Would you like to learn more about Getting Found Online, Social Media Marketing and Marketing to Women?

Here's how! Next week, from January 23 through 26, 2012, Surfaces - the annual exposition for floor covering and stone professionals - takes place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. During that time, you can take part in several flooring-focused educational sessions, including three that I am involved in:

• Surfaces 2012 “Social Media: How To For Business” Workshop on Monday 1/23/12 from 9am to noon with co-presenter, Sarah B. Johnson [read my blog interview with her].

• Surfaces 2012 Seminar: “Improving Your Digital Visibility to Better Connect with Customers” on Tuesday 1/24/12 from noon to 1pm.

• Surfaces 2012 Seminar: Marketing & Selling to Women Flooring Consumers! on Wednesday 1/25/12 from noon to 1pm. This session features Nufloors Coquitlam as case study and includes the marvelous Cynthia Dean! [Here is a 3-part interview with her on TalkFloor worth listening to.]

Dave Foster from TalkFloor FloorRadio interviewed me about all three sessions in this 20 minute interview which he describes as follows:

Christine Whittemore, Simple Marketing Now Discusses Educational Events she’s Presenting at Surfaces  [to listen, click on the link]

Christine Whittemore, Simple Marketing Now, discusses the three educational events she is involved in at Surfaces 2012, two seminars and a workshop: “Social Media: How To For Business”, Practical Advice To Get Found Online and Connect With Customers, is the workshop she will be leading with Sarah B. Johnson of MKG Department; “Improving Your Digital Visibility to Better Connect with Customers,” is one of the seminars and the other is “Marketing and Selling to Flooring and Store Power Consumers (aka Women).”

As I mention in the interview, for each session, I conducted a survey with participants to understand key concerns and current digital practices.

Some surprises:

• Retailers are more likely to survey employees than customers
• Digital frustrations include finding the time and the resources to fully integrate digital and social, and figuring out how to reach and engage with customers.
• More retailers have websites and have experimented with social media tools than in past years. They may not be updating their websites frequently, but they are at least doing so once per year!
• A majority of survey respondents mentioned that search engines, word of mouth and websites represent primary sources for getting found by customers.

Attendees to all three sessions will benefit from tip sheets and links to resources. Our workshop participants will also receive copies of templates to use to help them develop a social media and content marketing strategy. Furthermore, each session will feature examples from session participants.

To register for these sessions, log on to the Surfaces website.

If you attend Surfaces, I do hope you will connect with me in person and/or via Twitter.