Speaking

Public Speaking and Interactive Workshops

Verticalwerks educates businesses and organizations on how to align interactive marketing and social networking with their strategies. Kevin Schrandt and Steve Thornton present together in a presentation style that is interactive, humor-laden, relevant and personal. Verticalwerks customizes every presentation, adjusting the presentation as required to engage at the right level of comprehension and technical understanding of the audience.

Steve and Kevin cover these topics from the 10,000 feet level right down to “in-the-trenches” technical details, depending on audience and need. They have presented to a wide spectrum of audiences, including various industry groups and associations, entrepreneurs, marketers and many others.

Technically, Kevin and Steve can speak on whatever topic you’d like. They’ve given you the following a-la-carte menu of topics to help get you thinking. Whatever you want, we can talk about it, but below you’ll find a list of topics on which they are commonly asked to present.

Brand Alignment: Telling a Great Story

What’s Your Story? It’s such a basic question, but one that most organizations struggle to answer … much less communicate clearly. But in today’s age of endless marketing messages competing for a very short attention span, clearly communicating your “story” is an absolute imperative. Articulating and embracing your brand story from within is what makes it happen. In this workshop you will learn:

How to develop the “Six Points of Your Brand Story”: Focus, Relevance, Core Values, Personality, Affinity and Experience
Why it’s critical to deliver a great marketing message; one that your target audience hears, understands, and acts upon
What it takes to truly set yourself apart from your competition.
How to ensure that everybody inside your organization fully understands and embraces your unique truths
How to apply the power of ideas, vision and great creative to transform your business, brand and reputation

This session isn’t about designing a new logo and tagline for your company. You’ll discover new tools and methods to transform your organization utilizing a unified, holistic communications and brand alignment strategy.

What Is Interactive Marketing?

Sure, we all know that in today’s Internet-connected world, having a web site is essential to just about all businesses, non-profit organization, government agencies, etc. But that web site your brother-in-law-cum-web-designer slapped together for you a few years ago probably isn’t going to get the job done effectively. In this nuts-and-bolts presentation, you’ll learn:

The difference between a static brochure-ware web site and a Web 2.0 interactive media site
Why rich media, video and quality content are critical to your web site’s success
How to optimize your web site for search engine traffic
What a content management system is and why every web site should be built on a solid CMS foundation
How to syndicate your content in order to reach a wider audience
The top 10 tips of successful web sites and the top 5 pitfalls many organizations fall into with their interactive marketing investment

Sure, you might be able to build your own website, but in this so-what presentation, you’ll discover why it might not be the best idea to do it yourself … and if you do, you will at least know what steps are involved, the challenges and pitfalls to avoid.

Building Your Online Presence

Whether you already have a web site and know it’s not performing to your expectations or you are just getting started building your web site, you have a lot of big decisions to make when it comes to getting the return-on-investment you want from your online presence. But, where do you get started? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn:

Why your web site needs to be the “hub” of your online presence
What elements every web site needs to be successful
Interactive trends that will redefine your organization
The 10 harsh truths about corporate web sites
How to drive visitors to your web site

This isn’t your grandfather’s Buick-of-a-web-site presentation. You’ll learn the ins and outs of web design and developing a strategy for online marketing success.

De-Mystifying Social Media

Everyone these days wants to understand how Twitter and Facebook and blogging and YouTube and all the ever-expanding universe of social media interweave with marketing. Do you feel left behind or don’t get the point of tweeting, yelping or linking in? Many people are intimidated by all the hype and buzz surrounding social networking and what it means to their business strategy. In this social media 101 presentation, you’ll learn:

What social media really is and why it matters
How to develop a social networking strategy that works
Which social media tools you should use
How to generate buzz and truly connect with your target audience online
How to get the most out of your social media investment

This is not your typical “twitter is so cool!” presentation. You’ll learn nuts, the bolts, and everything in between!

Taking Relationship Building Online

While engaging with your audience through social media is important, taking your social networking strategy to the next level still revolve around the age old mantra “It’s not what you say about your organization that really matters, it’s what others say about you that really counts”. In this relationship marketing presentation, you’ll learn:

Why social networking is “transparent” and what that means to marketers
What it takes to really leverage your web site and social networking strategy
How to get referrals and qualified leads online
When to invest time and resources in specific online marketing methods
How to become known as an expert in your field

In this presentation for people who already know the basics of social networking, you’ll learn what’s really possible, what works, how to sustain it and take your online presence to the next level.

And Many Other Speaking Topics

No, this isn’t their “best of” album, but the topics we can come up with around interactive marketing and the social media space vary widely … and can be tailored to meet your needs. If you see even the tip of something you were hoping to find here, contact Verticalwerks today, and we can make your organization’s next meeting a hit!

Variations on these themes and messages abound, but these are quick start suggestions; mix and match however you like. For more information, visit the Verticalwerks contact form or email us (info at verticalwerks dot com).