April 29, 2010 at 12:44 pm
By Bob Speyer, Web Success Team
One of my all time favorite movies is Rodney Dangerfield’s, Back to School, about a father who returns to attend college along side his son. While the parallels are not even, the dawning of the Internet Age has left us wide-eyed and scrambling to attend an online marketing event and monetize our knowledge.
Going “back to school” is a given for online marketers. Learning never stops, and in the online environment, it’s all about change, innovation, emerging technologies, strategies and tactics. You need to keep up-to-date.
Don’t Accept the Hype
With so many established or new conferences, seminars and trade shows to choose from, where do we separate the snake oil from the Holy Grail? Who do you believe and how much is value blended with true educational content?
Like with any product or service you are considering to purchase, research comes first. Let me share my views and insights in helping you decide which events you should attend.
Guidelines to Help You Decide the Right Event for Your Business:
Is More Better? The most expensive conferences are not necessarily the best. Sometimes, multiple day conferences are too overwhelming, fatigue sets in and learning declines. I am a firm believer in attending intensive one-day seminars with multiple speakers or an online series of events spread over days or weeks where you can listen to archived sessions.
Match Needs with Topics. Stay focused and determine if the topics will directly benefit your company’s marketing vision and deficiencies. One main criterion I use in selecting an event is if there will be in-depth case studies that implement theory and tactics into actionable results. Too often have I attended sessions where speakers cite studies, but do not back up their statements with concrete examples.
Research the Event. Find out about organizers, sponsors, speakers, and yes, fellow attendees – past and present. Read blog posts about past and upcoming events. Use social media to ask what others valued most from the event. Pay attention to the negative comments as well.
Set Clear Objectives. After choosing which event to attend, have an advanced game plan. Detail ten things you want to achieve or take away. It’s not enough to listen to lectures and interact with attendees. Ask relevant questions to benefit your business and network to make contacts you can actually use post-event.
Implement What You Learn. Knowledge for knowledge sake is an admirable pursuit, but we also live in the real world. Don’t forget to implement the strategies and tactics you learned to improve your business or to enhance your marketing efforts.
Two Recommended Online Marketing Events
The Web Success Team will be attending two online marketing events in May 2010: The Online Marketing Virtual Summit and the Social Media Success Summit. Both events are online. One is free, while the other charges. We recommend both as excellent learning centers that provide educational content for the novice to the marketing veteran and are excellent value for the money and time.
The Online Marketing Virtual Summit is a free one-day event on Thursday, May 27. The event showcases eight online marketing areas including Social Media, Search Marketing, Web Analytics, Integrated Marketing, Online Advertising/Mobile, Website Content, Email Marketing and Demand Generation. Featured speakers represent a good cross-section of the online marketing community from Google, Wharton Interactive Media Initiative,Intuit and Kodak, to name a few. If you can’t attend the live event, register anyway, and you can listen to the archived sessions at a later date. I’ve previously attended the Online Marketing Summit one-day, in-person event, and was impressed with the educational content, speaker interaction and absence of vendors trying to sell you something.
The Social Media Success Summit is more ambitious, stretching over three weeks from May 4-25 and includes social media gurus Guy Kawasaki, Mari Smith and Michael Stelzner along with marketers from Home Depot, Dominos, Whole Foods and Best Buy. These recognized authorities will reveal the latest techniques and proven business-building tactics you can use to immediately benefit from social media. It should be a virtual brain-fest of great information all for $597.
We Want to Hear from YOU!
For those of you who will attend these events, I welcome your feedback. Send reactions to bob@websuccessteam.com or comment on this post. I will incorporate your feedback in a follow-up review of the Online Marketing Virtual Summit and the Social Media Success Summit. To your web success!
December 22, 2009 at 2:43 pm
I Saw Mommy NOT Kissing Santa Claus, But Her Money Away
By Kristin Tomlinson- Web Success Team
It’s funny how a single day that is only celebrated ONCE can bestow so much stress, anxiety, and financial burden on so many people. Whether you’re celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, the holidays have officially arrived. With the economy in a rut, and money tight, online can help stretch your budget, rather than dent your holiday spirit.
Stores such as Target, Kohls and Best Buy heavy up on online advertising during the holiday season. That’s because people are more likely to look at a catalog online than in print. It’s more cost effective, has a higher rate of return and they can alter the promotions at a moment’s notice. In addition, retailers are using Social Media Marketing to promote products, drive traffic and increase their sales. Some of their business strategies consist of coupons, discounts and special deals that can ONLY be found online for “top-selling” products and this season’s “must-haves.”
This is one of the most important times to search for keywords such as “coupon codes,” “free shipping” and “gift deals.” They will not only save you time, but money as well because most of these products can only be purchased online through their websites. No wonder why these sites have such a high spike in their rate of return, and continued web success during the holiday season. Steal these deals, before overpriced products steal your money.
I’ll Be Online for Christmas
The holidays tend to bring bad weather, freeway congestion, and outrageous increases in airline tickets. Traveling during this time of year is feared by most and dreaded by all. Not only are stores crowded and hectic, but they’re pricey as well. During these economically strenuous times the general population just cannot spare this added expense. Search engines can help find travel alternatives to visiting family and sending costly holiday cards. The use of Skype and online greeting cards are BOTH great ways to social network with family and friend when you can’t be there in person. Saving cash and gas… joy to the world, we don’t have to travel.
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Shopping online is a great way to reduce stress, pressure and anxiety this holiday season. There’s no need to create financial burdens when there are options to help you give generously or thoughtfully without breaking the bank. Bringing joy and goodwill doesn’t necessarily have a price tag!
We wish you a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season,
From the Web Success Team
December 1, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Cyber Monday is a term coined by retailers to capitalize on the shopping season and traditionally know as the strongest day for online retail sales and web success. Point of fact, it is also generating more sales than in store purchases, making it bigger than Black Friday.
Cyber Monday is the traditional “kick-off” to the online shopping season. This year sales could exceed $900 million, making this the biggest day for online retailers according to the Dow Jones and Com Score. Sales rose 14% this year over last year’s haul and bought 30% more items per order as well.
Continue reading “Cyber Monday: Bigger than Black Friday!” »
