Why Be Brilliant At Web-Leveraged Advertising and PR?

The web is still relatively uncharted territory for South Africa’s marketers, though, as happened elsewhere in the world, South African consumers are already way ahead of those marketers in their use of the medium.

How do you get to online consumers? How do you use the web to drive e-commerce and offline business, or to build brands? Is shot-gunning the local directories and portals with corporate banners really the best you can do?

The share of marketing budgets going to online media worldwide is skyrocketing. In keeping with its share of media consumption time, the web will claim 20 percent of ad-spend in the US this year, up from only 3 percent two years ago. And while targeted South African online media are still few and far between, local online consumers are no longer limited to local media. To marketers with vision there are opportunities everywhere.

As the ClueTrain Manifesto made clear several years ago, companies that assume online markets are the same markets that used to watch their ads on television are kidding themselves.

This intensive one-day workshop examines online markets, explores the advertising and PR alternatives, clarifies the issues, and shows you how to jump-start your use of the web as a vehicle for building profitable relationships with the new consumer.

Be Brilliant @ Web Leveraged Advertising and PR covers the internet in an advertising context and explains all of the key terms, concepts and technologies in non-technical terms. It examines the elements of an online campaign, the creative constraints and opportunities, the production and tracking processes, and the metrics available for analysing success.

It also talks about the new consumer, and how innovative marketers are finding powerful ways to use web 2.0, social networks and user generated content to achieve buzz marketing and word of mouth brand building.

This up-to-date course is fully illustrated with examples and case studies. It gives you the knowledge, skills and inspiration to get right up the learning curve to a point where you can start making creative, informed decisions about leveraging the web for branding or for response.

And the workshop format ensures that you are actively thinking through and applying the ideas to your own advertising/PR issues.

Why Should You Attend?

There are dramatic changes ahead in South Africa, for marketers, for ad agencies and for traditional media. Every professional engaged with advertising and PR, whether as a buyer of services, a provider of services, or a supplier of media, has to get on top of the changes and opportunities that the web is sweeping in.

Understanding is not good enough—you have to “get it”. This course is structured to help you get the big picture as well as the details, and will give you the insights and motivation to stay ahead of the curve.

You will leave this course with a comprehensive understanding not only of the state of online advertising and PR, but with an ability to see beyond the mundane and the inspiration to get creative with the opportunities ahead of you.

Who Should Attend?

This course is a must for anyone who makes tactical or strategic advertising, PR or general marketing decisions about online initiatives, or has to interact with those who do, including:

• business strategists

• marketing managers, product & brand managers

• new product development people

• advertising agency account, media & creative executives

• website developers, information architects, and creative personnel

• e-commerce and e-marketing personnel

• online media business developers

What Will You Learn?

You will leave this course not only with a great understanding of how web leveraged advertising and PR actually work, but also with a practical ability to create your own strategies and tactics.

What is more you will be equipped with an arsenal of best practices, inspiring and enlightening examples, and guidelines for staying in tune with developments in the future. You will learn:

• how the web works as an advertising medium

• why the new consumer and web 2.0 are more than just the latest buzz words

• why “the line” no longer really matters

• how to structure the components of an online campaign

• how to evaluate and decide on the different forms of advertising available to you

• how to use the tracking power of the web to test different messages and creatives

• how to cost out and negotiate good online media buys

• how the web is used as a vital component of brand building

• guidelines for copy writing for online media

• how to design for an online experience

• how innovative marketers leverage social media for dramatic, cost-effective brand building

And you'll be totally psyched to take charge of your own web leveraged advertising and PR initiatives!