Helping business adapt to the digital age

Many companies are questioning how to integrate new media into their existing marketing plans. The New Media Marketing conference, running 25 - 28 March at Gallagher Estate, Johannesburg, has been designed with new media practitioners and experts in order to help delegates build the business case for embarking on a new media campaign. The series of case studies from a range of industries will show those who are wary of moving away from traditional marketing methods how they can make the most of this fascinating new world of marketing and advertising.

New Media Marketing

The two-day New Media Marketing lineup includes Mike Stopforth, Vincent Maher, Colin Daniels, Avusa; Allan Kent, Paul Jacobson, Jonathan Bishop, Leon Orsmond, Rudolph Muller, Arthur Goldstuck, Rick Joubert, Jenny van Niekerk, David Wessels, Grant Shippey, Patrick Collings, Justin Hartman, Herman Heunis, Matthew Buckland, Lize Esterhuizen, Mike Balkind, Eric Edelstein and Tyler Reed.

Pre- and post-conference workshops will define the A-Z of new media jargon - defining all the terms you need to know in using the digital arena - and cover multimedia branding - integrating web and mobile strategies to create a comprehensive, cutting-edge marketing strategy

www.zoopy.com, the official media sharing partner, will be filming, photographing, podcasting and blogging the entire event, as well as creating a dedicated landing page for social media added by those speaking and attending.

Nomadic Marketing

The Nomadic Marketing course, which runs at the UCT GSB 16 - 18 April 2008, aims to allay common fears and give forward-thinking business practitioners and marketers a head-start by teaching them how to leverage the web to stay competitive, build brand awareness and engage their target audiences.

It has been specifically structured and contextualised for any businessperson to grasp and implement, and will cover the full range of avenues for engaging a dynamic, global market online with a strategic look at new trends and technologies such as mobile applications, blogs and online social networks, as well as issues such as security and licensing.

The Nomadic Marketing lineup includes Dave Duarte (who directs the Nomadic Marketing course), Mike Stopforth, Vincent Maher, Mike Perk, Paul Jacobson, Adrian Pienaar, De Waal Steyn, Charl Norman, Rafiq Phillips, Jayn Morgan, Tyler Reed, Dominic White, Pieter van der Lingen, Allan Kent and Colin Daniels.

“Online communication revolution”

Technomadic marketer Dave Duarte in action

“The online communication revolution is affecting the way we live, work and play on an unimaginable scale and South African business needs to learn how to use the latest cutting-edge Internet marketing techniques in order to stay competitive,” says Duarte.

“It is easy for people to feel overwhelmed by the wealth of communications platforms now available on the web - but with a little education and practice perceptions can quickly change. The ‘Web 2.0' or ‘Social Media' movement as it is known, is about a progression away from the traditional top-down models of mass communication (where the opinions of a few are disseminated to the many) towards a new model of communication that emphasises many-to-many forms of communication and user-generated content on sites like YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia and blogs.

“Web 2.0 has made the individual more influential than ever before. Anyone with a computer and Internet connection can share their ideas with people they've never met. You no longer need a huge marketing budget to practice mass communication. “This dissemination of ‘power' has led many businesses, especially those involved with brand management and advertising to panic about their role,” he concludes.

Details

For details on the New Media Marketing conference, go to www.iqpc.com/ShowEvent.aspx?id=81804. Bloggers will pay half price.

For details on the UCT GSB Nomadic Marketing course, contact Junita Abrahams on +27 (0)21 406 1323 or . For the course blog, go to www.technomadicmarkets.com.

Bizcommunity.com is a media partner for both events. Watch out for our live guest blogging at the new Media Marketing conference by our regular contributor Eve Dmochowska on our Breaking News blog, http://blog.bizcommunity.com.