Ryan Sommer

A Silicon Valley native and PR professional with a tech writing background, specialized in consumer web launches, product review programs, social media momentum initiatives, and blog relations in U.S. and European markets.

Being at the forefront of social media PR, I understand SEO's "white hat" relationship with it very strongly, and I am well versed with new tracking and reporting methods that come along with it.

In 2010 I relocated to the UK in order to work as part of global marketing team for a consumer web product, and I have worked in London ever since through freelance consulting to the burgeoning startup scene and with the digital marketing intelligence community Econsultancy.

Specialties: Branding, identity, community building, community relations, market research, social media relations, user acquisition, web browsers, mobile, desktop software, social networking, web standards, open source, identity/OpenID, design, music, gadgets, blogging, SEO, content marketing

Q&A: CACI Director for Digital & Social Toby Goldblatt on digital excellence

The call for participation in Econsultancy's Top 100 Agencies Report is now open.

With 2013 being the year that digital truly goes mainstream in business, and the multitude of predictions on themes to watch along the way, this series of Q&As with marketing heads agency-side will bring analysis and commentary ahead of the report to our blog.

by Ryan Sommer 05 March 2013 13:43pm 0 comments

James Gurd on enhanced campaigns and PPC best practice

As one of the core toolkits of digital marketers, paid search has been rapidly changing. From constant tweaks and updates to the search engine results page, through to consumers changing their habits by using mobile devices, professionals working in this field are constantly trying to stay ahead of the game in order to generate the greatest return on investment.

The recent changes that Google brought out with AdWords through ‘Enhanced Campaigns’ highlighted the need for new, up-to-date material for this critical area of digital marketing. To that end, we have recently updated our PaidSearch (PPC) Best Practice Guide.

Ecommerce and digital marketing consultant James Gurd is the lead author of our updated guide. James worked with leading practitioners from the field of paid search to make sure that the guide (which stands at over 300 pages in length and close to 120,000 words long) was as relevant as possible for all people interested in learning about and improving their paid search skills.

We spoke to James to find out more about the report and discuss how this will be useful for digital marketers today.

by Ryan Sommer 05 March 2013 16:49pm 0 comments

Q&A with The Digitals judging panel: Ciaran Norris of Mindshare Australia

Entries for The Digitals, our new awards that recognise the best in digital marketing and ecommerce, are currently open.

To celebrate their launch and build a better understanding of what it is all about, we've invited several of the esteemed judges for a Q&A.

Entries for The Digitals have been coming in from around the globe. Ciaran Norris, Chief Digital Officer at Mindshare Australia, is the first in our international judge Q&As.

by Ryan Sommer 27 February 2013 22:01pm 0 comments

Q&A with The Digitals judging panel: Anil Pillai of LBi

Entries for The Digitals, our new awards that recognise the best in digital marketing and ecommerce, are currently open.

To celebrate their launch and build a better understanding of what it is all about, we've invited several of the esteemed judges for a Q&A.

Anil Pillai, CEO of LBi UK, is the fourth in the series.

by Ryan Sommer 26 February 2013 14:19pm 0 comments

Q&A: Lean Analytics co-authors on data-driven marketing

Econsultancy and Geckoboard recently surveyed SMBs and entrepreneurs in the internet software industry for our Data-Driven Culture Survey and found that across different approaches to data and goals, the majority of respondents felt metrics were not understood or acted upon correctly.

Whether you are a marketer or a startup founder, we can all benefit from a structured, lean approach to data.

As the Lean Startup movement (spawned from the bestselling book of the same name by Eric Ries in 2011) will add another chapter in just a few weeks’ time when co-authors Ben Yoskovitz and Alistair Croll release Lean Analytics, we decided to get their take on prioritising data for marketers in this Q&A.

by Ryan Sommer 27 February 2013 14:53pm 1 comment

Q&A: RAPP UK CEO Marco Scognamiglio on digital excellence

The call for participation in Econsultancy's Top 100 Agencies Report is now open.

Here Marco Scognamiglio, CEO of RAPP UK, discusses using data properly in marketing, RAPP's mobile platform offering, and key upcoming trends across the industry.

by Ryan Sommer 25 February 2013 13:16pm 0 comments

Q&A: Eric Mellet on the sales organization of the future

Eric Mellet is co-author of a new report published by Econsultancy entitled The Sales Organization of the Future.

The report, which is free to registered Econsultancy users, explores how product-oriented companies need to evolve into value-added services organizations to meet the changing expectations of customers in a business environment which is fundamentally changing.

I asked Eric about brands leading the way in innovative sales.

by Ryan Sommer 22 February 2013 14:28pm 0 comments

Why your brand should get creative now with visual content marketing

According to Toprank CEO Lee Odden’s recent SES London session, content marketing at its very minimum needs to include: brand leadership, customer empathy, storytelling and creativity.

Here are three reasons why some of that creativity should be visual, regardless of your brand or industry.

by Ryan Sommer 21 February 2013 16:17pm 0 comments

Q&A: Karl Havard of TBG Digital on digital excellence

The call for participation in Econsultancy's Top 100 Agencies Report is now open. With 2013 being the year that digital truly goes mainstream in business, and the multitude of predictions on themes to watch along the way, this series of Q&As with marketing heads agency-side will bring analysis and commentary ahead of the report to our blog.