On February 25th, Razorfish hosted a search panel at our New York office.  Despite the Snowicane, we had many clients, industry leaders and enthusiasts in attendance. Having been in search for 5 years, the event reminded me how much I enjoy being a search marketer.

We’ll be posting video clips of the panels soon, but in the meantime I want to share my personal highlights of the night (in no particular order):

I learned that some companies do have a grasp of how online behavior affects offline sales: Brian McDevitt, Head of Retail at Google, told us that the CEO of Macy’s is able to say that every dollar spent online at Macys.com influences $5.77 spent in stores within 10 days after an online purchase

Adam Heimlich, Group Search Director at Razorfish, reminded me why prognosticating on the future of search isn’t always a rewarding experience. Users move quickly to adopt new technologies if they’re useful. But big businesses adapt to change at a snail’s pace.

Doug McMillen, National Mobile Search Specialist at Microsoft, got me really excited about mobile. He compared  mobile right now to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Internet in the 90′s and early 00′s, when hugely successful companies like Zappos, Netflix and Amazon were built around the Internet. My question is: who will be among the first to effectively build businesses around mobile as a medium?  Those who figure it out will become the companies that competitors will spend years trying to catch up to.

By: Jamie Ross

On February 25th we will be hosting  an exclusive Search Marketing panel event in our New York office.

Panel Members:
Razorfish, Marin, Google, Bing, clients, media and industry colleagues.

5:30 – 6:00 pm – Happy Hour

6:00 – 6:30 pm Measuring How Search Generates Offline Sales
A look at how search lifts walk-in traffic, and how to integrate this channel into the marketing mix

6:30 – 7:00 pm: Mobile Search Opportunity and Capabilities
The reality of mobile search – a look at successes and failures.

7:00 – 7:30 pm: New Tools/Technology in Advanced Targeting
Put some new tools and ideas behind your prospecting techniques.

7:30 – 8:00 pm: What’s Next for 2010 and beyond
Will the Yahoo/Bing partnership cause

Space is limited, so please contact Joshua Palau if you would like to attend.

The aughts were the decade that the digital marketing industry was born. During these years, there was huge upside for individuals and companies ready to innovate, change their business model and create new utilities. On the flipside, there was hardship for companies and industries who couldn’t adapt.

Search engine marketing didn’t exist in the nineties. Over the past ten years, the industry was created and evolved to sophisticated heights.  From the rise of Google, to multiple versions of Microsoft Search (MSN Search, Live Search, Bing), to the countless game changers that have come and gone, no other form of digital evolved more than search engine marketing. We looked back at the last decade to fondly remember some of the defining moments of A Decade in Search. I’m sure we could have found a lot more, but we hope you enjoy looking back as much as we did.

Where is the next decade headed? We’re excited about the possibilities to come. Search technologies, targeting options and verticals will continue to emerge and new digital technologies may be unknown or in their infancy. However, now that search engines have made it routine, there will always be a need to find information in seconds. We’re betting that consumers will continue to favor relevant, interactive advertising experiences.

Take a look back at A Decade in Search