Following the Penguin update, there has been a real shift in the digital marketing industry towards strategies and tactics that are more defensible in the long-term. This presentation uncovers the ways that BlueGlass has responded to this changing market and how we've developed a business model that will help our clients not only to drive results in the short term, but to build an online foundation that can weather algorithmic changes into the future. We discuss the challenges we've faced in making a transition towards this much more powerful model, and give tips for agencies looking to make a similar change.

1. Redefining Business Models
in a Post-Penguin World
Greg Boser
President
BlueGlass Interactive
http://www.blueglass.com
@GregBoser

2. About BlueGlass
BlueGlass is a full service digital
marketing agency. BlueGlass was
formed with the goal of providing
high quality services that deliver
real, clear, results.

3. About Me
Spent 14 years in a consultant/small
boutique agency environment
primarily focused on organic SEO

4. About Me
Joined BlueGlass as SVP of Search
Services by way of an acquisition in
October of 2010.

5. About Me
March of 2011 took on the role of
President of Products &
Services, and focused on the task of
integrating the Mash up.

6. About Me
Dropped the “Products & Services” part
in January 2012 so I could:
A) Fit my title in the PubCon speaker registration
form. (Brett still believes in character limits)
B) Spend more time working on the Biz Dev side of
things with our VP of Excitement, Loren Baker.

8. Google Goes Completely Insane
Google Launches Caffeine
in June of 2010

9. Google Goes Completely Insane
Size of index explodes

10. Google Goes Completely Insane
New automated filtering
can’t keep up

11. Google Goes Completely Insane
Onslaught of “poor quality”
articles floods the web

12. Google Goes Completely Insane
October of 2010 Google rolls out
an excessive localization tweak

13. Google Goes Completely Insane
February 2011 Google retreats to
“iterative filtering” to control all of
the spam getting through (Panda)

14. Google Goes Completely Insane
Follows up a year later with a little
“Behavioral Correction” filtering.
(Penguin)

15. Google Goes Completely Insane
Everyone’s skeleton's
are exposed.

16. Our Goal
Build a fully integrated and scalable data-
driven, digital marketing agency that
focuses on developing and executing
content-based marketing strategies.

18. Issue #1
Siloed Internal Structure
Trying to build integrated marketing strategies from a
vertical silo structure doesn't work.

19. Siloed Internal Structure
Trying to build integrated
marketing strategies from a
vertical silo structure doesn't work.

22. Ditched channel-
specific silos in favor
of a structure based
client lifecycle
workflow. (one team
works on all
components)

23. Ditched channel-specific budgeting (no
internal fighting over budgets).

24. Implemented a greater level of
top-down transparency (entire
team knows more about the
engagement much earlier in
the process)

25. Implemented open ideation
(If the janitor has a good
idea, I want to hear it)

26. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

27. Better ability to address all
marketing goals

28. Higher level of agility

29. Better ideas

30. Happier employees

32. Product Ambiguity
(Consultancy Vs. Vendor Services)
Pick one or the other.
Trying to offer both really doesn’t work.

34. Killed One-off Production-only and 3rd
Party Vendor Services
We don’t sell articles and
infographics; we sell content
marketing strategy

35. Killed One-off Production-only and 3rd
Party Vendor Services
We’re not a vendor; we’re a
strategic transparent partner

36. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

37. Relieved overloaded
production department

38. Made content
production profitable!

40. Antiquated Pricing Models
Content-driven strategies are
more complex, and the margins
associated with the various
pieces involved can be quite
different.

42. Antiquated Pricing Models
Grouped all services based
on the project lifecycle
model

43. Antiquated Pricing Models
Tracked the true costs of
each group

44. Antiquated Pricing Models
Made value-based
adjustments to bundled
pricing distribution

45. Antiquated Pricing Models
Introduced performance-
based pricing and
guarantees for promotion
services

46. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

47. Antiquated Pricing Models
Reduced redundancy

48. Antiquated Pricing Models
Identified unprofitable
services

49. Antiquated Pricing Models
Improved client perception

50. Antiquated Pricing Models
Increased margins

51. Antiquated Pricing Models
Increased client adoption

52. Antiquated Pricing Models
Created a pro-
experiment/failure-is-ok
environment

54. Poor Client Selection
Content-driven strategies are
a lot more work. Not every
company that wants to hire
you is a good fit.

55. Poor Client Selection
At the end of the day, you
need wins!

57. Poor Client Selection
Implemented a “High Probability
Selling” sales model

58. Poor Client Selection
Rejected the traditional RFP model

59. Poor Client Selection
Focused on “changing the
conversation”

60. Poor Client Selection
Learned to say no to abusive
“dangling carrot” clients

61. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

62. Poor Client Selection
Dramatic improvements in:
Landing “great fit” clients

63. Poor Client Selection
Dramatic improvements in:
“Time to Trust”

64. Poor Client Selection
Dramatic improvements in:
Average engagement length

65. Poor Client Selection
Dramatic improvements in:
Overall profitability

66. Issue #5
Outdated Contract Structures
Legacy contracts completely lacked the type of
language necessary to deal with the unique issues
related to content marketing.

67. Outdated Contract Structures
Legacy contracts completely lacked
the type of language necessary to
deal with the unique issues related
to content marketing.

68. Changes We Made
Outdated Contract Structures
• Implemented SLA’s with guarantees
• Added client obligations/responsibilities
• Implemented subscription model pricing for
production services
• Added simple budget reallocation tools

69. Outdated Contract Structures
Implemented SLA’s with guarantees

70. Outdated Contract Structures
Added client obligations/responsibilities

71. Outdated Contract Structures
Implemented subscription model pricing
for production services

72. Outdated Contract Structures
Added simple budget reallocation tools

73. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

74. Outdated Contract Structures
Dramatically improved client
response time

75. Outdated Contract Structures
Greater ability to forecast and
budget for labor

76. Outdated Contract Structures
Much happier clients through
the production phase

77. Outdated Contract Structures
Overall reduction in overrun
engagements

78. Outdated Contract Structures
Much better ability to pivot

79. Issue #6
Content Quality Consistency
Relying solely on outside vendors for content
production can work really well at the boutique level.
But it doesn’t always scale well.

80. Content Quality Consistency
Relying solely on outside
vendors for content
production can work really
well at the boutique level.
But it doesn’t always scale
well.

82. Content Quality Consistency
Acquired Voltier Digital

83. Content Quality Consistency
Brought writers in-house

84. Content Quality Consistency
Aggressively hired new writers

85. Content Quality Consistency
Applied subscription model
to vendors

86. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

87. Content Quality Consistency
• Dramatic improvement in consistency
• Huge reduction in revision work
• Greater ability to scale

88. Issue #7
Lack of Process Documentation
Being really good at what you do doesn’t mean you
are prepared to teach others to be good too.
If you plan on growing in the future, take the time to
analyze and document what you do and how you do
it!

89. Lack of Process Documentation
Being really good at what you do
doesn’t mean you are prepared to
teach others to be good too.

90. Lack of Process Documentation
If you plan on growing in the
future, take the time to analyze and
document what you do and how you
do it!

92. Lack of Process Documentation
Added a dedicated person to
oversee the process development
and documentation process.

93. Issue
Lack of HR Identity
The day-to-day environment of a larger organization
is quite a bit different than that of a boutique
consultancy.
Being great at what you do doesn’t necessarily
translate into a situation that’s a fit.

94. Lack of HR Identity
The day-to-day environment of a
larger organization is quite a bit
different than that of a boutique
consultancy.

95. Lack of HR Identity
Being great at what you do doesn’t
necessarily translate into a situation
that’s a fit.

97. Lack of HR Identity
Took the time to identify those in the
organization who had the right personality traits

98. Lack of HR Identity
Found them positions that best matched
their skill sets

99. Lack of HR Identity
Empowered them to go find and hire themselves

100. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

101. Lack of HR Identity
A super awesome, dedicated
staff that kicks ass!

102. Issue
Practicing What We Preach
The cobbler’s children often have no shoes.

103. Practicing What We Preach
The cobbler’s children often
have no shoes.

105. Practicing What We Preach
Built a dedicated internal
marketing team

106. Practicing What We Preach
Made the commitment to grow
our company only using the
methodologies we preach

107. Practicing What We Preach
Use ourselves to R&D new
products and workflows

108. Benefits
• Better ability to address all marketing goals
• Higher level of agility
• Greater level of top-down transparency
• Better ideas
• Happier employees

109. Practicing What We Preach
We’ve seen massive increases in:
Overall brand awareness

110. Practicing What We Preach
We’ve seen massive increases in:
Size of our own audience

111. Practicing What We Preach
We’ve seen massive increases in:
Flow of quality leads

112. Practicing What We Preach
We’ve seen massive increases in:
Actual new business

114. Change and Chaos is Good

115. Complacency is the kiss of death

116. Never stop innovating and iterating

117. Greg Boser
President
BlueGlass Interactive
http://www.blueglass.com
@GregBoser