by Ann Ali
The State Journal
April 17, 2008
There's a lot to learn about new marketing techniques - a full day, in fact - so a collaboration among three marketing firms will bring an entire day of training throughout the state this spring.
"The world of consumers and media has changed," said Jeff James of Mythology. "Primarily because of the Internet, marketing is now a conversation that is not a megaphone.
"It's got to be a two-way dialogue, and it's hard to think of how to plan to get into a conversation with some people."
James will join Justin Seibert of Direct Online Marketing and Skip Lineberg of Maple Creative to host "Next Generation" marketing seminars starting April 30 in Martinsburg and ending May 22 in Morgantown.
The three entrepreneurs met through Vision Shared, and realized they could gain more by complimenting one another rather than competing.
"Our businesses overlap to some extent, but they're complimentary," Seibert said. "I see the pie getting bigger."
Lineberg said within the past year, he's been looking for ways to collaborate rather than compete, and it's important to note how each company has its own niche. James said the three are all marketing firms, but they have different focuses and strengths that don't compete as much as it seems.
Direct Online Marketing focuses on search engine marketing, such as how to ensure a spot on a Google search return. Maple is a full service marketing agency that focuses on the implementation of a strategy, and Mythology focuses on analysis, strategy and tactics for a marketing strategy.
"There are a few early adopters in our state who are dabbling in the latest marketing strategies, but by and large, people are still in the learning mode," Lineberg said. "Hopefully, part of our training will be to separate and help people understand the things they need to pay attention to."
Lineberg said each of the three partners has hosted short seminars that introduce new marketing topics, and each received feedback that a quick brush-over wasn't enough.
"We're responding to feedback from people who have attended the one-hour seminars over the last year in different parts of the state," he said.
Seibert said each of the three partners has the same general perception of the way marketing is going, 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."
James said the seminar would display a holistic marketing solution, with a deeper focus in specific areas, including how to gauge new marketing techniques.
"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."
The seminars will feature a panel of guest speakers, including Elizabeth Pellegrin, the chief marketing officer at Charleston Area Medical Center, Bill Rock, president and general manager of Snowshoe Mountain Resort and Matt Wells, director of sports marketing at West Virginia University.
Visit www.marketingconference.org or call (877) 858-0982 for information or register.
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