Direct Marketing & Sales Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  What Century Are You In?
Hey, in case you haven't noticed, we're almost a decade into the twenty-first century. And an unsurprising number of newsletter publishers are wondering why two facets of their business don't seem to be firing on as many cylinders as they used to —  mailings to maintain the subscriber-base and actual interest in what the newsletter has to say.

Shortened attention-spans ... and their stepchildren, awareness of competition and thinning response to traditional goads ... are the villains. But what can the aware newsletter do to maintain pace?  Attend this irreverent session to learn the new rules of direct-mail copy and re-energize your promotional mailings back to profitability.

This session will be led by marketing guru Herschell Gordon Lewis, who is arguably one of the best-known direct-response writers and consultants in the United States. He has written many books on marketing and copywriting, taught graduate classes at Roosevelt University, been a regular speaker at Direct Marketing Association meetings around the world and was named to the Direct Marketing Association Hall of Fame. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear a real legend in the marketing industry.

Herschell Gordon Lewis, Lewis Enterprises

E-mail Marketing Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  How to Start and Run an E-mail-Centric Internet Marketing System
The first step in running an effective Internet marketing system is creating a companion Website that will facilitate building a large targeted opt-in e-mail list. Discover the ingredients that go into creating a successful e-mail-centric Internet marketing system.  You'll learn how to effectively use free giveaways, quality e-mail newsletters and high-performing e-mail promotions to increase your revenues.  In this information-packed session, we will deliver the technical details that you must master to succeed as an e-mail marketer.

Kim Mateus, Mequoda Group
Don Nicholas, Mequoda Group

Driving Website Traffic Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  Using Offline Products to Drive Online Traffic
Discover the cheapest and most effective way to drive online traffic and build a massive customer database using your existing offline products.  Understand how savvy publishers use their newsletters, books, reports and events to build their brand, drive targeted online traffic and increase customer profits.

Scott Brueggeman, Socrates Media

Consumer Marketing Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  Consumer Marketing in eVolutionary Times:  New Tools and New Rules for Collaborating with Customers – A Strategic Briefing
As America’s consumer demographics become increasingly diverse, mature info-com technology (IT) is providing vendors with even more rapidly diversifying means of targeting specific market segments and analyzing their behavior.  This same technology is also fostering a growing collaboration between businesses and their customers, resulting in improved products, sales and customer satisfaction.  From now on, all firms will use an expanding array of new media – “smart” packaging, kiosks, telematics, interactive signage, etc. – to better connect their products and services with consumers.  But the vendors who prosper in a world of shortening product life-cycles will be those who become most adept at collaborating with their customers – continuously improving the marketplace utility of their goods and services – at a time of ongoing innovation and change.

David Pearce Snyder, Consulting Futurist, The Snyder Family Enterprise, Contributing Editor, The Futurist Magazine

Editorial Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  Reader-benefit Writing
Most newsletter writers have learned the who, what, when, where and why style of writing.  But far too few have learned the most important question – the so-what?  Or the WIIFM?  (What’s in it for me?)  Or the ROI (Return on investment).  This session will focus on reader-benefit writing, how to involve the reader from the headline, to the lead to the last word.  We’ll have some hands-on work to bring dead copy to life.
 
Don Ranly, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Missouri School of Journalism

Business/Operations Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  Creating a Winning Strategy
What are the critical elements of an effective strategic planning process and how can your organization benefit from such a process?  Come learn the answers to these questions and more from this panel, which will present case studies on how strategic planning helped their organizations identify threats and opportunities, set specific measurable goals and adapt to change.  The panel will feature members of the planning teams and the professional facilitators who guided their organizations through the strategic planning process.  You’ll learn about various ways to structure the process, what elements are critical to a successful outcome, common misconceptions about the process and how to ensure effective execution of your plan and accountability for results.

Ed Binder, Apex Growth Strategies
Kevin Collins, HCPro, Inc.
Ira Mayer, EPM Communications, Inc.
Jim O’Shea, Achievement Unlimited of Connecticut

Expand Your Product Line:  Traditional Formats Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  Turning Editorial Ideas into Audio Conference and Webinar Revenue
How do you get into the heads of your subscribers to find the absolute best topics for holding audio conferences?  And once you have the topic, how do you market them for maximum value?  Hear two different approaches from two different companies – one that taps its own editorial staff to be the featured speakers at its courses, and the other a more traditional publisher that uses outside speakers to host some 200 audio conferences a year.  Learn how each company schedules, markets and executes its audio events – and see what you can mimic to boost your revenues.  Bonus:  Learn how Strafford Publications hosts successful events for markets in which it does NOT publish!

Richard Omdahl, Beacon Resource Group, Inc.
Jennifer Vaughan, Strafford Publications, Inc.

Expand Your Product Line:  New Electronic Business Models Track
10:30 – 11:45 AM  New Business Models for Specialized-Information Publishers To Make Money On Websites
Attend this session for an overview of alternative formats to deliver information. Learn how two companies have thrived with different models — subscription Websites, for-profit associations and certification programs. Hear the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Steve Sahlein will show you how setting up a for-profit association rather than a publishing company allows you to offer a range of products and services that makes sense for an association — but not for a publisher. Discover how the association concept lets you:

• Begin to replace DM, then outperform DM — then make DM profitable (yes!!!!!)
• Create a highly-profitable in-house DM list on your Website
• Offer a free e-letter that is your best marketing tool for your membership and paid newsletter generating large numbers of paid members — and becomes another list to rent at $300-$400/M
• Offer free and paid products and services that make sense for an association (but not a publisher) and can generate more new members than your DM campaigns.

Plus:
• How to transpose a DM package to a direct-response Web page
• Specific ways to increase Google Adword clickthroughs — and cut Adword costs
• How to move your Website way up in Google using the keywords your prospects are likeliest to click on

Steve Sahlein, the award-winning copywriter who co-founded The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers and built it to 30,000 subscribers ("members") tells you how he did it do step by step — and how you can too.

You will also hear from Phil Binkow, CEO of Financial Operations Networks (FON) and The Accounts Payable Network and co-founder of the Accounts Payable Certification Programs. He will share how member-based online communities are rapidly gaining the attention of newsletter and online publishers, and will cover key stages in the development of a member-based online community, including:

• Niche selection criteria
• Market research
• Pricing
• Content development
• Promotion

Phil Binkow, Financial Operations Networks, LLC
Steve Sahlein, American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers

2:15 - 3:15 PM - Concurrent Breakout Sessions II

Direct Marketing & Sales Track
2:15 – 3:15 PM  42 New Rules for Direct Marketing & Sales
Direct marketing is not dead … just more challenging than 10 years ago.  Fortunately, you’re not the only one being forced to become more creative with marketing efforts, find new sales channels and deliver an ever-growing product mix to boost revenues.  This session provides the opportunity to hear exactly what’s working for your peers across a variety of industries.  Expect to walk away with proven tactics and new ideas to help eliminate some of the guesswork, financial risk and stress from your future marketing efforts.

Carol Bray, Access Intelligence, LLC
Guy Crossley, M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
Craig Huey, Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc.
Marisa Luchsinger, UCG
Mary Lou Probka, Inside Mortgage Finance Publications, Inc.
David Singleton, BNA

E-mail Marketing Track
2:15 – 3:15 PM  Creating Great Free E-mail Newsletters
Free e-mail newsletters must contain valuable content if you want to maximize acquisitions, open rates, retention and the all-important revenue-per-thousand e-mails sent.  Discover how veteran journalists have translated their skills to produce high-quality, must-read free e-mail newsletters that are the lifeblood of their successful e-mail marketing system.  Learn the inside secrets for creating content that satisfies the reader and generates opportunities to promote your books, reports, newsletters and events in a subtle but effective way.

Jeanne Jennings, The Jennings Report
Jay Schleifer, HR Daily Advisor

Driving Website Traffic Track
2:15 – 3:15 PM  Search Engine Optimization for Special-Interest Publishers
The Mequoda Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Process is designed to show you the best practices for helping search engine users find your Website page.  It's not exactly easy ─ but it's simple and effective if you follow all the steps.  Don't be intimidated by the mysteries of optimizing your Website for Google and the other search engines and indices.  If you believe that SEO is all smoke and mirrors, or beyond your comprehension and control, this session will change your mind ─ and teach you the SEO techniques and strategies you need to know.

Don Nicholas, Mequoda Group
Bill Barnes, Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc.

Consumer Marketing Track
2:15 – 3:15 PM  Everything You Need to Know About E-mail Deliverability, But Were Afraid to Ask
What is a good deliverability rate?   What can be done to increase e-mail deliverability?  What do e-mail filters look for?   Does your e-mail “reputation” factor into e-mail deliverability?  What are the best practices for ensuring consistent e-mail delivery?
What does the future of e-mail deliverability look like?  Find the answers to your questions at this valuable session and walk away with actionable ideas to identify and solve common e-mail deliverability problems.

Leslie Price, Return Path

Editorial Track
2:15 – 3:15 PM  How to Create and Get an Audience for Blogs and Other Digital Media
Creating a blog takes minutes. Making it work is a lot harder. Is it worth it for you? Learn the tricks of writing, positioning and increasing a qualified audience to your blogs and Websites, and how to have that audience help you meet your business objectives. Become more conversant in the latest terminologies and technologies of the Web – including Web 2.0 – with practical tips and tricks. Come away energized with ideas you can act on today, and get a peak at tomorrow – Web 3.0! – so you'll be prepared for what's coming.

Dorian Benkoil, Teeming Media

Business/Operations Track
2:15 – 3:15 PM  Measuring New Products
Most specialized-information companies are not at a loss for new product ideas.  The trick is determining which ideas deserve the financial backing of your company.  Come hear some of the leading specialized-information executives share the financial metrics and business plan templates that they use to launch new products.  These seasoned presenters will also take us through the key metrics they follow after launch to determine their successes and their failures.

Scott Jacobs, LexisNexis, Mealey’s
Rob Stuart, HCPro, Inc.

Expand Your Product Line:  Traditional Formats Track
2:15 – 3:15 PM  The New Rules in Conference Planning
More and more content providers are branching out into conferences for added revenue. At the same time, hotels have fully recovered from the post 9-11 drop in business, and all have toughened up their meeting room, food and attrition clauses in contracts.

What is the upside for your business, and what tactics do you need to know to thrive in a changing marketplace?

Learn this and more from Julie Upton, CEMO for UCG, which does more than 100 meetings annually. She will walk you through the ins and outs of planning conferences, drawing on her 19 years of experience in meeting planning. You will learn:

• How to quantify the revenue benefits of conferences.
• How hotels view your business, and how you can use this to your advantage when negotiating for space.
• 24 proven contract clauses that will boost your conference margins 10%.
• Attrition – you missed your numbers, but you can still limit and in many cases totally avoid paying penalties.
• AV charges – where to cut, and how to bid out the business effectively.
• 12 sure-fire ways to cut food and beverage costs without cheapening your meeting.
• And much, much more.

Case Study Bonus: Julie will walk you through an actual case study, starting with the meeting RFP, working through the original proposal back from the hotel and sharing the back and forth negotiations leading up to the actual contract signing!

Julie Upton, UCG

Expand Your Product Line:  New Electronic Business Models Track
2:15 - 3:15 PM  Moving from Directories to Decision Data
The strength of a SIPA company is a central market position in a focused market. The best kind of information is must have information that is important to decision making in the job. While news is important – who's innovating what; who's bought whom; who's got evidence to support claims – specific information that helps buyers and sellers come together is ideal.

So what's better than providing structured data that helps buyers choose something to buy or helps sellers present their wares that are searchable in the way that buyers think about their purchase?

In this session learn how to think about databases as more - much more - than directories, and how to leverage your central market position to create databases that really live up to the name "must-have information." Hear about how companies have done just that to the benefit of the market and their own bottom line.

Megan St. John, Infocommerce Group, Inc.

Direct Marketing & Sales Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM  Integrating Traditional Marketing, Online and Web Marketing and Sales
The days of sending a sample issue or brochure with a marketing letter to the perfect list and just waiting for the return mail so you can count the money are over.  Now you have to coordinate your targeted efforts using e-mail, the Web, direct mail, inserts, phones and anything else you can think to bring in the money.  Your three-step process suddenly grew to a dozen steps and requires input from four departments other than marketing.  Is it really possible or even worth it?  Yes!
Attend this session to learn how others have transformed their marketing programs to include a multitude of customer touch points to ensure their profitability.

Frank Bleers, Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc.
Margie Weiner, UCG

E-mail Marketing Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM  Developing Conversion Architecture to Build E-mail Circulation
Learn how Website architecture can be used to double, triple or even quadruple the number of site visitors who become e-mail newsletter subscribers.  Understand cutting-edge site architecture for delivering the right message based on user state and site entry page.  Discover how to deploy floaters, OFIEs, OFINs and text links to maximize conversion rates for organic landing pages.  Learn how to use rapid conversion landing pages (aka name-squeeze pages) to generate conversion rates as high as 47%.

Pete Stowe, Bongarde Media Co.
Chris Treacy, Socrates Media

Driving Website Traffic Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM  Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Site with Google AdWords
Discover how the country's leading special-interest publishers are using Google AdWords to grow e-mail circulation and sell information products over the Internet. Learn a proven step-by-step process for selecting winning keyword phrases, creating the appropriate landing page offer and incentive and making solid, real-time decisions using Google's online campaign management system. Come away with an immediately actionable, proven strategy to drive more visitors to your site and more subscribers to your newsletters.

Bryan Todd, Perry Marshall & Associates

Consumer Marketing Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM  How Can You Increase Your Response Rates Using Database Marketing
All consumer publishers should be using database marketing to improve response rates on existing lists, exclude the worst names from house lists or to get new lists to work.  Does all the talk of deciles, modeling and regression analysis make your skin crawl?  You’re not alone.  Join us for a plain-English lesson on how to make database marketing work for you.  Increase your response rates and improve your bottom line!

Todd Leiser, Rodale
Bart Surick, Alliant Cooperative Data Solutions

Editorial Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM  Are Reader Communities the End of Journalism as We Know It?
Communities of readers, Wiki’s, blogs, message boards, social networks.  Is this the end of the top quality journalism we’ve built our businesses on?  What happens when your readers become your reporters?  Will subscribers pay for content generated by the masses?  How can you harness the power of crowds to build reader and brand loyalty?  We’ll explore how information providers are creating communities of interest using high-tech tools and good old fashioned trust.

Lauryn Franzoni, ExecuNet, Inc.

Business/Operations Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM  Metrics in Running a Specialized-Information Business 
What reports do you look at to operate your business now that you didn’t look at two years ago?  How often do you look at the reports?  Who is looking at the reports with you?  Who else is in the room?  Learn what reports the industry’s most successful CEO’s and COO’s look at each day, week and month and, most importantly, how they involve their staff in the process.

Brian Gurnham, Business & Legal Reports
Bruce Guzowski, HCPro, Inc.
Helen Hoart, Staywell Consumer Health Publishing

Expand Your Product Line:  Traditional Formats Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM   Workflow Products:  Powerful, Profitable Line Extensions
Software and workflow tools can add tremendous usability benefits to your content ─ and can provide enormous opportunity if done right.  Hear how two different companies have benefited from adding workflow tools to their product suite and profited greatly.

Case Study #1: “Renewable Software – the $1 Million Year Ancillary That We Almost Gave Up On”

Brian Crotty, OPIS, a division of UCG

In 2001, Oil Price Information Service already had a database of news and prices that it updated each day.  Looking for ancillary revenue, it developed a real-time software tool that allowed customers to better benefit from its news and prices.  By 2003, with less than $40,000 in annual revenue being generated, OPIS was ready to call it quits. But one last product review turned the ship around, and that same ancillary now generates more than $1 million a year in annual revenue.  Using a case-study approach, OPIS President Brian Crotty walks you through the product development, launch and relaunch of the product.  You will learn:

• what the software was supposed to do
• initial problems
• how subscribers really used the product
• the critical fact OPIS learned to shift its marketing
• how the product was “tweaked” to match the market needs
• how software can tie you even closer to your customers
• personalized renewable software – the evolution of the software-content marriage

Case Study #2:  Building a Better Mousetrap:  Marrying “Nice-to-Have” Content Into “Must-Have” Work  Process Products

Tonya Nevin, Group Publisher, DecisionHealth, a UCG company

It started with conference customers diligently taking notes in sessions.  And three years later, these notes have changed the way home-care providers interact with their medical code books, and in the process smashed all previous ancillary sales records in UCG’s DecisionHealth Group.  Hear how DecisionHealth spotted the opportunity, took conference, newsletter and ancillary handbook content and imbedded them right into the official code set.  The result:  a ten-fold revenue spike, thousands of new customers and now a new online venture as well.

Expand Your Product Line:  New Electronic Business Models Track
3:45 – 5:00 PM  Best Case Studies for Electronic Products
Attend this session to hear two success stories of new electronic models. 

Case Study #1.  Find out how Business & Legal Reports transformed itself in this decade from a print and CD-ROM publisher to a company whose biggest selling products are now Internet based.  You will discover valuable lessons as you explore the challenges BLR faced and how it made decisions in the development of its new paid content model.  You will discover the important lessons this company learned that will save you valuable time and costly missteps.

Case Study #2.  Many publishing pundits proclaim that the Internet will completely replace magazines, newspapers and newsletters.  Jon Persinos, a veteran of both traditional and online media, debunks the myth that “print is dead” and provides case studies in which Web-based media ─ such as podcasts, webinars and blogs ─ have been used to enhance a print message, not obviate it.  He shows that, conventional wisdom to the contrary, the quality print press is even more important in the era of the Internet, because the Wild West of the Web cries out for context and interpretive analysis.  Print publications help make sense of the Internet’s information overload and they function as molders of elite opinion.  By the same token, Persinos explains that the conventional “hard copy” means of reaching and persuading people are no longer sufficient by themselves and that journalists and marketers must also deploy online tools as supplements.  Print communications and marketing are still powerful but they lack the compelling call to action and immediacy of podcasts, webinars and other innovations.  Through the presentation of real-life electronic case studies, Persinos shows that anyone with a message to communicate must adopt a hybrid media strategy that integrates both print and online venues.

Case Study #3. Learn how The Parent Institute built a subscription-based Web offering that has been successful (and has grown steadily every year) since its launch in late 2000. We've learned a few things along the way that will be of interest to any information publisher looking to develop (or expand) a Web-based information product. Participants will learn about the challenges (and surprising benefits) of selling an online product to non-technical users. We'll share some surprising (and pleasing) changes we've seen in customer conversion and renewal behavior —and how we constantly communicate the service's value to the customer. We'll discuss the interaction we've seen between sales of online and print products. We'll share our thoughts on successfully competing with the vast body of free information now available online. Finally, participants will learn a little bit about how we struck an effective balance between customer ease of use and security when delivering copyrighted content online.

John Brady, The Conversion Zone
John Persinos, Access Intelligence, LLC
Phillip Wherry, The Parent Institute

10:15 - 11:15 AM - Concurrent Breakout Sessions IV

Direct Marketing & Sales Track
10:15 – 11:15 AM  “Love The Customer You’re With:”  If You’ve Given Up On Finding New Customers, How Can You Keep More Of What You Already Have, Get More Money From Them And Bring Back Those That Have Left
Improving renewal rates never sounds sexy, but as a source of predictable revenue it can’t be beat.  Add reactivation of your cancels/expires, and an occasional cross-sell to current customers, and now you’re talking real money.  Don’t underestimate the value of current and past subscribers when searching for additional income.  They know your company, are qualified prospects and the list is already in your database ─ half your work is already done.  Attend this session to see why spending some time on improving your renewal series and creating targeted offers to your house file will improve your bottom-line with minimal expense or risk.

Jim Bell, IOMA
Todd Lebo, The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.

E-mail Marketing Track
10:15 – 11:15 AM  Creating E-mail Sales Letters That Rock
Successful e-mail marketers will tell you that their e-mail sales letters are responsible for 60% to 80% of their online revenues.  Discover how to translate direct mail best practices to the development of successful e-mail newsletter promotions.  Learn how to write subject lines, headlines and leads that will grab your reader's attention with a believable big promise.  Understand how to use subheads, lists, bullets, call-outs and testimonials to structure a sales letter that is both skimable and readable.

Bob Bly, Copywriter
Jim Sinkinson, Infocom Group

Driving Website Traffic Track
10:15 – 11:15 AM  Using PR and Content Syndication to Drive Website Traffic
If you're marketing your special-interest information product online, you know that public relations and product publicity aren't what they used to be.  The Internet changed the rules of the game.  Some publishers understand coming up with a free online giveaway or syndicating content to drive traffic, but many fail to convert that traffic into loyal customers.  Learn the critical steps for maximizing this very effective source of Website traffic.

Ed Coburn, Harvard Health Publications

Consumer Marketing Track
10:15 – 11:15 AM  44 Consumer Marketing Ideas in 60 Minutes
Here is your opportunity to get the best of the best ideas on top tips that can have an immediate impact on your direct-marketing efforts.  Regardless of how you sell e-mail, direct mail, etc.) or what you sell (magazines, newsletters, conferences, one-shots or continuity books/videos/special reports and other specialized products), you will come away from this presentation with quick-hitting tips and tactics that YOU will be able to implement in your business.  Hear what creative ideas can help you lift response; learn how other marketers are adding new life to their prospecting and house mailing efforts through data mining; structure your offers and testing for maximum gain. 

Mark Johnson, Copywriter
Jeff Kobil, LDS Group
David Lee, Tufts Media LLC
Roger Michalski, Eagle Publishing, Inc.

Editorial Track
10:15 – 11:45 AM  Content Management: Gift from God or the Voice of the Devil?
Content management systems (CMSs) enable “non-tech” people to publish and manage content on their Website.  It can be a powerful tool, melding the strengths of editorial immediacy and content with the timeliness and impact of focused marketing messages.  But finding the right system and implementing it isn’t an easy task.  This presentation will be a case study where the executive editor and the online content editor of a leading financial newsletter company share their experiences in defining the needs of the system, system selection, vendor negotiations and multi-departmental implementation.

Gregg Early, KCI Communications, Inc.
Jaime Hritsik, KCI Communications, Inc.

Business/Operations Track
10:15 – 11:15 AM  M&A Overview
The demand for specialized-information providers by strategic and private equity buyers is at an unprecedented high level.  Two of the leading investment bankers with recent transactions in the “space” will give you an update on the M&A market and tell you what the strategic and private equity buyers are looking for.

Thomas P. O’Connor, Berkery, Noyes & Co.
Scott Peters, The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.

Expand Your Product Line:  Traditional Formats Track
10:15 – 11:15 AM  Leveraging Your Newsletter Editors and the Paid Content They Generate for High-Dollar Advertising & Sponsorships
Conventional wisdom used to be that newsletters needed to be free and clear from all advertising to retain their independence. But several publishers have knocked down the wall between church and state, successfully adding new profit streams to their businesses.  Take Access Media’s Telecom Group, which is leveraging the content it sends out via its paid newsletters and other proprietary content generated by the newsletter editors to offer completely new, single sponsored webinars and web micro-sites.  Learn from veteran publisher Mike O’Neill the ins and outs of this new business model, how to get editors involved and excited about the line extensions, and where he sees the model evolving in the future.

Mike O'Neill, Access Intelligence, LLC, Telecom Intelligence Group

Expand Your Product Line:  New Electronic Business Models Track
10:15 – 11:15 AM  Adding Industry/Professional Certification to Your Product Mix
Certification programs can make a big difference in your bottom line and are not restricted to non-profits.  Increasingly, specialized-information publishers are providing their audiences with credible, high quality certification programs.  This session will provide case studies about successful professional certification programs.  Phil Binkow will discuss The Accounts Payable Network’s experience developing, with IOMA, The Accounts Payable Certification Programs.  This case study will cover benefits of certification, assessing the need for certification in a particular space, developing the courseware, creating questions and passing criteria, awarding continuing education units, and gaining acceptance for the program.  You will also learn from AMG’s Bruce Wardle how associations benefit from certification programs.

Phil Binkow, Financial Operations Networks, LLC
Bruce Wardle, Association Management Group

11:30 AM - 12:15 PM - Concurrent Breakout Sessions V

Direct Marketing & Sales Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM  Use Outbound Telesales to Grow Revenue & Profits
Outbound telesales for new order acquisition or customer account management always provides unique challenges.  Whether you already have a telesales department or are just considering one, you’ll want to hear how our presenters address the following issues:

• Compensation (low base/high commission vs. reasonable base/smaller commission)
• Integration of telesales into a larger marketing effort
• How to avoid a healthy competition between phone representatives from becoming
      an intense battle for the best prospects
• Should you consider an outsourcing option and, if so, how to find the right vendor

Glenn Eckard, Business 21 Publishing
Ginger Gardner, Oakstone Publishing, LLC

E-mail Marketing Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM  Designing a Balanced E-mail Newsletter Template
Every e-mail newsletter has two jobs: it must provide high-quality information and sell your organization's information products.  Learn the key concepts and metrics for maintaining the right balance between the editorial and promotional messaging contained in an effective e-mail newsletter.  Understand how to design an effective e-mail newsletter template that strikes the right ratio between editorial and advertising content, satisfies your readers and sells your information products.  Also learn how sponsors can super-charge revenue per subscriber.

Steve Laliberte, Internet Production, Inc.
Sandra Witscher, FID Publishing House, Inc.

Driving Website Traffic Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM  40 Best Ways to Drive Targeted Website Traffic
Join some of the country's top online marketers when they share their best advice, proven sources and latest techniques for maximizing return on investment from their online marketing efforts.  Hear from Don Nicholas and the Driving Website Traffic speakers in this rapid-fire, not-to-be missed event.

Bill Barnes, Enquiro Search Solutions
Scott Brueggeman, Socrates Media
Ed Coburn, Harvard Health Publications
Don Nicholas, Mequoda Group

Consumer Marketing Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM  Crazy Ways to Sell Your Products
We all know the traditional methods to sell products such as direct mail, e-mail,  telemarketing, space ads, etc., but have you thought about OTHER ways you could sell your products? These thought-provoking marketing methods may not be a perfect fit for your products, but you never know what great ideas they may evoke in you. Bring your own “thinking outside the box” marketing ideas to share with the group. This will be a light, fun session that is a perfect way to wrap up the conference!

Denise Elliott, The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.

Editorial Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM  Keep It Legal
Learn what you need to know to keep your Website on the right side of the law.  What can you do to protect your content and what uses can you make of content that you find on the Web?  Learn the legal basics about privacy policies, blogs, hyperlinks and copyright. 

Tom Curley, Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, LLP

Business/Operations Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM  Managing a Multi-Product Delivery Business
The presidents of two leading specialized-information publishing companies will identify and discuss those tools and disciplines used to effectively manage multiple product lines.  There will be a wide-ranging discussion of the constant managerial “juggling act” required to balance competing demands for scarce resources across operating groups, while also ensuring that sufficient resources are invested in new launches and start-ups, and properly apportioned between the marketing of one-off’s (like special reports and audio conferences) and subscription offerings (like newsletters and online services).  This session will also include a discussion of the tools (like financial reports and operating metrics) these publishers use to measure the effectiveness of their “juggling” decisions on a daily basis.

Dan Oswald, M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
Mark T. Ziebarth, Bongarde Media Co.

Expand Your Product Line:  Traditional Formats Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM   High-Priced Custom Research: How and Why
Ever think about offering high-priced research?  The rewards can be enormous.  Just ask Derek Smith, who sells a lot of research reports each year at $3,000-$5,000 per study.  Learn how his team at Kennedy Information does it – from how topics are vetted, to how reports are developed and marketed, to who gets targeted for these reports and how some become “renewable.”  Newsletter publishers may be sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of business intelligence that just needs to be unlocked in custom research formats.  Here’s your chance to learn how.

Derek Smith, Kennedy Information

Expand Your Product Line:  New Electronic Business Models Track
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM  Building Communities to Improve Your Future
Recently released research suggests that by 2010, 60% of all Fortune 1000 companies will have built communities to serve their customers, harvest user-generated content, and build new relationships in their quest to capture their fair share of the $10 billion social networking market.  However, 50% of all companies will fail in this initiative according to Gartner.   This hands-on session will explore the 7 Rules for Success that enable your company to succeed based on Shared Insight's six years of building leading communities for publishing and professional services companies. 

Barry Libert, Shared Insights LLC

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