Its conference and seminar season!

After a relaxing summer, I'm back on the road delivering keynotes and running seminars for a wide variety of organizations, companies, and groups around the world.

Many of the keynote speeches and longer group sessions that I run are for companies (such as my gig this week with the New York Islanders hockey team) or are as part of a particular industry event (for example I'm keynoting the Giant Screen Cinema Association international conference in early September and speaking at the Realtors Conference and Expo in November).

Please contact me if you're interested in discussing having me come to your company or to keynote your event.

There are also a number of upcoming events that I'll be participating in that many readers of this blog may also be attending. Perhaps one of these events fits into your schedule?

New Rules of Marketing seminar

I teach a full-day seminar based on my book The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Learn how to leverage the potential that web-based communication offers your business, in a one-day seminar that brings the book to life.

One participant said: All I can say is WOW! The book was excellent, but the seminar was amazing!

I cover, using tons of case examples, how to reach your buyers directly for a fraction of the cost of "old-school" advertising they'll likely ignore. We dive into creating content people want to consume and search engines reward with high rankings. You’ll walk away with an understanding of how tools like blogs, podcasts, ebooks and social networking can be used to enhance your online presence. Here are the dates and cities. You can learn more by visiting Pragamatic Marketing:
September 23 - Reston, VA (Washington DC area)
October 16 - Bedford, MA (Boston area)
October 30 - Minneapolis, MN
November 13 – Burlingame, CA (Silicon Valley / San Francisco area)
December 18 - Bedford, MA (Boston area)

New Marketing Summit

The New Marketing Summit will be held October 14-15, 2008 at Gillette Stadium, near Boston, MA. I'm really excited about this summit because not only am I the keynote speaker, but I am one of the "Master Minds" behind the event together with social media marketing experts Paul Gillin (author of The New Influencers) and Chris Brogan (co-founder of PodCamp).

We've put together a stellar event. The New Marketing Summit explores how and when to use the latest new media tools to engage, listen, communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders. While the October event this year is in Boston, in 2009, we're holding New Marketing Summit events in Milan, Dallas, San Francisco, and Boston. When you register, Use my exclusive priority code for a $100 discount – DAVIDVIP

Inbound Marketing Summit

My friends at HubSpot have lined up a terrific event on September 8 in Cambridge, MA called the Inbound Marketing Summit. Learn from experts and peers how to leverage inbound marketing to generate more leads and sales for your business. I am delivering the morning keynote and best-selling author and blogger Seth Godin will deliver the afternoon keynote address on the changing landscape of marketing and how to implement "new" marketing ideas that will transform your business. I'm a Seth fanboy, so that will be fun.

Brand Manage Camp

The lineup of speakers at Brand Manage Camp on October 6-7, 2008 in Las Vegas is stellar. Everyone on the podium is a professional speaker and the organizers have done a terrific job of choosing a fantastic variety of topics.

I hope to meet you at one of these events.

Comments

[Michel]

I appreciate the reading of all your books. Any plan to come and organize a conference in France too ?

[Thomas Lindenthaler]

Im a new victim of The Viral Marketing David Meerman.

Thank to him im now adicted to his Blogger, Book and Radio Interviews.

Thanks.

[David Meerman Scott]

Michel,

No plans for France, but if an organizer asks me, I'd love to come!

David

[Michel]

@Dave,

I will try to find partners to organize in 2009 a seminar in Britanny (France West Coast) with the 3 best marketing experts: You, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin together.

[Ed]

Why does hub spot call it "inbound marketing". In traditional marketing circles we have long referred to inbound bound marketing as that part of the marketing value chain that delivers customer and market insight and in turn derives marketing strategy from that insight.

In fact your colleagues at Pragmatic Marketing have long described the marketing value chain as inbound and outbound.
Would conversational marketing be a better term? I do think its important to keep a consistent view of the marketing value chain in place.

The fundamentals have not changed even though the approach and tactics have changed.
I would hate to think of a new generation of marketers as those who only rush to twitter and tweet without any thought to strategy, customer and market insight and development of relevant positioning and messaging.

[Mike Volpe - HubSpot]

I think marketing is divided into two basic methods: Outbound Marketing and Inbound Marketing.

"Outbound" Marketing is the set of traditional direct marketing tactics including telemarketing, direct mail, advertising and rented email list blasts. The problem with outbound marketing is that it relies on interruption, and people are now using more and more tools to block these channels (like caller ID and email spam blocking software). These methods are becoming less and less effective - email open rates are falling, response rates are falling, connect rates on phone calls are declining, etc. Why?

Well, people don't want or need these annoying interruptions anymore. Today, when you are ready to start researching something before making a purchase, you read a blog, you search Google, you ask friends for recommendations, you post questions in forums, etc. You don’t wait for a cold call to talk to an annoying sales person. You don’t dig through your junk email folder to find that email some vendor sent you weeks ago.

"Inbound" Marketing is a collection of all the techniques marketers should use to get found in search engines, blogs and social media, and convert these prospects into leads.

Here is a link to a blog article that talks about it more. http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/2989/Outbound-vs-Inbound-Marketing.aspx

And some other folks that are discussing the concept:

http://www.pr2020.com/Blog/post/2008/09/Dawn-of-the-Inbound-Marketing-Agency.aspx

http://www.ddbseattle.com/blogs/marc_schwartz/consumer_engagement/i_believe_in_inbound_marketing.php

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/digital-influence-group-wins-inbound/story.aspx?guid=%7BA5426899-1299-42AD-A4F3-6138F5C79412%7D&dist=hppr

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks for the comment Ed and for the reply Mike.

Ed, I agree that the fundamentals have not changed. However, the web provides companies with a new way to reach people -- publishing content directly that drives people to our virtual doorstep (what HubSpot calls Inbound Marketing).

Contrast that to what we could do before the web -- buy advertising (magazine, newspaper, radio, TV, yellow pages, billboard direct mail and so on) or beg the media to write about us.

Take care,

David

[Ed]

I get what Mikes saying. My point is what Mike calls "inbound" is what I have always called "pull" marketing (for example PPC is basically pull or response based advertising).

I think the difference today is that if you pull you must also give in return..Hence conversational.

I find it interesting how "inbound" is taking on a new meaning from what it has been traditionally referred to in marketing circles (at least pre 2007).

I’ll chuck it up to me being another year older and the main point being not to debate the terms but to adopt the new.
ED

[Mike Volpe - HubSpot]

Ed-

Agreed. Some folks use push/pull, and some of this comes from the "permission markeitng" concept from Seth Godin from about a decade ago. I also agree with you that social media and the ability to have a conversation (like this one) change the game. So maybe we need a new term?

You have some good points, and the best one might be that I prefer to debate less and do more marketing! If you are ever in Boston, look me up and I'll give you a tour of the HubSpot offices and buy you a coffee.

[ed]

Sounds great. I could use a coffee

[360 assessments]

I appreciate the information you posted. As a business consultant, I find it very valuable to attend seminars to expand my knowledge in this field.