Next Generation Marketing Well Received
by Ann Ali
The State Journal
May 23, 2008
It started as a suggestion - a need for an entire day to break down, explain and teach the next generation of marketing techniques.
And after two full-day sessions, organizers already are receiving more requests for lessons on Facebook, Twitter and blogs - oh, my.
"One thing we've learned in the process of doing the event, is there's a tremendous appetite for more in-depth knowledge on these topics," said Maple Creative's Skip Lineberg, one of three conference organizers who collaborated for a state-wide series of seminars.
The third seminar took place May 22 in Morgantown, and the final session is June 12 in Martinsburg.
"We've had people in both locations suggest that we do a two-day (session), so people really want to learn, want to have a deeper understanding, and they're ready to dig into these new marketing opportunities," Lineberg said.
Lineberg said the first session, in Huntington, had 10 participants. The next day's seminar in Charleston saw about 28 people digging into the customized content from Lineberg, Jeff James of Mythology LLC and Justin Seibert of Direct Online Marketing.
"Our content is completely customized," Lineberg said. "This is all stuff Jeff, Justin and I created brand new, specifically for next generation marketing."
James said the world of consumers and media has changed, primarily because of the Internet, so marketing now is a conversation, rather than a megaphone.
"It's got to be a two-way dialogue," James said. "And it's hard to think of how to plan to get into a conversation with people."
The conference includes guest speakers, who so far have included Bill Rock, president and general manager of Snowshoe Mountain Resort, and Elizabeth Pellegrin, chief marketing officer at Charleston Area Medical Center.
Lineberg said the seminars have drawn a very diverse crowd, and each participant is able to pull out the information relevant for his or her position or situation.
James said the seminar displays holistic marketing solutions, with a deeper focus in specific areas, including how to guage those new marketing techniques such as a blog.
"How do you plan what is an effective campaign? How do you measure what you do on a social network or work on a search engine?" he said. "To hear it in a sort of day-long, systematic, strategic way is where the real value of this is."
Seibert said each of the three partners have specific niches in next generation marketing, but they share the same general perception, and they pass ideas back and forth.
"I don't think a lot of this stuff comes to West Virginia, and certainly not at the high level it's going to be spoken about," he said. "Everybody, from the executive of a company to marketing managers, will get high level concepts they can pass on and put into action tomorrow."
The next generation marketing team already has received feedback from participants.
"I literally couldn't wait to get to the office this morning and start my list of new marketing initiatives after the conference yesterday," Lisa Travis, director of marketing with Spilman Thomas & Battle, wrote to the Next Generation Marketing blog. "I realized I didn't understand half as much as I thought I did, and second, I really felt everyone in the room was excited about the topics, and that excitement inspired me."
Lineberg said he's trying to utilize the tactics they're educating about to their own advantage, and hoping word will spread.
Visit www.marketingconference.org or call (877) 858-0982 for more information or to register.
The above article originally appeared in its entirety in the print version of The State Journal.
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