Continual Learning is Our Self Care
Stay-at-home orders where we’re headquartered near Kansas City, Missouri, began on March 24 and sent our teams home to serve our clients remotely. As it turns out, saving up to two hours a day in commuting times gives a person extra time to check off some important tasks on their to-do lists.
At the top of our list was an important mission: personal and talent development. Since the birth of iFocus Marketing nearly five years ago, we’ve been going non-stop; it’s what we do. And we like it. To be the best at digital marketing, we have always prioritized personal development and challenged teams to bring new ideas to the table through their own self-directed learning. The pandemic provided us with a little bit of extra time to dive into learning opportunities.
Dive in might actually not be a strong enough description of what happened. If it were scuba-diving, we’d be Jacques Cousteau. If it were Olympic diving, we’d win as many championships as Greg Louganis. We embraced it. Learning permeated our days. It became a way of life.
In addition to maintaining our Google certifications — they don’t give away that Premier Partner status for nothing — our team completed over 35 additional certifications and attended more than 75 webinars in just under two months, in addition to keeping up with our clients’ digital marketing strategies and various stay-at-home operations.
A Google-Certified Digital Marketing Agency
While most took the opportunity to get certified across disciplines, the majority of the team also chose to focus on Google Ads certifications to renew their existing credentials and expand their expertise. Our team has dedicated individuals who oversee PPC ads, and yet, we earned 40 total certifications (an average of about two per person):
| Certification | Completions |
| Google Ads Search | 13 |
| Google Analytics | 10 |
| Google Ads Display | 8 |
| Google Ads Mobile | 4 |
| Google Analytics Power User | 2 |
| Google Ads Video | 2 |
| Google Tag Manager | 1 |
| Google My Business | 1 |
Email Marketing Certifications
According to a McKinsey and Company study, when used properly, email marketing is up to 40 times more effective than social media. It’s an impressive stat that inspired us to seek out certifications to help us deliver marketing messages straight to affinity and in-market audiences’ inboxes. HubSpot’s Email Marketing certification was a popular choice for this, with two team members completing and passing the course.
More formally, iFocus Marketing is proud to say we’re a Constant Contact Partner Agency. Our deep understanding of both the Constant Contact platform and email marketing helps us carry out effective campaigns for our clients. During stay-at-home orders, two of our team members completed and passed recertification for Constant Contact.
| Certification | Completions |
| Hubspot Email Marketing | 2 |
| Constant Contact | 2 |
Content is Key
Especially with the competitive nature of search engine optimization and Google’s frequent updates to how their tools rank websites, content marketing is a growing element of the digital space. Not only did the team knock out two certifications from Hubspot on Content Strategy, but we joined the ranks of Ivy Leaguers by completing “Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content,” an online course from the Wharton School of Business at UPenn.
And what would content be without search engine optimization? Our learning wouldn’t be complete without courses on SEO from Moz Academy to stay up-to-date on the latest tactics and become a more well-rounded team..
| Certification | Completions |
| Hubspot Content Strategy | 2 |
| Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content | 1 |
| Moz Academy SEO courses | 1 |
Digital Marketing Webinars
The iFocus team attended 75 webinars during the stay-at-home orders, an average of about 3.75 per person These webinars included topics like relationship-building, social media trends, search engine optimization updates, and more. Some team members attended the same webinars together and discussed the material afterward, ultimately sharing key takeaways with the rest of the iFocus team during our weekly standup meetings.
Develop Your Digital Marketing Strategy
If you’re ready to increase the power of your digital marketing tactics, or even start new marketing modalities to increase your business’s revenue, contact the team at iFocus Marketing to get started. Our drive to be lifelong learners keeps us updated on the latest marketing trends, so we can continually enhance and optimize your marketing with our proactive approach to advertising and strategizing. Contact us today and let’s chat.
