Oneupweb Invests and Evolves to Meet the Challenges of the New Online Marketing Environment

June 20, 2007; 04:44 AM
Oneupweb CEO Lisa Wehr today announced major investments and developments designed to redefine online marketing services and the roles that her company will play -- new staff additions, facilities and services.

"It's a whole new world out there," says Lisa Wehr. "Universal Search, new and merging ad platforms, social media and the fresh opportunities for integration, mean search marketers and the vendors they do business with must evolve or become irrelevant." With that preface, Lisa Wehr today announced major investments and developments designed to redefine online marketing services and the roles that her company will play -- new staff additions, facilities and services.

"Firstly," notes Wehr. "business marketers are looking for partners to work as members of their overall marketing team to develop strategies and solutions that work across numerous online and offline platforms." To address these needs, Oneupweb has expanded its services in the past year to include podcast production, hosting and tracking; social media marketing; usability analysis and conversion improvement; media placement and blog marketing. Staffing has grown as well; up more than 25 percent this year alone.

"Second, adding services through corporate acquisition may not be a viable alternative for many online marketing firms," says Wehr. "As we've seen, acquiring a company is a far cry from applying knowledge effectively. There are learning curves, profitability issues and questions of conflicting corporate cultures where a client's interests are easily lost in the mix." Oneupweb has chosen to recruit and develop its own internal experts, adding programming, creative and service professionals who live and thrive in a single corporate environment and culture. To support this growing staff, Oneupweb recently announced the acquisition of its new 23,000 square foot international headquarters located in Traverse City, Michigan. The state-of-the-art waterfront facility will physically embody Oneupweb's integrated marketing approach, where teams can collaborate across the broad spectrum of available expertise.

"Third, with the introduction of Universal Search by Google and the new Ask.com design, the trend in search marketing includes social marketing, brand marketing, local marketing, and even offline marketing," comments Wehr. "Integration is vital. The marketer who performs best will be the one who integrates most effectively." Oneupweb offers new social media tracking metrics and has expanded its in-house production capabilities to complement their full range of search marketing services. "It's a matter of strategic focus; the ability to make it all work together as one."

"Fourth, the "online" in "online marketing" is no longer accurate," says Wehr. She points to Google Radio as an example. Google has taken the traditional medium of radio and given it an online presence, by selling major market radio inventory through its Google ad network. "Successful marketers will be looking at ways of integrating these new radio opportunities into their 'online' marketing efforts," predicts Wehr. Oneupweb has added national award-winning radio writers, producers and state-of-the-art recording and edit suites, while expanding their paid search and media buying team to lend strategic support to this evolving cross-platform medium.

"Fifth, in such a dynamic environment, investment will be constant," concludes the Oneupweb CEO. "Standing pat, or even taking marketing money off the table, is no longer an option." She suggests that stockholders or even major capital investors looking for regular and/or immediate returns, will not find this environment very attractive. "It's the classic case of a company who raids R&D or stops to admire their work. They very quickly fall off the leading edge."

Oneupweb has operated strictly on its own revenues for a dozen years without venture capital or outside investors. "With only the marketplace to answer to, it's allowed us to turn on a dime," says Wehr. "That's what the current environment demands. This approach keeps us accountable and working hard every day to be the company that clients and marketers want to work with."

About Oneupweb
Oneupweb has been an innovator in online marketing for more than a decade, creating integrated online marketing plans that include natural search engine optimization, paid search marketing, podcast production, social media marketing, visibility analysis, website conversion improvement, media placement and blog marketing. An award-winning firm, Oneupweb was named a 2006 Michigan Top 50 Company to Watch and is the only three-time winner of the prestigious ClickZ Best Search Engine Marketing Vendor Award. CEO, Lisa Wehr, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, has been named to BtoB Magazine's Who's Who List three years and is recognized as a Leader & Innovator by Lawrence Technological University. The company publishes a blog named StraightUpSearch.com and produces One for the Money, an informative podcast series available on iTunes and Oneupweb.com. Oneupweb is a privately held company located in Michigan. For more information on Oneupweb, please contact 231.256.9811 or visit Oneupweb.com.