alliances in the enterprise: how brands + agencies can thrive & drive seo

Alliances in the Enterprise

Brands & Agencies: Improving SEO ModelsAdam Audette :: @audette

This talk has three parts

1. Evolution

2. State of the Union

3. Ideal Working Models

1. Evolution

SEO started here…

SEO started here…

(ok more like this guy)

(but this guy is cooler)

The roots of search engine optimization

Affiliate spam

Link spam

Cloaking

Churn and burn sites

Thin content

Reverse engineering the algorithm

Ranking obsession

Tactical cat and mouse

SEO is big $$$$$$$$

SEO becameinstitutionalized

RKG’s approach to modern SEO

User focused

Sustainable

Relevance

Focus on data

Focus on content

Customer retention & acquisition

Business intelligence

2. State of the Union

I want to grow the marketing budget..

In-house guy

and use an agency that doesn’t give me interns…

In-house guy

and actually understands my business.

In-house guy

I want to grow the agency…

Agency gal

and scale our teams and processes…

Agency gal

so we can attract great brands.

Agency gal

Diverging goals?

Brands

Agencies

Diverging goals?

Brands

Agencies

Need experts

Need to scale

Agency crux: execution gap

Brand crux: resource constraints

Agencies aren’t flexible enough

Brands aren’t intentional enough

Partnerships are the goal, but…

RFPs and staff churn are the norm

Brands need clear strategy and priorities

Agencies give lists of ‘to-dos’

What matters is what drives revenue.

Agencies need real bench strength

Brands need smart selection

It always comes down to two things

Brands

Agencie

s

Performance

Relationship

3. Ideal Working Models

Build from within

BRANDS

Be the bridge

BRANDS

Create flexible delivery models

AGENCIES

Don’t waste your client’s time

AGENCIES

Never outsource ‘link building’

BRANDS

Building links? Better know your s#!t.

AGENCIES

Agency Team Structures

Account Executive

Expert

Expert

Typical Agency Team Structure

Point person responsible for relationship

Not heavily client facing

Also primary sales function

Account Executive

Analyst

Analyst

Typical Agency Team Structure

Point person responsible for relationship

Often novice hires

Also primary sales function

Example RKG SEO Delivery Model:

Technical Global

Reporting Content

PMKey

Example RKG SEO Delivery Model:

Content Strategy

Social

AnalyticsComp. Insight

(shared)

Example RKG SEO Delivery Model:

Technical Content

Analytics Reporting

PM

Enterprise SEO is still evolving

Adam Audette@audette

Q & A