Micro-moments: Are mobile ads changing the user journey?

With the right strategy, mobile ads can enhance the buyer’s journey because they encourage advertisers to provide helpful information at the right time in pivotal consumer decision-making micro-moments.

What exactly are “micro-moments”?

People want instantaneous access to information throughout their day. What’s a taco place that’s “near me”? Ok, the nearest one is less than 0.1km from me. How many calories does this box of poutine have? Oh, maybe I’ll have a sandwich and salad instead.

“More Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan. (Source: Inside AdWords: Building for the next moment)

The purchasing process is often spread across multiple devices. For instance, it could start on a mobile device, be continued on a tablet, and a purchase could then be completed on a laptop.

Here’s what I mean:

I’m waiting for my bus to arrive, so I get curious about the price of flights to Hawaii. I start searching on my mobile phone and click on the top ad while logged into my Google account. During my lunch break at work, I continue researching flight prices on my tablet and click on another ad, also logged into my Google account. Then, I purchase the tickets on my laptop at home that evening after being remarketed to, also logged into my Google account. Google tracks this process as a multi-channel conversion, which is shown in your AdWords account.

My search for flight prices at the bus stop and my lunch-time search on my tablet were both pivotal micro-moments. This cross-device path led to me being remarketed to and then purchasing. This is how the user journey has evolved.

“37% of mobile searches result in conversions” (Source: Google Canada Nielsen Mobile Search Moments 2015).

6 things you can do to deliver value to the user in micro-moments

1. Master the basics. No matter what the device, Google prioritizes ad and landing page relevance. Connect the content in your ad and on your landing page with the context of the searcher’s intent.

First, get to know the searcher’s pain points. Then, create your content based on those pains to satisfy the searchers needs at the right micro-moment.

2. Don’t just be present in these micro-moments; aim to help first and sell second. Help to solve the searchers query first with relevant information, in order to establish a presence and build some rapport. Then, think about conversions.
3. Use data from Google keyword tools to discover the moments that consumers need you most. Out of this research, find content gaps and build content to help answer the consumer’s questions. Identify what consumers are searching for and how you can help to answer their queries. If you notice on Google Trends that shoppers are searching for a brand comparison (e.g. brand A vs. brand B), you should then build some competitor comparison landing pages a competitive ad campaign bidding on these types of search queries.
4. Make use of ad extensions. I mean, really take ad extensions seriously! Use as many as you can, especially call extensions, sitelink extensions, and location extensions to shorten the steps as much as possible from research to purchase. Google will choose the extensions that are most relevant to the user’s search query, so the more you provide the better.
5. Aim to match the searcher’s intent to your ad. That’ll drive them to a specific landing page full of relevant, useful content relating to their search query.
   The beauty of ad extensions is that they make your ad bigger than the surrounding ads in SERPs and more noticeable to the searcher.
6. Mobile Preferred Creatives: 62% of respondents in the Mobile Search Moments 2015 study said that they noticed ads on a mobile device. When creating a new ad, check the mobile box in the device preference section to optimize the ad for mobile.
   

   What are your thoughts on micro-moments? Share them in the comments below!

   Further reading: Are Micro-Moments Changing the User Journey?

   Sources:
   Think With Google
   https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/i-want-to-go-micro-moments.html
   https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/zmot-why-it-matters-now-more-than-ever.html

   Click to access mobile-search-moments-canada.pdf

   Click to access Mobile-Search-Moments-Canada_research-study.pdf

   http://adwords.blogspot.ca/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html
   PPC Hero

Why You Should Be Excited About Social Media Marketing

Why should you be obsessed about social media marketing? Everyone has a personal brand, just like a company. The collective personal brand of everyone gives a human face and a human voice to your company’s brand.

Why You Should Be Excited About Social Media Marketing from David Wogan

5 Must-Attend Startup Marketing Events in Toronto

I’ve put together a list of marketing events for those who are either new to Toronto or are new to the start-up marketing scene in Toronto. Feel free to add any cool events that you’ve discovered as well!

• Growth Hacking TO – This is one of the best events I’ve been to in Toronto so far! It’s a monthly event aimed at those looking to learn how to build an audience and grow a userbase. Speakers and attendees share their lessons learned and have an open discussion by sharing growth marketing strategies. (#growthhackto)
• InboundTO – This monthly event is where inbound marketers share their expertise on topics around SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, marketing automation, UI/UX, etc. (#inboundTO)
• InboundCon – If you want to learn from the best digital marketers in Toronto, you cannot miss this annual conference in the Fall. InboundCon is an offspring of the InboundTO meetup group and is organized by the amazing people at Powered by Search.(http://inboundcon.com/)
• Startup Drinks – This monthly event is where all the startup peeps unwind, have a pint, and discuss the challenges they are facing. Plus, there’s an opportunity for startups to pitch their company to the group! It’s a perfect chance to get involved with the Tech Startup community in Toronto. (usually held in Hotel Ocho)
• Dx3 Canada – This two-day annual digital marketing conference and trade show is usually held in March. It’s focused around digital marketing, digital advertising, and digital retail and is a great way to learn from speakers from across North America.

Bonus: this is a great resource for finding out about startup events for the week:

• StartupNorth created this events calendar as a handy reference to see what’s going on in the Toronto startup community.

Did I miss your favorite event? Share it in the comments!

Image source:

“Toronto skyline” by mcaven, used under CC BY 2.0

Job Search Motivation Tips

Introduction

Maintaining a constant level of motivation is the deciding factor to achieve success in the job market. It’s very easy to feel discouraged when a job application doesn’t work out, which is why I want to share these 7 steps to help you win your job search battle!

Step 1: Create a to-do list and not-right-now list

To-do list

Just because you are “unemployed” doesn’t mean you don’t have a job. Your job search has now become your full-time role. Divide your time up by setting achievable tasks day-by-day, or even hour-by-hour. Split your time between applying for jobs and promoting yourself, through blogging and networking. Becoming unmotivated starts with the feeling that you are not accomplishing anything. Start accomplishing small things today to sustain your motivation levels.

Not-right-now list

Your to-do list should be reserved for day-to-day activities. To avoid your to-do list becoming cluttered, place any longer-term items in a not-right-now wish list . List any opportunities you discover along your job search. Now is the perfect time to dream of where you want to take your career.

Step 2: Develop your self-brand

Personal branding starts with developing a self-marketing plan. This consists of:

• Defining your target audience – e.g. hiring managers, CEO’s, etc.
• Conducting a competitor analysis for inspiration – e.g. other job seekers, research job search tactics, etc.
• Developing a plan of action – e.g. blog, create a promotional website, create a video resume, etc.

If you are looking for a marketing position, show employers how well you can market yourself. If you do this well, you are effectively showing them how well you will market their company.

Start reading branding blogs, such as the Branding Strategy Insider, to gain inspiration and branding knowledge. Download e-books intended for a business and apply it to your own job search, as if you are a company. The main point here is to think and act like a company and you will stand out.

Develop a 2-3 line elevator pitch that best describes what you’re interested in and where you want to take your career. You can use this pitch at networking events. This is a great article on TechCrunch that describes how to develop a pitch. Just replace the word “company” with your name.

Step 3: Network

As well as establishing an online presence, connect offline with professionals in your industry. Networking events are a great way to meet top level CEO’s and hiring managers, that may be inaccessible otherwise. There are tons of free events in most major cities – check out Meetup.com or Eventbrite.com. Not only will this keep you motivated, but you will learn how to perfect your pitch. And don’t forget to bring business cards!

Step 4: Create a resume that stands out

It’s worth investing time into this. Recruiting managers like to be excited about passionate candidates they can bring on-board. Your resume should scream “please share me” to a hiring manager.

Step 5: Make your search inbound

Help employers find you through Google search results. There may be several hundred candidates applying for the same position, so you need to get noticed. The best way to get found is to build an SEO plan around your job search. Employers generally look to their own network, when they need to fill a role. If you are easily found through Google and social media and have effectively displayed your skills, employers may actually reach out to you before they advertise an available position. Companies have began to see the benefits of using inbound marketing. Just as marketing has evolved into inbound, so has the job process.

Where to start?

• Create a WordPress blog and start blogging about your industry to build your online presence.
• Do some keyword research and start registering for keywords.
• Sign up for a BrandYourself.com profile, to improve your search engine ranking. This website will teach you to manage your personal SEO.
• Read this blog post for ways to use inbound tactics to stand out in the job market.

Step 6: Be persistent

Always follow-up with jobs that genuinely excite you. Send a gentle reminder to the hiring manager asking for an update on the status of your application. Learn how to use LinkedIn in your job search.

The bottom line is to never give up trying. Yes, looking for a job is tough, and at times you may feel like it’s going nowhere, but you may be one step away from success.

Step 7: Balance between inbound and outbound

Although an inbound process is a better way to get noticed and is the future of job seeking, you still need to dedicate time to applying to jobs through job search websites. Balance your time between attracting people organically and applying for jobs.

Conclusion – Measuring your success

Be open minded when it comes to feedback. Use both negative and positive feedback to adjust your plans. Don’t measure your success by the amount of resumes you blast out there. Success doesn’t come from aimlessly sending out dozens of resumes, since most recruiting managers don’t have the time to read through the hundreds of resumes they receive daily. Once you know what type of position you desire, target your search to reach the eyes of people who can help you achieve this goal.

What’s next?

Do you need help with inbound marketing for your company?

Are you looking for the next addition to your marketing team? I can help bring your company up-to-date with SEO and social media. If my knowledge and blogging skills have impressed you, click here to schedule an interview with me. If you would like to learn more about me, click here.

Apart from my own job search experience, I gained some inspiration to write this post from this video by Brian Halligan:

SEO: How It Works And Why It’s Better Than Paid Search

Introduction – How SEO Works

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a necessary step to bring visitors to your website and to generate leads. Search engines exist to organize the clutter of the internet. When a search term is entered into Google, every relevant website is battling for user clicks and a higher PageRank. This post is intended to guide you through the process of implementing and understanding SEO practices and help get your website noticed by relevant prospects.

To start this journey, we must understand that search engines are driven by Context and Link Value.

Context

Context refers to your website’s overall search engine readiness, which helps Google rank your page for searchers. Ranking is based on the following attributes of a page:

On-page SEO

On-page SEO is everything inside of your website that signals to search engines what you’re page is about.

Stage 1: Develop a keyword list

Keywords are a list of words and phrases used to describe your business or website. Keyword research involves thinking like a prospect customer to determine common search terms. When developing your keyword list, consider:

• Overall search volume:
  • Pick a search term that has enough people searching for that term (volume) that can bring visitors to your website.
• Keyword competition:
  • Start with terms that you know you can rank #1. After you start ranking #1 for basic keywords, start competing for more keywords to get more and more traffic. Think of this process as a keyword war: the more you advance in the keyword “field”, the more “land” you occupy.

It is uncommon for people to continue onto the second page of Google search results. So, make it your goal to be on the first page for your top keyword terms.

Stage 2: Tools to help you keyword research:

SpyFu researches the keywords used by any website. This is a great tool to determine the competition for a keyword. Click the logo below to find out more:

SEOmoz helps with every stage of your SEO tasks. Click the logo below to find out more:

Stage 3: Page Titles

The page title suggests the topic of a page. It is the strongest signal that you can send to search engines. Place your primary keyword first, followed by your secondary keywords. Since you are going to rank for your brand name relatively easy, structure your titles like this:

Example:

Never title your home page as “Home”. This is the ultimate sin in the world of SEO, because it doesn’t signal the context of your page to Google.

Stage 4: Meta descriptions

Although SEO techniques will help you rank higher, it is ultimately a human who will be decide to click on a link or not. Use a balance of effective keywords and appealing descriptions. Consider your page description as important as a title of a chapter in a book, or a headline in a newspaper. You want to use relevant searched keywords, along with making it intriguing enough for someone to click on it.

Stage 5: Make use of meta tags

Make use of meta tags (e.g. <h1>, <p>) for headings and page content. When a visitor is skimming your blog post, headings visually organize your post for the reader. Search engines can’t see the visual layout of your website, but reads your source code instead. To help search engines understand what is a heading and a paragraph, you should organize your post using the appropriate meta tags.

Stage 6: Add image descriptions

Unlike humans, search engines cannot see images. Search engines only read the source code. Make it easy for search engines to navigate your images by including keywords in the alt text of your source code. This alt text also appears when a visitor hovers over your image.  To do this, add a clear description using relevant keywords in the alt text of your image. Below is the alt text of the image above:

Stage 7: Simplify your URLs

As a search engine crawls a web page, it attempts to match searched terms with keywords in a URL, as well as other aspects on a page. Include your most important keywords in your URLs to make them keyword rich. If your page is about Irish sports, and your URL is in this format: Change it to this:

Link Value

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is everything external of your website that signals to search engines the relevance of your page. Search engines award relevant websites SEO-credits during the ranking process:

Link building

This can range from contacting influential bloggers, to interviewing subject thought-leaders, or inviting guest bloggers to post on behalf of you. The entire purpose to this is to build your inbound links from their site to yours. These inbound links are valued based on a number of factors:

Authority

Authority is the amount of trust a search engine places on a particular webpage based on the traffic volume from linked site. It is defined by the number and power of inbound links coming to your webpage. A trustworthy site like Mashable that generates thousands of views per day would raise your SEO value an incredible amount, let alone increase your click through rate from Mashable. A smaller blogger with less of a following would increase your SEO value, but to a lesser degree.

No-follow or do-follow

This is information in the source code of a page to include the inbound link (called a pingback). If a search engine sees a no-follow attribute, it does not pass the SEO-credit for that link: meaning that link does not benefit anyone as it has no value. The purpose of this is to prevent black hat techniques such as link farming.

Anchor text

This is the underlined text that is clickable. It is similar to a hashtag in Twitter that signals a certain word is important.

Conclusion: How SEO (Organic) is a better investment than paid search

Search engine optimization is a long term investment that will always reward you. Paid search is a great way to promote your website initially to appear at the top of search results, but it is a short term investment. Once money has been invested in paid search, it is gone and will only give you a return on investment when a certain predefined number of impressions or clicks have been reached.

So, I hope that this post has convinced you to invest in organic search and has helped to provide you with the guidelines to start the process.

What’s next?

Do you need help with SEO for your company?

Are you looking for the next addition to your marketing team? I can help bring your company up-to-date with SEO and social media. If my knowledge and blogging skills have impressed you, click here to schedule an interview with me. If you would like to learn more about me, click here.

Where to learn more

I would highly recommend to invest in this book by the co-founders of HubSpot: “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. SEO is an integral step for getting found by prospect customers. If you would like to learn more, watch this video (SEO stuff starts at 10:44 to 17:27 minutes into the video).

To Pinterest or not to Pinterest, that is the B2B question

Introduction

With 48.7 million users, Pinterest is often overlooked as a beneficial platform for driving inbound visitors to a B2B website. Pinterest is a graphic sharing platform that allows users to share content through a theme-based collection. Originally just for personal use, Pinterest has become increasingly popular for businesses to acquire new leads. If you are confused whether or not to use Pinterest for your business, ask the same question as Hamlet – except in modern terms: “To Pinterest or Not to Pinterest: That is the B2B question”.

Yes to Pinterest

Increase inbound traffic to your site

Consider every pin as the front page of a magazine. The reader is screening the page of catchy headlines to find the most interesting article to read. Your objective is to spur curiosity and encourage viewers to “read more” through your pins. You are competing in the visual space that is Pinterest. Just like a magazine, when the visitor selects a catchy headline, they can click on that pin to be redirected to your business website. You should convert this traffic into leads through a dedicated landing page.

Boost your search engine ranking

Companies have become more and more reliant on organic search results for client acquisition. Through developing and constantly modifying a keyword strategy, a company can improve their ranking in search results. Pinterest has a very high ranking in Google, which can help your website get found.

No to Pinterest

Not all audiences are on Pinterest

The purpose of Pinterest is to engage with your community. Make sure your industry has a Pinterest presence, otherwise there is very little value gained from creating an account. While Pinterest is an extremely effective platform for generating leads, businesses make up a minority of the Pinterest population, although this population is growing. Most content shared on Pinterest is focused on lifestyle – recipes, fitness, fashion.

Need a huge inventory of resources with visual content

The two barriers to creating a Pinterest account are content and visuals – LOTS of content and visuals. Every pin needs a visual and every visual needs content to link to it. This process takes time to develop and often dissuades companies from considering Pinterest.

Conclusion

As with any other social media platform, you need to develop an objective before you jump into the world of Pinterest. Be aware of who you are targeting and develop content that will appeal to this audience. By appealing to the interests of your audience, you are increasing your chances of being repinned and increasing your visibility on this platform. Keep in mind that you probably won’t see results immediately, but if you are agile and respond to your audience needs, you will see an increase in your inbound efforts.

What’s next?

Are you looking for the next addition to your marketing team? If my awesome skills have impressed you, click here to schedule an interview with me. If you would like to learn more about me, click here.

10 Steps to a Better LinkedIn Group

LinkedIn presents excellent networking opportunities for both businesses and individuals. Setting up a LinkedIn Group for your company is an extremely useful step that brings your employees, fans, clients, and prospect clients together in one place. The hardest part is attracting people to join your group. Whether you already have a group set up or are considering setting one up, follow these steps to make your LinkedIn Group more effective:

Creating a group:

Step 1: Create an industry group, rather than a company group

A company page is for your fans, but a group is designed to connect a community around a shared interest. Since your LinkedIn Group will be represented by your members’ LinkedIn profile via a group badge, you need to ask yourself: “What badge would your target market like to have featured on their LinkedIn profile?” Something like “XYZ Company” won’t add any value to your member’s profile, as not everyone may have heard of your company. On the other hand, a group called “Java Developers Network” will show people that this person is interested in Java code.

Step 2: Get Found

Develop a list of keywords that will show up in your target group’s search results. When I moved to Toronto, I used keywords such as “Digital Marketing Toronto” and “Social Media Toronto” to find networking groups. I found the “Toronto Digital Marketing Professionals” group, which is operated by Critical Mass, an international digital marketing agency. Having the Digital Marketing badge featured on my LinkedIn profile communicates a few things: 1) I’m interested in digital marketing, 2) I’m located in Toronto. This provides much more valuable information to my LinkedIn profile visitors than a Critical Mass badge. Not to say that having the Critical Mass badge wouldn’t be useful to have on my profile, but it limits the interest of prospect members joining. Not everyone knows who or what Critical Mass stands for, which requires further research and effort to understand that not many will do this research. Also, more people are willing to join a group if it is going to benefit their industry. Your aim should be to attract prospect clients to your group. Your current clients and fans needs are already met with your company page, so your group should focus on providing  valuable information to industry professionals. When setting up or modifying your group name, think about the interests of prospective members considering joining your group. Put yourself in their shoes and complete this sentence: “I’m a proud member of…”

Step 3: Call to action

So, you have your LinkedIn Group up and ready to go, and you’re nearly there. The next step is to capture your group members information.

How do you do that?

Buy a domain for your LinkedIn Group: www.YourLinkedInGroup.com. This will allow you to create a community around your brand by providing extra information and resources on this website. Get people to share their contact information with your company by offering incentives, such as free eBooks and “how to” guides to help your members do their job better.

How does this extra information benefit your company?

After capturing your members information, you are now in possession of a prospective client list. This is how inbound marketing works. Your members have already shown an interest in your company’s industry by joining your group. Use this list as a sales conversion sheet.

Promoting a group:

Step 4: Utilize your existing network

The tough part is to attract people to join your group. Nobody wants to join a LinkedIn group with very few members. Being a group administrator, you need to find a way to overcome this. Essentially, your group has to “cross the chasm” from the early adopters to early majority in order to succeed (Read more about Geoffrey Moore’s Diffusion of Innovation here).

How do you do this?

Invite your existing connections by developing a short pitch outlining the benefits of membership. Be careful not to spam. Your pitch should be 2-3 lines, where recipients can read it in 20-30 seconds. Your name is an important element of your pitch, as people will want to be part of a group that adds value to their profile.

Step 5: Promote your group across all your communications

Get your message out there by promoting your group in your email signature, on your website and blog, and on all your social media accounts.

Step 6: Invite industry experts

People like to see proof of success before making the commitment to join a group. If your prospects see that a big industry player is a member of your group, your group will appear to be more influential and people will be more inclined to join.

Managing a group’s value:

Step 7: Meet online, connect offline

Now that you have a sufficient following, you should organize a meetup so you can engage with your members offline. This meetup should revolve around your brand. A networking event allows your company to share its knowledge with the community and create long-term connections.

Step 8: Educate your members

Use this LinkedIn presence as an opportunity to post informational content and resources that display your company’s expertise.

Step 9: Avoid these common pitfalls:

• You can only choose your name a maximum of 5 times, so choose carefully every time you change it.
• Upon setting up your group, choose to have a closed group for several reasons:
  • It encourages people to join the group because otherwise they won’t be able access the information.
  • By having information exclusive to members only, it gathers more members, which increases the groups credibility. This creates a snowball effect of members joining your group. 
  • It allows you to see the demographics of who’s interested in your content, and potentially who would be interested in using your company’s services.
  • When setting up your group, be sure to select “Create a Members-Only Group”:

• Create group rules from the beginning to maintain the original focus of your group. Your group rules should define the goals and objectives of the group. Modify your group rules as your community evolves.
• Customize your email templates to thank them for joining your group and suggest ways for them to add value to the group. The sooner your members post something, the sooner they feel connected to the mission of the group.

• Make use of subgroups to add extra value to each sub-sector of your audience, as subgroups don’t count towards the LinkedIn 50 group limitation.

Step 10: Review this to-do list:

• Categorize your followers
  • Analyse your current followers. Start with your LinkedIn company followers and Twitter followers.
  • Decide where you want to go, who you want to attract, and develop a list of keywords that your intended audience will use when searching. The purpose of this group is to attract a wider audience.
• Get inspired by the groups that are out there: http://www.linkedin.com/search-fe/group_search?pplSearchOrigin=GLHD
• If you haven’t created a group yet, create one here: http://www.linkedin.com/createGroup?displayCreate=
• Check the URL availability of your intended group name: http://www.domain.com/
• Customize your email signature to promote your group and your social media accounts (I recommend using WiseStamp).
• Treat every form of social media in a holistic approach – each one should be connected and compliment each other. Don’t treat them in isolation.

Conclusion

Don’t expect your group to suddenly be fixed after attempting these steps. Schedule your goals on a calendar and monitor your progress. Keep experimenting until you find the correct formula that grants you success. The important thing is that you do not give up trying. “One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” – Henry Ford

Happy LinkedIn Grouping!

4 Inbound Tactics to Help You Stand Out in the Job Market

Introductory

I have been in the U.S. for over 10 months now and have spent a significant amount of that time searching for jobs. I’m practically an
expert at being a prospective employee. One thing I’ve learned throughout this job hunting journey is that the traditional job application methods are no longer effective. Repetitively sending out a resume to dozens of potential employers is not only daunting, but also yields few results. It makes no sense to approach such an evolved job market in a boring, traditional manner.

From these experiences, I have discovered how to successfully navigate this competitive job market through these 4 steps:

1. Self-Analysis & Creating a Self-Brand

Start by identifying your core strengths through self-analysis. This could entail contemplating your past work experiences, asking peers what they think you do best, or even merely writing down your skills and passions on a piece of paper. It may take several months for you to be able to define yourself by a short pitch or a couple of adjectives, but by knowing exactly what you have to offer a company will make you a far more employable person. Defining yourself allows you to narrow in on your target job and prevents you from wasting time with companies that aren’t a proper fit for you. If you want to conduct this exercise more thoroughly, you may want to write up a marketing plan about yourself. To see an example of my rhyming pitch, click here to see my video.

After this analysis, take your pitch and descriptive adjectives that you’ve used to define yourself and turn them into your key messages for your promotional campaigns. This will become your self-branding broadcast through tools in the online and offline world.

2. Broadcast Yourself – Online and Offline Networking

We are entering into a new era where job applicants must now launch themselves into the job market in the same manner that a start-up company launches itself to the public. You must monitor and control all your public messages, much like a CEO monitors their own company. This step involves putting your marketing plan into action by broadcasting yourself using both online and offline methods.
Offline resources can take the form of attending networking events, to brainstorming various PR tactics to promote yourself. The key here is to merge both your online and offline efforts in order to properly engage your audience. Your goal should be to create remarkable content – i.e. content that others will remark about and share.

For online publicity, you can do so much more. You can advertise yourself through your LinkedIn page, Twitter, About.me, BrandYourself.com, WordPress, and through many other forms of social media – check out NameChk.com to investigate other forms of social media you can utilize.

Whatever you choose to do, try and make it original. When you devise an idea, research to see if anyone else has done something similar. Then, benchmark these “competitor” ideas against your own idea and combine the best attributes of each idea.

For instance, when I was initially applying for a position at HubSpot, I knew that I needed to stand out from other applicants after seeing Sam Mallikarjunan’s HireMeHubSpot.com Campaign. I watched Sam’s creative video, along with hundreds of other application videos, and sought out advice from my peers at networking events. By studying previously successful ideas, I developed a successful concept for my own video, which was extremely well received by the HubSpot community.

3. Reverse the Job Process – Get Found with an Inbound Approach

Searching for open positions can be time consuming and frustrating, let alone very old fashioned. Your time is wasted while waiting for a response for your application to be processed and it decreases your motivation at a time you need it most.

Reversing the traditional job process into an inbound job search allows you to “get found” by prospective employers, as you are filtering your search with positions that really interest you.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is your best friend when it comes to “getting found” on search engine results pages (SERP). The first step is to develop a list of keywords that best describes you and your desired position. Incorporate this list into your blog posts, LinkedIn page, tags for your videos, and basically any content that you publish online. This list will change over time so consider your keyword list making as an ongoing activity.

4. Be Persistent

Never doubt your abilities and never give up. Small incremental steps will get you to where you want to be. Think long term about your search: what you do now, no matter how small, will be part of the larger picture later on in your career search. I never gave up one day in my job search and I do not plan to now. Persistence helped me last Friday to meet my 2 heroes in marketing: Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. And I feel that it is through this persistence that will eventually get me a job in the U.S.

My biggest piece of advice to anyone job seeking is to always put plans into action. It can be very stimulating to come up with a great idea, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking it’s far-fetched and never implementing it. If you want the job of your dreams, fit time into your schedule to create your own job campaign. Never write off your ideas as being “stupid”. It may be your craziest idea that gets you closer to your goal. But it is persistence that will help you to achieve your goal.

This has been just my experience and my thoughts on job seeking. Help other job seekers by sharing and discussing your job search tactics in the comments section below.

Do you want to know more about my efforts during my job search? Send me a message via Twitter (@wogandavid) or add me on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/wogandavid)

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This video is part of my self-marketing plan which aims to promote myself as a notable candidate for a marketing position in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco.

Please share this video with anyone you know who can help me find a position in one of these locations. Even if you’re connections aren’t in these areas, someone in your network may know someone who can help me.

The purpose of this video is to gain as much exposure for myself as possible to help me achieve my dream job. Thank you for your help and consideration!

Visit my LinkedIn group page: http://linkd.in/KkaWyR

My LinkedIn profile: http://linkd.in/t5f3vX

Follow me on Twitter @wogandavid

Check out my promotional website https://wogandavid.wordpress.com/

Have a peek at my website http://about.me/davidwogan

And shoot me an email at Wogan.David1@gmail.com

Music Credits: SeReGaMa – Sun Rays – http://saregama-music.blogspot.com

Shipping up to Boston

I have been here in Boston for 3 exciting weeks. I fell in love with the city once I got here. The mindset of people is one of a can-do spirit and one of great hope.

For those reading this blog, I’ll give a bit of background on myself. I was born and bred in Dublin, Ireland. I entered university in one of Ireland’s most exhilarating times, during the Celtic Tiger. When I was in school, I remember feeling the excitement of the boom and looking forward to entering into this economic environment. I watched many documentaries on the Celtic Tiger, one of which was by an Irish Economist, David McWilliams: In Search of the Pope’s Children. This was a film documentary inspired by a book. Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland in 1979 was the reason behind the title, and this was to document a new generation of people. In 2006, when I was in 6th year in school, Dublin was forested with construction cranes. Money was freely being given on loans. 100% mortgages were being sold like wild fire. The good times would never end. Unfortunately, greed killed the “Tiger” before my education was over. Now, Ireland is faced with a tough economic period with a high unemployment rate, sitting at 14.3% in July 2011. Rather than immigration fueling the Irish workforce during the Celtic Tiger, emigration is highly soaring. All is not bad. This is still an amazing period for Ireland. During the Celtic Tiger, people were not grounded in their actions. The recession forced people not to spend foolishly. The recession has also allowed graduates, such as myself, to explore the world. It also gives Ireland a hopeful future when these same graduates return back to Ireland with the knowledge of their explorations.

Currently, Ireland boasts the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Asia) offices of Facebook, Google, and Microsoft; as well as a broad portfolio of financial services companies. For such a small island in Europe, the Irish have had a big impact on the world. In my opinion, as a group of people, we have an unstoppable attitude. During my time in Boston so far, I have met so many Irish people (whether through heritage or direct from Ireland) that have been so helpful and encouraging. I feel that Boston is more Irish than Ireland itself in terms of embracing the culture. But, I suppose this goes with any nationality when they are abroad.

My plan for being here in Boston is to exercise my networking capabilities and to learn, the latter being more important to me. There are opportunities in Ireland, but from my 3 weeks in the USA, I realize there are many more outside of Ireland. Personally and professionally, I have already learned a lot and I realize how much more there is to learn. My plan is to find an exciting job that will challenge my skill set and create additional elements to professional self. Steve Jobs advised graduates of Stanford University to find what you love and not to settle. Richard Branson, in his autobiography, wrote about the love he had for what he did, which added to his success. To quote Robert Kiyosaki:  “Sight is what you see with your eyes, vision is what you see with your mind.” My vision is to be successful and happy in my career. I believe that progression in anything occurs when people love what they do and this fosters people to go that extra mile that creates development. I am entering a journey to seek and find my passion. Follow me on this journey.