Business-to-business marketers on Nov. 2 will gather for a one-day regional marketing conference in Cincinnati to focus primarily on lead generation and sales tactics including search engine marketing, direct mail, tradeshow marketing and lists.
The show, at the Montgomery Inn Banquet Center, is the second annual effort from What’s Working Now, a training, development and event production company.
“What people liked [about last year’s show] was the diversified approach,” said Ernest Nicastro, a principal at What’s Working Now, Columbus, OH. “Over the course of the eight hours that we were there, they got tips on a variety of things that can help to drive business.”
The conference expects 200 to 300 attendees from the Ohio, Illinois and Indiana tri-state region with support from sponsors including the Business Marketing Association and Commerce National Bank.
“The area has a reputation of sometimes being called the Rust Belt,” Mr. Nicastro said. “It is actually a pretty diversified market. Certainly, there are strong industrial companies there, but we also have a wide range of folks from high-tech, low-tech and no-tech.”
He said examples of area business leaders were Lemark, UPS and Procter & Gamble Co.
Speakers will include Mike Hensley, co-founder of HSR Business to Business, BTB telecommunications specialist Michael A. Brown, search engine marketing expert Mike Murray and Steve Badertscher, president and creative director of Badertscher Communications.
Also speaking is M. H. “Mac” McIntosh, president of Mac McIntosh Inc., North Kingstown, RI.
Mr. McIntosh said that marketers are facing several issues namely being accountable for ROI and keeping up with emerging platforms’ potential benefits for their industry.
Compared to business-to-consumer marketers, BTB marketers were often more constrained with budgets, he said.
“The BTB market is traditionally made up of a more finite group,” he said. “You can’t afford to waste as much. You can’t afford to annoy a prospect.”
His advice?
“As Nike says, ‘Just do it,'” Mr. McIntosh said. “Instead of complaining about what you can’t do, go out and do what you can with what you have.”
