On our last episode of Edge of the Web, we had special guest John Lee, a managing partner at Clix Marketing in Louisville, KY. Lee has had a lot of different experiences with different companies in the search universe, including Hanapin Marketing and WordStream. We had an outstanding conversation with him, bringing to light a lot of different SEM topics.
Much like the rest of us in this ever-expanding industry, Lee is self-taught when it comes to SEO and PPC.
“Like a lot of folks, I just happened into it,” said Lee. “I didn’t really have experience in PPC or digital advertising, but I’ve always been a tech nerd and fast learner.”
In addition to his love of all things tech, Lee also credits meeting the right people at the right time who believed in him. His mentors include Pat East of Hanapin Marketing and Joe Kerschbaum of 3Q Digital.
Lee was able to come in and prove himself to both East and Kerschbaum, learning the ins and outs of digital marketing and agency life. After being at Hanapin, he went to work for Wordstream, but quickly realized he missed agency life. In 2009, he went to work at Clix Marketing.
“My heart was still in the agency world working with multiple clients,” said Lee. “So in 2009 I went to work at Clix and then in 2011 I had the opportunity to buy the company.”
Clix Marketing takes a boutique approach to digital marketing, specifically dynamic ads, and that is Lee’s sweet spot within the organization. He spoke on this very topic at SMX West back in March in his presentation “How Dynamic Ads Can Supercharge Your SEM Campaigns.” Lee and his team at Clix Marketing put heavy emphasis on dynamic product ads based on the customer’s journey.
“My whole purpose for presenting was to explain why dynamic ads are so important in display and retargeting,” said Lee. “There are so many ways to target an individual with a keyword.”
When Lee isn’t focused on digital advertising campaigns for clients, he writes and speaks at industry events. He has various posts scattered across the web, including articles on The SEM Post and Search Engine Watch.
At the end of June, he’s speaking at MNSearch in Minneapolis and plans to present at SMX East and HeroConf London in the fall.
For our entire interview with Lee and insights into the SEM world, click here.