Meet Brian Bluff From Site Seeker, Inc.

Welcome to the “Material Handling Helpful Tools Series”. This series will blog spotlight many different material handling professionals and provide helpful information for the material handling industry.   Our goal is to introduce you to individuals and websites that can improve your success in the industry. Today, we will meet Brian Bluff from Site-Seeker, Inc.

1. Tell us a little about yourself? Interests outside of work, family, pets, hobbies, entertainment, special talents.
I grew up in Buffalo, NY and played a lot of sports. In hockey I was a goalie and my brother and business partner Eddie, was my defensemen.

There were five children, all boys, in our family. My first job was at a pizzeria in Buffalo. The first night that I worked there we cooked 950 pizzas! I quickly earned the nickname Captain Crunch and still, 30 years later, have nightmares that I’m burning the pizza!
I attended Rochester Institute Of Technology on a Navy ROTC scholarship and earned a BS degree in Microelectronic Engineering. My biggest distraction in college, and the most fun I had, was playing Rugby.

My favorite job was as a Surface Warfare Officer serving onboard a Guided Missile Destroyer in the US Navy.

My wife Cassy and I have two children and two grand children. I love to fish!

2. What is your role in the organization?
My title is President and Co-Founder. I spend my time researching the latest developments in digital marketing, creating programs for prospects and customers, overseeing our organization, and writing and speaking about Internet marketing.

3. How did your career path land you in this role?
I knew I was going to start a business when I was 12 years old and after the Navy, had the good fortune to run a startup technology startup for a public company. In 2001, I became an independent rep selling Thomas Register advertising to Manufacturers and Distributors. My brother Eddie, also an independent rep for Thomas, and I saw a need and in 2003 we started Site-Seeker.

4. What is the most exciting aspect of your job?
The digital marketing industry is in a constant state of flux. Everyday there are new developments, and new opportunities to learn. I love this part and spend most weekends and evenings learning.

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is watching the folks on our team, mostly younger, develop and grow. We’ve been really lucky to attract some really smart and talented employees!

5. What makes yourself or your company unique and sets you apart from the rest of the industry?
In the digital marketing business, most companies focus on a specific geographic region, this means that most firms work with dentists, lawyers, restaurants, and the occasional distributor or manufacturer. We on the other hand, focus vertically on distributors and manufacturers. We know the B2B market!

Over the past 11 years, we’ve worked with hundreds and hundreds of companies. This experience in our selected verticals means that there are not a lot of problems we haven’t solved. In a nutshell were we focus on B2B and we’re really good at it.

6. Why is Social Media so important today, more so than it was 10 years ago?  
It used to be that you were competing with a small handful of companies. Today, you’re competing with the world. Add in the Amazon effect and the competition has never been greater.

Social media provides companies the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise and provide value to customers and prospects. The result of a good social media program is a seat at the table and the opportunity to compete for your prospect’s business. In the end, it’s all about establishing credibility and providing value. This is what B2B social media is all about.

7.What is one tip or bit of advice that you can leave with our readers?
Don’t sit on the sideline and wait. If you do, you’ll give your competition a head start and you may never catch up.

8. What are the biggest changes you see with Material Handling in the future?
Great question! The reality is that social media is not the pastime of children anymore and just as social media practitioners have matured, so have the social media platforms.

Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and Facebook are all public companies with an obligation to stockholders to grow revenue and profits. All they have to sell is reach, and therefore just like the search engines we will all have to pay to play – run paid advertising programs to get or maintain the reach we are accustom to getting for free.

This adds another road block for those not already realizing the benefits of social media and I suspect they will find this distasteful and once more hesitate before jumping in.

The funny part is that same companies still buy overly expensive and largely unread print ads. Go figure!