Currently the Founder and CEO of Growing Search, George Konidis — like most entrepreneurs — has worked his way to building a successful growth marketing company through years of learning and evolving his professional skills. His practice? Helping online businesses to scale in the digital era.
“Over the years, I have worked independently and led teams to help startups, as well as multi-million dollar brands, scale their current search efforts, content marketing ideas, and overall growth strategies,” Konidis says.
Growth marketing is no comfortable field to earn sustainable success either. With the prevalence of online firms and brands, particularly e-commerce, at an all-time high, marketing and SEO experts are one of the most competitive professions today.
The field is consistently evolving too.
The constant influx of technology, new content mediums, shifting cultural trends, and evolving Google search algorithms require Konidis and his associates to adapt to dynamic markets.
“Ten years ago when I got my start in online growth marketing, the landscape was completely different,” says Konidis. “Despite how much online marketing has changed, firms are still looking for growth, so that’s where I focus all of my energy — SEO, inbound marketing, and content marketing.”
Understanding what remains consistent throughout diverse markets
Konidis and Growing Search’s clients come from all types of industries, making delivering on growth marketing a task worth evaluating on an independent basis for each firm looking to partner with his company.
“My ideal SEO client is someone that understands the value of search engine optimization,” says Konidis. “We want to produce the best results to help businesses grow, but it also requires a selective mindset from our end.”
It may seem imprudent to not take as many clients as possible at first glance, but Konidis discusses how it takes a proven track record to be selective in clients. “Demonstrating brands that I’ve worked with in the past to clients, such as CoinSquare, who went from a tiny startup to a leading Canadian cryptocurrency exchange using our SEO strategy, helps establish our reputation,” he says.
CoinSquare is an excellent example of Konidis’ general perspective on growth marketing also. Cryptocurrencies are an exceptionally esoteric space, meaning that it is highly unlikely Konidis or other marketers would have in-depth knowledge in line with developers or industry proponents of the young field.
“While industries evolve, there are threads of consistency that remain similar in growth marketing,” says Konidis. “Analyzing SEO traffic and understanding how to get to the first page results of search engines is a consistent path to success through diverse industries.”
Konidis is right. While Google does tailor their search algorithm regularly, critical components and areas of emphasis remain. Conversely, some seemingly minor changes can have a significant impact — changes which SEO and marketing experts spend countless hours pouring through.
“Google pioneered the concept of advertising and marketing becoming profitable for firms on the web,” says Konidis. “Our job is to figure out how we can map consumer interests (i.e., mental states) to our client’s content optimally and better than competitors.”
Adapting to contemporary trends
Konidis has come a long way since his humble beginnings in e-commerce as a co-manager of an online shoe brand — in large part due to his mentality of continually learning and adapting to contemporary trends. Such trends can be social, technological, marketing specific, among many others.
“The idea is to push the envelope on growth potential,” says Konidis. “You can’t be satisfied with the status quo because you know the competitors aren’t.” His attitude is reflected by his favorite quote, which was articulated by Mark Twain as:
“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”
Mark Twain
It’s not easy keeping up with the rapid pace of innovation that comes with the massive influence and audience of the Internet today. Influencer marketing is booming, younger generations want more video content, social media platforms rise and fall in popularity, and new technological advances (i.e., PWAs) can shift the marketing narrative on a dime.
Konidis believes that an excellent way to stay ahead is to identify a problem and then work backward with the solution that other firms often overlook. Using that model, Konidis highlighted how the video content medium is one of those looming areas with significant growth potential.
“People often forget that YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google,” he says. “YouTube has over 1 billion users, and as younger generations (i.e., Gen Z) continue to show a predisposition towards video content, it is only natural that SEO strategy will have to adapt to a more visual medium.”
Not only is video the most popular medium among young people for content, but it is also the most engaging content medium concerning sharing and conversions than any other medium.
Discovering these threads of potential in a competitive landscape is what has helped Konidis separate himself from his peers.
His insights and the work with his colleagues at Growing Search have helped propel them to industry leaders in online growth marketing. With over 10 years of in-depth experience among startups and large-scale brands, Konidis’ entrepreneurial vision has empowered his clients to blossom amid a sea of competition.