In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Jeff Ferguson, the CEO and founder of Fang Marketing, a boutique digital advertising agency. Ferguson shares a personal story about choosing perseverance over returning to corporate life, emphasizing the value of sticking with his own business despite tempting offers. He explains his unconventional approach to search engine optimization, treating it as a set of enduring marketing and site‑development best practices rather than a mysterious, isolated tactic, and argues that fully integrating these practices will eventually render SEO obsolete. Ferguson offers broad business advice drawn from the book Thinking Inside the Box, highlighting that core principles like cash management and solid business planning remain unchanged despite market hype. He reflects on a missed opportunity to step outside his comfort zone early in his career, advising his younger self to embrace diverse roles and locations. When asked about happiness, he stresses the importance of not sweating the small stuff and keeping focus on the big picture. Ferguson cites Thinking Inside the Box as his top business book and Neuromancer by William Gibson as a transformative nonfiction work that shaped his vision of the internet’s future. His favorite quote, from Mark Twain, laments the loss of wonder when we over‑analyze nature. Finally, he directs listeners to find him online via the handle “Count Zero” and any Fang Digital platforms. The conversation blends personal anecdotes, practical marketing philosophy, and timeless entrepreneurial wisdom.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Jeff Ferguson with us. He is the CEO and founder of Fang Marketing, a boutique digital advertising media agency specializing in search and social media marketing and much more. With over 20 years of online marketing experience, Jeff has led the online marketing efforts for companies such as Hilton Hotels, Kimberly-Clark, and Napster. Jeff's clients have also included renowned brands such as Belkin, CBS, eHarmony, JustFab, Paychex, PetSmart, Popcornopolis, the Smithsonian, Stila Cosmetics, Thrive Market, and Sony. Honored as one of the PPC Heroes Top 25 Most Influential PPC Experts For 3 years in a row, Jeff Ferguson is no stranger to the industry speaking circuits throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. So welcome to the show, Jeff.
Thanks a lot, Tyler.
Of course, man. Pumped to have you here. We'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Jeff, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
I think it's the idea of just continuance, right? It's just kind of like persevering and kind of moving on. I've had lots of opportunities to kind of like back out of my own business and over the, like the almost more than 7 years, almost 8 years now that we've been doing it. And there's been plenty of opportunities where I could have just chucked it and actually gone back to the kind of corporate scene and do what it is. I've had plenty of opportunities to like go back into it. And it's been some gut-wrenching times where I've actually said, Should I do this? I've got a great opportunity to do this. I can go back into the corporate scene. But then, you know, over and over again, it's proved wrong to have done that and actually continue, you know, sticking with everything at FAANG and moving forward has just created a much better life for me. And it's something I really enjoy.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, I mean, I think in general, like, the kind of the concepts around search engine optimization which is something we do for our clients, but we kind of approach it from a much different angle in that we don't look at it as kind of like this magical box of magic that people generally look at when they do SEO stuff. Instead, we kind of approach it from the idea that it's a kind of a collection of marketing and site development kind of best practices that have existed before search, they existed after search, and we kind of teach it with the idea that like if you actually weave these practices into your organization, then SEO will really kind of die. It's something where, like so many people were talking about, like everybody should know a little bit about coding, everybody should know about a few different aspects when it comes to things. People should know how search is actually affecting their current positions and how it's kind of just woven into their daily tasks. And I think if we all do that, then SEO will just die and go away and we can just kind of move on.
Hmm, very interesting. And what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Just the industry, I guess. I mean, I think one of the best lessons I ever learned early on was from a book that was called Thinking Inside the Box. And it's a great read. I can't remember the name of the author to it. And you can still kind of get it in a few different places. But it's the idea that no matter what type of ways that people talk about, like that there's a new economy or there's massive changes to certain things, the basic principles of running a business really haven't changed all that much. It still comes down to things like cash management and having a business plan plan and a variety of other aspects that are still, you know, important and still need to be handled every day.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Um, it would probably be to, uh, take a few positions, um, outside of my comfort zone. I got offered a lot of opportunities to go and work in San Francisco and in New York and around the world really early on in my career during the internet boom, and I didn't take them because I really felt like I needed to stay in California, nor in Southern California, because I had friends and family here. And now I look back on that and it probably would have been a great time to kind of like see the world and really kind of experience things differently.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
That's a good question. You know, it's funny, I think it's really not sweating. You know, I just say don't sweat the small stuff because that was the name of that goofy book, but that's really what it does come down to. There's so many like goofy little things that really really try and distract you and make you worry about the world that it's really easy to get hung up on. I still, that happens to me just, you know, almost every day, but you gotta learn to not, you know, be distracted on that. Keep your eye on the big picture.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So I guess the best business book, if we're gonna stick on business, it was that one I mentioned before about thinking inside the box. You know, that was that whole concept of, keeping the basics of how running a business are still true no matter how many times that people say there's a new economy. I think as far as nonfiction goes, there's, I think the book, was it Neuromancer by William Gibson, really kind of like changed my life as far as envisioning what a potential future and how the internet and how a lot of the things would actually work together. And that was back in high school before the internet was really like a thing for the rest of the public outside of the scientific community. But it gave me that kind of vision to say, look, there's going to be more out here, things are going to change.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is from actually from Mark Twain, and he actually said that we don't have the reverence for the rainbows that the savage has because we know how rainbows are made. We've lost more than we've gained by prying into the matter. And I've always looked at it from the standpoint of sometimes it's, you know, ignorance is— can be a little bit bliss to it for certain things. But, you know, that's arguable.
Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find you online?
You can find me at Count Zero, at C-O-U-N-T-X-E-R-O, or you can always find me at anything with Fang Digital as well.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for joining us. We really appreciate it.
Thanks a bunch. You have a great day.
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