It’s August and the new monthly events season is upon us. SEMpdx has a blockbuster group of speakers and topics lined up for our events this year. Typically held on the second Tuesday of the month (there are several exceptions this year due to scheduling conflicts), our Digital Marketing Speaker Series is one of our most popular–and worthwhile–benefits. Check out this year’s line-up below.
September 12, 2017 – Google Tag Manager
Presented by Lars von Sneidern, Home Depot QuoteCenter
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
Tag managers have become essential parts of digital marketing stacks; if you don’t use one, you probably should be. Their capabilities and responsibilities have gone far beyond just giving marketers control of their “tags”, and have become technical hubs of customer data. Google’s offering, Google Tag Manger (GTM), has quickly become the most popular. It’s combination of price-tag (free!) and capabilities place it at the top of must-haves for many digital experience platforms. In this session, we will spend some time going over GTM basics (what is it, how does it work) and dive deep into specific use cases and advanced usage (using JavaScript to track the previously untrackable). This presentation will be designed for All skill levels.
October 17, 2017 – The Art of Storytelling: How to Create and Promote Epic Stories
Presented by Casey Markee, MediaWyse
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
Note: This is one week later than our usual 2nd Tuesday.
Creating stories that connect, excite, and move audiences through the sales funnel is not easy! Effective content attracts and connects people to your brand and provides a tangible outcome to the bottom line but only if done properly. All too often, stories are lacking in interest to the prospective audience and they sit lonely, on the web. In this presentation, attendees will learn what makes GREAT brand stories and how to distribute them to attract and captivate an audience. You’ll learn how great content, social, email, and blogger/media outreach work together to get businesses found, generate visibility, and convert bottom-line benefits. This presentation will be designed for Beginner skill levels.
November 14, 2017 – When NOT to Test: Ad Copy Testing in Google, Bing, & Facebook
Presented by: Caitlin Halpert, 3Q Digital
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
In this session Caitlin will encourage you to question all your commonly held beliefs about A/B ad testing. She will remind the audience what’s required for a statistically valid A/B test on Google, Bing, and Facebook and suggest testing alternatives geared toward driving the best possible results, not just learning for learning’s sake. Learn what to ask when planning ad copy tests, alternatives to the industry standard of “Always Be Testing” and some trade-offs of traditional A/B testing. This presentation will be designed for Intermediate to Advanced skill levels.
December 5, 2017 – Charity of Choice Fundraiser & Holiday Networking Party
Presented by: SEMpdx & Schoolhouse Supplies
Location: Holocene
Join SEMpdx and our local partners after work to celebrate the holiday season by eating, drinking, and partaking in good conversation while we raise money for our 2017-2018 Charity of Choice, Schoolhouse Supplies. Light appetizers will be provided. More details are coming soon!
January 9, 2018 – The Future of Digital Marketing (panel)
Presented by: SEMpdx Board of Directors, Moderated by David Mihm, Tidings
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
Concerned about future Google algorithm changes sinking your search rankings? Wondering what new tools or products are on the horizon? Want to get the inside scoop on where digital marketing is headed in the next 1, 5, or more years? This is the educational event for you! Our expert panel is comprised of digital marketing veterans and members of the SEMpdx Board of Directors. They will be ready and willing to answer any questions you want to ask.This session will dive into what’s new in Digital Marketing for 2018 and what our panel of experts see coming in the future. More details are coming soon!
February 13, 2018 – Local SEO Strategies
Presented by: Greg Gifford, DealerOn
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
Local SEO has always been intricate, but now that links are the most important ranking factor, it seems to be more confusing than ever. Greg will walk through the recent changes in local ranking factors and take a deep dive into the two most important aspects – inbound links and content. He’ll share a detailed workflow and strategy that any marketer can use immediately. He’ll then cover the various aspects of optimization, finishing with an advanced silo strategy that combines links and targeted content to help businesses show up in local searches in cities where they don’t have a physical location. This presentation will be designed for Intermediate to Advanced skill levels.
March 8, 2018 – Engage Conference
Presented by: SEMpdx
Location: The Sentinel Hotel
Engage Conference is a one-day digital marketing conference, presenting multiple informative learning tracks and panel sessions designed to provide expert insight into the latest strategies and technological advancements in digital marketing, including social media, content, UX/design, creative, advertising, SEO and paid media. Our devout attendees and speakers will tell you that Engage is “one of the most important regional thought leadership events in the world” and that each year’s agenda is “forward-thinking and relevant”. In addition to the world class programming, we place an emphasis on creating opportunities for speakers and attendees to meet, ask questions, and make important connections. We do all this for a just a fraction of what you would spend elsewhere. Get ready for 4 tracks offering 4 sessions each — that’s 16 sessions to choose from throughout the day. Most of the sessions have a team of two presenters, but some sessions will feature a single speaker going in-depth on a subject. Plus begin and end the day with keynote presentations from two of the search marketing and social media industry leading experts.
April 10, 2018 – Online Reputation Management
Presented by: Simon Heseltine, ForRent
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
In this fast paced presentation, attendees will be walked through the many different types of reputation management issues that can, and do occur for businesses of all types, with plenty of head shaking, “what were they thinking?” examples. Learn preventative measures that can be taken to protect your brand, as well as reactive measures that should be taken to mitigate revenue impacting disasters. This presentation will be designed for All skill levels.
May 8, 2018 – Member’s Appreciation
Presented by: Dr. Pete Meyers, Moz
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
For our annual free Member’s Appreciation event (SEMpdx members only!) Dr. Pete has some amazing data to share with our members. More details are coming soon!
June 5, 2018 – Influencing the Customer Journey
Presented by: Ben Briggs, CloudOne
Location: BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room
Note: This is one week earlier than our usual 2nd Tuesday.
Marketing technology has grown to a point where it can influence customers in each stage of the path to purchase. Mapping digital and traditional marketing touch points to steps in the customer journey can help you identify challenges and opportunities in maximizing customer acquisition and lifetime value.
Robert Frost was the Director of Events for SEMpdx from 2014 to 2022. He has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing, with a focus on Paid Media across many verticals, and over 20 years of management experience. Robert is currently the Director of Professional Services at Odysys, a SaaS provider for the hospitality industry. He is also the founder and principal of RPerro Media, where he consults with small businesses on their digital marketing initiatives. Robert was previously the Director of Media Operations at Ethology, a full-service digital agency, and also served as the General Manager of Ethology’s Portland office.
Outside of digital marketing, Robert is an avid wine enthusiast, foodie, and fitness fanatic, and can often be found wine tasting, checking out the city’s amazing restaurant scene, in the gym, or running on Portland’s beautiful riverfront and woodland trails.