Blogging

There are a lot of conferences on Web 2.0 happening this year. It’s good to see people taking advantage of the knowledge, experience and insights of a number of industry professionals especially in the area of web content. And in the case of the conference hosted by Duo Consulting and TheContentWrangler.com — Web Content 2008 — this has definitely been the case. Our friends over at Chicago-based Duo Consulting have done another great job designing and promoting the Web Content event this year. As of a few days ago, the ship has sailed. The list is full. The show is sold out.

Two weeks before the conference is to happen (June 17-18 in Chicago), they have closed the doors to new registrants.

Web Content 2008 is a two day conference all about what else — web content. Which means it covers things like website design, online marketing, search engine strategies, ecommerce and more. It’s divided into two tracks: Web Content Strategies, Practices, and Standards and Web Content Tools and Technologies. Topics covered include online marketing, social media, open source and content management.

There are a number of workshops, case studies and presentations in each track led by some of the industries most well-known content junkies including CMSWatch, Clickability, Crown Peak, Duo Consulting, comScore, Juniper Research, Atlassian, Google and many more.

According to Michael Silverman of Duo Consulting, “We designed our Web Content Conferences as an intimate event, with a focus on learning and discussion : with this in mind, limiting the number of people becomes a necessary evil.”

They are working on getting bigger venues for the next set of conferences. If you live in or feel like visiting Clearwater, Florida you can hook up with the Web Content 2008 conference happening there February 17-18, 2009.

We’d love to point you to the session details and registration page for the Chicago conference, but, well that would just be mean…And to push the knife in deeper, CMSWire reps will be there blogging the event. Oh well, you know what they say — you snooze (or have a cheap boss), you loose.

See more here:
Web Content 2008 Proving Popular

I learned a good lesson on writing surveys. On last year

Record high commodity prices, the subprime debacle, a bust in the US residential housing market, stockmarkets in a downward spiral - is this the harbinger for marketing cuts?

A recent survey of marketers by IDC indicates a mild slowdown. IDC released its results of a survey of 40 tech marketers who figure an average marketing spend increase of 4.0% for this year vs. 6.1% a year ago.

The advertising industry, ever so sensitive to economic downturns, maintains that there are no ill signs. In February, BtotB Magazine interviewed executives from BBDO, HSR Business to Business, Doremus and Ogilvy New York who all attested to a buoyant market. In January, the Economist interviewed the heads of Publicis Groupe and WPP who are excited by the prospects of America`s presidential election, the Beijing Olympics and the European soccer championship driving ad growth.

Although there is not a consensus on how the weakening economy will impact marketing, it is clear that the marketing environment is very different today than in 2000 - 2002 when irrational exuberance in brand-building marketing spend was quickly followed by a massive 10% drop in advertising spend in America in 2000.

The lessons from the last recession do not seem lost on the B2B marketers today. Our organizations are much more lean and accountable. With a proliferation of online media options, CRM systems and tracking tools, we are in a much better position to justify our marketing budgets.

Like the financial planner shuffling their clients` portfolio into defensive industries like retail and consumer packaged goods, marketers are spending more on online marketing where ROI can be easily measured.

Indeed we have less distance to fall than in 2000-2002. However we also can control our destiny as savvy marketers.

Go here to see the original:
Is Marketing in for a Soft Landing?

This past weekend, my wife and I held an informal wine tasting for our neighbors.

We were joined by Simon Beck, Editor

Roy Young and Laura Ramos, VP, Forrester Research opened up the MarketingProfs B2B Forum today.

Laura cited four key success factors for B2B marketers:
- Focus on customer data
- Understand the buyer`s journey and which metrics matter.
- Shift from lead generation to lead managment.
- Closing the loop with sales .

Laura likened a blog to raising a child - you`re in it for the long haul.

Then I joined a breakout session on blogging. Josh Hallet from Hyku moderated the panel `Bringing B2B Blogging to the New Level`. According to Josh, his mission was to ensure that `the panel didn`t suck like most panels`.

Deb Franke, e-Marketing Manager, Emerson Process Management engaged our session with a lively and very informative presentation.

The process to launch an external blog was lengthy. It took place after the marcom group changed and it now reported to the services group. From inception to launch, one and a half years transpired. Deb underestimated the amount of time required for education which she figures is 50% or more.

The goal was to raise the visibility of Emerson Experts by promoting thought leadership and increase search engine rankings. Deb generated some laughter when she defined the blog: Blog means `Better Listings On Google`

The benefits to Emerson were recognized as promoting Emerson`s views, unfiltered by the media and present a human face and voice for the organization.

Phil Gomes, VP, Edelman me2revolution reinforced that it is preferable that B2B marketers join communities rather than create communities. Further, we should participate, not pitch.

Phil cited a humorous quote: `Blogging requires passion and authority, which leaves out most people.`

For lunch, Paul and I broke bread with Laura Ramos, VP, Forrester Research. We were interested in trading Web 2.0 research stories. Although our sample size and method of sampling was more modest than Forrester`s, most of our conclusions on the usage of Web 2.0 tools for demand generation were compatible.

As it should happen, our session at MarketingProfs was scheduled at the same time as Laura`s.

We all were slotted for the last session of the day and of the conference.

I was the straight man to Paul`s color commentary. As Paul talked to his experience in using five different types of Web 2.0 tools, I chimed in with the results from our Web 2.0 tools research.

Our relaxed presentation style encouraged a healthy number of questions from the audience.

We were pleased with the reception and look forward to participating in another MarketingProfs conference.

Then we packed up and took the train to O`Hare for our flights home. All in a good day`s work.

Read the original here:
MarketingProfs B2B Forum - Day 2 Highlights