Steven Graff

Current

Director of Site Optimization at 3 Degrees Marketing, Inc.
Senior SEO Strategist at Bloofusion, Inc.
Director of Site Optimization at Foreign Thought

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Past

VP of Production at Zoomedia, Inc
Director of Operations at Design Reactor
Director of Solution Services at Razorfish Japan, Inc

Director of Human & Service Development at Frontage-Razorfish
Client Partner/Senior Project Manager at Frontage Razorfish
Account Director at DENTSUmarchFIRST
Account Director at MarchFIRST
Managing Supervisor at MarchFIRST
President at Spyder Digital Group
President & CEO at Graff Advertising
Creative Director at Graff Advertising, Inc.
Copywriter at Freelance Writier in Osaka, Japan (Self-employed)
Associate Creative Director at Graff Advertising, Inc.
Account Executive at The Agency Marketing Communications, Inc

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11 more...

Education

San Jose State University
Santa Clara University
De Anza College

Recommended

36 people have recommended Steven

Connections

331 connections

Industry

Marketing and Advertising

Websites

Steven Graff’s Summary

Results-generating executive with global success in P&L management, operations, marketing, process re-engineering, cost control, business development, resource utilization, strategic planning, and account management.
• Boosted net profit from 4% to 25%+ and positioned company to increase revenue from $4 million to $8 million in 1 year by implementing SOPs and streamlining operations for high-growth startup.
• Drove $3.5 million full-service marketing organization to $4.8 million revenue by designing and executing aggressive growth strategies; re-engineered company-wide operations to cut costs 15% and increase productivity 10%.

Strong leader adept at redefining processes and introducing best practices to maximize top- and bottom-line performance.
• Developed resource management program, taking on-time/at-budget project completion from 50% to 95%+.
• Reduced staff turnover from 25% to 10% in 6 months by restructuring HR department and instituting new procedures.
• Propelled startup business unit from zero to $500K revenue in 1st year in highly competitive Asia-Pacific market.
• Captured $1 million account, outperforming competitors to win highly sought-after revenue stream.

Change agent who achieves new company milestones, quickly overcomes cultural barriers and repeatedly delivers results.
• Identified and recouped $350K in hidden business development, HR and client retention costs.
• Increased hits per month from < 100 to 12K+ with percentage of contracts from the Web going from 1% to 25%; redesigned Web site and launched search engine marketing program for Japanese firm, facilitating entry into new market.
• Led teams of up to 18 in creation of B2B, B2C and B2E marketing programs for $4.5 million Japanese joint venture.

Department and Employee turn-around Expert
• Consistently identified as "my best manager and mentor ever"
• Rebuilt department morale and employee trust in top management in domestic and international organizations

Steven Graff’s Specialties:

- Marketing & Business Strategy
- Account Service & Business Development
- Creative Development & Art Direction
- Operations & Change Management
- Team Building, training, mentoring & turnaround
- Advertising/Marketing Industry Experience
- Large Scale Project Management
- Web Content & Editorial Management
- SEO & SEM Strategy, Implementation and Management
- B2B, B2C including 14 years in Life Science & Healthcare
- Management of Diverse & International Teams

Steven Graff’s Experience

Director of Site Optimization

3 Degrees Marketing, Inc.

(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

March 2009 — Present (9 months)
Senior SEO Strategist

Bloofusion, Inc.

(Marketing and Advertising industry)

2008 — Present (1 year )

Search marketing and site optimization for the technology, pharmaceutical and finance sectors
Director of Site Optimization

Foreign Thought

(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

August 2003 — Present (6 years 4 months)

Foreign Thought, LLC is a marketing consultancy created to help entrepreneurs and marketing teams navigate the challenge of online communications and develop websites, intranets and online initiatives that are optimized for return and reduction in transaction costs.
Areas of service include:
• Development of functional and technical requirements as well as RFPs
• Online business, marketing, and brand strategy inclusive of offline synergy development
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Content strategy and creation
• Site and information architecture
• Lead Generation and Conversion
VP of Production

Zoomedia, Inc

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

July 2006 — October 2007 (1 year 4 months)

The VP of Production’s primary responsibilities are to ensure the continuing overall operational success at Zoomedia: productivity, quality, cost, delivery and performance. The VP of Production is accountable for driving the production operations overall success according to Zoomedia standards of excellence; and is key in helping the company transitioning from a production web design focused firm to a strategically focused award winning interactive marketing agency.

The VP of Production is also responsible for review, co-development and approval of all business proposals and is an active participant in the acquisition of new business as well as retention and recovery of existing clients.
Director of Operations

Design Reactor

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

August 2004 — December 2005 (1 year 5 months)

An evolving position fostering the day-to-day growth and maturity of a young vibrant interactive marketing practice staffed with talented and energetic employees.
Director of Solution Services

Razorfish Japan, Inc

(Public Company; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

May 2003 — January 2004 (9 months)

• Service definition, expansion and improvement for the reorganized company
• Market and brand positioning
• Direction and training of Client Services team
• Brand and market strategy development for agency clients
• Led business development and account service for all foreign companies
Director of Human & Service Development

Frontage-Razorfish

(Public Company; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

August 2002 — May 2003 (10 months)

• In the first six months reduced employee turnover from 25% to 10%
• Refocused department management on training and business development
• Introduced a new resource management system to track employee utilization
• Co-developed standardized PTO and flextime policies that simplified management and reduced costs while simultaneously increasing employee benefits
• Led the development and introduction of a web-based time tracking system that provides automated reporting down to the task level. This system replaced an Excel-based timesheet that failed to provide measurement of resource consumption, utilization, project profitability or staff efficiency
• Development of new service offerings and related market strategy
• Led business development and account service for all foreign companies
• Liaison between Razorfish Japan and Razorfish, NA
Client Partner/Senior Project Manager

Frontage Razorfish

(Public Company; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

February 2002 — August 2002 (7 months)

• Client Partner for a multinational insurance firm. The only CP in the practice responsible for business development, client service and technology-project management
• Took part in three separate task forces involved in: process improvement, employee policies and benefits, resource management and proposal development; this lead to the introduction of streamlined and standardized methods reducing time and effort in all areas
• Led an effort to quantify unrecognized costs in HR, business development and client retention. Successfully identified over US$350,000 in direct HR and business development costs unseen by the management team
Account Director

DENTSUmarchFIRST

(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

April 2001 — February 2002 (11 months)

• In a multicultural environment, lead technology and creative teams in the development of B-to-B, B-to-C and B-to-E, E-commerce enabled websites.
• Developed wireless and asset management proposals
• Developed and introduced new methodologies and approaches to both internal teams and clients
• Served as counsel to department VPs in Creative Services and Project Management as well as the Human Relations Manager
• Refined the tools used for resource management
• Served as liaison for foreign staff and IT department
Account Director

MarchFIRST

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

October 2000 — March 2001 (6 months)

• Managed accounts and account staff for online and offline clients
• Led new business development teams for Japanese clients
• Built, trained and motivated multi-discipline teams
• Set strategic and tactical business and marketing goals for clients
• Collaborated with VP of Client Services for department strategy
• Served as Client Services representative for the Cupertino/San Francisco Web Site Development Methodology steering committee
Managing Supervisor

MarchFIRST

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

April 2000 — October 2000 (7 months)

• Managed accounts and account staff for online and offline accounts
• Clients included: TiVo Inc., Retailers Market Exchange (Chevron), GoodHome LLC
President

Spyder Digital Group

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

October 1999 — March 2000 (6 months)

• Identified market niche and co-developed initial product offering
• Created business plan and set marketing strategy
• Identified second and third product offerings
• Developed business plan for presentation to venture capitalists
• Developed and sold B-to-B Internet sites and custom software tools in an early ASP model, as well as provided training and technical support.
President & CEO

Graff Advertising

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

January 1996 — September 1999 (3 years 9 months)

• Set business direction for the agency
• Expanded the agency’s service into business-to-business internet solutions in 1996
• Streamlined the production process and introduced autonomy for each member of the agency leading to 10% increase in productivity
• Moved the creative team from a primarily employee driven solution to hybrid freelance creative - captive production based solution
• Guided the agency from a traditional media commission dependency to a media fee-based system, reducing liabilities, AP and capital risk
• Identified and introduced non-traditional ad agency business opportunities
• Developed agency & client budgets, as well as marketing & media plans
• Cut agency costs by 15%
• Established new business group and rolled out as separate company
• Established exit plan for agency principals
Creative Director

Graff Advertising, Inc.

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

October 1992 — December 1996 (4 years 3 months)

• Defined direction, hired staff and developed creative strategies; designed successful marketing campaign for Fuji Japan.
Copywriter
Freelance Writier in Osaka, Japan (Self-employed)

(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Marketing and Advertising industry)

January 1987 — October 1992 (5 years 10 months)
Associate Creative Director

Graff Advertising, Inc.

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

February 1986 — January 1987 (1 year )
Account Executive

The Agency Marketing Communications, Inc

(Marketing and Advertising industry)

June 1984 — January 1986 (1 year 8 months)

Additional Information

Steven Graff’s Websites:

Steven Graff’s Interests:

SCUBA Diving, horticulture, aquarium keeping, fly fishing, cooking, home repair and improvement, Search Engine Marketing, new technology, biology, international travel, Japan and Asia, organizational development, mentoring

Steven Graff’s Groups:

Project Managers Institute, eMarketing Association, International Internet Marketing Association, Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo, Professional Associate of Diving Instructors, AAAA, Consulting Community