Saturday, November 9, 2013

The Power of Creativity Revealed

AU Students Visit Two Creative Companies

Today I am reporting the highlights of our two corporate visits on Friday, November 8th with the Aurora University Marketing students.  We had an interesting day and learned more about the creative side of marketing.  We went to +AnswersMedia, a video production company that features a high-tech facility and Red Frog Events, an event marketing firm with a unique corporate culture. We spent about an hour and a half at each firm and the students learned about these possible careers in marketing.  The firms definitely are examples of choice for those wishing to explore some of the more creative aspects of a marketing career.

Video production, green screen
AU Students and Dr VanderSchee on the "Green Screen"

Answers Media:  Creativity and Technology at Work

At Answers Media our host was Account Executive Katie Power.  We had a tour of the studios and the control room.  The company has one of the few facilities in town that can broadcast live video. We got a chance to stand in front the green screen and see ourselves with a different background on the monitor.

The technology enables the company to work for large agencies, public relations firms, associations and other companies to provide video production services for commercials, music videos and television programs.  The company features two kitchens for use in cooking shows and also provides integrated marketing services.  AnswersMedia redesigned the LavaLamp website and also created some video advertising for them with an integrated look and feel.

Answers Media has also done work for larger brands such as Doritos and Toyota.  Clients have to be on a short time frame and the company often has to work quickly.  There are internships available on the creative and account sides of the firm, but definitely more on the creative side.  The company even employs a medical animator for working with pharmaceutical companies.

Red Frog Events:  Creativity in the Workplace

In the afternoon, we visited +Red Frog Events, where we were hosted by Hannah and Lizzie.  We had a complete tour of the company, including the tree houses, swings and puzzle room. The workplace theme is "Camp Red Frog."

event marketing, red frog events
AU Students and Drs. Vander Schee and Zahay-Blatz at "Camp Red Frog."

Red Frog Invents "Active Event" Industry

The company produces unique weekend events and hires many interns as "Tadpoles" to help with these special events that have become the firm's signature. The firm looks for people who want to use their creativity and passion in the workplace and laugh along the way. Company Founder, Joe Ryan, tries to create outdoor, weekend events with a creative twist, such as the Great Urban Race, Rirefly Music Festival and Warrior Dash.  The company virtually created the 'active event' industry. Tadpoles work hard but enjoy the company perks such as free lunches workout facilities and unlimited vacation days.   Theme days such as Jersey Thursday and Pajama Day break up the work week and help compensate for long hours on the job when working events.

Competition for Jobs is Intense

Red Frog is listed on Inc. Magazine's "Fastest Growing Companies List" and is consistently listed as one of the best places to work, particularly for the Millennial Generation.  Those who seek to work at Red Frog must go through a long interview process and commit to live the Red Frog principles, such as live with passion, anticipate challenges, be an ideal teammate, embrace change and do exceptional work.  Students can also volunteer at events to get an idea of what it would be like to work for the firm.

The company is always looking for new interns and those seeking a fun and fast-paced environment should consider this firm. Those who make it past "Tadpole" status become "Frogs" and receive full-time positions. Impressively,  the company seeks to donate $25 million from its events to +St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for a proton therapy research center, through partnership with their events.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Don't Miss Out on These Social Networking Sites!

I am teaching social media marketing this semester at +Aurora University  and in my day class we have just finished talking about the major social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest/Instagram.  We focused in the first half of class on using these platforms for social networking professionally and improving our personal brand image.  Other forms of professional social networking are often overlooked. I wanted to describe three social networking sties that are helpful professionally in this blog post.  The post will. focus on BuiltIn Chicago, Slideshare and Meetup.


Share Slides, Learn More

Each of these three social networking tools is designed to help people develop their particular interests. +SlideShare Inc provides is a social sharing site designed for sharing content in a user-friendly manner.  I use Slideshare.net to post presentations I have given so that i can get the word out about what I am doing to a broader audience.  I also use Slideshare when I want to find out about something new.  One of my friends said you can learn brain surgery from the site!  This statement is almost true, as there are presentations on nearly every subject posted.  Slideshare also suggests new presentations based on what I post, so I get a lot of recommendations for CRM and customer information management.

Follow Startups in Chicago, Find Jobs

BuiltIn Chicago is a local social sharing site that allows you to connect with people in your industry.  The focus is primarily on start-up and technology companies, so I get an opportunity to see what is happening in our area.  They also have live "launch" events periodically to foster in-person sharing.  The site also has an active job board and an emphasis on blogging.  In fact, I found several entry level jobs and internships on the site in our area of digital marketing.

Develop Your Interests, Network Locally

The final site I want to focus on in this post is Meetup.com.  Meetup is a great way to find people in a particular professional field but also has groups to help develop your professional interests.  I am a member of everything from bicycling groups to groups that focus on 'big data' technology.  I also am a member of the local American Marketing Association group.  Many people in Chicago use Meetup to connect. In fact, BuiltIn Chicago also posts events on Meetup.  Through email updates I learn what is going on with my groups.  I like the local focus as there are events in the Fox Valley I can attend and not just downtown Chicago.

I would strongly recommend adding these social networking tools to your 'toolkit,' whether you are a student, recent grad or have been working a long time.  If you are interested in learning more about a subject, networking with those in the area, finding a job or internship or just keeping up, you should try out these three websites:  Slideshare, Meetup and BuiltInChicago.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Easy Google Analytics and Other Ideas That Work for Teaching Social Media in the Classroom

At the recent MMA (Marketing Management Association)  Conference +Todd Kelsey  and I described how to integrate Google Analytics into blogger to teach analytics without programming to undergraduates.  Our slideshare shows these simple steps and also emphasizes the importance of establishing Google Authorship and how to do by entering those sites to which you contribute in a Google+ profile and registering the associated gmail address.  I certainly wish someone had told me about Google Authorship when I was starting out in my professional career (in fact, I wish the option were available).  It is a great way to get established as an expert in a particular area and authorship will last an entire career.



It was interesting to see the approaches others have taken to teaching social media, especially to this generation of students.

Dr. Paul Kotz from St. Mary's University in Minnesota shared his research in reaching out to Millennial students, those from ages 11-31, born in 1982-2002.  I noticed, as Paul did, that these students like structure and deadlines.  So instead of having a social media plan that is due all at once, I have a different deliverable every week that the students should be working on to effectively deliver the plan at the end of the stated time.

Dr. +Jenna Drenten from John Carroll University shared what she is doing with Pinterest in the classroom.  The students used a private board in Pinterest to share their ideas about a marketing competition in which they participated.  Since it was a national competition,  the groups did not want others to see their results.  I did not realize that Pinterest allowed at least up to three private boards, so that might be a good way to share classroom information in the future.  I have taught Pinterest in class and, like the presenter, found that the men in the class are more reluctant to use the tool.  They perceive the tool as more for women and don’t ‘get’ the interface as readily as the women in the class. 

Professors +Alisa Agozzino  and  Kathie Fleck, Ohio Northern University, talked about their social media marketing minor which includes the history of social media, personal branding, strategies and a campaign management class.  Their program, which was in conjunction with the communications school, so this curriculum looks like a good choice for them.  

In our program,at Aurora University, the social media class is where the students have an introduction to social media analytics.  They develop both a personal social media campaign for themselves and one for a corporation or NGO.  Our Digital Marketing students also Internet marketing where they will  run an AdWords campaign with the option of a corporate social media campaign.  Personal branding is covered in depth in our social media class and IMC, Social Media and Internet all cover strategic concepts and history of the medium.


By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Three Things You May Not Know About Social Media Marketing at Aurora University

Social Media Marketing Can Be Taught


First, you may not know that we teach Social Media Marketing at Aurora University.  The Social Media Marketing course I am teaching is new this semester.   I recently accepted a position as Full Professor of Marketing at AU and will be teaching in the Marketing Department.  Next Fall we are launching a new Digital Marketing Undergraduate Minor.  However, you can take Social Media Marketing as part of the current Undergraduate program in Interactive Marketing, earning either a minor or a concentration. 

I have been teaching Internet Marketing for almost fifteen years and many former students are working in social media. This area of marketing has strong employment potential, something I am always aware of when deciding what material to cover in class.  You can read more about my background and teaching philosophy and find how where to find me on social media here.


Social Media Marketing


Social Media Marketing Has Many Sides


Everyone reading this post may be familiar with and able to post to one of the major Social Media Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.  We are going to learn how to create a personal social media plan, including a LinkedIn profile that will get you noticed in searches.  In the course of this plan we will learn the major social media platforms and how to use them to get noticed by potential employers and others in the field.  Along the way we will learn about Google Authorship, effective blogging techniques and how to write for social media.

We will also learn the structure and discipline of a corporate social media plan and how it fits into a digital marketing strategy.  In every marketing discipline we need to learn how to plan, implement and measure our programs.  Social Media Marketing is no different.  As I have previously stated in this blog and on slideshare, I view social media as integral to content marketing.  In fact content marketing 'makes sense' of the seemingly disparate forms of social media depicted by the above graphic.

Your work products from this class will be both the Personal Social Media Plan as well as a corporate plan.  In addition, you will know how to build a presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube.  The course has lots of lab time and is interactive and collaborative.  You won't be bored---I hope!

You Can Still Enroll


If what you read is interesting to you, there are still spots left in Social Media Marketing.  
BUS 4610 01 Social Media Marketing meets Tuesday & Thursday  1:15 pm to 2:30 pm, DH 102. I hope to see you there.  For those who can't fit the course into their schedule and for my corporate friends  follow the progress of the course in this blog.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Interactive Marketing Graduate Tells All: Search Guru Mike Glassberg

Comments from Recent Grad Mike Glassberg:

"Who am I?
Hey everyone! My name is Mike Glassberg, I’m a proud graduate of NIU’s (outstanding!) Interactive Marketing program put together by Dr. Zahay-Blatz. I recently started an internship at Modern Marketing Partners where I provide SEO and social media services to clients.


Mike Glassberg, Debra Zahay-Blatz, SEO, social media
Practicing What They Preach: Glassberg and Zahay-Blatz
 at networking event at Modern Marketing Partners
 in Naperville earlier this Summer.


How did the Interactive Program help me in my current job?

Wow – not until I talked to my colleagues at MMP (who have all graduated within the last few years) did I realize how superior our program was. To start, most other schools still don’t offer specialized education in “interactive” or 2-way marketing.

Our class did a paid search campaign using Google Adwords with real companies, a search and social campaign, and since day on on the job, I’ve been able to speak the lingo: Alt tags, Bounce rate, stickiness, etc. One of the things that really helped in my current job is learning the Wordpress and Google+ ecosystem. As an SEO consultant, it is my job to be able to optimize a website for tags, and the hands-on experience I had as a student was invaluable going into my current position.

What about some advice for current students?

Don’t limit yourself to the jobs at career fairs. I saw so many students get down on themselves because they didn’t get an internship or job offer at the bi-annual NIU career fairs. The opportunities for employment outside of NIU are virtually limitless.

The only reason I received my job is because I went to a networking event with Dr. Zahay-Blatz. My boss wasn’t actively looking for an employee, but after a brief conversation, he (presumably) saw something he liked and went with his gut feeling.

What are three ways to find an awesome job outside of NIU’s career fairs?

1.) Networking – Dr. Zahay-Blatz has a number of events per semester that she invites students to. Step out of your comfort zone and go to one. You’ll meet industry professionals, learn an incredibly amount, and start building your network.
2.) LinkedIn – The 2nd best way to find a job is through LinkedIn, but only if you’ve done step 1 first. The more meaningful connections you have, the more likely you are to find someone, who knows someone, who can land you an interview.
3.) Huskies Get HiredThis was consistently one of the most underutilized resources when I was a student. There’s a job board online with employers actively looking for students that go to NIU. Take advantage of that while you can.
Thank you for reading; I hope this post provided you with some insight. If you have any questions for me, feel free to reach out anytime, I’m pretty quick at responding through any medium." 

You can follow +Mike Glassberg on G+ or Twitter at @mglassberg2.  I wasn't surprised he has done so well right after graduation as he was active in networking, LinkedIn and Huskies Get Hired.  Most jobs are not advertised so networking is key.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

How to Tell Your Story through Content Marketing and Still Have a Life

Content Marketing Makes Social Media make Sense

At my talk at Kishwaukee College yesterday I reiterated my theme from a prior blog post on content marketing that content marketing makes social media make sense.  I defined content marketing and content creation, explained the role of strategy in the process and then went on to give some examples of how to re-purpose content to get the kind of growth that we need.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a series of steps and processes as related to the media owned by a company, whereby that media is used to attract and retain customers.  We often speak of content 'curation,' which indicates that content is developed and managed 'by hand,' instead of spun by machines or just regurgitated in another format.  Content should be carefully prepared to reinforce the company 'story' or brand image.



Steps for Content Marketing

The process for good content marketing is as follows:
1) Start with a brand story.
2) Figure out meaningful message and associated content related to that story.
3) Dissseminate that content where your audience is likely to be so they can consume the content, react to it and co-create content.

Self-Knowledge is the Key

Understanding your company strategy and why you are creating the content is a useful exercise in content creation marketing, and, as I explained in a prior blog post, the first step in content marketing.  The company strategy can be translated into the story for the brand using the simple format for a positioning statement that I use in class.

The format is to the Target Customer, the Product Name is the Product Category that Point of Difference.  For example, Colgate's WISP product for brushing your teeth on the go might have used this format for the positioning statement.

"To the on-the-go college student or urban professional, ages 18 to 25, both male and female, WISP is the mini-disposable toothbrush that makes you Be More Kissable."  The company target is Generation Y and the idea is that if your teeth are fresh, no matter how busy you are,  you will be more attractive to the opposite sex.  This simple positioning statement then provided the brand story, which lead to an active social media campaign.  The company chose various forms of social media, including some clever YouTube videos, to convey its message because that is where its audience resides.

My Story as an Example

I gave the example that as a marketing professor I wanted to reach marketers who would view our program as a thought leader and potentially hire our students.  With that in mind, my social media journey really began with LinkedIn, since that is a social media site devoted to business leaders.  I now have over 2,000 connections on LinkedIn and am in the top 1% of those on the system.

At the same time I posted on LinkedIn, I also worked to increase my Twitter following, within a targeted group.  However, things did not really take off for me in terms of social media until I started posting meaningful content on a daily basis.  Like many professionals, I have a job other than creating content for social media (teaching, research, service), so I rely on disseminating the content of others as well.

I try to blog weekly and invariably the most comments I get are on the content I create myself.  So one strategy is to add value to re-posted content, not just send it out again in a different form, but really provide another aspect of the content and insight from what is written.  I pose a question or interpretation or comment when I re-post the comments of others, thereby making the content part of the stream of content people see on a regular basis.

I also make the most of my own content by thoughtful re-purposing.  For example, I recently gave a talk at Conversion Conference with Brian Massey on how direct marketing lessons can be used in website conversion.  We took that material and made a Slideshare with audio and then I referred to that material on my own blog, giving a recap of direct marketing principles as used for paid search.  I am also a guest blogger for Exact Target and I was able to create a blog post for them on the psychological background behind our talk, still linking back to that original blog post.

So now with the same talk as a basis, I created three different perspectives on the material, all of which contributed to a spike in pageviews for my blog.  When I started posting meaningful content five times a week, I went from 400 pageviews per month to almost 5,000.

Remember, your customer will respond to a good story and good content to tell that story.  If you want to see the slides from my talk on this subject, you can access the Slideshare above.  Let me know if you have any questions.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

How Secrets of the Past Can Optimize Conversion Today





At  Conversion Conference in Chicago, +Brian Massey (the Conversion Scientist) and I (the Professor) gave a talk on how CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) principles really had their roots in Direct Marketing Response Principles.  We talked about the discipline of conversion’s roots in direct marketing and how these principles have been used in traditional direct mail and can be applied to the web. We Introduced some of the names in the direct marketing and advertising field that you may not know and to shared some of their wisdom.

Our talk was called, “Everything I Needed to Know about CRO I Learned from Direct Marketing,” based on these principles.  We talked about their roots in direct marketing and how these principles have been used in traditional direct mail and can be applied to the web.  We hailed back to David Ogilvy, Jim Kobs and Murray Rafael, who applied persuasive principles in the testing environment of direct marketing. 

Using Direct Marketing Principles for Paid Search

I noted results  some classroom examples from paid search campaigns.  For example, just by adding to word “free” to an offer, using the principle of reciprocity (buy something and who will get something back from me for ‘free’) dramatically increased results in a paid search ad.  Using the scarcity principle “act now while supplies last” also dramatically improved click through rates, which was our conversion measure.  If you missed our talk, catch the slides and the audio on Slideshare.

Why and How Direct Response Principles Work on the Web

Brian explained how the human brain works and how we need to get past the area in the brain that automatically filters out messages.  Human beings respond to persuasive principles because the brain is ‘hard-wired’ to recognize certain types of communications and respond to them.  Brian presented some excellent examples of online marketing that uses direct marketing principles.  One of these principles is long form copy.  Long form copy is based on the principle of commitment or escalating involvement.  As the prospect or customer reads first an offer, then information in other forms, he or she becomes more committed to our product.  The self-programming thermostat, The Nest uses these direct response techniques online.  Even though we hear that people don’t read or want to read on the web, if information is presented the right way, consumers will respond.

Remember the Customer

We also talked about how response really depends on the customer and where they are in the purchase process or in awareness of your product.  .Years ago advertising legend Eugene Swartz suggested “Five Levels of Awareness” and that we need to tailor our messages to customer awareness levels.  If the prospect is aware of our product, then discounts and deals are most effective.  If unaware, then stories and secrets help to build awareness.  We showed examples of different web sites and offers that were targeted to different levels of awareness.  We also stressed the importance of testing, so easy to do with today’s technology.

Thanks to +Tim Ash and +Casey Murphy for a great conference and for allowing us the chance to speak.

P. S.  Reminder:   If you missed our talk, catch the slides and the audio on Slideshare.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Everything I Learned about CRO I Learned from Direct Response Marketing



Direct Response Roots of Conversion Rate Optimization Revealed


Next week at the Conversion Conference in Chicago, +Brian Massey  and I will give a talk on how CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) principles really had their roots in Direct Marketing Response.  We will talk about the discipline of conversion’s roots in direct marketing and how these principles have been used in traditional direct mail and can be applied to the web. We plan to introduce you to some of the names in the direct marketing and advertising field that you may not know and to share some of their wisdom. I use this wisdom in my classes and will share some of my examples of how to apply these techniques effectively.

This semester my students were creating paid search ads for real companies.  Usually about halfway through the exercise, they would say to me, “We have the right keywords and lots of impressions, why aren’t we getting any clicks?”  The answer of course is that the ads were not well-written, not compelling and did not encourage response. 

Just by adding to word “free” to an offer, using the principle of reciprocity, dramatically increased results.  Using the scarcity principle “act now while supplies last” also dramatically improved click through rates, which was our conversion measure.  So if you want to see and hear more examples and words from the wisest in direct response, come hear our talk on Tuesday at 10:30 am at the +Hyatt Regency McCormick Place.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Act Now Before All the May Grads are Taken!





May Interactive Grads Doing Well in the Marketplace 


This is the happy time of year when my students are reporting daily that they are accepting jobs and internships with interactive agencies and client companies.  +Rebecca Mensing  is going to work at Resolution Media and both +Taylor Staus  and +Brittany Sarkisian were accepted into the Dotomi management rotation program.Thanks to board member +Neil Brown for hiring former IMB student board President +Mike Glassberg for an internship.

Post Your Job on Huskies Get Hired

Sorry there is not time to mention everyone.  If you are still looking for an intern-to-hire or a full time grad versed in social media, SEO and SEM, and other aspects of direct and digital marketing, check out the Interactive Marketing Portfolio on the NIU Huskies Get Hired web site.  You can post your jobs there as well.  Since the semester has ended, this is the best way to reach out to recent graduates and the close to 300 program graduates we have.

Spotlight on Kevin Simon: Interactive Generalist with Psychology Minor

One student still seeking a job with the best fit is this week's guest blogger, +Kevin Simon .  Kevin writes that he just received "a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing, a certificate in interactive marketing and a minor in psychology from Northern Illinois University. I was accepted in the Marketing Honor Society last semester which was a great honor.

In addition to my academic studies, I have been a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity for four years. I have held three positions within the fraternity, one on the Executive Board for the past two years.  These leadership roles allow me to communicate with other members on a daily basis and improve my charisma and delegating abilities. I held the alumni relations chair position for two years maintaining a database of almost 500 alumni, designing and editing semi-annual newsletters, and updating our website.

I also just stepped down as the treasurer of the Circle K International community service organization which has allowed me to learn money management skills as well as earn over fifty hours in community service not including opportunities with the fraternity. I have also had many opportunities to work with other groups on campus including the Campus Activities Board, Financial Management Society, as well as many intramural sports.  These diverse and well rounded roles have helped me develop excellent communication and teamwork skills."  

Kevin is seeking a full-time position in the interactive marketing field after graduating. His Interactive Marketing classes have helped targeting specific areas he finds most interesting.  He would like to find a generalist position in interactive marketing where he could use his psychology minor and his leadership and planning skills.  Good fits would be online marketing research, social media management, website usability and testing.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Yes, We DO Teach Database Marketing at the Undergraduate Level






If you have heard of "Big Data" you may be interested in taking Database Marketing or hiring some of our grads for your company. "Big Data" technically refers to databases that are so large they can't be analyzed using standard statistical techniques.  However, all companies today are benefiting from data analysis and Database Marketing can help you understand how this is done and build the foundation for an entry-level job in the industry.  Together with Google Analytics from Marketing 470, students graduation from the IM program have a sound foundation in data analytics.

This video describes what we do in Database Marketing 455 at Northern Illinois University.  Students work with real-life company data that has been cleansed for teaching purposes.  They use basic statistical techniques in IBM SPSS such as t-tests, cross-tabs and regression to analyze a company's internal customer information, augmented with outside data and predict who the best customers will be and what will most likely make them profitable.  We them move on to segmentation techniques and  logistics regression to predict response.  Finally we look at some non-statistical data mining techniques such as CHAID and Neural Networking using IBM SPSS Modeler.  We compare three different predictive response models and analyze lifts, gains, and profitability.

Thanks to +Nicole Gault and +Mike Glassberg for putting this information together.

Congratulations to them both and to all our Spring 2013 Interactive Marketing graduates!

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on  and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, May 6, 2013

How to Have Fun While Learning Marketing Technology



This video describes what we do in Marketing Technology 470 at Northern Illinois University.  It is the advanced course in our sequence, the 'capstone.' Students plan, implement and measure a paid search campaign using Google AdWords and Analytics and also developed a personal social media campaign. This semester we also did a a corporate social media marketing plan for the companies we have been working with all semester.  These firms are Ideosity and AllWorld.  Thanks to +Nicole Gault and +Mike Glassberg for putting this information together.

Congratulations to them both and to all our Spring 2013 Interactive Marketing graduates!

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Everything I Learned About Social Media I Learned from My Students






This post shows how you can develop your brand, connect and contribute on social media networks and in a short time change how you are perceived and create value online.  We just finished our social media module in Marketing Technology at Northern Illinois University   I gave them a basic structure to start building a personal social media plan using the top five platforms of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, G+ and Pinterest.  There was no time to have them develop videos but we discussed the importance of YouTube and video in general in improving search engine results and web site engagement.

Teaching this class is like teaching in a Petri dish, a big sloppy experiment in various aspects of digital marketing.  I can observe the results of marketing campaigns that we deploy, see which PPC approaches work best and how online and offline strategies interact.  In this case, I made some simple suggestions for each of the five social media platforms and then sat back and watch the results come back.  I already noted in a prior blog post that making simple profile changes to LinkedIn resulted in more targeted job opportunities within twenty-four hours.

What I noticed was that my students were able to get results quite quickly from simple changes that they made to their approach to social media.   When we started the project, few of them had an organized approach to their personal social media plan.   I just finished reading their reflection papers on the subject and want to share some insights as to what worked for them and can work for you.

You can change how you are perceived online

Just by following my advice and fleshing out their Google+ profiles, when they were logged in to Gmail they could see a more professional appearance online.  Their LinkedIn, blogs and other online information showed up first in search results and helped them to present a more professional appearance.  This all happened in a few weeks time and many of them had online profile to begin with that reflected their personal rather that their professional lives.  Social media marketing helped them develop their personal brand image.

You can connect to just about anyone

The students were asked to connect to people where they might want to find a job or just find out more about the interactive marketing field  and this approach was effective.  Students were able to find people at key interactive companies and connect to them.  I recommended having some sort of relationship before connecting, i.e., having met them at a seminar or participated in a group discussion or webinar with them, before making the connection.  The students have the added advantage of being students.  Everyone loves to help students (I know I do).  I told them make these connections now while they are in the student role.

Everyone can contribute something online

Sometimes students think because they are students they can't contribute.  They don't realize being in an Interactive Marketing program like ours gives them and advantage in terms of knowledge and understanding in the area.  But everyone has something to contribute online.  The students learned that they could take a blog post or something we had learned in class, put a twist on it or make a comment and create value for those reading the information.  Witness the graphical approach to taking notes in class above by +Felicia Aguillon.  Her summary of our last day of class on social media was well-received not just by me but other social media outlets where it was posted.

So this post shows you can develop your brand, connect and contribute on social media networks and in a short time change how you are perceived and create value online.  It only took a few weeks to change perceptions.  The students changed how they were perceived online and also how they were perceived by others.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Google Authorship Made Easy



Establishing Google Authorship Can Be Easy

This post summarizes how to create Google Authorship on your blog posts and other content.  There has been a lot of talk about Google Authorship and I have read some excellent posts about how to be credited in search results on Google.  I have shown an example above of how my blog shows up on Google when I am logged in to Gmail in the above screen shot.  I am shown with my picture, my name as shown on my G+ profile and the number of my G+ Circles.  This type of display is the goal. +Andy Crestodina  helped me establish this authorship in search   I followed the instructions that he presented at the January Chicago AMA Meet the Experts Night.  It took a few weeks but everything is showing up in search quite nicely now.  Even in my econsultancy.com blog authorship shows up after I followed these steps.

I think the key is to understand that there is a way to do this even if you are not blogging on a domain where you have an email on that same domain.  In my classes we use publicly available tools like WordPress or Blogger so we needed a way to link authorship without the verifiable email address.

Briefly, you need the following:
1) Put a nice head shot on your  G+ Profile
2) Use the same name on your profile as your byline, i.e.,  "By Debra Zahay-Blatz"
3) Copy and past HTML code into your blog that establishes the link.  Some code is on my slideshare presentation on this subject and on Andy's blog.

I also think it is important to set up your G+ profile properly with links to everything to which you contribute so these items can all show up in search as well.  Good luck establishing authorship and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.  My slideshare presentation also shows how to link Google Analytics to your blog, which is extremely helpful in tracking activity and seeing information who you are reaching and how long they stay on the page.  

The slideshare also covers assessing your online presence, Filling out your Google+ Profile, Pursuisng Authorship and how to link your blog to Google Analytics.  The byline from the code is shown below.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Scholarship Awards Ceremony Honors Interactive Marketing Students







At our Scholarship Awards Ceremony last Saturday, April 13, 2013 at Barsema Hall at Northern Illinois University, we honored a number of graduates in our Interactive Marketing program.  Recipients of the Interactive Marketing Board Awards were +Sarah Harant and +Nicole Gault (shown above with +Dave Henkel and +Debra Zahay-Blatz.   The Zahay-Blatz Family Award went to +Sekou Noriega.  Joe Glaser from Glaser Direct presented his award, targeted for those interested in B2B, to +Nick Kochetta.  The Johnson & Quin Award was presented by President +Dave Henkel to +Amanda Forneck, who will be beginning a full-time position at Johnson & Quin in the Fall.   Thanks to the generosity of our Corporate Advisory Board members for these Awards.

These awards were given for scholarship and dedication to the Interactive Marketing Field.  Look for these talented graduates to make substantive contributions to careers in Search (SEO and SEM), Social Media, Email, Website Usability and Testing and other areas that are a focus for our Interactive Marketing Program.

Interactive Marketing students also receiving scholarships were +Jason Conklin and Allison Greco, recipients of the Michael T. McSweeney Endowed Direct Marketing Scholarship. Interactive Marketing Student Board President +Mike Glassberg received both the Marketing Achievement Award sponsored by the Department of Marketing Faculty and the Top Marketing Achiever Award. Student board member +Antonio Garay received the Always be Contributing Award.

A highlight for me was the fact we honored +Dave Henkel as an honorary Alumnus of the Department of Marketing at Northern Illinois University   Dave's company, Johnson & Quin, has recruited on campus most years out of the last 20 and has hired closed to 30 people out of the IM program and it's predecessor program in Direct Marketing.  Dave said the association with NIU is a good fit because our students are hard-working and come in well prepared.  Program graduates don't have to be taught the basic vocabulary of the direct and interactive business because they have already learned in in their Marketing classes and Interactive Marketing classes in particular.  Dave has been a corporate board member for almost ten years and this award was well-deserved.  Thanks to Dave for his service to NIU and the IM program and congratulations to all on their awards.
By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

The Shocking Truth About Content Marketing




Who Are You?

We are in the middle of a seven week social media module in my Marketing Technology Class.  I wanted to share some of the learnings from our class, particularly on branding and strategy  and how they relate to content marketing.  Even a personal social media plan, which is one of our projects, can relate to how a company does business because you  can't 'tweet' without self-knowledge.


Let's work backwards to illustrate this point.  Content marketing, as I mentioned in this blog previously, makes sense of social media marketing  because it puts it all together.  The company (or individual  creates content, as show in the figure above, and then puts it out through multiple communications outlets, social media or otherwise.  So a white paper I might write on how to hire students in interactive marketing could be transformed into a few blog posts, a couple of tweets, an article in the college magazine.  We might say content marketing is also another way to think of integrated marketing communications, where our visual message but also our content message is consistent across channels.

What is Your Story?

This approach is all great but the biggest challenge for students (and companies) not what to create as appropriate content but what basic story they have to tell.  I have challenged them to think about their professional passion, what they are good at and their story (their personal brand).  That thought process is the hard work.  Once they defined themselves, they were able to create solid profiles on LinkedIn using key search terms relating to their areas of interest.  One student, +Megan Meyers, said she improved her LinkedIn profile by expressing her career interests in social media marketing and within a day was receiving jobs from LinkedIn that were targeted to her personal interests.

How Should Customers Think About Your Brand?

So the shocking, or maybe not so shocking,  truth is that content marketing really comes down to telling a story.  Content marketing is the work of creating the story, aka the brand image, that is the most difficult part of marketing.  I often walk into potential consulting projects and the client thinks they need a new web site design.  However, when we talk, we find out what they really need first is something to put on the web site that demonstrates a solid brand positioning.   Good branding requires self-knowledge and a knowledge of their target market.

Things are going well in class.  The students are all complaining that they suddenly have to manage all their new social media interactions.  I tell them that engagement is good and that is the goal of creating a powerful branding story that we can distribute through a content marketing program.

So YOUR assignment for the upcoming week is to think about your brand story.  Who are you and who is your audience and how do they want you to think about them?  Then and only then can you create your content marketing program.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, April 8, 2013

New Media Secrets from the Chicago Blackhawks



Adam Kempenaar, Senior Creative Director of New Media
& Creative Services at the Chicago Blackhawks with our IM Student Board

Chicago Blackhawks Come to Campus

Adam Kempenaar, Senior Creative Director of New Media and Creative Services for the +Chicago Blackhawks visited our University last Wednesday April 3. He spoke to a packed room of about 100 students, many of them interested in sports marketing, many of them in our Interactive Marketing Certificate Program and nearly all of them sporting red NIU shirts or Blackhawks gear.  That's our Interactive Advisory Board in the picture above with Adam at the Center.  Board President +Mike Glassberg, who spearheaded this effort to bring the BlackHawks to campus, is two people to the left of Adam.  The board presented him with a personalized NIU hockey jersey after his talk.  Below is a summary of advice on social media marketing and how to find a fulfilling career.

It All Started with Video

As you can imagine, for an exiting game like hockey, video is an extremely important part of the marketing communications mix.  Adam started out with a communications and radio background and his first job at the Hawks was to record and produce videos.  The Blackhawks post a lot of videos on their site and also stream the morning skate and other events.  The team has branched out into YouTube but really wants people on their own official web site.  Adam said, as we teach in our classes, the website is still the best way to communicate to fans and the first place people go to learn about their team.  Video and photos provide a way to give rare behind-the-scenes access to fans.

Social Media Exploded with the Team's Success

Social media did not exist in 2002 when Adam started with the Hawks, but now the team makes extensive use of social media and was voted the best brand on Twitter in 2009.  Adam said it just happened that as the team was really getting 'hot' there was a great new way to get the news out to fans in the form of social media.  The team seeks not to just push content but to engage its fans and answers tweets from fans.  Adam wants to engage customers and not just sell t-shirts and tickets.

The team has 1.3 million Facebook fans, 300.000 Twitter followers and is in about 73,000 G+ circles and connects with 54,000 fans on Instagram.  It views Facebook as a way to push out content but the other social media networks as a way to be more engaged.

Adam said his job is to get content out to the world  and his department is the gatekeeper.  He appreciates the emphasis on quality that the team has and credits the recent management team with contributing to the team's success not only on the ice but also in communicating with its fan base.  It takes a real commitment to make it all happen and the team work together.  Adam has a relatively small team of professionals and interns that work nearly nonstop during the hockey season to communicate with fans.

Students Need to Find their Own Professional Passion

At the end of the talk, Adam spoke to students on their careers.  He spoke of his own career path and gave three pieces of advice:

  1. Find your passion:  Adam had a good job doing something else that he did not feel passionate about, but when the Blackhawks opportunity came up, he knew he had found his dream job and went for it.  To his surprise, he was just what the Hawks were looking for and got the job.
  2. Communicate:  Write well and opportunities will come to you.  Adam had the chance to write a key letter for an executive early in his career that that success opened up doors for him.
  3. Just 'do it':  If you want to be in social media, start a blog, create and disseminate content.  You have to show that your really are interested in this field.
We all thank Adam for taking the time to speak to our class.  We teachers thank him for reiterating the things we say in class about finding your passion and job hunting, writing well and creating content.  Go Blackhawks and good luck!

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, April 1, 2013

JRIM Special Issue: The Past, Present and Future of Interactive Marketing



Special Issue Announced

As Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, I am pleased to announce that we have established a partnership with the organizers of the Direct and Interactive Marketing Research Summit.  The Conference is in Chicago,  October 12th and 13th of 2013, and is sponsored by the DMEF (Direct Marketing Educational Foundation).  JRIM is to provide a $500 award for the best research paper submitted to the conference.  If you are not familiar with the conference, it is a two for one opportunity.  Not only do participants get a specialized academic conference in our area of direct and interactive marketing, but the first academic registrants also may attend the annual DMA conference and have access to top-notch practitioner presentations and the exhibit floor.

Cash Award Available

Speaking of a two for one opportunity, there is something different this year.  While last year we also offered a cash prize for best Research paper, this year the top papers submitted to the Research Summit will be given consideration for publication in a special issue of our Journal on The Past, Present and Future of Interactive  Marketing.  The process is twofold.  Submit papers for the conference here.  After receiving feedback from the conference, please then submit papers to our special issue on The Past, Present and Future of Interactive Marketing here. The paper deadline is August 30, 2013.

Suggested Topics

Topics for the special issue may include but are not limited to:


  • Branding challenges and opportunities
  • Business to business marketing developments
  • Communications and new media channels
  • Consumer behavior theories and applications
  • Educational issues/challenges
  • Internet strategy formation/implementation
  • Linguistic issues related to the changing vocabulary of marketing
  • Mobile marketing implications
  • Marketing communications channels
  • Measurement and attribution issues
  • Other managerial aspects of internet marketing, such as product, distribution and pricing
  • Organizational aspects of interactive marketing
  • Political/legal issues and agendas
  • Social network marketing.

We are open to these and other topics as well.  A lot has happened in interactive marketing in the last twenty years but the field is still in its infancy.  We are looking for thought leaders to help define where the field is and should be headed.  Please see me for any questions at zahay@niu.edu or contact +Lauren Labrecque  +Andy Rohm or +George Milne who are organizing the acdemic conference.  We hope to see you at the DMA/DMEF in Chicago in October!

By Debra Zahay-Blatz. You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Tips & Best Practices for Paid Search


+Thorne Washington, a recent grad from Northern's IM program, and Brad Hawk, both from board member company Leapfrog Online, have been coming to my classes to share their experiences and tips on Paid Search.  The duo helped students prepared for the Google Online Marketing Challenge last year and for their Paid Search consulting project this year using Google AdWords and Analytics . The two consultants have a great framework, listed above, for analyzing, implementing and measuring a paid search campaign.

We really appreciated  Brad and Thorne's clear approach to the problem at hand. They suggested a framework for the project that they use for their own work. As shown above, they suggested that the best way to approach paid search is to Research, Build, Launch and then Analyze/Report.

I agree that planning is key to effective Search Engine Marketing (SEM). If you don't understand the customer and the keywords they are searching for it is not even useful to start a campaign. Google provides many useful analysis tools to research initially and then modify the campaign once it has been launched. We use Google Trends and the AdWords keyword tool for our initial and ongoing research.  Sometimes we found that the terms the company thought defined its business were not highly searched for by potential customers and had to make adjustments.

Building and Launching a paid search campaign, the students found, was an ongoing, iterative exercise. +Brittany Sarkisian, who is in the class right now, said that the class is interactive and allowed her to apply the concepts we have been learning in the real world. The students monitored their campaigns over a three week time frame, often not finding an effective ad/keyword/call to action combination until late in the campaign.

Some other helpful tips from Thorne and Brad included bidding 1.5 or 2 times more than the suggested initial bid in AdWords to get a high ranking and improve your click-through rate, setting the geographic area of the search, limiting the campaign to the hours of operation of the business and using Exact match when you have a small budget.  Since mobile ads are more expensive than desktop ads, the students also limited the devices on which their ads were displayed (although we may not have this choice in the future).  Thanks to both Brad and Thorne for coming out and sharing their expertise.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Three Simple FREE Things NIU Students Can Teach You About Paid Search




Our tag line says that NIU's College of Business is "Where the Classroom Meets the Business World."

As support of this concept, our students just completed a nine week module on paid search during which they planned, implemented, measured and reported the results of a Google AdWords campaign and also used Google Analytics.  The classroom met the business world as students worked with Ideosity, a consulting firm that targets developing websites, content management systems and online catalogs for manufacturers, and AllWorld Machinery, a supplier and manufacturer of replacement parts for manufacturers worldwide.  Other clients were our own Department of Marketing and Interactive Marketing program.  Thanks to our corporate clients that supported the projects and our program with their donations.  Here are three things that we learned that we hope can help you:

1)  Paid search helps your marketing even if you don't have a lot of money.  These clients were all small entities that had not had a lot of past experience with paid search.  I always recommend a paid search campaign to enhance and inform an organic search campaign, even for small firms.  You learn so much even from running the campaign a few weeks about which keywords are most appropriate and what drives firms to you web site.  You don't have to spend a lot of money to learn a lot (our students were on small budgets).  The students were able to help all their clients pinpoint what their customers were really looking for and where potential customers were located.  Just simple adjustments in geographic targeting were able to turn around campaigns from just a few clicks to hundreds within days.

2) Direct marketing calls to action do pay a large roll in paid search success.  In the first weeks of the campaign we tested our ads and keywords.  By the middle of the campaign, if the refinements we made weren't working (lots of traffic, few clicks), the students actively sought to optimize their ads by employing tested calls to action.  Just inserting the word FREE in one ad's call to action resulted in a 7% CTR. (See above).  Adding SAME DAY SHIPPING instead of Call Us Today improved an ad with 0 clicks to one with a 4.76% CTR.  So dig out those old direct marketing books and look on www.convertasaurus.com/ to help figure out what converts.

3) Paid search can tell you about your brand.  In most of our campaigns, unbranded keywords outperformed branded ones.  What better way to tell that you need to increase your brand awareness and improve your positioning?  The next step in our class project is to create plans to promote these brands on social media and engage current customers and prospects.

So there you have it, three simple ways to use Paid Search to improve your marketing efforts:  Do it to learn, use calls to action that convert and use the results to improve your brand image.

If you still don't feel confident doing this by yourself, keep following this blog for more tips.  More importantly, remember, we have forty graduates getting our Interactive Marketing certificate this May.

The students reported that they enjoyed the project, liked learning how to create campaigns and analyze them via metrics and recover quickly from their 'mishaps' along the way.  This kind of nimble thinking is just what companies tell me they are looking for in new graduates.

Hire our May grads by placing your job posting on  "Huskies Get Hired" or email me, Dr. Debra Zahay-Blatz, to join our job listserv:  zahay@niu.edu.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Report from the "Hot Seat" at Chicago AMA





The @chicagoama 'hot seat' March 14 at Catalyst Ranch, sponsored by the AMA Higher Education SIG, was a lot of fun.  There was a great group of attendees from various aspects of the marketing profession and the 'Ranch' is a great venue for creative thinking.

Here are some key takeaways from the event:


1) Social Marketing on G+ is going to explode, the group (and I)  thought.  The increased visibility on searches and the ability to share and collaborate on other Google products and platforms like drive and email will allow G+ to explode. Martin McGovern from @idealemon said that G+ is a learning center and I got home and found that Google had just launched Think Insights for the digital marketer. I did take a quick look and it appears to be a learning center for Digital Marketing 

2) Content Marketing is going to 'make sense' of social media marketing.  Start with strategy:  what are your strengths and what content should you be creating?  Think about the content that goes with reinforcing your brand image.  This content then can be re-purposed on all forms of social media, thereby integrating messages across platforms (what we used to call IMC).

3) Content Marketing is well-suited to the University environment.  We professors are creators of content.  Once professors understand that by being well-known on the web through content they will be found more easily in searches, that will motivate them to create more online content.  Tell them about Author Rank.  Other incentives may have to be used to get them going and they may have to learn to write like a blogger, not like a professor.

We talked about a number of other things, including the redesign of the Facebook page to include ads in the news feed.  I said that we are publishing a paper on this subject in our Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, on the fact that Facebook visitors don't tend to look at banner ads in the current format and why.  The Journal articles are designed to be read by both practitioners and academics so take a look and what we have published and see if it can help your marketing.

Thanks again for the great event, AMA Higher Education SIG, +Carrie Fuller, +Paul Stark and +Paula Kapacinskas and thanks to the lively and engaged attendees.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on Google+ and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Chicago AMA "Hot Seat" Challenge Next Week









Next Thursday I am going to be on the 'hot seat' challenge with the AMA's Higher Education SIG in Chicago at Catalyst Ranch at 656 W. Randolph, Jitterbug Room at 5pm..  People will ask me questions and I will answer to the best of my ability.  Since I am a professor I always have an answer for everything so I am looking forward to the evening!

I think the big topics for higher education right now are engagement and content, the same as for most marketers.  My students have been doing AdWords projects this semester and one entire class is working specifically for units within the University.  Higher education is competitive now and the keywords are expensive, many too expensive for the budget of a student project.  Some of the students have taken the approach of asking their University clients to improve their web pages to facilitate organic search results.

Although I would not recommend abandoning paid search, I think the best strategy for a University is also to develop meaningful content on the web site that will allow for higher rankings in search engines during organic search (the results that are not ads).  Blogs, videos, images, whitepapers and other types of content are looked upon favorably by search engines in organic or 'natural' search rankings.

My blog (which is with blogger, a company owned by Google) gets ranked highly on my own personal search engine results page when I am logged in to Gmail and I can also see which of my professional acquaintances has posted on relevant topics.  You can see above I recently created a post on 'tag management '  However, blogs are given weight by all search engines, as are other forms of content.  When my class did a viral video project, the organic search rankings for our program soared.  This success is documented in +Aaron Goldman's book Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned from Google.

I would ask what organization is better suited than a University to create original content?  Universities have experts available in every academic department.  These experts can be showcased on the University's website to enhance the social 'reputation' of the University.

These experts can also help with engagement.  Another topic is engagement and social media can work to improve engagement.  DeVry University is connecting current and perspective students with subject matter experts that are available on faculty and staff.  I think the challenge will be to incent and motivate faculty and staff to contribute.  When faculty see that social media participation improves how they are viewed as an expert in their field, I think they will be more likely to participate.  I look forward to 'engaging' you on these topics at Catalyst Ranch.  Register for the event here.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on Google+ and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Tag Management by Joe-Stanhope




Joe Stanhope from Forrester Research:  On Tag Management

Last week as we worked on Google AdWords and Analytics in class, we talked about 'auto-tagging' our results which brought up the subject of tags...what are tags?  Tags, simply put, are code 'snippets' that allow third party tracking, analysis and reporting.  Google Analytics and other web analytics programs such as Adobe Omniture.  Auto-tagging in AdWords allows you to tell which ad was clicked to get to your destination URL, even if you have more than one ad pointing to the URL.  As you can imagine, the whole process of attribution and analytics can be confusing.  

Enter tag mangement to help with these issues.   At the DAA (Digital Analytics Association) Symposium in Chicago last December, +Joe Stanhope of Forrester Research talked about tag management and tag management systems.   Before efficient tag management systems, it might have taken the organization eight weeks to change a tag relating to a particular marketing campaign and the campaign could easily be over by that time.

Tag management systems are more efficient in that users can often control their own data. Because technologies make tag management faster and more efficient  data can be analyzed more quickly and changes implemented (based on the resulting data) to optimize campaigns.  

There can be 35 to 50 tags on an e-commerce marketing page and it can take a long time to wait for internal IT or an outside web developer to make these changes. Joe said 90% of companies don't want to wait for these systems.

Companies can also benefit from these systems by auditing their pages and getting ride of tags that are not being used.  Joe mentioned that BrightTag is one tag management firm and Google has recently made their Google Tag Manager free and available to users.   According to Joe, tag management has a bright future and can be beneficial to organizations.  Enjoy this video in which Joe further describes the organizational benefits of tag management.  Joe has been a long-time member of our advisory board and a good friend to our program.  Keep up the good work keeping us informed.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.