Word From Ya Moms (and Dads)

Our parents… those wonderful men and women who changed our diapers, force-fed us our vegetables, supported our collegiate studies through payment of innumerable pizzas, and lost sleep over whether our degrees in Marketing eventually would lead us to a fulfilling career like in “Mad Men” (without drugs, alcohol, glass ceilings, affairs, stereotypes, malice, financial woes, materialism, and gross ethical bankruptcy, of course).

So how many of our parents actually know what we do at work? Not just our titles, but the day-to-day stuff. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been surveying the proud parents of SEER associates with a simple question:

“In 3-4 sentences, how would you describe what your son/daughter does at work?”

In an ever-complicated internet ecosystem, even our techier peers have difficulty in explaining SEO and Paid Search. As the business brain amidst a sea of wonky Search junkies, I spend my days translating the nuanced, thoughtful and down-right complicated work of my team to business owners who understand that the internet has an effect on their business in a big way. I’m fluent in Business, now conversational in Search, but how would our parents fare?

While some of our parents cheated by either checking our LinkedIn pages or just searching our titles (I’m looking at you, Dad), others took the opportunity to put in a good word:

“I am short on technical details, but he is creative, a quick study, a hard worker, responsible, reliable, engaged and enthusiastic. And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother!” - Mark’s mom

“I just have to say how proud I am of the dedication and work ethic she has demonstrated, as well as how appreciated she seems to be at SEER” - Rachael’s mom

“He does a damn good job of it!” - Brett’s mom

Others still, were endearingly confident in their sons/daughters’ ability to help clients “advertise electronically” (Chris’ mom) using “web based information” (Megan’s mom) to see “where web surfers are spending their time” (Rachael’s mom, again)

Teasing aside, I need to give our parents a whole lot of credit. While I set out seeking blackmail material, the responses I received, on the whole, were right on par. They spoke to the highly technical process of helping clients get the traffic and visibility needed to help the profitability of their business. They told me about how their children were out to build a quality web experience by connecting with users and taking care of clients. Our parents (sigh) were right.

I’ve concluded from this experiment that there is a growing recognition of the importance of how users find information/services/products, or that SEER parents are wonderful listeners.

Either way, we’re grateful (and because we’re all older now, we’re okay admitting it)