MarketingProfs B2B Forum - Content Your Customers will Rave About

The MarketingProfs B2B Forum is one of the most well-run, hands-on, useful and practical conferences I have attended - and I'm not just saying that because I got to speak at one last year and will do so again this year.

I know you will go home with dozens of ideas you can put to work for your business right away. Take a look at the program and see who's going to be there. Plus, the MarketingProfs team rocks. Period. They go above and beyond making everyone feel welcome - you will be part of the conversation.

Many of us will be available to engage with you in one-on-one sessions. Make sure you sign up with one of us. Mack Collier and I will do one-on-one blogging, Beth Harte will be the mano-a-mano with Twitter and I know there will be more.

With practitioners like Greg Verdino, Ann Handley, Peter Kim, KD Paine, Chris Penn and Jay Baer on hand, you will learn from many different points of view and types of work. And that is good.

I'm also looking forward to the conversation we will have with you and the panel moderated by Matthew T. Grant, agent provocateur. My co-panelists on Developing Robust Online Content to Keep Prospects and Customers Engaged are:

Mike O'Toole, President and Partner, PJA Advertising and Marketing
Christopher S. Penn, CTO, Student Loan Network
Phil Juliano, VP of Marketing, Novell

Last year, to make the event more useful for you before you even got there, I shared some advice on how to attend a conference. To summarize:

1. Set your objectives for going - the top three things you'd want to do better or start doing as a result of what you will learn there
2. Map your strategy - who do you want to meet? You'll be amazed at how a little bit of homework can really help you step up your networking.
3. Listen and observe - be like a sponge and socialize when you're at the event. I find that whenever I can slow myself down and stay present I connect with more people. 
4. Participate - funny how what I learned about business interviews and partner negotiations comes in handy at events. Ask questions, be proactive, lean forward (attitude) in conversations.
5. Follow through on your promises - it's very easy to check the event off once you get home and move onto other things. Plan to stay connected with the great people you will meet. Write what you discussed on the back of their business cards, don't rely on mental notes.

The themes that will run through the 2009 conference are once again very timely, especially for B2B marketers. I know it, because I'm one of them - I run marketing communications for a Fortune500 IT infrastructure services company.

In the next week building up to the conference, I will share with you some tips on each of the areas the conference will address to help you prepare your questions and thoughts on:

• Integrating your marketing programs
• Engaging your customers and prospects
• Measuring and analyzing to prove ROI

So if you have any specific questions and requests on marketing communications integration, customer engagement, and measuring/analyzing your programs, leave a comment here and I will make sure to address them in my posts.

Follow @MProfsEvents on Twitter for the latest update and register today to take advantage of the $200 discount. See you in Boston on June 8 & 9.

Comments

[Joe Cascio]

Don't forget the Tweetup that happens during the conference! It's open to all so anyone can go and hob-nob with the Social Media celebs. It was at that event last year at the Barking Crab that I got to meet you IRL after meeting on Twitter. Sign up for it here: http://mprofstweetup.eventbrite.com/

[Stuart Foster]

I shall hopefully be there :). Although I will probably be checking you in. Would love to meet you in person.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Joe - thank you for reminding everyone about the tweet-up!

@Stuart - good, we will meet then.

[mark ivey]

This sounds like a great conference. MarketingProfs rocks,a real class act--they cover social media as well as anyone, always interesting, always insightful. I recently began doing guest posts for them, and really impressed with the editorial team...Enjoy, learn, connect... I'll be tweeting this one.

[Peg Mulligan]

Hi Valeria,

I will be attending the MarketingProfs conference on Mon. & Tue., and I'm glad that I came across this post. It reminds me that I should do a little more homework to prepare for the event and set some goals about what I'd like to take away from the experience.

BTW, I am new to blogging, and I really enjoyed your recent post, about lesser known reasons for why people blog. I've intuitively felt that in this ramp-up mode, I'm still very much exploring topics and themes, and that if I stick with it as you have done, my blog three or four years from now will probably look very different than it does right now, going in a much more specific direction. Right now, I'm mainly building up a library of the things that I like to think about, and I'm trying on for size what works well with my readers. Anyway, it's nice to know that other bloggers started out this way! :-)

I come from an IT world as well, and it would be great if our paths crossed in Boston. Thanks again for setting the stage for what I know is going to represent conversation at its best.

--Peg

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Mark - pity you won't be there in person, hope you can make a next one. These people do know how to put together learning sessions.

@Peg - I've already seen that you have some pretty amazing collections of great content from others with your own commentary. That is actually a way to give back to the community while you find your voice and style for original content. Good to know you'll be there. Looking forward to meeting you. Don't forget to rsvp for the tweetup.

[Peg Mulligan]

Yes, I will make the tweetup and possibly the dinner, Monday night. It's going to be such a full two days. Really looking forward to it.

[atul chatterjee]

Another unusual post from you. One just went for conferences or meetings at most going through the points on the agenda.
I am blog hopping with some of the objectives listed for attending a conference.
The points you have mentioned can be applicable elsewhere!!
Best.