Paul O'Brien

Current

• VP Marketing at Outright.com
• Search Marketing and eCommerce Consultant at SEO'Brien.com
• Founder at Rareexception.com

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Past

• VP of Marketing at Zvents
• Interactive Marketing at HP
• Advertising Solutions at Yahoo!

• VIP Sales and Accounts at Insight Enterprises
• Web Design at Arizona State University

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2 more...

Education

• Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School of Business
• Arizona State University
• Portage Northern

Recommended

21 people have recommended Paul

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Online Media

Websites

• The O'Brien Store

Paul O'Brien’s Summary

A distinguished marketing, search, internet, and eCommerce executive with over 15 years of experience online and a demonstrated success in online commerce, Local, advertising, search (optimization and marketing), and business roles.

P&L management experience including function or organization, resource and company-wide segments.

Success in both B-to-B and B-to-C enterprise and startup environments.

Proven ability to generate revenue through win/win negotiating and solution based sales strategies.

Solid project and team management skills with the ability to plan strategically and execute tactically.

A skilled web designer with user experience insight, technical knowledge, and best practices forethought.

Strong organizational, interpersonal and effective communication skills.

Online Marketing – Expertise in all aspects of online advertising, Search engine management (SEO & SEM expertise), Comparison Shopping, Banner Advertising, and Affiliate Marketing. Advanced experience with success in portfolio marketing, behavioral/Geo/Demo targeting, and purchase process/cycle optimization. Strategic ability to leverage technology and relationships to create scalable marketing programs with high ROI.

Leadership & Management – Respected leader and peer with successful track record of building winning teams. Strong ability to motivate people to exceed company goals. Personal interest in and ownership of team’s development and training.

Communication – Persuasive and confident communicator with well-developed presentation and people skills. Highly regarded by professional and personal peers as an exceptional negotiator and deal maker.

Paul O'Brien’s Specialties:

> Search engine optimization and marketing (SEO & SEM)
> Affiliate marketing
> Comparison Shopping
> Online marketing & banner advertising
> eCommerce, customer experience, web design, & navigation
> Marketing Analytics: Hitwise, Netratings, Omniture, Google
> Portfolio or integrated marketing
> Media pricing
> Behavioral & Geo targeting
> Brand management & strategic planning
> Online integration with traditional marketing
> Building internal & agency teams
> Public speaking

Paul O'Brien’s Experience

• VP Marketing

  Outright.com

  (Privately Held; Internet industry)

  April 2009 — Present (8 months)

• Search Marketing and eCommerce Consultant

  SEO'Brien.com

  (Public Relations and Communications industry)

  January 2005 — Present (4 years 11 months)

  Interactive and search marketing and eCommerce consultant and author
  
  SEE: http://www.seobrien.com

• Founder

  Rareexception.com

  (Internet industry)

  January 1995 — Present (14 years 11 months)

  - Founded music entertainment site http://www.rareexception.com/
  - Directed (now closed) online commerce and marketing initiatives related to Juice Stores: http://www.juicestores.com

• VP of Marketing

  Zvents

  (Privately Held; Internet industry)

  April 2007 — December 2008 (1 year 9 months)

  • Manage MarCom P/L leveraging Brand/Product and Channel marketing segments to drive awareness of and traffic to the Zvents network and adoption of Local Search platform and Local Listing
  • Coordinate SEO for 300 duplicate cobranded sites, search engine marketing, paid inclusion feeds, PR and Marcom, display advertising including banners and print, and trade conferences and speaking opportunities as an industry thought leader
  • Balance arbitrage based budgets to maximize growth and performance resulting in 1300% traffic and 2900% revenue growth
  • Direct adoption of emerging technologies: RSS, custom toolbars, blogs, video, dynamic content, social search, and One Search

• Interactive Marketing

  HP

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; HPQ; Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 2005 — May 2007 (2 years 4 months)

  • Strategic manager of direct online marketing for HP.
  • Oversaw a portfolio consumer online marketing program with respective resources managing paid search, search engine optimization, comparison shopping feeds, affiliate marketing, social media, and display advertising
  • Coordinated and optimized online marketing with traditional brand, direct mail, catalog, and channel promotions
  • Managed a behavioral, performance based search program of over 18,000 terms, generating awareness and following purchase activity
  • Drove sophisticated analytics and conversion funnel projects
  • Led natural search optimization growing organic traffic from 1% to 20% of store traffic in 9 months
  • Outpaced HP Store performance, delivering 20x natural search traffic, 4x affiliate business, and 4x paid search volume
  • Optimized comparison shopping relationships and catalog feeds resulting in 35x growth of the HP data feed channels

• Advertising Solutions

  Yahoo!

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; YHOO; Internet industry)

  September 2000 — February 2005 (4 years 6 months)

  • Responsible for marketing solutions, media pricing and programming, negotiation, campaign performance, and sales training
  • Partnered manufacturers, retailers and wireless carriers through interactive media, dynamic feed based marketing, and search
  • Worked inter-departmentally, cross-functionally, and externally with clients and agencies to assess the competitive landscape, prioritize revenue opportunities, and develop compelling advertiser opportunities and an engaging site design
  • Directed one report and day to day sales programs operations including sales development, value propositions, and program analytics
  • Promoted from Yahoo! Shopping Sales Producer having exceeded revenue goals for eight consecutive quarters

• VIP Sales and Accounts

  Insight Enterprises

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; NSIT; Information Technology and Services industry)

  September 1999 — October 2000 (1 year 2 months)

• Web Design

  Arizona State University

  (Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Online Media industry)

  December 1996 — September 1999 (2 years 10 months)

  Designed, built and managed various department of public safety websites.

Additional Information

Paul O'Brien’s Websites:

• The O'Brien Store

Paul O'Brien’s Groups:

Shop.org, eTail, CMO Council, Internet Retailer, SEMPO, Consumer Electronics Association, United Way, Sparky's Eleven

•    HP Alumni
•    Internet Strategy Forum
•    Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) - OFFICIAL GROUP FOR THE ORGANIZATION
•    Yahoo Alums
•    OFFICIAL W. P. Carey MBA group
•    Alpha Kappa Psi
•    Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo
•    W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University
•    Online Advertising Professionals
•    E-Commerce Network
•    Retail Industry Experts
•    Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
•    Startup Specialists
•    Arizona State Alumni
•    Localized Marketing Professionals
•    Ecommerce and Online Marketing Experts
•    hpshopping.com Alumni Association
•    Silicon Valley Venture Community
•    Community 2.0
•    Social Media Club
•    The Solopreneur Group
•    Social Bookkeeping
•    Bookkeepers
•    Unintentional Entrepreneur
•    Web Executives
•    eBay Apps
•    Sellers
•    Application Developers

Paul O'Brien’s Honors:

- Featured: “Online Marketing Heroes: Interviews with 25 Successful Online Marketing Gurus;” Miller, M. (2008). Wiley
- Speaker: Shop.org 2006, Affiliate Summit 2006, AMA Hot Topic Series 2007
- Panelist: CEA San Francisco 2006
- Awarded HP High Achiever 2006
- Awarded HP One Voice Circle of Excellence 2005 & 2006
- Certified Yahoo! Search Ambassador 2005
- Featured: HP Home & Home Office Store: Internet Retailer Magazine's Top 50 Retail Website
- Featured: Google, which built a business on pay-per-click advertising, tests a cost-per-thousand approach; Peter Lucas, Internet Retailer, June 2005
- Featured: HPShopping Gorges on Transactions After Improving Data Feed; Bill Dean, DMNews, May 31, 2005
- Awarded Insight's Leadership Series 1999
- Who’s Who in America 1993-1994

Paul O'Brien’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch