When you look at the marketing world, many large companies spring to mind. But there’s another up and coming marketing firm that’s taken root in Austin, with a name you’re likely to be hearing again soon: Marketing Clique.
Marketing Clique CEO David Vogelphol started the company himself in 2010, determined to carve out a name for his company in the marketing and web development worlds. Now, just over four years later, the company has over a dozen employees and hundreds of clients, ranging from major brands like Pioneer and Intel to growing technology businesses like WP Engine.
Marketing Clique even designed and developed the new Austin.com website. (Shiny, isn’t it?)
“Marketing Clique does two things: advanced development and online marketing,” Vogelpohl explained. “On the development side, we help people build web based software and content management systems similar to what we’ve done for Austin.com. We create everything from custom software to advanced WordPress websites and custom plugins. On the online marketing side, we focus primarily on paid traffic like Google Adwords, affiliate marketing, banner advertising, retargeting and social media advertising.”
Comprehensive and expansive as that may sound, Marketing Clique makes it simple for their clients. “We help our customers build websites that generate revenue and online marketing campaigns and attract quality visitors ready to buy,” Vogelpohl said.
The Marketing Clique team.
Making Money Online
For many, making money online can be a daunting challenge. Plenty of companies still can’t figure out how to make money online, but for Vogelpohl it’s second nature.
“I started on the Internet in 1996 working for an Internet Service Provider,” he said. “The mid-90’s was a very interesting time to be on the Internet. We were basically getting people online for the first time ever so a lot of our marketing was actually offline. Once online ad platforms like Google AdWords started to become more mature I quickly began experimenting with online advertising and have been going ever since.”
Constantly interacting with online marketing technology since its inception has given Vogelpohl a shark-like instinct for success, but he doesn’t just rest on his laurels. “The great thing about online marketing is that it’s all traceable,” he said. “Every click you buy can be tracked to the revenue it generates. This means you can be much smarter about your ad buys than with pretty much any other medium.”
Even though online marketing has changed dramatically since 1996, Vogelpohl said that some things have stayed pretty much the same. “In the last 17 years the only thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that all online marketing is, is buying traffic that converts at a rate high enough to justify the cost of the advertising. Every technique, optimization, and advance in technology is about improving that one simple metric.”
As far as the best thing companies can do to improve their success with online marketing, Vogelpohl suggested embracing “a culture of iterative testing.” The secret to online marketing, he said, is that “there is no secret. Truly successful online marketers try a lot of different approaches, fail all the time, and keep trying until they succeed. The biggest mistake people make is trying once and giving up. Success is the result of the lessons you learn when you fail. Embrace iterative testing.”
Serving Austin, Driving Growth
Vogelpohl said that Marketing Clique’s recent growth has led to a rapid increase in hiring, including both development and online marketing personnel. “Our goal over the next year is to grow our team while pressing to maintain the quality of work we deliver to our customers,” he explained. “Scaling a business is always challenging, but we’re blessed with a great team and fantastic customers. I personally take pride in helping to support my city by creating jobs from revenue we generate from around the world.”
In addition to Marketing Clique’s growing team, Vogelpohl also commented on how Marketing Clique contributes to the online marketing community here in Austin. “We help organize AUSOME, Austin’s number one online marketing meetup,” he said. “Luckily, there are so many big names in online marketing here in Austin, our speakers are phenomenal nationally recognized experts in their field. It’s a lot of fun and we have a great crowd on the first Wednesday of the month at Capital Factory.”
With their growing list of big-name clientele and proven track record for effectiveness, it’s pretty clear that Marketing Clique is an Austin company to watch and a name you’re likely to hear again — whether it’s helping one of your favorite companies with a new campaign, or just a friendly hello at your next business meetup.
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Photos by Rebecca L. Bennett, Brave Bird Photography.
