New marketing group in Indianapolis
I’ve become a huge believer in the power of “inbound marketing“.
To quote the Hubspot blog …
“Instead of interrupting people with television ads, [inbound marketers] create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, [inbound marketers] create their own blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling, [inbound marketers] create useful content and tools so that people call them looking for more information. Instead of driving their message into a crowd over and over again like a sledgehammer, [inbound marketers] attract highly qualified customers to their business like a magnet.“
Just the other day, it dawned on me that the Indianapolis marketing and general business communities need a new type of user group, focused on all things related to inbound marketing.
My inspiration …
- Industry shift from outbound (interruption-based) to inbound (permission-based)
- Thought leaders like David Meerman Scott, Charlene Li, and Hubspot
- Local Indianapolis-based marketing geeks like Chris Lucas (FormSpring), Douglas Karr and Chris Baggott (Compendium), Kyle Lacy (Brandswag), Pat East (Hanapin Marketing), Pat Coyle (Smaller Indiana), and the gang at Brainstorm
The trouble with existing marketing groups is that they’re either too broad (Rainmakers, TechPoint, BMA Indy) or too narrow (Hoosier Twitosphere, Social Media Marketing) in scope. We need a forum that covers search engine marketing (SEO, PPC), blogging / micro-blogging, social media, lead generation, analytics, and so on.
Here’s the twist …
I don’t want an average user group! Instead of the typical format of simply gathering marketing geeks together once a month to discuss the latest technologies (e.g. “How cool is TweetDeck!?” *yawn*), I would like the format to alternate between learning and doing:
- Learn new things — Internally-focused session on learning new things through a speaker, webinar, open forum discussion, etc.
- Do good things — Externally-focused session on helping local businesses evaluate and improve their marketing plans
Slide show that summarizes this concept:
Quick survey for this concept: Take Survey
Would love to see this take hold, as long as it doesn’t turn into a sales presentation each time! I’m tired of networking events that are about selling and not educating.
Hey Dave,
you know from our conversations that I think this has great potential and could provide a lot of value for the participants and area companies. I agree with Doug that this shouldn’t be about selling. If you/we gather the right kinds of people that should not be an issue.
I concur with Doug and Chris (Hi, guys).
Besides, as Doug alludes, the new selling is sharing. Thanks for the post, and the mention, Dave.
Dave,
This sounds great. I am certainly interested.
Dave Seaborn
Love it. What can I do to help?
I look forward to hearing more. I’d love to particiapte.
Hi Dave,
I am interested in hearing more and “seeing” if the momentum as you describe would warrant the effort of backing and contributing to – only so much time in a day and I am choosing my time wisely these days – smile!
Greg Cross
Hi Dave,
What a great idea. I would love to see this take hold.
Tamara
This is a great idea and I’ve been thinking about it for a while as well. Ditto on the sharing/selling thing. I know that probably a lot of people think MediaSauce’s presentation are all sell, sell, sell but I’m not big into that. Anymore – in case anyone’s seen some presentations from last year. Haha.
So what I’m saying is I’m in.
Dave,
With just over ten years behind me in working exclusively from home and online, I can’t agree more with your vision. I’ve witnessed several trends over my time online and it’s clear that social media and inbound marketing is the current hot trend. You are striking while the iron is hot. I’d be interested!
Whatever happened with this wonderful idea?
Most definitely hoping for an update.
Likewise wish to gain an update and be included in any forthcoming discussions concerning getting this idea up and running.