Why Attend Online Marketing Conferences and Some to Attend for 2009

Doesn’t matter what business you are, online marketing is a the way to grow your business. Ultimately the web drives leads, whether you are a traditional services business just wanting that call, pureplay, bricks and mortar or a multi-channel merchant.  People will search on the net first. So you have to be found, be remembered and also reach out to
people that already engaged with you. It’s not rocket science – but you must invest in online marketing.

The best way to learn bleeding edge online marketing is to attend good conferences. Most educational facilities (and published books) will not be up to speed on the most recent practices.

Understanding the potential

Conferences are valuable because they teach you new online marketing strategies and tactics. If you are a marketing generalist (with no in-house marketing team or a one-man team), you benefit from understanding how service providers can help you – and the potential that is there. This knowledge is key, when want to grow more and need
to outsource.

It is not all about the trade show, pens and brochures

Some online marketing conferences are true leaders on sharing bleeding edge strategies and tactics. For the most part, they are jam packed with valuable information that you can adopt and implement. Some conferences can range from 2-3 days long and have 3-5 learning sessions per day. Lunches and evening networking parties are also valuable
sessions that should not be missed.  If you are sincerely passionate about online marketing and are social, the networking events are the places to learn from. Sometimes you can gather around a great group of like-minded people that are so stirred up about the great sessions previously in the day, that they carry on most of the discussions with their own experiences (which is so valuable!). Also if there are multiple learning tracks at the same time in the day, you can learn about the one you missed over a martini from someone else in the evening!

Do your research on conferences and ask others for referrals

Throughout North America, many conferences are solely online marketing being Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, or Search Engine Optimization and there are others that will have a mix of all types of online marketing strategies or even really niche conferences like just Pay-Per-Click, affiliate marketing or email marketing.

I think you just need to do your research on what you want to learn and question if the conference matches your needs.  If you are not sure, just ask other colleagues on their favorites and why.

My Favorites

My personal favorites are Blogworld, SMX Advanced and IRCE. Also on my wish list to attend this year is PubCon and next years SMX Analytics.

Your choices

The following list is of various conferences within North America for the rest of 2009 that I can find:

MAY 2009

• May 17 – 19, 2009 – Media Relations Summit, New York. http://infocomgroup.net/mrs09/
• May 18, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Dallas, TX.  http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/dallas.php
• May 18, 2009 – AMA: Social Media Marketing, Atlanta, http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2009%20TS%20SocialMedia%20Atlanta,%20GA.aspx
• May 20, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Houston, TX, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/houston.php
• May 21, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Hilton, TX, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/austin.php
• May 27, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Chicago http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/chicago.php
• May 29, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Milwaukee, WI, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/milwaukee.php

JUNE 2009

• June 1, 2009 – AMA: Social Media Marketing, Chicago, http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2009%20TS%20SocialMedia%20Chicago,%20IL.aspx
• June 2, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Minneapolis, MN, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/minneapolis.php
• June 2-3, 2009- SMX Advance – Seattle http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced
• June 4, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Denver http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/denver.php
• June 7 – 10, 2009 – iMedia: Brand Summit, Colorado Springs, Colorado, http://www.imediaconnection.com/summits/22108.asp
• June 8, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Cleveland http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/cleveland.php
• June 8-10, 2009 – SES Toronto, Canada http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/toronto/
• June 10, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Atlanta, GA, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/atlanta.php
• June 12, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Charlotte, NC http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/charlotte.php
• June 15 – 18, 2009 -  IRCE (Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition) Boston, http://www.internetretailer.com/irce2009/
• June 16, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Orange County, CA http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/orange-county.php
• June 16, 2009 – SES: SEO Training: Basics to Advanced, New York – http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/training/newyork
• June 16 – 18, 2009 – DM Days, New York – http://www.the-dma.org/conferences/dmdays09/
• June 25, 2009 – CMA: E-Commerce Conference, Toronto http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=56|K=229100|CAL=223287
• June 25, 2009, OMS (Online Marketing Summit) San Francisco, CA http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/san-francisco.php
• June 25, 2009 -  iMedia: Entertainment Marketing Summit, Beverly Hills, California, http://www.imediaconnection.com/summits/22679.asp
• June 29, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Portland, OR, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/portland.php

JULY 2009

• July 1, 2009 – OMS (Online Marketing Summit) Seattle, WA, http://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/cities_and_agendas/seattle.php
• July 13 – 15, 2009 – Shop.org: Online Merchandising Workshop, San Diego, CA, http://www.shop.org/web/merch09

AUGUST 2009

• August 3- 6, 2009-  eTail, Baltimore, Maryland, http://www.wbresearch.com/etailusaeast/
• August 9 -11, 2009 – Affiliate Summit East, New York, http://www.affiliatesummit.com/
• August 10 – 14, 2009 – SES San Jose, San Jose, California – http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sanjose/

SEPTEMBER 2009

• September 1-2, 2009 -  Ad Tech, Chicago, http://www.ad-tech.com/chicago/adtech_chicago.aspx
• September 16 – 18, 2009 – IMC (Internet marketing Conference), Vancouver, BC http://www.internetmarketingconference.com/vancouver/
• September 21 – 23, 2009 – Shop.org: Annual Summit, Las Vegas, http://www.shop.org/web/summit09
• September 23 – 24, 2009 – PPC Summit, Los Angelas, http://www.ppcsummit.com/overview-los-angeles.html
• September 23- 24, 2009 – Marketing Sherpa B2B marketing Summit, San Francisco, http://www.sherpastore.com/demandgeneration09.html

OCTOBER 2009

• October 5-6, 2009 – Marketing Sherpa B2B marketing Summit, Boston, http://www.sherpastore.com/demandgeneration09.html
• October 5-7, 2009 – SMX East, New York – http://searchmarketingexpo.com/east
• October 15-17 Blogworld Expo  Vegas http://www.blogworldexpo.com/
• October 17 – 22, 2009 – DMA, San Diego, http://www.dma09.org/
• October 19 – 23, 2009 -  eMetrics Optimization Summit, Washington DC, http://emetrics.org//washingtondc/

NOVEMBER 2009

• November 4-5, 2009 -  Pay-Per-Click Summit, Chicago, http://www.ppcsummit.com/overview-chicago.html
• November 4-6, 2009 – Ad Tech, New York, http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/adtech_new_york.aspx
• November 10-17, 2009 – Pubcon by WebmasterWorld , Vegas – http://www.pubcon.com/

DECEMBER 2009

• December 7-10, 2009 – SES Chicago, Chicago, Illinois – http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/chicago/

If you have any relavant Online Marketing Conference in North America for 2009, please feel free to comment and add. (I am sure there’s more out there!)