Join me at the Inbound Marketing Summit, September 14/15 Boston

This year's 5th annual Inbound Marketing Summit is where I'll be going to see Guy Kawasaki on September 14/15 in Boston. Save 20% on your registration when you use Promo Code: IMSP2. If you're going, ping me and we can share a beverage at some point.... http://t.co/NgAvGLt

How to Build a Target Persona

Here is a quick tip and one of the 5 steps to long term success in social media at which I will be speaking on during the Marketing Challenges Workshop at the MTO Summit in DC on November 9th:

Step Number Two: Learn how to Build a Target Persona to Reach Your Buyer Audience

In order to be successful with social media, you are going to need to build an audience to whom you’ll target your content efforts. These ‘straw men’ are called ‘target personas’. And what exactly is a target persona and how do you develop them?

A target persona is a model of an ideal customer which incorporates primary research and data, such as income and gender, with personality traits, such as goals, attitudes, behaviors and interests. All of this is put together in a short statement which describes the ideal customer’s personality as it relates to your business.

Let’s get started on how to develop your target personas:

• Start with three types of customers who you’d like to develop into target personas;

• Go into your customer data. Once you have chosen three types of customer, answer as many questions about them as you can, using the information you already have. Look at averages and aggregate data to get some of the basic information about your personas—age, income, shopping habits, average spend and frequency of visits to your site. If you don’t have all of the information, use what you know to fill in the blanks. Make sure you update this information as you learn more about your customer segments;

• Write a summary for each target persona. Aggregate what you’ve learned from your customer data and what you have observed or instinctually know and use this information to write a summary which describes this “perfect customer.” Include his/her likes and interests, goals and motivations, interactions with your site and other relevant information. Keep the summary interesting and brief and write it as if you’re describing someone you know. Give your personas names as well as pictures to make them real;

Creating your target personas will help you better understand your customers and what influences their interactions with you. You can improve your customer’s online and offline experiences much more easily, and help people throughout the company have a uniform understanding of your customers, their needs and wants. Your target personas allow you to develop more tailored marketing strategies meant to reach people, not data. Continually updating, modifying and adding to your personas as you learn more about your customers and your target audience will keep your marketing fresh, relevant, personal and effective.

Remember to do this both for current and future customers as they may be different.

For more information on the MTO Summit in DC, go here: www.mtosummit.com

Hey I'm speaking at the MTO Summit!

Tarsus Advon’s MTO Summit, scheduled Nov. 9-10 at the Hilton Alexandria Hotel in Alexandria, Va., has announced a stellar lineup of industry thought leaders as speakers and sessions designed to engage show organizers and suppliers in the event industry.

“We are excited with the content, speakers and sponsor participation for the upcoming MTO Summit” said Stephen Nold, founder of the MTO Summit and president of Tarsus Advon. “With the theme ‘Technology: It’s Time to Execute’ our audience will be told to quit thinking about strategic technology design and challenged to start implementing.”

Nold said attendees will not find any “social media basics” sessions since “we are beyond teaching how to create a Facebook account.”

The day before the MTO Summit kicks off, the Marketing Challenges Workshop will be led by Warwick Davies - Principal of The Event Mechanic!, who was responsible for internationally recognizable event brands such as the Macworld Conference and Expo, LinuxWorld Conference and Expo and the Customer Relationship Management Conference and Exposition worldwide.

According to Davies, the session was born from the idea that there are challenges of marketing given the economy and the plethora of technology options available to optimize, automate and streamline many event business functions, including marketing.

He added that what’s missing in event marketing is engagement. “The days of pressing a button and sending hundreds of thousands of e-mails blindly to a database that may not know or care about you are if not gone, will soon be past as open rates plummet,” Davies said. “Given that event marketers have more work and pressure to deliver quality relevant audiences than ever, would it possible to boil down the biggest marketing event challenges into understandable and actionable solutions in a half a day? I think it can.”

The following day will be packed with informative sessions, including an opening keynote by Dax Callner, vice president of Innovation Team of Momentum Worldwide. Callner will discuss how to effectively implement digital media strategies and discuss the realities of ROI of social marketing. He'll be sharing case studies from Dell, American Express and other top brands.

There are even more sessions on tap:

* “Disruption and the Evolution of Meetings” - will explore dynamic architecture for face-to-face meetings that harnesses the power of the community, supports the technologies that make collaboration possible, and disrupts traditional thinking. Panelists include Shawn O’Keefe, Interactive Festival Producer at South by Southwest, and Toby Daniels, co-founder and CEO at Crowdcentric.

* “Executing With Technology” – will look at how companies have integrated technology effectively into their events as part of the Show Manager Track. Panelists include Steve Lazarus, lead strategist for IBM, Mark Fissell, director of new product development for Gartner Events and Jaime Romero, vice president of AxialMarket.

* “Key Tools to Developing Trade Show and Marketing Communications Strategies” – will discuss what technology framework exhibitors should consider in the design of their trade show floor technology as part of the Exhibitor Track. The session will be led by Chris Justice, CEO of Sparksight.

* “What Do We Sell” – will be led by trade show industry experts Chris Brown, who oversees The NAB Show, and Shawn Pierce, who leads the housing and reg division for Experient. The session will address - should our industry start questioning many of the foundation principles upon which the exhibition business models have been built?

After a full day of sessions, the evening will feature the launch of the first-ever TSNN Event Excellence Awards at which five awards will be given for three growing shows, an industry icon and a technology innovation award.

To register or for more information on the MTO Summit or TSNN Event Excellence Awards please visit www.mtosummit.com.

For sponsorship possibilities, contact Chris Anderson – TSNN manager of business development, at canderson@tsnn.com or 512-992-6297.

MTO Summit

In 2008, Tarsus Advon launched MTO Summit, a series of executive level conferences which bring together the buyers and supplies of technology in the events industry. The goal of MTO Summit is to bring an extension of MeetingTechOnline website into reality with a face-to-face networking event. These nationwide conferences educate association executives, show producers and management on technology in the events industry, and introduce technology suppliers who are changing the way technology is used. For more information and to register for the MTO Summit go to: www.mtosummit.com

About Tarsus Advon

Based in Austin, Tarsus Advon oversees online publications and community portals that provide technology information and education for the event and tradeshow industry. Tarsus Advon also conducts research with show organizers, technology suppliers, and industry experts. Qualitative and quantitative data are respectively gathered though primary sources and survey analysis. Events are designed to educate event and exhibition professionals about the latest trends and developments in technology. Tarsus Group acquired Tarsus Advon in 2010

TSNN Press Contact:
Arlene Shows
ashows(at)tarsus(dot)com
603-925-1160

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