• Creative Search Media , Thursday, August 21, 2008 2:30 PM

"Having read all the hype surrounding the Search Engine Strategies event in San Jose, we jumped into the car yesterday morning excited about the prospect of discovering something new," says Julia Hyde. "Unfortunately, we were disappointed. Wandering around the event we all came to the same conclusion: Every search marketing agency sounds the same."

Hyde recounts the experience she and some of the other members of the Creative Search Media team had at their first SES, including snippets from the various media kits they picked up while trolling the exhibit hall. And for the most part, she's underwhelmed by the lack of creativity in sales pitches, hyperbole in the marketing literature, and what she sees as an overall inability for most search and search technology firms to effectively market themselves.

"It appears the search marketing industry has some homework to do," Hyde says. "While there's often talk about how the traditional advertising and marketing agencies don't understand what's going on in search marketing, the opposite is also true. If I was a prospect looking for an agency to represent my company, I'd throw my hands up in the air and make the decision to handle search marketing in house."

Read the whole story at Creative Search Media »