and accountability, that Google and search marketing can deliver. My hope of course is that those in the audience may turn to Netvantage for assistance in setting up and/or managing their campaign. And again, my hats off to the foresight of the the Lansing Economic Club to bring in a top-line speaker on an important and innovative subject. (well, of course I am biased in how important it is 
Network, Network, NETwork
Well, shame on me. It has been two weeks since I have posted. We have been very busy at Netvantage Marketing. It seems to me that the business community and associations have a vast period of inactivity between July 1st and Labor Day, and then bam - I am going to Capital Area IT Council meetings, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce Bottom Line breakfasts, luncheons, and local business association meetings. Why? Well because we want to network, and pursue all avenues possible to spread the word on Netvantage Marketing. And I am guessing that we will be on this torrid pace until Thanksgiving - and then of course its “we’ll get to it after the Holidays”. But until then, lots of meetings and networking events, which should be a lot of fun.
Why network? Well for lots of reasons that you know. But this is not a post about why network to build leads. You can get that in something like the local paper’s business tips section. Besides the odd chance that we will gain a lead, we network to help build brand. Build brand? Yes, remember a brand is not your logo. A brand is what your various target audiences perceive of you. Is is totally controllable? Unless you can manipulate people’s minds, no. But can you contribute to it? Of course! Giving the right first impression when you network at events helps build your perception and resultant brand.
However, don’t forget to build your online brand. Online brand development is very key to your business. Thinking of the home page of your website as that first handshake and 45 second elevator pitch at a cocktail mixer will go a long way in the success of your website as an important part of your business model. At Netvantage, we are always looking at ways to drive more traffic to your site, with search engine marketing, and search engine optimization, and web analytics. However, first and foremost, before we can do our work, we also need to make sure that our client’s online handshake is strong enough, and that their website is able to NETwork. So if you are looking to generate more traffic to your site, be sure to take a good look at the site, and take the appropriate steps to develop the right online brand.
End of summer
Well, the unofficial end of summer is here. Here in Michigan, kids go back to school, legislators go back to doing what they do, and people tend to get more focused on work, and not what up north destination they will be camping at the upcoming weekend.
In my previous positions at Michigan State, this transition always seemed to happen the week before Labor Day, when classes start. However, most recently at the private sector Internet consulting firm I was at, you always saw it. All of a sudden, projects and initiatives they were unconsciously being put off get placed on the forefront. I think its just human nature. Of course, this mad push tends to go until just after Thanksgiving, and then you hear “we will get to it in the New Year” But that is another post for another day.
We had a very busy and productive summer at Netvantage Marketing. As many of you know, this was our first summer, and we have been very fortunate to gain several great clients. They have been a nice mixture of all of our services, which is good as we don’t want to get too focused in one area. We hosted a successful seminar in East Lansing, and hosted a non profit search engine optimization contest, which was won by the way by the American Red Cross Mid Michigan Food Bank. We made some media splashes, getting featured in the Lansing State Journal’s Business Section, as well as getting featured twice in Capital Gains Media. We have found all these wonderful friends on Twitter (I really didn’t know we were that popular), and made some great connections in the blogoshere of online marketing. And we joined lots of business associations, including the Web Analytics Association, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, Meridian Area Business Association, South Lansing Business Association, Mid Michgian Creative Alliance, and Michigan Business & Professionals Association.
So, we weren’t exactly hanging out at the Cedar Point wasting away our first summer in business. Yeah, maybe we had some fun, but it was a properous first summer, and we look forward to things getting even busier as the rest of the world comes back from the beach.
