Interview with Claudette Cyr

Claudette Cyr is the Director of Marketing at Gear-Source, Inc.

So Claudette, how did you get into search marketing?

I owned my own marketing business for 15 years and was an early participant in web design & marketing… primarily doing project management. After I sold that business, I did marketing and project management for small businesses, specifically incorporating web sites into their business models. One of my clients (Gear-Source) asked me if I would be interested in taking over Search Optimization for them and, eventually, they offered me a full-time job as their Marketing Director.

What’s involved in doing in-house marketing at GearSource?

In-house marketing at GearSource is me and a part-time assistant! So, what that means is attention to scheduling and time-management. My top priorities include managing numerous PPC campaigns on both Google and Yahoo, managing content on the web sites, preparing regular e-mail marketing blasts, coordinating marketing materials and events and advertising for print and online, managing the advertising module on our own web site, meeting regularly with our Development team to keep the sites running smoothly and identifying the ongoing modifications required to keep our users happy and our sites at their best. I am also always trying to learn more.

How do you keep current with the industry?

I belong to a few related organizations that I feel can give me positive support and information (i.e. American Marketing Assoc, Web Analytics Assoc. eMarketing Assoc), I subscribe to trade magazines, monitor blogs and I read, read, read!!

What do you feel to be the biggest challenges with having the marketing effort in-house?

One thing I would say is most challenging is when everyone from the receptionist to the CEO think they are SEO specialists.

What do you feel have been the biggest benefits of having the marketing effort in-house?

Cost is one benefit but I believe the biggest benefit is my personal investment in the company’s success.

Do you have any agency horror stories?

Yes… We hired a search agency who claimed we were paying for them to run hours and hours of analytics on two of our web sites… they developed 100+ page reports that didn’t say much at all, drove our dev people nuts making revisions to the sites, with the end result being our traffic went down 25% within 5 days of the changes being incorporated. That’s when I was hired full-time.

Are there efforts that you would consider outsourcing rather than taking in-house, and why would that be?

We outsource graphic design and artwork prep but everything else we’ll likely always keep in-house.

Having done in-house marketing with a few companies, both externally as a consultant and from within as at Gear-Source, what are some of the lessons that you’ve learned, and what are some of the commonalities that you’ve seen within in-house teams?

I’d say the biggest lesson I have learned is to embrace change because what works today may not work tomorrow. Search Marketing requires flexibility and patience. Communication within your team is critical to success and using whatever tools you have access to.

What’s been your biggest in-house internet marketing success?

Doubling our conversions in under one year is one of my biggest successes but it’s an ongoing process and every success, big or small, is a marketing accomplishment to me.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start up their own in-house marketing effort?

First, hire the right person; be clear what results you want them to achieve; know how you will measure those results; give them the tools they need; and a reasonable budget. Second: trust them; listen to their recommendations and don’t second-guess. Finally, be patient – results don’t happen overnight.