Team Member Spotlight: Benn Myers

Get ready, folks. It’s time to learn all about Benn’s dream digital marketing client, how he geeks out over ads, and his epic MTV reality show pitch. Yes, he’s a Manager of Search & Social, but he also has a knack for competition/romance/dog shows. Read on.

1) What's your favorite work task? What's your most challenging work task?

I think my favorite thing to do at work is building out new campaigns for a client. When I first started here I dreaded it - there were so many moving parts to account for and it felt like such a daunting task. But now that I've gotten into the rhythm of it, I love how much opportunity there is when you launch a new account. You can push to test whatever keywords, targeting, or ad text make sense to you. It's a totally blank canvas.

My least favorite work task is metadata optimizations. I've done it a million times. It's necessary but too rote to be considered fun.

2) Have you ever applied your SEO/PPC knowledge to your everyday life?

I don't know if I've ever directly applied my digital marketing knowledge to my everyday life, but I definitely have a problem that happens whenever someone mentions anything vaguely related to ads on the internet.

I'll suddenly start talking about CPCs, CTRs, and a slew of other acronyms. I feel like I black out and come to twenty minutes later ranting about AdWords quality scores.

3) If you could manage the SEO and/or PPC for any client (real or fictional!), who would it be? What would your strategy entail?

Being a nerd who is currently addicted to Overwatch, I think I'd have to say Blizzard Entertainment. They're a company that takes years polishing and perfecting any product they release, and then continue to constantly work to make it better. As a marketer, there's no greater advantage than having a product that stands out above the rest. 

As far as strategy goes, I'd probably focus on running campaigns to build awareness of the game. Blizzard has an art department that creates high-quality, Pixar style shorts that are perfect for grabbing a user's attention. 

From an SEO perspective, I'd focus on creating a suite of pages that correspond to each character in the game. There's tons of search volume for people looking for tips and information on each character, so by creating our own pages we can outrank third party sites and bring all that informational traffic to Blizzard's website.

Plus, you really can't beat their employee rewards.

4) What's your favorite Perfect Search memory?

There's been so many great Thursday meetings and outings that it's hard to pick just one. One instance that does stand out was the first time we played Civil War in the office when I was an intern.

I was shy, and hadn't been very social with the other employees yet, but they made me feel super welcome and the level of intensity they brought to the game made me excited to play too. I left the office that day with rug-burned knees, sweaty clothes, and the feeling that I was going to fit in at PSM.

5) Imagine MTV gave you a blank check to design and produce your own MTV reality show. Give us the lowdown. What's the concept? The title? 

I want to make a show about people and their dogs. Their show dogs. I'll call it Dog Fight, or maybe Ruff Times. 

The idea would be that each contestant comes onto the show paired with their dog. They're told that their goal is to prove that they're the best trainer. The winner of the show will receive $250,000 (maybe less, I have no idea what 'big money' is like in the dog world).

But once they're on the show they're hit with a twist - it's not their dog they'll be competing with. Instead, their dog is taken and reallocated to a random trainer.

Chaos ensues. There are tears. At least one person goes home. They get their dog back, but only because the network made me.

The rest find themselves in a bitter competition, where their desperation to assert themselves as a dominant force in their field is only matched by their trepidation at competing against their furry, best friend.

Things are further complicated by elimination format. The show is equal parts men and women, and each week one member of each gender is eliminated. Elimination is determined by a vote taken by the opposite gender. This means flirtation is a must. A key romance will secure your votes to stay in the game. Friends become lovers. Lovers become enemies. People say things like "I love you" to the people who have randomly been given their dog. The only way to be completely safe is to win the challenge each week. 

Meanwhile, the dogs, completely ignorant of politics, have a real love story. Ideally one of them has a litter of puppies. I don't work in television but I have to think that a puppy episode would be ratings gold.

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Besides being a reality show genius, Benn also knows a thing or two about digital marketing. Find out the 6 most common site migration mistakes or how your site can master personalized & local search.

Do you see yourself getting addicted to Ruff Times? (We do.)Tweet us at @Perfect_Search.