Atlantic Internet Marketing Conference | AIM Halifax May 2010

8:30-9:00

Welcome & Introduction

McNally Theatre
An overview of the conference sessions, special talks, and events.

9:00-9:50

Designing the First 15 Minutes

McNally Theatre

• Keynote: Daniel Burka, Tiny Speck/Digg, Rob Goodlatte, Facebook

That user who just signed up is about to bail. And a thousand other people just stopped in but didn't even bother to register. Your product is great, but your users don't stay long enough to find that out. The first fifteen minutes of your product are the most important. Learn from the successes, mistakes, and insights of designing new user experiences for products.

Internet Marketing 101

SME Room
George Inglis, Propel Design
If you're an absolute beginner, this session will get you planted on your feet and help you make the most of the conference. An introduction to basic vocabulary to core concepts, to some of the common challenges companies face, this session will give you a leg up.

10:15-11:05

The World Wide Web: Internationalizing Your Message

Big Business Room
Molly Holzschlag, Opera Software
The entire concept of internationalizing your website is (or should be) much more than just adding new languages. The idea should be "let's make great web sites for the world", but what does that mean? Where do you start? This talk will answer both questions, describing Internationalization, Globalization and localization, with case studies, anecdotes and clear examples of successes and the challenges along the way.

Google-ize Me!

Agency Room
Rob Swick, Alpha Internet Marketing
Being on top of Google can make or break your business. And Google is getting even better at connecting searchers with the right results. But what exactly is a 'right result'? What changes are happening in Google that you can take advantage of? This session will show some of the most important things Google looks at to determine site rank – some you know, and many you probably don’t.  Along the way we will answer common questions like “can RSS feeds help me site rank well”, “how can I rank well in other countries?“, “should I include Bing in my promotion plans?”, “how many words should there be on a page?”, and more.

Marketing Metrics for Start-ups

SME Room
Dan Martell, Flowtown
Startups are unique creatures. Fast-growing, and fast-changing, they live with their heads in the clouds of opportunity, but to get where they are going, also need their feet firmly planted in rapid and often cold, hard feedback of reality. But reality only shows you what you look for. What metrics can help you evolve rapidly? How do you quickly and cost-effectively generate reliable, effective data? This talk will outline a strong process for startup evolution (learn fast, fail fast) and outline metrics start-ups can use for testing out product ideas, pricing, market acceptance, competitive position ñ and more.

Online Marketing Planning, Tools, and Tips (Panel)

Tourism Technology Room

Planning?  What’s that?  Too few tourism operators plan their marketing, most marketing efforts are trial and error.  This is fully understandable given how new the area is, and how much there is to learn. This session is aimed at showing the many different opportunities for promotion, and some of the core principles of strong online marketing.  From Goal Setting to Defining Your Brand, from YouTube to Google Analytics, this session will highlight some of the most important tips, tricks, and tools, that experts use for online promotion success.

11:10-12:00

Online Reputation Management Through Social Media Channels

Big Business Room
Bruce Thompson, Impact Communications
Reputation management is essential for building great brands, and achieving organizational objectives. The perception of your organization by key stakeholders, including your customers and the community at large is an ongoing collective of thoughts and opinions, both earned and unearned. In today's highly connected and digital world, there are unlimited opportunities for your stakeholders to shape your brand's perception through comments and conversations about issues related to your organization. You have an opportunity to capitalize on this environment, to effectively shape your brand. You have an opportunity to proactively facilitate ongoing and transparent conversations about your organization using social media and the web. The truth will set you free. Get out in front of it.

Would you like 3G with that? Mobile marketing to go

Agency Room
Ryan Lebjak, Zu.com
Mobile is changing the world, and consequently, the world of marketing. Join Ryan Lejbak as he explores the rapidly evolving world of the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and iPad. Learn what it means to market on the mobile web and view marketing from the mobile user’s perspective. Discover what utilizing mobile functionality means for the communications, marketing and stakeholder engagement strategies of your organization. Review usage trends, consumer habits and the unique differences between mobile experience and web experience. Walk away with practical examples from business and an updated perspective on how your organization can use mobile to achieve your marketing objectives.

Website Development - a Buyer's Guide

SME Room
Is there any bigger marketing gamble than hiring a website developer? Probably not. But it doesnít have to be this way. This session will help you understand the web development process from RFPs to some of the newer technical options for website development, the panel will try both to guide, and to inform you about what is out there, what the common mistakes are ñ and how to pick a web developer, designer, or technology without regret.

Diving into Social Media

Tourism Techology Room
Afraid of social media?  Well don’t be - those are guppies in that water, not sharks!  Social Media should not be scary. It is really just a set of easy-to-use tools that are available to anyone to be able to publish their own ideas (pictures, videos – whatever!) online without any technical ability.  Now doesn’t that sound like something good? This session will show you the power and ease of such common social media tools as blogging, FaceBook, Twitter, Kijiji – and more.  It will also show you how easy these tools are to set-up and use.

12:00-1:15

The Making of Kijiji: the Story Behind an Online Success

McNally Theatre

• Erik Pierni, Kijiji

Kijiji is one of the undeniable successes of the social media revolution. Smart, efficient, tapping directly into users needs - Eric will tell us the behind the scene story of how it came about - from how it got its name to why Atlantic Canadians are top of the list among users. Premium passholders. Additional tickets may be available - please inquire at the Registration desk.

1:30-2:20

Real life Mobile: A Case Study

Big Business Room
Malcolm Fraser, ISL
Mobile is at the tip of everyone's tongue these days. Unfortunately, it means something different to everyone you talk to. This case study explores a real life local example of a mobile strategy that works very effectively. Malcolm Fraser (ISL) and Aaron Veinotte (Nova Scotia Power) will talk about how organizations can execute a mobile strategy and review how Nova Scotia Power has implemented mobile consumer services. This presentation will discuss:

• the intent behind this NS Power's strategy
• issues and decisions made during the project
• results on usage and benefit to Nova Scotia Power 

The Impact of Social Capital on Brand Storytelling (and the other way around)

Agency Room
Kate Inglis, Blogger, Author
Kate bypassed the first-time authors slush pile and sold out the bookís first edition in three months thanks to one thing (aside from a finished manuscript): social capital. In this thought-provoking talk, she'll tell her story and explore the impact of voice clarity, online communities, and entrepreneurial spirit in social media, translating her own lessons to all kinds of brands and movements.

Beyond 'I don't like it'

SME Room
Jeff White, Kula Partners
The importance of giving useful and reasonable feedback to a designer or developer cannot be underestimated. What does it mean to say something looks modern, edgy or contemporary? How can you give better instruction to your creative team? Using anecdotes from personal experience, Jeff will walk you through how to communicate with agencies.

Conversion Marketing

Tourism Technology Room
Online the competition is always just a click away. Conversion marketing asks and answers the question 'What will make customers buy from me?' This session will show you some of the core factors that make people want to buy what you're offering instead of something down the road. It will show you how to turn browsers into buyers, and friends into customers by doing the things your competition isn't.

2:25-3:15

Integrating Digital and Traditional Media

Big Business Room
Savior Joseph , Colour
Most Nova Scotian's still watch the six o'clock news. Television viewership was up in the United States last year. Digital media continues to grow at a double-digit rate. In many cases, using only a digital channel is not enough to drive a strong return on investment. Integrating traditional and other forms of media with your digital strategy is a critical part to successful marketing today. Many brands succeed in doing one or the other but very few are able to build a truly integrated strategy with user engagement, conversation and conversion as the outcome.

Online Media Buying & Maximizing Return

Agency Room
Leonard Roberts, GenieKnows.com (Panel)
There are more tools today than ever before for targeting Online audiences. Know what those tools are, and how to use them to maximize your reach – and your return on spending, is key to building your business.  Our panel of experts discusses methods, tools, and tricks for targeting customers online, and for producing the best results – ahead of your competitors (who didn’t attend this session). 

Social Media Marketing - Beginners Workshop

SME Room
Lynne Conrad, Activ8
This is a hands-on workshop for those who are curious about Social Media and want to know how to get started. It will show you how to sign up for Twitter, and Facebook, and Linkedin, some of the basic methods, tools, and features that will help you put them to work for you.

The “Inns” & Outs of Online Booking

Tourism Technology Room
Many of today’s online travel-searchers expect online booking.  For tourism operations that  have not made the change, what might seem to be a daunting task, is easier today, and it is commonly held that the changes pay for themselves in improved booking rates and more efficient client communication.  This session will discuss the challenges and benefits of online booking. The focus will be on practical issues, including what technologies and companies are available.

3:35-4:25

How newspapers are helping local business win online

McNally Theatre

• Keynote: Alex Liot, Transcontinental Media

The Internet has changed all media, and that certainly including news media. Transcontinental Media has gone through a dramatic transformation to be at the cutting edge of news media online and offline and to offer innovative ways to its readers to consume news. This session will focus on the path the company has taken, the importance of relevance online, and how geographic relevance impacts local SMB’s. The talk will include details of some new innovated products and advertising opportunities Transcontinental has brought to market, and case studies demonstrating advertising and editorial applications.

Atlantic Tourism Panel

SME Room
Yes, they’re sometimes competitors. But they are always friends and neighbours too, this panel made up of one Tourism Representative from each province will discuss their activities, their online experience – and even – each other!  Attend for what is sure to be a fun, and informative session and learn from the experiences and insight of these four informed and experienced experts.

7:00-9:30
Harbour Cruise: Premium passholders: come down to Murphy’s on the Waterfront and board the Harbour Queen for a mini-ocean cruise with some traditional music, food and fun.  Watch out for iceburgs!

8:00-9:00

Live Site Review

SME Room
Your reward for waking up early!
What's wrong with my website? If you've ever asked this question, we're here to answer it! Always candid and direct, come meet our panel of Simon Cowel's and learn from the experts what you website is doing right - and wrong - and how to fix it so you can win more customers online.

9:00-9:50

Do You Speak Human?

• Keynote: Eric Karjaluoto, SMASHLab

Something changed. PR, advertising, press releases, and all that other stuff that seemed to work so well, all of a sudden didn't. Worse yet, everyone else started to speak up, sometimes more effectively than those using traditional means ever did. Meanwhile, United Airlines gets trashed for breaking guitars, Starbucks shuts down a bunch of stores, and Belkin is lambasted for doctoring product reviews. Oh right, and major corporations like GM started looking to the government for hand-outs. What just happened? Eric's a bald guy with a lot of ideas. One of them is that the only way to meaningfully communicate is to cut through the polish, cast aside the formality, and just speak "human". In his mind, this means engaging openly, making mistakes, and even firing your call center. Join us for this session, in which Eric will share his suggestions on how your company might better connect with customers.

9:55-10:45

Webfluence

Big Business Room
Rob Swick, Alpha Internet Marketing
Targeting customers by their differences can be a powerful way to reach more of them. But once they hit your site the sameness of human habits rules the day. This talk will show how understanding the mental wiring of humans can win more customers. It will show you (for example) how too many choices can drive visitors away, why focus groups are often a waste of money, why 7 and 2 are magic numbers that every online marketer should know, and... how knowing why there are a lot of dentists named Dennis will help you win customers.

Local and Regional Marketing

Agency Room
Mausam Kalra, GenieKnows.com (Panel)
Sure the web is global, but most of what we buy we buy locally and regionally. And there are new and powerful ways to reach those markets that you need to know about. This session will show you how the tools are changing and what you can and should be doing now.

7 Reasons Why Usability is Like Date-ability

SME Room
Stephanie Lummis, ISL
The goal of your website is to engage, entertain and convince people youíre worth spending time with ñ kind of like a first date. But how do you do that in a short amount of time and without coming on too strong? If your website has any bad habits, dirt under the nails, or is sending mixed signals you need to know so you can make the best first impression possible. This talk from an industry veteran gives a light-hearted but pragmatic understanding of all the preparation that goes into delivery of an outstanding user experience, to get you that second date, I mean, return visitor.

11:10-12:00

Marketing in a Hyper-Social World

Big Business Room
Carman Pirie, Kula Partners
The rapidly evolving world of social media is part of a global shift creating dramatic cultural change. Far more than a simple change in media habits, the transition currently underway is impacting the very basics of how society chooses to organize itself. Award winning marketer Carman Pirie examines what this transition means for business while outlining strategies for taking advantage of what's next. "The majority of Internet users are now regularly participating in social media.," says Pirie. Presenting case study examples and practical ideas, Carman details how businesses large and small can begin to implement social media across the enterprise and in a variety of sectors to achieve business results.

Innovate or Die: Brand Building in 2010

Agency Room
The marketing landscape has changed and continues to change - that much is obvious. But even though most online marketing has a proven (and high) ROI, some companies are still dragging their feet… at their peril. The panel will focus on what companies can and should be doing now with their online marketing

Email Marketing Workshop

SME Room
George Inglis , Propel Design
Email marketing is the 'original social media'. Relevant, direct, powerful and inexpensive - it's a great way to get the word out to a very targeted audience of followers. This session will show you the tools, tactics, and strategies that make it work.

12:00-1:15

AIM Atlantic Agency Showcase Luncheon

McNally Theatre

• Keynote: Atlantic Agencies

Atlantic Industry Agencies showcase their best projects, during this special lunch session. Premium passholders. Additional tickets may be available - please inquire at the Registration desk.

1:30-2:20

Marketing in the Social Graph

Big Business Room
Alfredo Tan, Facebook
Social media is really just marketing and it can be profitable, meaningful, and essential to your business. The web is evolving into being more social, personal and authentic. People want to connect with real things and real people. Alfredo will provide an understanding of how to market in this new reality and allow your company to better leverage this new and exciting marketing channel for business success.

What is Good Web Design and How Does it Happen?

Agency Room
Panel
Is design just a means to an end – functionally delivering up content?  Or does it have a higher purpose – to inspire?  To motivate?  To build brand strength?  And how to designers deal with so many different stakeholders?  So many different formats, options, channels?  Is there room for good design?  Can design be innovative?  Our design panel will answer these and other questions, as well as tell us why they don’t like people looking over their shoulders.

What Should My Company Blog About?

SME Room
Colour
This is a question many people have. Creating a strategy around your blog can save you the trouble of having to ask this question over and over, can help you focus your brand message and ideas, and can even teach you about who you are - and what you're clients want to know.

2:25-3:15

Facebook Case Studies

Big Business Room
Alfredo Tan, Facebook
This session will provide real examples of how companies around North America have began to leverage the social graph, ranging from simple executions to more robust and creative examples. This is meant to show that this new marketing reality is now happening at scale and the amazing things that marketers are achieving. An introduction into using the self serve platform for those who have never seen or been exposed to it will also be presented.

Live Site Review II

SME Business Room
What's wrong with my website? If you've ever asked this question, we're here to answer it! Always candid and direct, come meet our panel of Simon Cowel's and learn from the experts what you website is doing right - and wrong - and how to fix it so you can win more customers online.

3:20-4:10

Marketing in the Year of 2011

McNally Theatre

• Saul Colt, Zoocasa

People say that things like Social Media and the trend of Transparency have changed the way people market to a customer but in fact it has more to do with customer expectation. The lines have blurred between B2B and B2C marketing have moved and his talk will discuss some of the new ways to gain a customer and audience...and if the talk doesn't go well Saul will tell you the Aristocrats Joke.