How CEOs Can Be

Great Marketers

Rand Fishkin | @randfish | Linklove 2013, London

http://bit.ly/ceomarketers

Let’s Talk About the CEO’s Job.

Set the Mission, Vision & Strategy

Where are we going? How are we going to get there? Why will this set us apart?

Live, Breathe, & Spread the Core Values

You can probably tell that one of Moz’s core values is Fun.

Hire & Manage the Executive Team

Holiday party shenanigans with 4/5 of Moz’s exec team members.

Ensure the Business is Properly Capitalized

Reaction from Will & Richard after I announced our $18mm funding in April 2012: http://goo.gl/BTUhX

Allocate the Company’s Resources

At Moz, we spend ~$750K/month on servers and ~$700/month on cupcakes. Both are critical to operations.

Be the Brand’s Chief Evangelist

When evangelizing in the UK, I strongly suggest embracing their moustaches and bumbershoots.

Why Should the CEO Do

Marketing Themselves?

No One Else Will Ever Know the Business As Well

Via Mindjet & Jess3: http://goo.gl/elqw1

No One Else Has the CEO’s Reach or Coverage

Via Fresh Web Explorer: http://goo.gl/rJTgx

No One Else Has the CEO’s Authority

Google’s Larry Page shut down numerous internal businesses w/ $10mm+ in revenue & high growth to focus resources

Much of What Makes Leaders Great Also Makes Them Great Marketers

Via the White House Flickr Feed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/8191317327/ - Inbound marketing in action!

The 3 Kinds of Great CEO Marketers

The Richard Branson

Branson markets through celebrity, intelligent use of press, and a willingness to adopt new media (blog, Twitter, etc).

Ben Huh on not fearing the press: http://benhuh.org/don-t-fear-the-press And my reply: http://bit.ly/I7DX3z

Ben Huh helps Cheezburger

earn massive amounts of

press & brand awareness.

The Danielle Morrill

Danielle is CEO/Founder of Referly, and an active blogger/social user: http://www.daniellemorrill.com/

HN Comment from Ray Grieselhuber of Ginza Metrics: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5236837

Smart. Authentic. Adds value.

Good marketing, too.

The Jeremy Stoppelman

Jeremy is personally passionate about SEO. Some notes on Yelp’s SEO success: http://goo.gl/NnJ3h

Chris Lindland of http://betabrand.com is quiet on the blog/social front, but knows exactly how to make inbound marketing work

together, e.g. http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/profiting-hoodiegate-140898

Betabrand rocks e-commerce marketing, from

naming conventions to SEO, to some of the

best product detail pages on the web.

What If I Can’t Be That CEO?(or can’t convince my CEO to adopt these recommendations?)

Option #1: Delegate to an Internal Marketing Leader

Hilary Mason of Bit.ly: http://www.hilarymason.com/about/

Option #2: Rely on Your

Product, Your Persona, and/or

Your Paid Marketing to Take You

Viral.

Priceline hasn’t (historically) invested in strategic inbound marketing, yet benefits from great viral reach.

Option #3: Accept that Inbound Marketing

(SEO, social, content, etc) Won’t Be a Competitive

Advantage

It’s OK to intentionally make inbound a weakness. It’s not OK to pretend it’s a strength if it’s not.

10 Tactical Tips for CEOs

Engaging in Inbound Marketing*

* I would strongly urge CEOs not to engage in any other kind of marketing, mostly because these others do

not scale as well, nor do they leverage the unique advantages CEOs possess.

#1: Understand & Evangelize How Your Funnel Works

This dynamic funnel is visible to everyone at Moz via a dynamic web interface.

#2: Be a Proactive Industry Contributor

Matt Blumberg of http://returnpath.com sits on the DMA’s board, & contributes to industry publications.

#3: Leverage the Press Wisely

Create press-worthy news: http://www.fullcontact.com/2012/07/10/paid-paid-vacation/ then be accessible.

#4: Empower Your Marketing Team w/ Devs

Moz has an “inbound engineering” team that focuses exclusively on marketing-related development

Casey Devin Jake

#5: Get Good at One or More Forms of Content

Delegating most of these is fine. But you have to find at least one that fits your strengths.

#6: Recognize Marketing Accomplishments the Way You

Do Product, Engineering, and Financial Milestones

Recognition is an incredibly powerful way CEOs drive action & show what matters to the culture.

#7: Optimize Your Online Bio (& Update It, Too)

Your bio gives you full control over links & anchor text. Keep it useful & updated, and provide it to whomever needs

it (events, charities, interviewers, etc).

#8: CEOs Amass Favors. Ask for Links & Shares!!

100s of people I connect with ask me how/if they can “repay the favor.” Other CEOs get this, too.

#9: Leverage Your Contacts to Amplify Messages

You can/should do

this manually

through email, but

Wonk makes it easy

to export & search

your followers for

those who can help.

#10: Embrace

Authenticity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEtAfAa67TY

Download the slides:

http://bit.ly/ceomarketers

Rand Fishkin | @randfish | Linklove 2013, London