Ongoing Reports: 7th Intl. Internet Marketing Conference Options

[Grumpus]

There's an international marketing conference going on in Montreal, Canada right now. Rumor has it that there have been seven of them prior to this.

Since seven's a really good number, we sent our own Barry Welford over there to check it out. Starting last night, and carrying on throughout the conference, Barry will be giving us a blow-by-blow description of the things going on there. It won't be as good as being there, but it's better than not knowing anything about it, eh?

His first entry is now available in Barry's new BPWrap Blog over on our Cre8asite Network Blog site. So, head on over there and check out Barry's reports - he'll be checking in each night all week.

And, as always, you can get a snapshot view everything that's going on at the Cre8asite Network by checking the front page at The Cre8asite Resource Library Hub. You'll find a listing of all the blog entries from our various staff blogs in the "Cre8tive Flow" section on that page, as well as a listing of the "Hot Topics" we've selected as discussions here in these forums that can't be missed.

Enjoy, and if you have comments about Barry's Marketing Conference Journal or have questions you want to ask, feel free to post them here or in the comments section of his blog.

G.

[bragadocchio]

Barry has been slowly sharing his thoughts and ideas from the conference over a number of days.

One of his posts introduces the concept of helicopter vision. It's an interesting way to look at things.

[bwelford]

... and today I added IMC 2004 - Customer-centric is not just being Customer-focused.

[bragadocchio]

I do believe that sometimes it's impossible to put yourself in the shoes of the targeted audience. Regardless of how hard you try.

There is a difference between customer-centric and customer focused approaches. It's a distinction that makes a difference.

Sometimes, there's nothing quite so nice as talking to customers of a site on the phone and having a nice conversation with them as they are surfing around the site, telling you what they like and dislike.

I'm sure there are a number of other ways to get that customer viewpoint.

[bwelford]

If you're following these things, you may find today's insight from IMC 2004 thought provoking. It's called "A website is a website is a website."

[Ruud]

Thank you for the reports.

I wondered: if such a conference would not be tax deductible, would you still go? Is it worth your time and money? Do you really pick up new ideas, trends, solutions? And/or is it more a social networking kind of thing?

Ruud

[bwelford]

You're welcome, Ruud.

I was very honoured to be the beneficiary of an invitation that the Cre8asite Forums had received for one person to attend the Conference. This was before I was a Moderator. I guess the powers-that-be recognized my fine journalistic talents in making their difficult choice.
I did also happen to live in Montreal, which was an added bonus, I guess.

Your question is a good one. In some ways, many of the issues are raised in the Newsletter, "Internet Marketing Is In. Trade Shows Are Out?" that is featured in my signature during April. I believe that the Internet is the preferred method of communicating in this Permission Marketing, security-intensive world. However such physical events can help you build up credibility in a way that no website can easily match. I found that many of the business owners who attended were finding it good value from great stimulation and practical ideas.

My own particular most important theme was a very strong reinforcement of the incredible ROI to be attained from effective Internet marketing. Why people aren't leaping on it faster is a mystery. As they do, it will get more expensive but it will still beat all other ways of marketing.

[bwelford]

I've just posted the penultimate item on IMC 2004 in my Blog, BPWrap. It's all to do with Pizza and Usability.

[Ruud]

LOL ! That is funny. Besides the pizza being an incentive to go test the site it makes for a nice usability test as well. Try surfing a website with in one hand a fat dripping piece of pizza....

Ruud

[bwelford]

Well I wrote a final Footnote to the Conference today in my Blog within the Cre8tive Flow Blog. It concerns the Button of Death. If you don't know what that is, you might find what I wrote intriguing.