Google Comes to Morgantown, WV Feb. 19th

Do you live in West Virginia, or are you in PA or MD, but pretty close to Morgantown?  No, get a move on, little doggy.  Come back next week for informative posts to help you grow your business.

[Waiting]

[Waiting]

[Checks to see if the door’s closed.]

Okay, great.  All the non West Virginians skedaddled.  Now let’s talk.

The most important things in my life are family, business, and where I live: Wheeling specifically and West Virginia more broadly.  Those are listed in order, but the first two are interwoven with geography.  I convinced my Californian wife to move back to WV with me.  We decided it was the best place to raise our family (and we were right).

As for business, well you all know the story of West Virginia.  I won’t get into all of the things that make it great and all of the challenges we face here.  But in case any of those interlopers are peeking through the windows, let’s talk more specifically about Wheeling for a second and go back to the Great Depression.

Up until 1930, Wheeling was booming.  It grew just about every year, had thriving businesses, well known brands, and lots of wealth.  The Pittsburgh gentry would come down here in the summer to relax.  Then we started heading in the wrong direction.  Census stats make me tear up – we’ve lost population every single decade.  So to be able to employ people in the area and serve as a piece of an economic catalyst to reverse the negative population trends?  Well, nothing outside of family gives me greater pride.

Bringing It Back ‘Round

All of which is just a long way of saying how much I love West Virginia.  And, which brings me to the point of this post: we’re bringing Google to West Virginia on February 19th.

“But you bring Google to West Virginia every day already,” you remark, maybe.  Figuratively, you’re absolutely right.  But this time, we’re doing it literally.

On February 19th, we’ll be holding a digital breakfast featuring Michael Hose of Google.  Michael will be flying out from the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA just for this event.  We’ve held events with Google in the past where executives have spoken to our attendees.  Those events were great and the businesses and non-profits left with plans to improve their organizations through online marketing.  But this is the first time we’ve had one in person.

Won over already?

Why You Should Attend (& Why It’s a Big Deal)

• Hear directly from Google. Want to know how you can best use technology to improve your business?  Hear directly from the tech giant’s mouth.  Plus you’ll have opportunities to ask questions during and after the presentation.

• Learn tricks to help your business that day.  I promise this won’t be one of those seminars where you just get jazzed up about an idea, but don’t have any takeaways.  You’ll learn about PPC, SEO, social media, and all of the digital marketing tactics that you can actually measure.  We’ll start by giving attendees an overview of these tactics and then drill down with tips for intermediate and advanced digital marketers.  Come loaded with questions and your note taking device of choice.

• It’s short.  We thought about turning this into a longer event – a true summit.  I know how crushed I am – as well as every CMO and business owner with whom I speak.  You can get in and out of there in just two hours, although feel free to stick around as long as you need to get all your questions answered.  We aren’t going anywhere.  Well, eventually I guess, but Wheeling’s only a little over an hour away the way I drive.  Many of us here are in Motown regularly anyway.

• First time ever. Knowing what you know now, you wouldn’t miss Woodstock, would you?  And no, I’m not talking about the crappy one in 1999 put on so the young kids could (inaccurately) say they experienced a culturally transcendent concert like their parents.  I’m not saying this is on the scale of the original Woodstock, but it is the first time Google’s ever sent someone from their Mountain View, CA headquarters to share their knowledge with WV businesses.  And they’re doing it with Direct Online Marketing, just one of the perks for our agency, which is one of the top Google Partners in the United States. /humblebrag

• How do you stack up against your competition? Our certified marketers will all be standing by, ready to answer your questions.  Grab some private space and see how your potential customers see you on the web, as well as your competitors.  Those guys are real jerks, right?  You can’t lose to them

• Learn from your peers.  The room will be filled with other West Virginia organizations who are facing or have faced the same problems you have.   What have they done to overcome and find success?  Make sure you get full value from this event by networking.

• It’s free.  Here’s a little secret about event pricing: much of it is done for psychology.  What will the price point say to the potential attendee?  It should fall somewhere between what most of the target prospects can afford, what makes it seem prestigious, and what maximizes the value (or recoups the most costs) to the event promoter. So in this case, our $0 price tag means…the event is worthless?  No.  Attendees will walk away with tremendous value.  I chose the $0 price point so there’s no excuse for any business looking to grow not to come – even though that lowers the perceived value.  Heck, we’ll even give you a killer breakfast and some sweet Google and DOM swag.

Sign Up Already

You’re still here?  Why?  Click here to register or give us a call at 304.214.4850 / 800.979.3177.  Hurry – registration closes Friday, February 13th or whenever all spaces are filled, whichever comes first.

Montani Semper Liberi!