As most of our clients know, Pronto Marketing is about a lot more than just website creation and design. We offer a broad range of Marketing Services that help your business reach new prospects and convert leads beyond those who have made their way to your website by referral.

Q1. Before we get to the marketing stuff, how long have you lived in Thailand? What’s the three-sentence summary of what brought you from sunny California to sweltering Bangkok?

Answer: I’ve been in Thailand for about 7 years now. I moved out here because I was looking for a change of pace. I was originally planning on quitting my job in Los Angeles and traveling the world for a year, but Cory Brown, a Pronto Co-founder and friend from university, convinced me that living in Bangkok and working for Pronto was a better option.

Q2. What’s the one thing you miss the most about home? Do you have any go-to rituals for alleviating homesickness on the other side of the globe?

Answer: I miss family and friends….and Mexican food. Sometimes I just need to get a huge burrito from La Monita to make me feel better.

Q3. So you came to Thailand to join the Pronto team. How did you get into digital marketing?

Answer: To be honest, I didn’t know much about digital marketing prior to working here. When I joined Pronto, we were still a young, small company. And although we all had assigned job roles, a lot of the day-to-day work involved just jumping in and doing whatever needed to be done. It was a great way to learn a lot very quickly.

Q4. What do you love most about Pronto, what makes it a place you’re excited to come to every day?

Answer: The thing I love most about Pronto is that all the team members are empowered to effect change within the company. All of us can step up to improve programs or processes to help make things better and ultimately, have an impact on the direction and success of the company.

Q5. You were a project specialist before becoming Pronto’s SEO Manager. What was that transition like?

Answer: One of the coolest things about Pronto is that every manager in the company has been promoted from within, and for each of those managers, this is their first time managing a team, including me.

The transition was smooth in some ways and stressful in others. The team had reached a point where having me step up as a manager was a natural change, but I also had a lot to learn about what it meant to be a manager. And Derek has done a great job of coaching me down that path over the past several years.

Q6. For those who don’t work with it every day, how would you summarize the Search and Advertising field? What are some of the services Pronto provides in this field?

Answer: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and online advertising can seem really daunting to people not familiar with them. And indeed, there is a ton of knowledge required to really feel proficient in these fields. However, both boil down to the same set of ideas which apply to a lot of marketing channels: providing useful information and exciting offers to potential customers at the right time.

The Search & Advertising team offers and manages several services that help achieve this goal, including:

• Advanced SEO - To help our clients improve their performance in search results.
• AdWords Management - To display our clients’ ads right when their prospects are looking for help.
• Retargeting - To allow our clients to display ads to visitors who didn’t convert on their first visit.
• Call Tracker - To track useful data on incoming phone leads for our clients.

I’ll stop there because there are too many to list here.

On top of the add-on services we offer, our team also provides on-site SEO for all of the websites we manage, giving them a solid foundation on which they can grow their online success.

Q7. Which aspect of working on the Search and Advertising team is the most challenging?

Answer: One of the more difficult aspects of the job is client education. As I mentioned, there is a lot to learn in the online marketing industry, and most business owners don’t have time to dig into the details of how Google’s search algorithms work or how to best optimize an effective AdWords campaign.

I think it’s really important that business owners have at least a fundamental grasp of these topics, but I also understand that they often have more pressing business matters to attend to. So we end up having to walk a fine line between not providing enough information, leaving the client unsure about what is happening; and providing too much information, leaving the client confused and overwhelmed.

In the end, we try to find the right balance that clearly explains the most important information while still providing opportunities for our clients to learn more if they’re interested in doing so.

Q8. It's gotta be more than answering client requests and delegating. What are some unique ways you and your team approach tasks?

Answer: There is so much to learn in the online marketing industry. And on top of that, it’s an industry that is always changing with new technology and new tactics that might be helpful for our clients. Because of this, we’re always sharing knowledge and information as a team, either through our Slack chat group, our Trello board, or in meetings. If one of us find something cool or interesting, or figures out a new way to solve an issue for a client, we’ll share it with the rest of the team.

Q9. What’s the one question you hear all the time from clients? This is your chance to set the record straight!

Answer: Hmm, there are quite a few common misconceptions when it comes to SEO and quite a few common questions that come along with that. If I had to pick one, I’d go with, “Why is my competitor’s site ranking higher than mine in the search results?”

The problem is that there isn’t a single answer to that question. Google’s search algorithms are incredibly complicated, so it usually needs to be answered on a case-by-case basis. But most of the time, it comes down to the competitor having invested more time and resources into building a strong presence for their business online.

Q10. What's the one thing you wish you could tell every client the second they signed up?

Answer: A lot of business owners tend to think that having a website is all they need for their online presence. While a great website is the foundation of your online marketing strategy, it’s really just the beginning. You also need to develop a plan that encompasses several marketing channels and tactics, from SEO to online advertising to email marketing and even to offline channels like direct mail and cold calling.

From email drip campaigns to Pronto’s proprietary analytics dashboard, Tim’s team have a lot on their plate. If you want to hear more details about what his team is working on or have any other questions for him, leave a comment below and he’ll get back to you!