May 02

Just a quick show of hands, how many people would find it useful to have an event like BarCamp only focused around tactics for promoting your stuff? We were kicking around the idea yesterday of an event called “MarCamp” (and actually Austin came up with “MarKamp” which is even better) that would take the same unstructured, self-organizing format of the other *Camp events. A quick search reveals this event back in 2006 in SF but it doesn’t like like anything came of it.

This is something I really want to see. We have all these different marketing initiatives we’re kicking around now and I just want to run a “Matrix training program” and instantly have all this experience now. It would be great to have a BarCamp style event where you could sponge up experience from folks that have learned this stuff the hard way and then contribute back what you know.

I will help make this event happen if there’s enough interest. Topics that I would most like to see:

  • referral programs
  • affiliate programs
  • reseller programs
  • loyalty programs
  • adwords campaigns
  • building effective landing pages
  • web analytics
  • split testing (GWO, adwords, email)
  • writing effective copy
  • focus groups: how to conduct an effective one and analyze/apply the results
  • experience running call-in “fireside chats” on something like gabcast
  • lessons in establishing user community for your product
  • social media services, the right way to use them for biz: twitter, facebook, linkedin, stumble upon
  • conducting publicity stunts that work
  • pulling off the effective tradeshow
  • If you can think of others of interest, add them in a comment and let me know if this is an event you would attend. If we get even ten talented marketing folks interested, I’m doing this. We’d most likely be able to get a free venue like we did for BarCamp Phoenix. Of course the inherent paradox here is we’ll need good marketing skills to promote awareness of the event to all the marketing people we’d like to attract ;-) All thoughts on this idea are welcome in the comments field.

    21 Responses to “MarKamp: A Barcamp for Marketing”

    1. Chris says:

      Hi Sean:

      I would definitely come to something like this. 95% chance I would also present something.

      Chris

    2. Eric says:

      Would be very interested, likely bring two people from my company.

    3. sean says:

      +2 for James Britt and Mark Spomer

      (keeping headcount in one place)

    4. Chaz says:

      Count me in.

    5. sean says:

      +3

      Preston Lee, Jim Jeffers and Eric Cope (via Refresh list)

    6. Sean says:

      +2 James Archer and Brian Shaler via Refresh list

    7. Steven says:

      I’m Steve, the new mkt mgr at vSocial. And I’m soooo in.

    8. sean says:

      +3 Steven Shaffer, Aaron Post, Jeremy Lederman via Refresh

    9. Karen says:

      Random first-time reader coming in off the barCamp search on Technorati. You might be interested in CaseCamp, the “BarCamp for marketing” that happens in Toronto and Vancouver. It’s less spontaneous than typical BarCamp events – there are presentations are organized ahead of time to ensure diversity of topics, and it’s single-track and evening only, though it may be a bit more staid than what you are thinking of.

    10. sean says:

      +1 Ms. Herr via Refresh

    11. Allan Sabo says:

      I’d be in, and interested in presenting too.

    12. sean says:

      +1 Justin Crossman via Refresh list

    13. sean says:

      +1 Chuck Reynolds via Refresh

    14. sean says:

      +1 Jerry Ferguson via Refresh

    15. sean says:

      +1 Chase Granberry via Refresh

    16. Chris says:

      Sean,

      Has a date been picked yet to hold this event?

      Chris

    17. sean says:

      @christingom – Yes, this event is set for Aug 2nd at UAT 9am-5pm. All details will be posted on MarKamp.org via wiki once i get a chance to set it up.

      sean

    18. John Murch says:

      Awesome Idea!

      You should look at what network marketers are doing. I think a marketing barcamp would be awesome, but would need to have a good mix of online digital marketers, coders, various types of print/tv marketers.

      I know the past 2 weeks selling a product with Google Adwords has been a unique experience. Focusing on conversion rates and dealing with cost of keywords and optimizing your ad. Be sure to podcast it!

    19. sean says:

      +2 for James Britt and Mark Spomer

      (keeping headcount in one place)

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