Recently on my trip to Orlando for the Shop.org conference with three other RMI students, I was able to see how the Internet is really playing a huge role in online retail success. During the few days there, we listened to speakers on topics such as Web 2.0, Mobile Marketing, Virtual Worlds, and other key marketing topics to help teach companies how to improve.

The opening speaker, Andy Sernovitz, spoke about his book, Word of Marketing (WOM), and how to incorporate WOM into online marketing. He discussed how

to create WOM and why it is so important. Three aspects of WOM focus on offering people reasons to discuss your product or service, making it easier for that conversation to take place, and motivating the marketer, talker, and group. These simple tasks are so easy for everyone to do, and they also help out small businesses because there is little cost to creating a WOM campaign.

Andy had an energetic, outgoing personality on stage that made his presentation interactive with the audience. I could really feel his passion and desire to belong to the marketing field while I was sitting with the rest of the audience.

Overall, my experience at the Shop.org conference was one I will never forget and I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of it. I discovered a lot of key information about online marketing for retailers. I will now be able to take the ideas I learned from this conference into the classroom for discussion with other marketing majors. My key take-aways were to not be afraid to try new concepts and to be really passionate about your work, because this will reflect how well your message gets to retailers and consumers.

Retail Management Institute - Santa Clara University
rmi.scu.edu