Web Marketing - August 24
Web marketing seminar helps firms reach customers through cyberspace
The web has become a deeply ingrained part of our daily lives, personal and professional – it’s hard to remember the days before e-mail, without the ability to quickly do research, check the latest news, pay bills and shop online…
For companies large and small, the Internet also provides a new way to do business, an important channel to reach customers, and access to a truly global marketplace. But for many small businesses, web marketing is a fairly new practice that quickly gets buried under a blizzard of buzzwords – blogs, wikis, social networking, click-throughs…
To help cut through the jargon and craft effective web marketing strategies, nearly 100 small and mid-sized business executives attended a workshop on Friday, August 24 - “Marketing: Blogging and Podcasts and Emails, Oh My!” - co-sponsored by the IU Kelley School of Business Indianapolis and the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce.
The event was part of the Main Street Institute, a partnership between Kelley Indianapolis and the Chamber designed to provide timely, relevant educational programming to the area’s independent companies.
Attendees heard from Kelley Assistant Professor of Marketing Kim Saxton, a marketing veteran of several Fortune 500 companies whose teaching and research focuses on marketing and brand strategy and corporate reputation-building. Saxton was joined by co-presenters Ben Bullard, founder of new media consultancy FuseWork Studios, and Bart Caylor, principal of Brainstorm, a local branding and design firm.
The presenters covered a variety of topics over the course of the seminar: How to find and track customers online, best practices for website design and e-mail campaigns, search engine optimization, and engaging consumers in a dialogue through tools like blogs and social networks (like MySpace, Facebook and other online communities defined by interest and affinity). Saxton helped frame the discussion by noting that while the Internet has opened new horizons for marketers, it doesn’t invalidate the basic marketing process – framing the opportunity, targeting the audience, and designing a compelling customer experience.
The seminar drew positive reviews from attendees, with more than 85% ranking the session as “excellent” or “very good” and the remainder saying the session was “good.” Kelley and the Chamber are working towards similar results with future Main Street Institute events on business strategy and succession planning (September 28th) and human resources issues (November 9th). Thank you for your support of the Main Street Institute.
