Portent Interactive

Overview
Portent Interactive is a 12 year old internet marketing company; it has survived and flourished during the dot.com boom and bust.   The owner, Ian Lurie is a pioneer in this industry, a published author, and a top 150 marketing blogger.  He is extraordinarily knowledgeable regarding all aspects of internet marketing and strategy.

During the years since its inception, internal experts have been cultivated in each of internet marketing disciplines, creating a team of seasoned and knowledgeable internet marketers.  Portent draws from each and every one of these team members when crafting marketing strategies along with internally designed analytics tools.  When you hire Portent, you're not buying prestige, fancy furniture or a cookie cutter approach. What you're buying is how they think: Independently. Creatively. With the left brain, and the right brain.

Most clients go to them for a small campaign or a search engine optimization consultation, but quickly add services when the whole strategy is laid out.

Unlike most agencies, Portent Interactive, focuses on ringing the internet cash register and bottom line, this is what brings back our customers.

Portent’s Approach to Internet Marketing

Process is important.
You have a goal, right? You want to sell more. Or get more members. Or more subscribers. Or something else. How you get from point 'A' (you're there, right now) to point 'Z' (great sales, a pat on the back from your boss) is half art, half science. Here's how Portent Interactive brings it all together:

1. Strategy
In the first step Portent focuses on finding answers by interviewing and audience research.  They believe strategy is the foundation.  It also sets out the technical and creative overview for the project.  A strategic brief is then reviewed with the client and once all parties agree, they move on to the next phase.

2. Tactics
Strategy helps to develop the broad picture for how the finished product should work. In the tactics phase, Portent develops the details by completing the information architecture for the campaign, including a site map and wireframes.  At the completion of this phase, the client is given a complete site map and wireframes.

3. Design
The information architecture and strategic brief form the foundation of the design phase. Portent uses these as a guide to create a site that is consistent with the client’s overall brand but still functional and useful for their audience.  Mockups are created and modified, if needed, for the client.  In the end, a clear picture of how the web site or application will work is delivered.

4. Production
The actual website or application is built based on the mockup and functional specifications. This phase may also require database design, programming, animation or streaming media production.  The client receives the first version of their site.

5. Testing
The testing phase is actually three steps. First, the site is tested internally to ensure basic functionality throughout. Then, Portent and the client review the site together, looking for bugs, usability issues or other more subtle problems. Finally, the site is tested again for broken links, missing images, page load time or any other issues that need to be resolved before launch.

6. Launch
More than just flipping a switch, Portent takes the site 'live', then monitors site traffic for any unexpected patterns that could mean a problem.

7. Promote, Observe, and Adjust
A good, useful site is never done. Portent conducts search engine optimization, opt-in e-mail marketing and other PR and marketing campaigns.  They help the client determine the next step(s) by monitoring site traffic, conversion rates (sales, signups or other goals) and any other activity relevant to the site. This data is used to revise the strategy, suggest new tactics, and make any changes or additions.