A Marketing Professional’s Two for Tuesday

One of the great elements of the Portland tech community is not only its diversity but also how frequently events are organized to encourage networking between like-minded individuals. On the 13th of August, members of the Edge production team had the opportunity to attend two such events covering two of the leading web marketing trends: mobile and SEO.

We could all take a page from Esmée’s book when assessing our content, asking more than “can they see it?” but also “can they use it?”

The first event was sponsored by AMA PDX and was held at Bridgeport Brewery. Esmée Williams of allrecipes.com, the world’s largest digital food brand, discussed their marketing strategies as they saw mobile views increasing on ther sites. She discussed how their plan of action extended beyond making their content more viewable on mobile devices, but also more usable. While these two ideas are often one and the same, the latter seems to be a topic that is often overlooked while responsive design, m-dots, and mobile apps take up the bulk of the conversation. We could all take a page from Esmée’s book when assessing our content, asking more than “can they see it?” but also “can they use it?”

The day ended on the roof of the Embassy Suites for the fifth annual SEMpdx Rooftop Networking Party. From an avid snowboarder from Spain to a soon-to-be father from North Carolina, the upper deck was filled with marketing professionals, each one adorning sunglasses and with business cards burning holes in their pockets. With a wide variety of stories and strategies this was a great event for anyone who is either interested in SEO or just enjoys hanging out on a roof top downtown.

SEMpdx 2013 Rooftop Party - Panorama
Panorama of the Portland’s Pearl District taken by Gavin Heslop at the annual SEMpdx 2013 Rooftop Party.