Anne Kennedy, Manager and Managing Partner of Beyond Ink, interviewed Dana Todd, the CMO of Newsforce, and Sara Holoubek, a Free Agent Consultant, about The SEMPO Survey: 2007 State of the Market. Kevin Newcomb also covered the results of the survey in a post entitled, “Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy.” And ClickZ Expert Kevin Lee added his two cents in a column entitled, “It’s the PPC Search Economy, Stupid!”
This year marks the fourth year of SEMPO’s “State of the Market” survey and subsequent report – a bellwether of search market trends. The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) released these findings of the latest survey at SES NY and Dana and Sara presented the top-level findings from the 2007 report during a session at the Search Engine Strategies conference.
They highlighted key market indicators such as budget growth, search engine optimization (SEO) versus advertising allocations, price elasticity and market mix tactics. SEMPO also outlined recent implications of market contraction versus marketers’ opinions and key differences between the 2006 and 2007 data.
Dana Todd and Sarah Holoubek on SEMPO at SES NY 2008
Dana Todd is one of the most passionate and entertaining voices of the search marketing industry today. A highly sought-after speaker for international conferences such as Search Engine Strategies, DMA, Ad:tech, OMMA, and the Online Marketing Summit, Dana regularly takes on the industry’s hottest topics and goes head to head with search heavyweights.
With more than 10 years of experience building brands online, Dana is considered an SEM pioneer. A search evangelist, she helped found the industry’s largest trade organization, SEMPO. She served two terms as president of SEMPO starting in 2005 and currently is chairperson of the board of directors. She also serves on the board of advisors for YPA and Ad:tech. As a co-founder of SiteLab International, a full-service interactive agency, Dana’s extensive knowledge of search engine marketing has helped grow the company into a top U.S. interactive agency.
Sara Holoubek is a free agent consultant, advising growth firms and investors in the interactive technology and advertising sector for the past 2 years. She is also contributing editor of the DM News’ SearchBuzz column and a general contributor to Marketingprofs: Daily Fix. In 2008, Sara was elected to the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) board of directors for a third term where she co-chairs the Marketing Committee.
From 2003-2005, Sara served as iCrossing’s Chief Strategy Officer, building the firm’s New York office, repositioning the iCrossing brand and critical to raising a VC round of $13 million. Prior to this experience, Sara held posts in client strategy with interactive agencies Organic and Blue Dingo. Her vertical expertise covers over 10 sectors and includes names such as Levi Strauss & Co, Bloomingdales, LexisNexis, Texas Instruments, Colgate-Palmolive, Century 21 Real Estate, Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Symantec and Genworth Financial.
SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) is a non-profit association with over 780 members in 30 countries, representing thousands globally, working to increase awareness and promote the value of search engine marketing worldwide. Member benefits include research, SEMPO Institute and event discounts, job board, networking opportunities, webinars, membership committees and regional working groups, and more.
You can watch dozens of other YouTube videos from SES NY 2008 at the Search Engine Strategies conference and expo channel.
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