Advertising and marketing are all about standing out in a crowd. But that can be difficult when your crowd is 247 billion e-mails sent on a daily basis from computers across the world. In fact, If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined. In a world where the most powerful country in the world is sitting in your living room, you had better learn to speak the language if you want to compete.
Established in 2008, Erie’s E-Marketing Learning Center was founded to help business owners harness the power of e-mail and, of course, keep them out of the spam folder. This month, the center begins a partnership with Ben Franklin Technology Partners Venture Investment Forum, a series of entrepreneurship programs ranging from education to investment access, to help get Pennsylvania technology companies across the finish line. Even though Center director Cathy Von Birgelen is moving just down the hall in her Knowledge Park offices, she says the move will provide her students more direct access to the tools they need to get to the next level.
“One of the great things about working with Ben Franklin is that they are one of the most significant organizations in the tent-based business investment and education arena,” says Von Birgelen. “Now I can begin to work with these companies starting out from the gate, through training that will get them ready for e-commerce, or to help them use their website as a digital hub and make the website the center of their digital world.”
The E-Marketing Center’s core curriculum will remain in tact. But since July 1, Von Birgelen and her team have been working with the Venture Investment Forum to add new programs for energy and technology start-ups. Many new offerings focus on getting companies’ e-commerce ready so that they can market and sell their products online, providing proof to investors that the company is clicking on all cylinders.
“Right now, we have a whole number of training sessions available, through December, focusing on strategy, social media, e-mail marketing” says Von Birgelen. “With the Ben Franklin support, we are going to be developing a line of training and professional development opportunities for the technology start-ups to help them compete within the digital space. Start-ups are very resource-starved and a lot of the Ben Franklin tools are free or very affordable but you have to know how to use them to be effective.”
Source: Cathy Von Birgelen, E-Marketing Learning Center
Writer: John Steele