CHICAGO, IL (Fuor Digital) June 30, 2010 – Make way ffor those new age tech-savvy moms; they are currently the top influencers in the digital world, according to recent da ata findings conducted by Chicago-based agency Fuor Digital.

“In the past, moms were considered a segmented group that could only be reached through niche sites. As their usage habits have evolved and they’ve become more digitally savvy, a whole new chapter of reaching moms online has developed.” Katy Katz, the Director of Strategic Relations at Fuor Digital, points out. “You’re no longer market to moms – you market with moms.”

A May 2009 study on eMarketer found that 36.1 million moms are using the Internet every day, which makes up for over 40 percent of women online. Not only are moms utilizing this medium, but they now depend on it. Whether it’s searching for a quick recipe, finding reviews on the latest family-friendly car, or looking for general advice, all of their pending questions can be now be answered within a few clicks.

Digital moms place a high dependency and trust in search engine results. Studies have found that nearly 70 percent use search engines to gather information before making any online purchases, and 54 percent use search engines before making any offline purchases, according to a doubleClick Performics study.

It doesn’t stop at search engines. These savvy moms find comfort nestled in the millions of online communities and blogs created solely for them.

“Most moms are active social participants, especially those with very young children. They're at least 50% more likely than average online Americans to create social content and join existing communities online.” A recent Forrester study reported.

The latest thought leaders to take the digital moms by storm are “mommy bloggers”, or moms that blog about the daily trials and tribulations of being a parent. A recent study conducted by Lotame found that over half of moms online read blogs.

Since mommy bloggers are coveted digital moms due to their influential voice, potential advertisers should be enticed and motivated by their power. To successfully tailor a strategy for a mommy blogger, brands should lead with products relevant to both the blogger and the content of their blog.
“There’s an opportunity to conduuct a blogger outreach with your product or quite simply, advertise on their blog with a display advertisement,” Katy sugggests. “Digital moms are looking for product informatiion and reviews on these sites, and it’s your opportunity to share your brand.”

Other ways to reach digital moms online include optimizing sites like CafeMom and Cool Mom Picks, where you’ll find thousands of women generating buzz and opinions every day.

Don’t think that these women are going anywhere either, these means of engagement are here to stay. However, advertisers should recognize that brand buzz and acknowledgement doesn’t happen overnight. “It takes a concerted effort to understand how your consumers want to engage, what they are talking about naturally, and then how to drive them to becoming a fan using an integrated media approach.”

Jamie has worked with Fuor Digital for the past 3 years in business development, client management, and media planning and buying across all digital platforms. Jamie has managed dedicated teams for Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cirque du Soleil, Peru Tourism and Loyola University, among others. She is an active member of the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association, is certified by Google Adwords, Laredo Group, and Marketing Experiments and participates in educational programs across a number of Universities.

“Jamie is a smart, invaluable member of our team and I am very proud to see her take the next step in her career here at Fuor Digital,” said Matthew Klein, co-founder and CEO of Fuor Digital. “Jamie’s constant attention to detail and effort to always provide the highest level of service for her clients has been demonstrated again and again. Jamie has continuously demonstrated her strengths in team management, account management, campaign planning, campaign execution and continues to implement
highly creative and unique programs.”

Jamie’s previous experience includes a mix of managing both public relations and marketing promotions for various employers. Jamie graduated from Illinois State University with a B.A. in Marketing.

About Fuor Digital

Fuor Digital is a full-service, Chicago-based digital media agency, specializing in all aspects of digital media campaigns, including digital strategy, advertising, search engine marketing and optimization, e-mail marketing, mobile phone marketing and web analytics. Founded in 2006, Fuor Digital believes in helping their clients master the digital media mix by using all appropriate mediums cohesively, and focuses on creating quantifiable results to help clients track and understand the ROI on their digital media investment. With their breakthrough conversion attribution system and seats on the Standards Committee of the Web Analytics Association and Click Quality Council, Fuor Digital is an innovative leader in the digital media industry.

Fuor Digital is a Kelly, Scott & Madison Company. For more information about Fuor Digital and their digital media services, please visit www.fuor.net.
 

Panel of experts in search marketing industry discussed the need and methods to assign monetary value to all organic SEO campaigns

March 31, 2009 – Toronto, Canada: Josh Dreller, the Director of Media Technology & Analytics for Fuor Digital, a Chicago-based digital media agency, served as a speaker on an SMX panel today titled “Analyzing & Converting Organic Search Traffic.” The panel, made up of Dreller, Vanessa Fox, Contributing Editor of Search Engine Land, Alan K’nect, President and Co-Founder of K’nechotolgy Inc, and Chris Silver Smith, Director of Optimization Strategies for KeyRelevance, talked about the overall value Search Engine Optimization, and the best ways to drive organic traffic to your site.

For his part, Dreller spoke about the need to view search engine optimization in the context of all the other pieces of a digital media campaign. In order to truly measure the impact of an SEO strategy, companies need to understand how other areas of the digital media mix can drive organic search results.

“SEO is a powerful and necessary strategy for driving organic, relevant traffic to your site,” said Dreller. “However, searches performed by users are often inspired by other parts of your digital media campaign, like banner ads or videos. Most search engine optimization campaigns are most effective at driving conversions when working in conjunction with another digital media tactic.”

Dreller went on to caution companies not to sacrifice other parts of their digital media campaigns that aren’t directly leading to conversions in favor of pure SEO.

“A study by Yahoo showed that when exposed to both banner ads and search ads, there was a 244% increase in online purchases, as opposed to 50% for banner ads alone or 210% for search alone,” said Dreller. “66% of people who convert go directly to a site by typing in the url to their browser. However, all of their exposures to parts of a digital media campaign (banner ads, search ads, and yes, organic search results) informed and inspired and them to type in that url. Just because something doesn’t lead directly to a conversion doesn’t mean that it’s not effective.”

About Joshua Dreller

Joshua Dreller is the Director of Media Technology and Analytics of Chicago-based digital media agency Fuor Digital. Joshua sits on the Standards Committee for the Web Analytics Association, a collaborative effort between WAA members, vendors, agencies, practitioners and thought leaders to provide standard definitions and promote consistency of the most widely used terms across the analytics industry. is a Certified Google Analytics Professional, Microsoft adExcellence member and Yahoo Search Ambassador and designates his expertise and commitment to their search marketing platforms. Joshua also authors the industry blog “In the Trenches” that reviews and reports on the newest features and products for search engine marketing professionals. He also routinely attends and speaks at industry conferences including OMMA, iMedia, SES, and ad: tech.

Joshua graduated from Florida State University in 1997 with a B.F.A. in Motion Pictures, Television, and Recording Arts and is a member of MENSA.

About Fuor Digital

Fuor Digital is a full-service, Chicago-based digital media agency, specializing in all aspects of digital media campaigns, including digital strategy, advertising, search engine marketing and optimization, e-mail marketing, mobile phone marketing and web analytics. Founded in 2006, Fuor Digital believes in helping their clients master the digital media mix by using all appropriate mediums cohesively, and focuses on creating quantifiable results to help clients track and understand the ROI on their digital media investment. With their breakthrough conversion attribution system and seats on the Standards Committee of the Web Analytics Association and Click Quality Council, Fuor Digital is an innovative leader in the digital media industry.

Fuor Digital is a Kelly, Scott & Madison company. For more information about Fuor Digital and their digital media services, please visit www.fuor.net.

Panel of experts in search marketing industry discussed the need and methods to assign monetary value to all search marketing campaigns

March 23, 2009 – Hollywood, CA: Josh Dreller, the Director of Media Technology & Analytics for Fuor Digital, a Chicago-based digital media agency, served as the moderator of an OMMA panel today titled “Search Attribution for Marketers: From Spray & Pray to Performance and Profit.” The panel, made up of Dreller, Esco Strong, the Group Manager for Market Research at Microsoft, and Glenn Mar of Mediaplex, talked about the need to accurately attribute, and ultimately monetize, search marketing tactics and how those tactics interact with a marketing campaign’s use of the entire digital media mix.

For his part, Dreller spoke about the need to view search marketing in the context of all the other pieces of a campaign. In light of the economic hardships everyone in the audience was facing, Dreller said that understanding the real metrics and ROI was key to maximizing the efficiency, visibility and overall effectiveness of any digital media campaign.

“Digital media is a constantly evolving, and the traditional metrics that have been used aren’t adequate anymore,” said Dreller. “In order to create a truly performance-based marketing strategy, companies need to be able to monetize every aspect of their campaigns appropriately, so they can understand what is working and what isn’t, and shift resources appropriately.”

Dreller kept the session focused around learning to set up an effective attribution model, creating and achieving appropriate goals, discussing the best technologies and tools to enable tracking and acting, and finally, understanding the necessary skills required to make all of this happen, either in-house or externally with an agency.

“It’s important to understand how the entire digital media mix works together,” Dreller said in summary of the panel. “A banner ad can lead to a search for a video which in turn can lead to a web search which ultimately leads to a conversion. With traditional models, only the last click counts. So by that logic, the banner ad and the video were wasted money. However, they helped create enough brand awareness for the consumer to perform the final search, and deserve the credit and future resource allocation that
they’ve earned.”

About Joshua Dreller

Joshua Dreller is the Director of Media Technology and Analytics of Chicago-based digital media agency Fuor Digital. Joshua sits on the Standards Committee for the Web Analytics Association, a collaborative effort between WAA members, vendors, agencies, practitioners and thought leaders to provide standard definitions and promote consistency of the most widely used terms across the analytics industry. is a Certified Google Analytics Professional, Microsoft adExcellence member and Yahoo Search Ambassador and designates his expertise and commitment to their search marketing platforms. Joshua also authors the industry blog “In the Trenches” that reviews and reports on the newest features and products for search engine marketing professionals. He also routinely attends and speaks at industry conferences including OMMA, iMedia, SES, and ad: tech.

Joshua graduated from Florida State University in 1997 with a B.F.A. in Motion Pictures, Television, and Recording Arts and is a member of MENSA.

About Fuor Digital

Fuor Digital is a full-service, Chicago-based digital media agency, specializing in all aspects of digital media campaigns, including digital strategy, advertising, search engine marketing and optimization, e-mail marketing, mobile phone marketing and web analytics. Founded in 2006, Fuor Digital believes in helping their clients master the digital media mix by using all appropriate mediums cohesively, and focuses on creating quantifiable results to help clients track and understand the ROI on their digital media investment. With their breakthrough conversion attribution system and seats on the Standards Committee of the Web Analytics Association and Click Quality Council, Fuor Digital is an innovative leader in the digital media industry.

Fuor Digital is a Kelly, Scott & Madison Company. For more information about Fuor Digital and their digital media services, please visit www.fuor.net.

Traditionally, the effectiveness of a digital media campaign is measured by “last click metrics,” which means that only placements that lead directly to a conversion are counted as successes. However, this does take into account the impact of other placements on driving that click, making it difficult to acturately measure ROI. By following the entire path that a customer followed and understanding all of the events they were exposed to, from search, e-mail, display, mobile and even video ads, marketers can get a deeper understanding of how their entire digital media mix is working together to ultimately lead to a conversion. This gives a clear picture of how digital advertising dollars should be allocated based on where they are most effectively influencing customer purchasing behavior. It also means online campaigns can now make adjustments to any online touch point in real time to optimize campaign performance.

Fuor Digital, one of the nation’s foremost specialists in digital media marketing and analytics, employs this technology to fine tune all their clients web-based marketing tactics. “Research has shown that by only measuring success from the last ad interaction, you ignore more than 95 percent of the total media interactions,” says Joshua Dreller, director of media technology and analytics at Fuor Digital. “Advertisers deserve better. To get the full picture, you have to look at every aspect leading up to the purchase and that’s what we’re doing at Fuor Digital.”

“One of the common discoveries our clients make when they are first able to see how their online strategies are performing is whether their online ads, email campaigns and search engine efforts are working together,” remarks Kelly Miller, vice president, media director at Fuor Digital. “Although display advertising, email and search engine methods will yield results independently, they have much greater potential for higher returns when used together. Our goal is to make it easier for companies to place their online dollars where it will impact them the most.”

Path to conversion has been a driving force in helping clients such as EverBank and Navigon maximize their marketing dollars, and providing solid evidence of where marketing dollars are effectively spent. “Fuor presented us with a detailed report on how our online display advertising was working together with our search engine optimization,” says Matthew Mowat, VP Marketing at Navigon. “This is data that we were never able to see before, and enforced how successful our digital media dollars were being spent, meaning that we could be more strategic and effective with our entire digital media spend.”

By capturing the real time data and activity of individual consumers, Fuor Digital is able to paint a more accurate picture for their clients and show them where their money is best going to be spent. “We feel that we have cracked the code by utilizing the new ‘conversion attribution,’ concept,” says Dreller. “Our process of ‘path to conversion’ ensures the success of all digital media campaigns by tracking consumers’ digital habits in real time and optimizing a campaign to reflect these habits.”

“Fuor has helped us quantify the idea that digital media requires a cumulative approach rather than viewing it as individual autonomous channels that operate in silos,” comments Mowat. “Fuor’s work has shown that you can’t remove one aspect of a total campaign. The sum of the campaign is stronger than any one part.”

Conversion attribution is not only setting a standard for digital media, but is also helping to shape the future of traditional media, leading to new concepts and theories that will make many forms of media easier to track and show return. “The work that we are doing on the digital side today is spearheading the way it will present itself in the future for all types of media,” says Matthew Klein, co-founder and chief executive officer of Fuor Digital.

About Fuor Digital

Fuor Digital is a full-service, Chicago-based digital media agency, specializing in all aspects of digital media campaigns, including digital strategy, advertising, search engine marketing and optimization, e-mail marketing, mobile phone marketing and web analytics. Founded in 2006, Fuor Digital believes in helping their clients master the digital media mix by using all appropriate mediums cohesively, and focuses on creating quantifiable results to help clients track and understand the ROI on their digital media investment. With their breakthrough conversion attribution system and seats on the Standards Committee of the Web Analytics Association and Click Quality Council, Fuor Digital is an innovative leader in the digital media industry.

Fuor Digital is a Kelly, Scott & Madison company. For more information about Fuor Digital and their digital media services, please visit www.fuor.net.

Panel of experts in web 2.0 and digital media talk about ways for Presidents and CEOs to use Web 2.0 technologies to improve their businesses

September 9, 2008 – Chicago, IL: Matthew Klein, Co¬Founder and CEO of Fuor Digital, a Chicago¬based digital media agency, participated in a panel at the Presidents’ Forum of Chicago today focused on Web 2.0. The panel, made up of Klein, Joseph Juhnke and Adam Kallish of Tangram, Kristin Brown of Productive Strategies, and Kelly Cutler of Marcel Media, addressed an audience of Presidents and CEOs about what Web 2.0 was, and how it can be leveraged in a business environment.

For his part, Klein focused on debunking a number of myths about Web 2.0, primarily in the context of social networking technologies, and how CEOs and Presidents could use new digital media tools both personally and in their companies to enhance their businesses.

“It’s a myth that digital media opens companies up to unwanted scrutiny,” Klein said. “Too many companies are afraid of the transparency that Web 2.0 can create. Instead of thinking of Web 2.0 as creating a magnifying glass over your company, think of it as additional tools to get your brand out to your customers in a way that you control. By using Web 2.0 technologies, you can help to control the conversation about your organization and industry.”

Klein also talked about the importance of Presidents and CEOs being visible.

“Now more than ever, people see CEOs as personifications of the companies that they run. By being visible and interacting with your customer base and other interested parties personally, you give the company a definable personality, and allow people to relate to your organization.”

The Presidents’ Forum of Chicago is an invitation¬only, annual, all¬day event dedicated solely to presidents and CEOs. The purpose is to help CEOs and Presidents generate new business leads, ideas, and solutions from their peers through a collection of panels, roundtable discussions, and networking opportunities.

About Matthew Klein

Matthew Klein is the Co¬Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fuor Digital. Matt, who has a background in software engineering and development, launched Fuor Digital to help companies make better digital marketing decisions by providing the tools to evaluate their online effectiveness. As President and Chief Executive Officer, Matthew oversees company strategy, direction and ensures clients achieve their digital media and business objectives.

Prior to co¬founding Fuor Digital, Matt served as Vice President of Digital Marketing for Chicago-based Magnani Continuum Marketing from 2002¬2005, where he advised brands such as CNA Insurance, MacGregor Golf, Marriott, Libman, and Norwood Promotional Products on digital marketing strategy and execution. Matt went on to create Context, a service company that ultimately partnered with Kelly Scott & Madison in 2005, paving the way for Fuor Digital.

Matt graduated Summa Cum Laude from DeVry Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL in 1997 with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems.

About Fuor Digital

Fuor Digital is a full¬service, Chicago¬based digital media agency, specializing in all aspects of digital media campaigns, including digital strategy, advertising, search engine marketing and optimization, e¬mail marketing, mobile phone marketing and web analytics. Founded in 2006, Fuor Digital believes in helping their clients master the digital media mix by using all appropriate mediums cohesively, and focuses on creating quantifiable results to help clients track and understand the ROI on their digital media investment. With their breakthrough conversion attribution system and seats on the Standards Committee of the Web Analytics Association and Click Quality Council, Fuor Digital is an innovative leader in the digital media industry.

Fuor Digital is a Kelly, Scott & Madison Company. For more information about Fuor Digital and their digital media services, please visit www.fuor.net.


 

Panel of experts in the digital media industry discussed misconceptions and myths about digital media marketing at international conference

September 16, 2008 – Coronado, CA: Fuor Digital Chief Operations Officer Rachel Jarvis participated in a panel at the iMedia Conference at the Loews Cornado Bay Resort today about dispelling myths and misconceptions within digital media marketing. The panel, made up of marketing experts from a wide variety of industries, focused on several topics, including the usefulness of ad agencies in digital media, the available reach of online video, and the need to measure engagement as part of your marketing metrics.

For her part, Jarvis spoke primarily about the role that ad agencies will play in the world of digital media. Addressing an audience of brand marketers who were uncertain about the future and how important digital media would be, she countered one panelist’s opinion that ad agencies were no longer needed in a digital media age with the idea that ad agencies are still imperative, but that their functions will change.

"It's not so much that you don't need an agency ever again, but you need to understand what your agency is providing for you, and how that's going to change, and how it should change if it already hasn't," Jarvis said. "I think you should have someone who understands what your goals are."

Jarvis went on to say that digital media is not something that anyone can do. It requires the same level of strategy, planning, and execution as traditional media, and in order to truly master the digital media mix and take full advantage of the myriad opportunities offered, companies need professional help, which many agencies can provide. But the traditional teams ad agencies provide clients need to evolve, Jarvis added.

"It's about being a little more flexible in your structure," she said. "Why don't we put the team together once we understand what the goals and objectives of the campaign are? Not every campaign requires a creative director. So why should every team your agency provides have one?"

Jarvis offered advice to anyone looking to hire an ad agency for their digital media needs. “Make sure the agency has experience in the digital media industry,” she said. “This is a very different medium, requiring a unique set of skills and expertise. If an agency can’t show you digital media successes, or point to in¬house experts, then they probably don’t have the expertise required to run an effective campaign.”

Other panelists included Sean Cheyney, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Accuquote, Jerry Courtney, Group Manager, Corporate Multi¬Media, Target, Marti Funk, VP, Client Solutions & Insights, Sportgenic, Rachel Jarvis, Partner/COO, Fuor Digital L.L.C.; Susan Lavington, SVP, Marketing, USA TODAY; Mark Naples, Managing Partner, WIT Strategy; Tod Sacerdoti, CEO & Founder, BrightRoll; Jason Shulman, CRO, [x+1]; Moderator: John Durham, CEO/Managing Partner, Catalyst: SF.

About Rachel Jarvis

Rachel Jarvis is the Chief Operating Officer of Chicago¬based Fuor Digital, Inc, a digital media marketing agency. As the resident digital media guru, Rachel is responsible for the day¬to¬day operations including: process, revenue and sales growth, business development, and financial goal management. Prior to Fuor Digital, Rachel worked at Winstar Interactive Media, as Senior Vice President and Director of National Sales, where she sold advertising for top brand sites like NASDAQ, Fodors, Readers Digest, and Zagat. Her additional experience includes posts at: Turner Interactive, representing the CNN.com, CNNfn.com and CNNSI.com properties, Director of Sponsorship for iVillage.com, and the interactive arm of media firm SpaceTime, Inc.

Rachel graduated cum laude from Emerson College in Boston, M.A. in 1995 with a B.A. in Communications, Advertising and Public Relations.

About Fuor Digital

Fuor Digital is a full¬service, Chicago¬based digital media agency, specializing in all aspects of digital media campaigns, including digital strategy, advertising, search engine marketing and optimization, e¬mail marketing, mobile phone marketing and web analytics. Founded in 2006, Fuor Digital believes in helping their clients master the digital media mix by using all appropriate mediums cohesively, and focuses on creating quantifiable results to help clients track and understand the ROI on their digital media investment. With their breakthrough conversion attribution system and seats on the Standards Committee of the Web Analytics Association and Click Quality Council, Fuor Digital is an innovative leader in the digital media industry.

Fuor Digital is a Kelly, Scott & Madison company. For more information about Fuor Digital and their digital media services, please visit www.fuor.net.