THE INTERNET MARKETING CONFERENCE & EXPO
- HOW WE DID IT!
Lennart Svanberg
Arranger of The Internet Marketing Conference & Expo

The Internet Marketing Conference & Expo relies up to 80% on marketing through the Internet. Since 1999 we have been on top for the search phrase "Internet Marketing Conference". We have also developed a domain name strategy for expanding the conference into an Expo which launches 2003 - IMC-Expo.Com.

Lennart's insight into The Internet Marketing Industry is one of the best in the World through his building of WAIM (The World Association of Internet Marketers): How many Internet Marketers are there in the World? How many are online?

How much does the Internet Marketing Industry generate in revenues & profit? Lennart ends his talk by focusing on our theme for IMC 2003 "Increasing Sales Online". Lennart gives examples of "Promotional Methods that Increases Sales Online" from Europe & North America.

 

KEYNOTE: GROWING YOUR BUSINESS WITH SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
Craig Wax, Overture

This talk traces the evolution of search engine marketing, pointing to key innovations as well as future directions. The session is also a 'how to' talk in that it explains the role of search engine marketing as well as a comparison of current options. The session outline is as follows:
Evolution of Search Engine Marketing
Different Types of Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Marketing by Marketing Objective
Where Search Engine Marketing fits in marketing mix
Future of Search Engine Marketing

 

GENERATING BETTER RESULTS ONLINE THROUGH ITERATIVE DESIGN
Tara O'Doherty, National Director - Usability, Cossette Interactive

If you have not introduced usability methodology into the design and development of your site, you are most likely not optimizing the return on your investment (ROI). Successful website managers introduce usability methods at each phase of their design and development - this is called an Iterative approach.

Iterative Design is the key to increasing transactions, conversion rates, and user satisfaction. In this session, you will learn how to select the appropriate method(s) for your site - with a special emphasis on ROI and rapid deployment approaches.

 

WINNING OR LOSING YOUR BRAND IDENTITY IN CYBER SPACE
Naseem Javed, ABC Namebank International

New technologies and convergence are forcing corporations to realign their branding and corporate identity to deliver a clear message in the global marketplace. This talk will highlight key issues in global and Online branding for major corporations including:

	Virtual Branding & Cyber-Space Problems: When an old economy name becomes a liability in the future economy in cyber-space.
	Blueprinting for Global Identity in E-Commerce: How to recognize and avoid the seven deadly sins of corporate name branding in cyber-space.
	New Branding Rules under New Cyber Laws: How to succeed and leave the copycats and squatters behind in the dust.

 

PANEL: ONLINE DESIGN - HOW TO DESIGN A BUSINESS BRAND & CONTENT?

Brand elements, such as names, logos, tag lines, trademarks, and packaging, are shortcuts to people's perceptions, people use these shortcuts when making purchase decisions.

What can designers do to strengthen a site's brand so that the shopper returns to the site for future purchases? Designers & Intellectual Property people need to work together so that creative names are available as domains & trademarks.

Are you responsible for the look & feel of your website - this is the panel for you.

 

NAMES & TRADEMARKS: INTERNET DISPUTES AND THE LAW
Jonathan C. Cohen, ICANN

ICANN is the Worlds governing body of the Internet Protocol & Domain Name System. Jonathan Cohen, is an Intellectual Property Lawyer & Boardmember of ICANN.org, and is one of the architects of the Universal Dispute Resolution Policy which settles name and trademark disputes.

Mr. Cohen will provide you with the essential information you need to know - and protect - the rights to your name, trademarks, and domain name, online.

TOP OF THE HILL: HOW AN INTEGRATED ONLINE STRATEGY CREATED A RECORD SEASON FOR MONT BLANC SKI RESORT
Rob Swick, President, Montreal Media; President, Montreal Interactive Marketing Association

This case study the combines all of the fundamental elements of a strong Online campaign: positioning, branding, information marketing, strategic search engine optimization, and permission marketing.

The campaign, costing less than $25,000 brought the ski resort its best year in its history, in depth market research and hundreds of clients wanting on-going e-mail contact. The talk focuses on the key decisions and elements that made this success happen.

 

SUCCESS STORY: EXPEDIA
Sean Shannon, Director of Marketing, Expedia.ca

Travel is one of the many areas ideally suited to the Internet, yet many travel-based websites have dissappeared Expedia, the world's leading Internet-based travel agency not only survived the 'dot-com' era, but today is thriving.

This talk will explore how to properly use the Internet to market and sell Online services, explaining how Expedia uses the Internet's efficiency and reach to provide superior services and rates than traditional agencies.

 

PANEL: WHERE DID WE GO WRONG?: HOW TO AVOID COMMON WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT PITFALLS
Participants: Rob Swick, Montreal Media; Tara O'Doherty, Cossette Interactive; Scott Robinson, ScottMark Communications; Rupert Ravens, Nices.com

If there is one lesson to be learned about website development it's that money doesn't buy success. Companies have spent millions on websites that stumble out of the starting gate and never get up again.

This panel of corporate website development experts will use their experiences to prevent you from falling into the traps that others have. Guaranteed to improve your companies website development investment.

 

THE POWER OF METAPHORS IN WEB MARKETING
Rupert Ravens, CEO of Nices.Com

Communicating your message quickly and clearly to an increasingly impatient audience is essential for Online success. Rupert Ravens, CEO of Nices Design of New York will outline the principles used in communicating through metaphors in web design.

With clients like American Express, AT&T, and Toys'r'Us (he personally designed the home page), Ravens has developed some of the most recognizable sites on the Internet.

OPTIMIZING PAY-PER-CLICK ROI
Jay R. Bean, CEO, ah-ha.com
Pay-per-click represents an improvement over traditional search promotion in that it is easier to evaluate the return on investment. Jay Bean, founder and COO of ah-ha.com, a leading independent pay-per-click search portal offers insight into optimizing pay-per-click campaigns and shows how to evaluate and improve your return on investment.

NEW FRONTIERS: INTERACTIVE TELEVISION MARKETING
Nick Jones, Marketing Manager, Bell ExpressVu

As interactive TV becomes a reality, it presents a host of new opportunities for marketers. To take advantage of these opporuntities, understanding the medium is crucial. Nick Jones will outline the current status of Interactive TV, including how it is - and will be - used, for some of the most powerful interactive marketing.

Nick Jones is an iTV Product Manager for Bell ExpressVu. He is also an expert in ecommerce development and played an integral role in the development of new business lines for Chapters Online / www.chapters.ca

Nick Jones is Co-author of "ECOMMERCE: Critical Success Factors That Will Make or Break Your Online Business".

SUCCESS STORY: DELL COMPUTERS
Presented by Brian Monette, Relationship Marketing, Dell Canada

Topic TBA

CUSTOMER AQUISITION WITH KEYWORD-TARGETED ADVERTISING
Moderator: John Moran, FindWhat.com

Driving traffic to your website is fundamentally a match between search terms and marketing strategy. This panel will focus on how to find, get, and keep customers with keyword-targeted advertising.

The panel will explain and explore:
What kinds of site traffic are available
Comparisons of different methods
Future models and methods of gathering customers online

KEYNOTE: WASHINGTON POST INTERACTIVE
Chris Schroeder CEO, Washingtonpost & Newsweek Interactive

Topic TBA

USING WEB ANALYTICS TO INCREASE MARKETING ROI
Scott Robinson, Director of eMarketing Services, Scottmark Communications

Using real world examples, this talk will show you how to gather and use information to improve the ROI of your web marketing campaigns. Taking a strategic point of view, Scott Robinson, an experienced eMarketer in the healthcare and retail fields, will demonstrate winning methods for going past 'common sense' to accurately measuring and interpreting website data.

Scott will also compare some of the key programs and services available for this purpose. Examples will be from online retail and pharmaceutical product promotion.

SUCCESS STORIES: ONLINE CASINOS - PURE PLAY INTERNET MARKETING
Carlos Lopez

In many ways, Online casinos are a leading Internet industry. Highly successful and with some of the most aggressive marketing on the Internet, Online casinos have had to innovate in many areas - especially entertainment, interactivity, security, and ecommerce.

This talk will show what goes into the creation of online casinos, outlining the technology, methods, and hurdles that make Online casinos successful, and discuss how these same principles may apply to all businesses.

BRINGING THE POWER OF CONTEXTUAL TARGETING TO ONLINE AD CAMPAIGNS
Jason Liebman, Executive Vice President of Sales & Business Development

Contextually targeted advertising technologies extract the key theme(s) from a web page in order to deliver targeted, relevant ads. Unlike demographic profiling, which requires prior knowledge about users, contextual targeting works by implicitly identifying an individual user's interest based on the key theme(s) of the web page content that is being viewed in real-time.

Contextual targeting benefits three interest groups: (1) Online publishers who are able to more effectively monetize their content, (2) advertisers who are looking to spend more money online for highly qualified, high ROI sales leads, and (3) end users who benefit from useful and unobtrusive advertising content.

LINK BUILDING STRATEGIES FOR INTERNET MARKETING
Dixon Jones, Receptional

Building and monitoring links into your website is a valuable contributor to the success of your Internet Marketing plan, with ramifications that go far beyond search engine marketing. Link building is offering a strategy for generating traffic and leads that remains a low cost marketing option but with high value results for the industrious.

This talk will focus on the strategic and relationship issues involved in link building, including the kinds of arrangements that make up a strong link campaign. Dixon Jones has helped to initiate online marketing strategies for Honda, British Gas and BTLooksmart.

PANEL: DESIGNING FOR BRANDING ON THE WEB & SITE USABILITY

While often over-looked, site usability is crucial to site ROI. Sites that work smoothly and according to common usability principles help convert more browsers to buyers and encourage future visits (and more sales).

In this session, Cossette Interactive's National Usability Director, demonstrates the key design and interface structure issues that impact a site's performance. The presentation includes detailed ROI calculations based on real world examples

SEARCH ENGINE FORUM: HOW TO INCREASE WEB TRAFFIC
Participants TBA

Three Internet Marketing Companies focusing on search engine traffic discuss proven techniques to increase search ranking and search engine traffic.

REACHING FAMILIES @ HOME: RETHINKING CONSUMER MARKETING STRATEGIES
Sue Borden, Publisher - Familywave.ca, Microsoft Canada

With more families using technology, companies are adopting new and innovative ways of reaching consumers on their terms. Launched in December 2002, Familywave (www.familywave.ca) is an online resource from Microsoft Canada for families looking to do more with their home computers.

The first site of its kind for Microsoft worldwide, Familywave represents a key milestone in the company's overall consumer marketing strategy. Sue Borden of Microsoft Canada will present a high-level discussion about the goals behind Familywave, the site concept, an overview of the site content and design, and how the site has been received by its target market.

RAISING ONLINE SALES THROUGH IMPROVED USABILITY
Tara O'Doherty, National Director: Usability, Cossette Interactive

While often over-looked, site usability is crucial to site ROI. Sites that work smoothly and according to common principles convert more browsers to buyers and encourage future visits (and more sales).

In this session, Cossette Interactive's National Usability Director, demonstrates the key design and interface structure issues that impact a site's performance. The presentation includes detailed ROI calculations based on real world examples.

HOW ONLINE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SERVES BUSINESS GOALS
John Cokos - iWeb Inc.

There are many types of communities, a region, a country or for example an Internet Community. To build up a community of highly committed people, paid or not, is a business model that works for some.

John Cokos manages one of the largest Internet Marketing communities on the web with forums such as Search Engine Forums & GetHighForums. He also develops & sells tools for creating search engines & forums which can help you build a forum on your own.

ESSENTIAL E-MAIL MARKETING 101
Speaker TBA

This talk will introduce you to e-mail marketing outlining the key uses, advantages, and methods of the field. It will explain and address key concepts related to e-mail marketing such as mailing lists, spam, and permission marketing.

CREATING SUCCESSFUL E-MAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Patrick Wagner

Through case studies of successful campaigns, this talk will show you the elements that go into developing an e-mail marketing campaign.

Particular attention will be paid to key strategic decisions such as establishing the campaign objective, choosing the best technology matched and analyzing results. The examples will reveal what worked and didn't work from real-life campaigns.

STRIKE UP THE BRAND: STRENGTHENING YOUR BRAND ONLINE
Christine Perfetti, Director of Instruction
User Interface Engineering

What's the most effective way to strengthen a brand on the web? Recent research shows that it isn't using traditional branding techniques. Such tried-and-true methods can actually hurt your brand, if implemented poorly.

In this talk, Christine outlines how UIE's recent usability research has uncovered fascinating truths about how people perceive brands on the web.

She will discuss:
How "message branding" doesn't work, but "experience branding"
  does
When to use "Seducible Moments" and how they can dramatically
increase sales traffic.
How eye-tracking research shows people learn to avoid banners

BUSINESS CASE: SUBSCRIPTION REVENUES - ONLINE DATING
Brad Hogg, Vintacom Inc

The online dating industry is showing no signs of slowing down. As the CEO of Vintacom Media Group (owner of Dreammates.com), Alberta's fastest growing company, Brad Hogg is well prepared to share first-hand insight on this phenomenon.

He will discuss the societal influences that have led to exponential growth in online dating, he'll talk about the business model for success, how the Internet has influenced business and he'll give us a glimpse of online dating in the future. This is a session you won't want to miss.

PANEL: TRAFFIC EVALUTION TO IMPROVE SITE USAGE
Moderated by Heidi Hendricks

Are you getting the traffic that you should from different sources such as search engines, domain names & links. This session focuses on how a well balanced traffic can look like.

The balance between Selling & Support is as delicate as any relationship. How much can you spend on support without increasing your cost too much and how much is one more sales-representative worth?

SPOTLIGHT ON MONTREAL
Moderator, Mitch Joel, Partner - Twist Image

They may not be household names but dozens of Montreal companies have been building brands and executing impacting online strategies since the Internet first arrived. Join us for a panel discussion on the challenges (and advantages) of being based in Montreal and see how these local heroes have made their mark.

CREATING SUPERIOR CUSTOMER RELATIONS
Speaker TBA