I’ve been completely out-to-lunch on my interactive marketing blog over the past few months…but I guess being busy “in this economy” is a good thing. (as I seem to hear more and more these days)

Over the past six months, I’ve been working as a “white label” consultant with a Los Angeles-based retail advertising agency, Wingman Media.  I’m acting as the department head, helping them to plan, recruit and build a solid interactive team to complement their other retail advertising offerings, which include radio and TV broadcast planning and buying.

So six months has passed, the Wingman Media interactive team has grown to include a/an:

• Dedicated Interactive Account Manager
• Paid Search Specialist
• Earned Media Manager
• Organic Search (SEO) Specialist
• Web Analyst

I’m in the process of filling the void of an Online Display Media Specialist as the campaigns we develop and execute become increasingly complex. Being in the retail space, Wingman Media’s clients pose some interesting challenges that I haven’t experienced before. Specifically, tracking phone calls to leads to a sale at a physical location, which I solved by employing some nifty telephony service providers and custom database fields, along with a slew of consumer touchpoint channels.

Stay tuned for more updates on my work with Wingman Media.

Looking to increase online market share, conversions and create new revenue streams?

As I mentioned in a previous post, LA Web Ventures is a meetup group that I started in order to provide a venue for Los Angeles web entrepreneurs to network with and learn from others who have launched successful entrepreneurial ventures online.

On July 26th, our next meeting will include a discussion on how to identify and create opportunities through strategic partnerships. This discussion will include practical, real-world examples for small, medium and large businesses. The group will learn about how businesses are succeeding by leveraging their current assets in new ways through partnerships.

Jeff Rohwer will be leading this discussion. He is an interactive marketing strategist and consultant with over 10 years of experience in designing, developing and deploying strategic, technical solutions for a wide range of industries including health care and hospitality.

If you’d like to attend the next meetup, you can get more information and RSVP here.

Kurt Daradics and Baron Miller held another “Meeting of the Minds” last night at Suki 7 Lounge. The invite-only MOTM events (pronounced “modem”) are a fresh approach to networking and idea-sharing with hand-picked individuals here in Southern California.

Brian Monroe, Director Product Management at Eventful.com was the featured guest for the July MOTM. An interactive discussion lasted about an hour and focused on how to tap into their “Demand It’ feature, which touts over six million registered users. The group brought up some good points and asked very engaging questions; providing feedback on how to best monetize Eventful.com.

Of course, I had to snap a few photos of the July MOTM event at Suki 7 Lounge.