It’s becoming abundantly clear that conferences catering to professionals in digital media, public relations, and online marketing are shifting from forums that sometimes promote unsubstantiated tactical tips, tricks, and buzz words into educational events focusing on what really matters — profitable business strategies.  To my surprise, Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago was a show that withheld the pontification of “best practices” and instead hammered home the value proposition of smarter strategic planning, as well as the importance of measuring both return on investment (ROI) and lifetime value (LTV) of the customer or consumer. (more…)