I managed to convince my dayjob to send me to an emarketing masterclass run by e-consultancy in London, and the day was almost entirely as I expected it; excellent insights into making your online marketing more effective from a very good emarketing consultancy.
One highlight for me was to meet Bryan Eisenberg whose blog and website I have read for many years and whose book I already own. I emailed the organisers in advance and asked them if he would have copies of his new book – “Waiting for your cat to bark; persuading customers when they ignore marketing” – Waiting for your cat to bark; persuading customers when they ignore marketing
Then on the day itself I am sitting up front making sure that my company get’s their monies worth and I recognise Bryan from his book photo. When the break arrives, I sidle up to him, mumble the usual inanities that you do when you meet an author whose work you like and asked if I could buy the book. He just said “I don’t really have enough to sell – but I bought a copy over for you; here it is.” He wouldn’t take my money saying that because I was the only person to have emailed in advance and talked to him about his book thaen I deserved a review copy.
So – it’s obvious that this blokes effectiveness at online marketing also extends into the real world and he knows exactly how to connect with people. I sure as hell ain’t gonna forget his thoughtfulness and I am gonna do my best to get the most senior marketing decision maker in my organisation to read his book. (and if at all humanly possible to engage his organisation; how’s that for a return on investment!?)
Now all I have to do after that is to convince them to give me the resources to implement the ideas expounded in his book – but that’s another day, another battle!