Brand Building on a Budget

Entrepreneurs’ Network

Registration:

ENET Member Rate – Free
MDG Member – $15.00
Non-ENET Member Rate – $20.00
Student – $10.00

Register at:

PRE-MEETING DINNER at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham

How do you build a brand for your product and attract customers? Much of brand building is about marketing and communication. This can be done in three ways: paid, owned, and earned media. Paid is advertising including social media ads; examples of owned are company produced content placed on its web site, social platforms, and sent via email; and earned is associated with PR/story placement and social.

In this session, our panel will focus on earned and owned media, and a catchall term for most of earned and owned media is content marketing. Content that is more informational than promotional. It’s a mindset change from decades of brochures and ads which are designed for promoting more than appealing to prospects’ issues and needs. Our speakers will address the why, what, when, where and how of content marketing.

Agenda:

6:30-7:30 PM – Registration & networking
7:30-7:40 PM – ENET Chairman’s announcements
7:40-7:55 PM – E Minute – Up to 3 Startup companies’ presentations
7:55-8:45 PM – 4 expert speakers on the night’s topic
8:45-9:00 PM – Audience / Speakers Q & A
9:00-9:30 PM – Final networking includes meeting presenting speakers

A question and answer session follow the presentation, and panelists will be available afterward for responses to individual questions. As with every ENET meeting, you will also get the chance to network with the panelists and other meeting attendees, both before the start of the meeting and afterward.

Speakers:

Bob Cargill, Copywriter, Social Media Marketer, President, American Marketing Association

Bob has been a creative director for several marketing agencies in the Greater Boston area and – most recently -director of social media at Overdrive Interactive. Not only has he presented and spoken in public many times about social media, copywriting and marketing in general, he has been published or quoted in countless media outlets about his areas of expertise. He started publishing his blog in 2004 (https://thebobcargill.com/), hosts his own podcast (https://bobcargill.podbean.com/) and owns a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/bobcargill) with hundreds of videos – all on the subject of marketing. His work has been recognized with over 40 awards from the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA), including Gold for his blog, Gold for Best Tweets and Silver for Best Copywriting. Bob is the current President of the American Marketing Association Boston. He was was named Direct Marketer of the Year for 2009 by NEDMA. You can follow him on Twitter at @cargillcreative.

Manejah Terzi, Public Relations Strategist, Manejah PR.

For almost 20 years, Terzi has worked to develop and execute public relations programs across the tech, medical, food and beverage industries. During her career, she’s served a wide variety of brands including Crest, ThermaCare, S.Pellegrino, Restylane, Hershey’s, Marriott Rewards, TROVE Data, Sakon, Simplot, Valtrex, Tyson, and Nestlé Waters.

Terzi understands that creating a positive brand halo requires a constant production of fresh and creative content to capture the attention of media, customers and online influencers. This content needs to not only stand out from the mountains of information being communicated on a daily basis but also be clever enough to keep interest levels high through each news cycle.

Tom Spring, Editor-in-Chief, Threatpost

Tom Spring has reported on technology for almost 20 years. He heads the award-winning cybersecurity news website Threatpost.com. Tom leads an editorial team charged with reporting on breaking cybersecurity news and offering actionable insights into business-critical security topics.

He served as Senior Technical Editor at CRN magazine for three years, where he covered breaking IT news and the products and services of Dell, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft. Prior to that, Tom spent 14 years with IDG’s PCWorld magazine as Executive News Editor. Tom began his journalism career at several daily newspapers, including the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass., covering business technology news, where he served as Technology Editor.

Tom’s work has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists, American Business Media, American Society of Business Publication Editors, and the Western Publishing Association.

Moderator

Howard Sholkin, Principal, Sholkin Consulting

Howard Sholkin has more than 40 years of journalism and marketing communication experience. In 2014, he formed Sholkin Consulting to deliver strategy and tactical marketing services to influence an organization’s prospects, grow its business, and elevate a firm’s brand and its products and services. He joined International Data Group (IDG)—the world’s leading technology media, event, and research company — as director of corporate communications in 2003 providing PR support for Founder and Chairman Pat McGovern and subsidiaries. Sholkin was later promoted to a director’s position for communication and marketing programs for the CEO of IDG Communications, the media and events subsidiary, and for the CEO of IDG Global Solutions.

Prior to IDG, Sholkin held senior marketing and communication positions at technology companies, which included Computervision, Technology Concepts (a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic), Digital Equipment Corp./Compaq, and Getronics (successor to Wang). He is also an instructor at Lasell College in Newton. Before entering the tech industry in 1981, he was a news producer at WCVB-TV in Boston. Since 1990, Sholkin has been active in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) where he became president of the Boston chapter.

Organizer

Millie Kwan, President, The WSI Touch

Millie Kwan is Founder and President of The WSI Touch (https://thewsitouch.com), a digital marketing agency that has been serving small to medium-sized businesses in Greater Boston since 2009. Millie has over 20 years’ experience in IT development, management, education, and research. She received her Doctor of Business Administration degree from Boston University and M.S. in Computer Science from Washington University in St Louis. She has taught at Babson College, University of Hong Kong and Boston University. She has published research on knowledge management, process redesign, and workflow management. In her early career, she specialized in the field of library automation and has led the implementation of various library systems for the University of Rhode Island, the HELIN Library Consortium of Rhode Island, and Washington University in St Louis.

E-Minute Presentations will be given at the start of the meeting. These very short presentations enable young startup entrepreneurs to gain experience in presenting their summary business plans to expert panels and audiences.

Directions: Constant Contact is adjacent to RT 128 / 95 at Exit 28B.

ENET Constant Contact meetings are free to ENET members and $20 for non-members. No reservations are needed for the pre-meeting dinner. To expedite sign-in for the meeting, we ask that everyone — members as well as non-members — pre-register online. Pre-registration is available until midnight the day before the meeting. If you cannot pre-register, you are welcome to register at the door.

REFRESHMENTS: Snacks and soft drinks will be served at the meeting