Steve Lance

“Me Write Good.” Effective Writing For the New Platforms

“Call me Ishmael.” “Marley was dead.” “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” Classic authors instinctively understood how to write for the world of memes. “Explore Your World.” “Just Do It.” “We Try Harder.” “Have It Your Way.” Today, that craft belongs to the best bloggers, tweeters and marketing communicators. Forty years ago, Marshall McLuhan declared, “Print is dead.” Then he wrote 13 books to prove his point.

While pundits have bemoaned the loss of literacy in our society, they’ve missed the real revolution: there’s actually been an explosion in the written word that requires good writing skills more than ever before. Sadly, too many of us were trained in traditional essay and academic writing skills—and have no clue about the rules for the digisphere or the elegant opportunities of the new short digital and social forms. The result? Never has so much that is so important been written so badly.

In a special two-part session, we’ll start with a general session looking at the rules for writing across a range of platforms: Classic advertising (ads and collateral material), digital (web and Emails) and social (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook). There are countless and growing ways marketers are now engaging with their audiences and with each other. What’s going on today? What should you anticipate for tomorrow? And how can you build a company writing culture that connects to brand opportunities through dynamic audience communication?

Erik Deckers

The Future of Content Marketing

Now that content marketing is the Internet’s Next Big Thing, the obsession is not “how good,” but “how often” and “how much.” This means mediocre producers create mediocre content, and none of it is very impressive. It’s unremarkable and uninteresting. If this content were fast food, you would order it out of a clown’s mouth. But build your product’s story on a foundation of good writing and a mastery of language, and readers and clients will beat a path to your door.

Erik Deckers has been a professional writer for 20 years, and was doing Internet marketing when it was still just called “marketing.” He will talk about the future of content marketing and what marketers should focus on and ignore completely if they want to compete in this “new” arena.

Heather Whaling

From Average Fan to Brand Advocate: Harnessing the Power of Influencers.

How can brands leverage their fans’ online influence to drive meaningful business outcomes? In this presentation, Heather will share case studies, best practices and applicable tips to help companies tap into online communities, brand advocates and existing happy customers to create smarter, more results-driven PR and marketing campaigns.

Krista Seiden

Analytics Advocate, Google