• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 19, 2015

3Q Digital, a Harte Hanks company, named Rob Garner head of growth, leading the company's earned media practice and team.

Garner steps in to work closely with the strategy group, the business development group, and the executive team to boost existing services and create new ones. The services include social, content, search, mobile, creative, and analytics, among others.

"There is also an underlying emphasis on innovation in the role, and I will be creating many exciting offerings to further push 3Q Digital's leading edge in the digital marketing services industry, and help grow our clients' businesses at a rapid pace," Garner told Search Marketing Daily.

Garner brings a wealth of knowledge to 3Q Digital. As former VP of strategy at iCrossing, Garner worked with businesses and brands such as Marriott, USAA, Sovereign Bank, Mastercard, and Visa to develop paid, earned, and owned strategies that drive visibility, engagement, and results. 

Garner, the author of the book "Search and Social: The Definitive Guide to Real-Time Content Marketing," published by Wiley's SYBEX division, says he accepted the new role after feeling connected with the executive team. "They have an incredible client base that is nimble and fluid enough to act upon contemporary, real-time marketing approaches," he says. "I have long admired David Rodnitzky [founder] and 3Q Digital, and I'm very excited to come aboard.

Garner believes digital is on the verge of another massive change. He offers up three industry predictions for 2016:

1) We are going to see the beginning of very interesting brand implementations of digital marketing tactics in physical spaces. The Internet of Everything represents what I like to describe as a second coming of the Internet. It is the manifestation of a networked society in physical spaces, and represents huge first mover opportunities. It is a combination and convergence of identity, context, location, and relational objects and actions. It is nouns in the conveyance of verbs in physical spaces. I would equate the brands embracing IoE solutions in 2016, as on par with pioneering marketers who had a Web site back in 1994. While all of that may sound very complex, the solutions are often very simple, but will require creative thinking. I firmly believe that creative digital marketers in the SEO, social, mobile, and content fields are going to be pioneers with advertising and experiences in this area.

2) The space for “average” brand content marketing will get very crowded. The space for engaging content across a variety of digital spaces will be wide open, and marketers who truly elevate, delight, and engage their audience through content will win. There is a prevailing way of thinking among most content marketers that the channel is primarily textual. But, as I explained in my book in great detail, the biggest opportunities lie in other forms of digital assets as well. The concept of brands as publishers is more alive than ever, and we will see more leading brands expand into many different areas beyond web content alone.

3) We will hear more conversations about the lines between “advertising” and “experience” becoming blurred. As various targeting and predictive algorithms become the norm, the discussion will start to move past “conversations” with audience, and elevate to immersion with the audience, and anticipation of needs via content, mobile, algorithms and personal intelligence.