Digital Marketing: Many Options, but where to go?

Entrepreneurs’ Network Cambridge Meeting

Meeting location – Microsoft Technology Center, One Cambridge Center (Kendall Square, next to Marriott Hotel), Cambridge, MA.

The advent of the web and digital marketing tactics have made marketing and communication much more complicated for startups and large organizations. How your prospects find information and make buying decisions varies widely by title, profession, industry, and age. To help you navigate all the digital marketing options is a panel of experts across media from email to social media, PR, to content marketing, SEO, and web sites.

Once you have objectives and audience demographics figured out, our panelists will provide advice on tactics to meet your expectations.

Panelist: Bob Cargill, Director, Social Media, Overdrive Interactive

Bob Cargill was named “Direct Marketer of the Year” for 2009 by the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA), is director of social media at Overdrive Interactive (http://www.ovrdrv.com/). During the course of his career, his work has been recognized with more than 40 awards, including Gold for his blog, Gold for Best Tweets and Silver for Best Copywriting from NEDMA. Bob likes to keep his fingers on the pulse of the industry in which he earns his livelihood. Not only has he presented many times about social media, copywriting and direct marketing, he has been published or quoted on his areas of expertise in numerous media outlets. In fact, he is currently a regular columnist for ClickZ.com on the subject of social media. He is a Past President of NEDMA and a graduate of Leadership MetroWest’s Leadership Academy. You can follow him on Twitter at @cargillcreative.

Panelist: Dave Sears, Founder & CEO, Print Resource

Dave Sears is a seasoned business executive with in-depth startup expertise, having founded 15 small companies over the past 25 years, and advising many others. Dave’s roles have included VP of Operations at an international magazine and software publisher, Chief Strategic Officer and operations executive at a national real estate consumer advisory, and CEO of an Inc. 500 award-winning printing firm, Print Resource. He currently serves on the board of advisors of a pre-launch startup in the baby products space, and consults as a key solutions strategist, operations expert, and catalyst for growth at an award-winning, international, government contracting firm.

Panelist: Christina J. Inge, Founder of ThoughtLight, CEO of Sleek Marketing University, www.sleekmarketingu.com. Twitter: @christinainge, LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinainge

Christina is a marketing consultant with over 20 years experience in content creation, web technologies, and project management. Her areas of expertise include the design of social media marketing campaigns that boost brand recognition and affiliation. Through best practices SEO, she teaches methods that enhance click-through experiences, improve conversion rates and increase organic search rankings. She helps companies with product go-to-market plans, email marketing strategy and implementation, online lead conversion and lead generation analysis and optimization, and product positioning. Through Sleek Marketing University she teaches the latest digital marketing techniques to help startups, businesses, and nonprofits reach new audiences cost-effectively. Subjects addressed include SEO, Google Analytics, social media, marketing automation and many others.

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 Equuipment 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.

Where: Microsoft Technology Center, One Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA. 02142 Phone: (781) 487-6400 The One Cambridge Center GENERAL ENTRANCE is on 255 Main Street, Cambridge, across from the Kendall Square Post Office. Exit Kendall Square T Station to Main Street. Once you exit the station, head down the Marriott side of Main Street going in the direction of Boston/the Longfellow Bridge. The One Cambridge Center entrance is located next to the Boston Properties entrance. Enter through the glass revolving door and proceed to the Microsoft facilities on the second floor. Note: There is also a direct Microsoft entrance across from the rotary at the confluence of Main Street and Broadway. See also: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mtc/locations/boston_directions.aspx

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Travel Mass RT 2 East from RT 128 Exit 29A directly to the Alewife MBTA garage. Park at the Alewife Garage ($7.00) on the MBTA subway Red Line. Take the outbound train (the only one available there) for 15 minutes to Kendall / MIT. The entrance to the Microsoft Technology Center is directly across the street from the station.

For more information and updates, visit www.boston-enet.org

Admission: General admission is $10. Free to ENET members. Free Pizza and soft drinks will be served. Advanced registration is requested