The Toronto Marketing and Technology Blog

My interview with Matt McGowan, VP of Marketing - Incisive Media

I had the opportunity and privilege to interview Matt McGowan of Incisive media. Here is the Q&A dialogue that I had with him. He is a very accomplished person and I hope you enjoy the answers to the questions I asked him:

1. You have an impressive set of credentials from working at companies such as Charles Schwab, Pearson Plc and PropertyRoom.com in a variety of senior level roles. To what do you owe your level of success to?

I gave a quick run down on my career to Lee Odden of TopRankBlog.com in February and elaborated a bit more to Stephen DiMarco of Compete.com in March, neither asked however, what it was I owe my success to, interesting question though not an easy one.

 

1. I am told often that I “get it” – I understand how to leverage the opportunities that the internet presents.
2. I am approachable and I treat people the way I would like to be treated – I am surrounded by internet/digital marketers and the majority of my clients run successful businesses… I listen to them and ask them for advice. You could say I have a multi-billion dollar support network at my      finger tips.
3. My mom and dad – gotta give love where love is due, I am what I am primarily because they decided to invest in me.
   

2. What is your role at Incisive Media and why is it important to the overall strategy of the firm?

I run global marketing and business development for a few of Incisive Media’s major digital properties, specifically ClickZ, Search Engine Watch and the conference and expo series Search Engine Strategies (SES).

Incisive has made a massive investment digitizing its core businesses both through organic development and the acquisition of new businesses; in part to harness their technologies and IT infrastructure and in part to realize their revenues and profits.  Employees and executives with my understanding and experience help facilitate this process and guarantee synergies are found in the merging of these properties.

The knowledge base that is Search Engine Strategies, including the Toronto, Hamburg and San Jose events coming this summer 2008, facilitates many of the discussions around Search and Digital.

3. What type of industries do Incisive Media's clients come from? Is their a specific niche that your firm is attracting?

Incisive Media is one of the worlds, if not the, fastest growing B2B information provider disseminating award winning, original content across a range industries including, but not limited to, Alternative Assets, Business and Consumer Technology, Finance, Investments, Insurance, Legal, Real Estate, Photography and last but not least Interactive or Digital Marketing (that’s primarily where I and our SES, ClickZ.com and SearchEngineWatch.com brands come into play).

4. Have you attended a SES event before? What excites you about these types of events and what are you looking to specifically to get out of it?

I have attended more SES events than I can count, that said each one is so very different that I never get board. Because we have the opportunity to put events on monthly in many corners of the globe I find that each one presents me (and the other attendees) with new and cutting edge information – many times information that I can not find anywhere else as it sits within the minds of our many expert speakers and is only released to the public during their original presentations.

 
Why do I get excited about attending SES conference and expos? Well because, Search Engine Strategies (SES) is the leading global conference & expo series that educates delegates on search engine marketing (SEM), including optimization (SEO) and advertising strategies, tactics and best practices. SES Search Marketing Events provide instruction from the industry's top Search experts, including representatives of the Search Engines themselves. Thousands upon thousands of companies sent representatives to a SES event last year, being there to meet and network with these stars is an added bonus.

5. Are there some hot new trends that you and your firm have been noticing? Do you think this will be a hot topic at SES?

 At SES Toronto, which takes place 16-18 June 2008 in  Toronto,Canada, there are a load of new sessions covering some very hot topics. One I am particularly interested in is Twitter: Ultimate Time Waster, of Great Tool?

 

6. What types of wisdom would you offer to people thinking of attending but don't know if it's the right event for them?

Search Engine Watch published a nice piece on why executive decision makers, marketers, web developers and alike should attend SES Toronto, check it out here (same logic applies to SES events in other parts of the world).

In short, the internet is the present and the future. As we as a society move more and more online, business will one, need representation on the web and two, need to know how to get their business found on the web by customers. 95% of all online transactions start at the Search Engines with customers searching for a product, service, information… do the math, it adds up quite nicely!

Thanks alot Matt. I appreciate you taking the time to answer the questions, and I look forward to meeting you in person in the near future!

 

Life wouldn't be the same without the Gmail Spam filter....

Life wouldn't be the same without the Gmail Spam filter. If I had to literally look at every e-mail that was sent to me, I would stop using e-mail. Wonderful invention. Thank you Google.

How much do you waste on business cards a year? | Know who to give your business card to

Business cards are an excellent tool to network with people in any social atmosphere. If you're at a professional event and want to meet that investment banker to get a deal done with your company, or maybe you want to meet that highly attractive young lady in the shadows of the club but can't croak up enough energy to say anything, or quite frankly to give to the window washer guy to maybe form a partnership in your new window business. You name it, a business card can do wonders.

There is, however, a downside to business cards: so many people have them and so many people get them. I myself have a pile of 100 business cards just from the past 2 weeks. I'm flipping through the people who sound interesting and would like to have them in my network or at least creep them on facebook.

When networking with people you need to try to read them. Are they worth following up with? If you don't follow up with them, do you think they will follow up with you? Depending on what business you're in the answers to these questions will differ. I'm more consciously  thinking of who I give my business card to these days. You should too.

Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter

Everyone is on the Twitter bandwagon. I had to join it because everyone else did. I feel bullied for joining it. I log in maybe once a day, not an addict by any means. I see it as more of a time waster than anything. I'm the type of person that I don't have to be in constant contact with someone. It does have its benefits in certain occasions, but it's not a tool that I need to be using on a daily basis.

I wonder when the Twitter bandwagon is going to stop.

My blog looks like crap

I need to get a new template for my blog or use wordpress. This limited Typepad stuff is killing my reputation.

Are Bloggers recession proof?

By becoming a blogger, you are given the opportunity to expand your network beyond anyones imagination. Once you post information on your blog, it is available for millions to read. Given the network that we build with one another, are bloggers recession proof? If we lost our job, would it be easy to find another job? I think so.

I think I've met many people throughout the Toronto community such that if something happened to my job, I could find another one quite rapidly. Although, I have an entrepreneur mindset, so I would reluctlantly search to work for someone. But that's a separate discussion altogether. My feet hurt and I need to get a pedicure. Enjoy the picture.

2008 Marketer of the year, Saul Colt, introduces Chris Ragobeer to Freshbooks CEO Mike McDerment

There was a PR/Social media event in the heart of downtown Toronto tonight. Freshbooks CEO Mike McDerment and Saul Colt, Head of Magic and 2008 Marketer of the Year, were in attendance and gave a great talk about Freshbook's operations and customer anecdotes. They also gave some tips to the audience on what has worked well for them from a PR and social media perspective.

The highlight of the night was when Saul Colt introduced me to Mike.

Let me tell you how it all panned out. For some reason or another, I can always sense when Saul Colt is in the room. Call it the Saul Colt charm, the Saul Colt macarena, or the Saul Colt V8 juice, but I can always seem to sense the presence of Saul Colt.

At the beginning of the night I knew I wanted to touch base with Mike, but I didn't know the strategy I wanted to take. Should I just walk up and introduce myself? Should I throw some change on the floor and tell him he dropped his money or just throw him the shotgun point and snap the whole night hoping to get his attention.

....The tactics were running through my mind. I eventually settled and stalked Saul out and asked him to introduce me to Mike. He introduced me to him and it turns out that he commented on my blog beforehand. I must have  a bad memory, or so many posts on my blog that I couldn't remember. He's a really great guy who seems very humble. It's great to see a Toronto entrepreneur doing his thing and obtaining a great level of success. Great job on the event guys!

Why I created Nametaggs.com | A Social media company I made

I'm often asked why I created Nametaggs.com. Some people understand the concept, while others pretend to. I haven't really blogged about it since my first post so I will do some blogging about it now.

To keep it short, Nametaggs is a promotional service that aggregates content from sites where people have registered their name or slight variations of their name as a domain name and promotes their content. The value proposition is that it intends to increase the traffic towards these types of sites.

The inspiration around creating Nametaggs is simple. Other than Techcrunch, the majority of sites I visit are blogs where people have registered their own name. I guess with information overload on the net and  being old-fashioned, it's hard to remember different site names. Myself,  I find it easier to remember a name than a catchy marketing tactic to attract people to their site.

Is Nametaggs for everyone?
Yes, of course. Everyone uses different ways of finding content on the net.  I don't really use delicious that much and I sometimes use StumbleUpon. Nametaggs is just another way to find niche content. 

Why would a user want to visit Nametaggs?
I have noticed that  in the majority of cases where people have registered their name as the domain, these people are using their name as a branding mechanism. They want their name to be their product, just as celebrities use their name. Alot of important, trustworthy, reputable and knowledgeable people create content using their name : CEO's, VC's, entrepreneurs etc. So if you're looking for great content  backed by people who are willing to put a stamp of their name on it  on the web check it out! The site is http://www.nametaggs.com

Look out for some cool functionality from us in the future.

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Why does Youtube run Google Adsense? | What is Google up to?

I find it weird that Youtube runs Google Adsense ads. Since Google owns Youtube it is just a transfer of funds from one entity to another. I assume this is being done for tax purposes as Youtube must be continuing to lose money and it can offset Googles cashcow earnings. Very sneaky.

An open letter to Toronto's technology community

To the wonderful members of Toronto's Technology Community,

I have noticed a couple posts regarding Toronto's state of becoming a technology hub. Joey Devilla made a good post about it, as well as David Crow. I thought I would share my 2 cents as I'm a new entrant into the community and well, the new guy needs to express his opinion too. :)

The comparison is always going to be made  between Toronto and Silicon Valley. Toronto is never going to be Silicon Valley. If Toronto wanted to become like Silicon Valley it would be shooting themselves in the foot because it would be a moving target at speeds of 1000km/hr.

It's like the Apple analogy. When Apple was running into trouble back in the late '90's. They didn't concern themselves with what other people were doing ie. Microsoft. They concentrated on what Apple did best, and that's making a good user experience for their customers.

The question is, what does Toronto want to be known for? What is going to be Toronto's contribution to technology and its impact on the lives of this and future generations? Do we want to be known for making Google loads of money, making products that impact the masses, creating an environment that allows entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts to thrive and fulfill their dreams, all of the above?
 

It's going to take alot of work, that's for sure. It's going to take innovation, and making things that people want to use. Sometimes people try to over analyze things that don't have to be over analyzed. We're simply not making things that people will use or want to use on a regular basis.

Here's what Toronto has:

1) We have talent.  Toronto has  a very smart and talented workforce with students coming out of very reputable Universities. South of the border realizes this as well, our labour is way cheaper.
2) We have risk takers. We have people willing to take risks and try new things.
3) We have individual voices. People like Mathew Ingram and Mark Evans, both technology blogs that I read religiously, put Toronto on the map.
4) We have established entrepreneurs and companies. People like Albert Lai, Stuart MacDonald, Idee Inc. etc.

Here's what Toronto needs:

1. We need to grow the community - This can be done by welcoming new members into the community who are interested in technology or transferring people who aren't interested in technology into the technology scene. Tech people just market to tech people. We need to get all types of people involved. I think the Case Camp idea is a great undertaking to do this. More can be done. Let's try to get more media coverage on what we're doing.
2. We need to differentiate ourselves from the Valley, Seattle, New York, Boston, London etc. Just like no one can be Michael Jordan, no one can be Silicon Valley. You can however, be a Lebron James, ie Toronto.
3. We need sponsors and support. It takes money to do all these things. Which established Toronto companies want to be on the battle ground with us.
4. We need people in leadership positions in technology companies to show their face. If you want direction, you need leadership.
5. We need time. It's not going to happen overnight. We're not going to wake up one morning and suddenly be on top of the world. It's going to take persistence, determination, patience and a couple ticks on that trusted wristwatch.
6. We need to get people excited. Passionate people do impressive things and drive outstanding results. Let's raise the bar.
7. We need a central hub online for what Toronto is doing. If you had to the answer the question, which site online accurately portrays Toronto's Technology community, what would you say it would be? Right now, I would say nothing. I think StartupNorth.ca is a great initiative to do this, however, there needs to be more functionality on the site.
8. We need alot of things. We haven't cracked the recipe yet.

Toronto can be a world renown technology hub, it's just a matter of causation:
1) A Toronto company gets acquired.
2) Another Toronto company gets acquired.
3) Yet another Toronto company gets acquired.
4) Michael Arrington from Techcrunch: Another company from Toronto gets acquired. What the hell is going on in Toronto?

But you ask, how do we get to Milestone 1? You have an idea and you execute. If you're passionate about something go do it. Don't listen to anyone else. I've been told no about 20 times already. I still keep going.

Here are my suggestions:

1. How about a TrialCamp - an event that gives startups the opportunity to get good and honest feedback about their products/services. Or maybe an ElbowDropCamp that completely tears apart peoples products so they can improve upon them.
2. At DemoCamp, make an effort to introduce new people to the existing group. I'm a Toronto Entrepreneur. Not many people know me. What can I do to get my name out there?
3. Let's bring this up as a discussion at one of the next community events(DemoCamp? )

But rest assure, no one should count out Toronto. We have a vibrant community, great people, and a promising future. If you count us out you will end up like the Giant in the following clip:

To the wonderful members of Toronto's  technology community and people looking to take part in its growth and prosperity, stay tuned for more ramblings in the near future....

If you are an active participant in the Toronto Technology community. Feel free to share this with others. Maybe they have a different perspective or opinion from mine.

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