**Update** The BarCamp Sarasota Fall 2011 event takes place October 15-16 at GWIZ. Epiphany Marketing is making presentations there as well. We hope to see you!

I’m writing this from inside an Entrepreneurial Roundtable session being facilitated by locally-based technologist Stan Schultes. The ideas being generated within this “open source” group of people are absolutely stellar. There are folks in the room who have been there, done it, and are looking for an opportunity to share back and forth.

This is just one example of the benefits of having an event like BarCamp Sarasota. This year’s event is being held this weekend at GWIZ, which turns out to be a perfect venue because of their various small rooms that seem ideally suited for sessions like those you’ll find at a BarCamp event. The sessions are on a wide variety of topics — both technology-focused and otherwise. Skimming through upcoming session for today, here are some of the topics on the menu:

• “Leadership and Community Building, Why Now More than Ever?” with Sara Hand
• “The Zen of Building Sustainable Technology” with Lorrie Vervoordt
• “Programming Humans” with  Tracy Ingram
• “Facebook Marketing & SEO” with Thao Tran

At 11am, we’ll be presenting…

Making It All Pay: Growing Your Business with 21st Century Tools

Yes… technology is great! We love it… but without a comprehensive, written, measurable strategy in place, most every business will find themselves floundering in a sea of unfinished initiatives — nearly all of which have failed to produce any significant result from a business standpoint.

For example… how many businesses have websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc. but can’t point to any new business that they have produced? Or (perhaps worse) know that some business has been produced, but the metrics aren’t in place to identify how much and from which initiatives.

So… we’ll be talking about the strategy piece of the equation… and lining up all the elements in a way that gets you the result you desire. For most businesses, this means new customers, bigger  market share and long-term profitability.

Hope you join us for our session… More reports from this year’s BarCamp event later!

Ever dream you’d see the day when a major telco goes on the defensive… over their basic phone service?

Verizon’s new “It’s On” campaign is directly aimed at those who have made the switch to VOIP (who hasn’t?). Defending POTS (“plain old telephone service”) as a viable option is just one more signal of how much technology is changing our lives. Not even the telephone company is exempt from being wiped off the map.

We made the switch to VOIP in business several years ago. My family made the switch at home nearly two years ago, and I must say, I don’t miss writing a check to Verizon every month. Sure, we’ve had a couple of blips in our service when the local cable provider experienced difficulties in service, but the reliability difference is not significant.

According to the company, Verizon hopes to stress “confidence” and “peace of mind” with the new ads. Those were the first two concepts that came to my mind when thinking of them… how about you?

Full disclosure: I don’t own shares of any VOIP, cable, or telephone companies. (Thankfully!)

All of the above being said… the ads do a great job of going of getting the emotional pitch across. Unfortunately, they DON’T do a very good job of calling for action. Typical large corporation, Madison-avenue, blow a wad of money on “branding” with stuff that you’ll never be able to measure. Traditional advertising thrives on unmeasurables.

In small businesses, we must be able to measure the results of our marketing. This is where the strategic part of marketing is so critical. How is your marketing performing? How do you know?

**Update: recordings of this event are now available! -DGJ

I admit it.

I’ve always steered clear of “internet marketing” events… partly because of the sometimes less-than-scrupulous practices… partly because I haven’t wanted to subject myself to shady characters and content that may be of questionable morality.

But… let’s face it. We’re all marketing on the internet these days in one form or another. Even if you have a static, brochure-ware website that hasn’t changed since the Clinton administration, your business is doing internet marketing. So… why not make it effective & profitable?

That’s why I was excited when my good friend and expert sales trainer, Michael Pink, turned me on to a family-oriented event (read: no objectionable content, no unethical practices) designed to turn your website into a sales-generating machine!

Here are some highlights:

• Debra Thompson, who specializes in bringing all of the marketing pieces together. She has worked for some of the top names on the Internet!
• Ray Edwards, who has written sales pieces for some of the most successful internet marketers today. He can show you how to write profit pulling sales copy!
• Stephen Pierce, who is a world renown Internet marketing expert who has just come back from a world-wide speaking tour. He gets paid big bucks to speak at corporate events and you get to hear him for free…well, for the price of your registration!
• Dave Lakhani, who is an expert at accelerating your business through the skillful use of the media and public relations. Yes, you too can be famous in your niche – it is not that hard!
• Craig Perrine, who is the online king of building profitable lists. People who anxiously await your email and who actually take action on them.
• Stephen Beck, who will teach you step by step how to create profitable web sites that sell.

I registered right away.

The event is coming up in San Antonio, Texas on February 23rd & 24th. It’s not too late to get in on this opportunity… but it will be soon.

Click here to register or learn more.

How safe is your company’s information?

Once again, strategically operating your business is about knowing what the right questions are. If you haven’t recently given consideration to the physical and electronic vulnerability of your company’s intellectual property, confidential and proprietary methods, financial information, and business plans… it’s time to do so!

The Sylint Group, a Sarasota-based information security firm, is putting on an Executive Cyber Security Symposium that will provide the strategic vantage point you need as a business owner or executive in order to evaluate your current exposure to risk. Sylint’s team consists of people whose resumes list agencies such as NSA, CIA, and FBI. Access to such top-notch expertise is something you don’t find everyday, nor would it be inexpensive if you did.

But, for $385, you can hear from members of Sylint’s team, as well as two local attorneys, and a current FBI agent. Not a bad deal when you consider that the costs associated with the average cyber security incident run in excess of $20,000…. Think of it as identity theft for your business… only multiplied.

I’ve had the privilege of working in the past with the father & son team at the helm of The Sylint Group. John Jorgensen and Serge Jorgensen are not only experienced and knowledgeable, but they’re some of the finest people you’ll meet. Here’s the nitty-gritty on the upcoming event:

Executive Cyber Security Symposium

Featuring:

• The Sylint Group
  • John Jorgensen & Serge Jorgensen
  • Prevention. Protection. Future Response.
  • How to understand the technology and plan for Cyber Security
• Abel Band (Law Firm)
  • Scott La Porta & Jennifer Compton
  • The Legal Risks and Remedies of Cyber Security
  • What you need to know about electronically-stored information
• FBI
  • Special Agent A. J. Gilman
  • FBI Computer Crime Program
  • Discussion of actual disclosable cases

When: Friday, February 23, 2007, 9:00am – 3:30pm (Registration opens at 8am)

Where:

Sarasota Hyatt Regency Hotel
1000 Boulevard of the Arts
Sarasota, Florida, USA 34236

They’re including a continental breakfast and a sit-down lunch with your paid registration. Be sure to register in advance, as this will likely fill up quickly. Also, there may be an additional charge for on-site registration.

Contact: Diane Lane, (941) 951-6015 ext. 440 or dlane [at] usinfosec [dot] com

How easy is it for your future customers to locate you and do business with you?

Evidently, this is a big question on the minds of business people, if Google’s ad revenue for this year is any indication. They are, incidentally, on track to earn over $2 Billion this year from their ‘sponsored links’ business, which is becoming increasingly popular as companies struggle to promote their websites.

Forbes.com reported yesterday on the “Search Industrial Complex” and the (relatively) new flock of businesses which are built entirely around “search engine optimization” and other forms of internet business promotion, quoting Google CEO Eric Schmidt who said, “People are not aware of how big the opportunity is.”

Why does this matter to you?

In today’s digital society, it has become increasingly important for businesses to not only have a web presence, but to ensure that their websites are being found by the people who are searching. This means that your website must rank highly on the search engines – particularly for those search terms or keywords that are most likely to bring you business.

Gone are the days when it was good enough to simply have a website. Businesses are wising up to the fact that investing in an online presence without having it optimized for searchability is much like building a large retail store in the middle of a 100-acre cow pasture. If no traffic is going by, you’ve wasted your money. No one will know your store even exists . . . you can forget having them come in and spend money.

So, from a strategic marketing standpoint, how is your website performing for you? When was your site last reviewed for relevant content? Is it showing up on the search engines when people are looking for businesses like yours? How are you measuring your traffic to understand the return on your online investment?

If it could use some improvement (as most sites could) . . . is a company specializing in SEO (search engine optimization) the right move for you? Perhaps. But I challenge you to answer this question from a strategic vantage point. A better question might be: when was the last time your company evaluated all of its marketing initiatives to strategically determine where and how to invest?

The answer to that question might just determine how tomorrow’s revenue searches you out.