Traditional marketers are making big plays into the digital marketing space. In this increasingly competitive market, how can digital marketers compete with traditional marketing and big media? In my talk at DFWSEM State of Search 2014, I discussed the coming tide of traditional marketers trying to do digital marketing, the threats to be aware of, and strategies to compete.

1. Traditional Marketers Are
Coming for Our Jobs
Ruth Burr Reedy
State of Search 2014
East Coast Blizzard 2009 by BKL on Flickr
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

2. This is What I am Talking
About
Digital
SEO
PPC
Email
Social Media
Content Marketing
Traditional
TV/Broadcast
Radio
Print
Direct Mail
Telemarketing
For the purposes of our conversation today, here’s
what I mean when I say “traditional” vs “digital”
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
marketing.

3. Wolves fighting over food by Tamboko the Jaguar on Flickr
Traditional marketers are starting to make a
play for digital marketing business in a big way,
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
and we have to be ready.

4. This is Sinclair Broadcast Group, a $1.6 billion
@rruutthhbbuurrrr TV broadcasting company with a terrible
#ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh
website.
Thanks
Clayton
@cedorris
for this
example!

5. This is Sinclair Digital Solutions, a full-service
digital marketing agency run by the owners of
@rruutthhbbuurrrr #ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh
that terrible website.

6. January 8, 2014
Here’s what Sinclair Digital’s website looked like
@rruutthhbbuurrrr in January of this year.
#ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh

7. @ruthburr #stateofsearch

8. “U.S. advertisers’
spending on digital
advertising will
overtake TV in
2016.”
- http://adage.com/article/media/digital-overtake-
tv-ad-spending-years-forrester/
295694/
@rruutthhbbuurrrr #ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh

9. Sinclair Digital’s service offering may not look
@rruutthhbbuurrrr like much...
#ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh

10. @rruutthhbbuurrrr #ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh

11. Loud laughter :D by trasroid on Flickr
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

12. Sad Seal by Nathan Rupert on Flickr
It’s not always going to be so funny.
@rruutthhbbuurrrr #ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh

13. Regardless of the quality of the services
provided, it’s still a huge influx of new
@rruutthhbbuurrrr #ssttaatteeooffsseeaarrcchh
competition into our market.

14. A Fool and His Money by David Goehring on Flickr
Our clients and prospects don’t know as much about
digital marketing as we do – they don’t always know
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
what to look for in a quality service provider.

15. Bella “shake hands” by Ian Main on Flickr
You mean I can get
all my marketing
with one vendor?
You got a deal!
The idea of having one vendor for all your marketing
@ruthburr sounds sweet – plus traditional agencies can cut clients a
#stateofsearch
deal on bundled services that digital agencies can’t.

16. “The Mad Men” by Finnur Malmquist on Flickr
Traditional marketers are very very good at
@ruthburr selling themselves. They have amazing creative
#stateofsearch
portfolios and know how to sell marketing.

17. 337/365: The Big Money by David Muir on
Flickr
Traditional marketing agencies and big media companies
also have a lot of money and a ton of creative resources to
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
put into building content. That money also means…

18. Genius – Wile E. Coyote – Chuck Jones by Gwendal Uguen on Flickr
…(if they’re smart) they can invest in hiring and
training digital talent. We can’t trust they won’t
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
know what they’re doing forever.

19. The Skills that Pay the Bills
Traditional Digital
Keyword Research
Content Strategy
Link Building
Conversion Rate
Optimization
Content Marketing
Online Networking
Market Research
Brand Strategy
Public Relations
Focus Groups
Creative Design
Offline Networking
Plus, modern digital marketing has a lot in common with
traditional marketing – many of the same skills, metrics and
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
mindsets lend themselves well to digital tactics.

20. Anastasia, 1997 20th Century Fox
Most of us learned SEO on the job – it’s naïve to
think that traditional marketers aren’t capable of
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
doing the same thing.

21. The Social Network, 2010 Sony Pictures
Having so much more money and resources may look like
an unbeatable advantage, but it makes for business
mistakes that digital marketers can capitalize on.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

22. Big numbers
Fast results
Over-commoditization
Under-hiring
Top-Down
Management
Traditional marketers are used to big money and fast results.
This can lead them to underestimate the time and effort it takes
to be successful, under-hiring and over-commoditizing digital.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

23. This approach leads to some terrible SEO. That’s
bad for them but it’s also bad for us because it
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
makes SEO as an industry look bad.

24. Starting Small
Realistic
Projections
Custom Solutions
Smart Hiring
Investing in
People
Smart traditional/media companies are starting small and
growing a program, taking the time to learn how to be
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
successful, hiring smart and investing in success.

25. That’s the real competition.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

26. For Example
OPUBCO DMS (where I work) started out as a 2-
person division of newspaper ad sales, now it’s a
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
34-person agency.

27. Traditional Marketers Are
Going Digital!
@ruthburr
Penguins by son_gismo on Flickr
#stateofsearch
So how do we compete with our new competitors?

28. Educate.
Gone are the days of doing SEO in a black box. We have to
teach our clients what we do and how it will make them money;
we also have to educate in the industry to ward off crappy SEO.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

29. Specialize.
We can’t compete on breadth of services; we can
compete on expertise and results. We do digital and
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
we do it well.

30. Be marketers.
Being marketers means talking about #RCS, which
all boils down to – how am I making you money?
Digital has a powerful ability to demonstrate ROI.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

31. Not hackers.
Hackers, 1995 United Artists
It can’t be about tricks and exploits anymore. That means
it can’t be about number of pages, number of links or page
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
1 rankings. It has to be about the business.

32. Don’t Compete on Price.
It’s a race to the bottom.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

33. Suit up.
Traditional marketers are great at selling themselves – we
have to be good at it too. We have to be able to create
@ruthburr #stateofsearch
beautiful, delightful experiences.

34. Playing Wolves by Tambako the Jaguar on Flickr
Despite my scary slide before, traditional marketers
@ruthburr don’t have to be the enemy.
#stateofsearch

35. Find Partnership
Opportunities
Design
UX
Develop
SEO
SEM
Social
Technical
SEO
CMS
Provider
Offline
Content
Strategy
Online
Content
Strategy
Another way to compete on breadth is to partner strategically
to offer a fuller set of solutions. You can even partner with
traditional agencies – now your competitor is your partner.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

36. If you own a digital marketing agency, I know
where you can find some potential buyers!
@ruthburr #stateofsearch

37. If nothing else, traditional agencies are probably
@ruthburr hiring.
#stateofsearch

38. Ruth Burr Reedy
Head of On-Site SEO
(Soon to be called something cooler)
@ruthburr
+RuthBurr
http://www.linkedin.com
/in/ruthburr
Holla at your girl.
@ruthburr #stateofsearch