Recently the Swansea Bay IT Support Centre launched its eMarketing Centre of Excellence (EMCOE) project in Neath Port Talbot. The NPT launch follows on from the successful launch of the project in Swansea.  This is indeed good news for many of our clients, and potential clients, who were unable to get on the Swansea course due to their business location. For the past 8 months we have been delivering the course to Swansea companies and, to date, around 30 businesses have benefited from attending the course.

The first course will be run from the Llandarcy offices of Business Connect in October - we are looking for around 3 businesses to attend the 4-day course. The dates of this course are: 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th October. For more details, please take a look at the EMCOE section of this site.

In June we will be running two eMarketing Courses through its EMCOE centre. The first course will held in the first half of the month: 7th & 9th and 15th & 16th June. The second course will be held over the following days: 22nd & 23rd and 29th & 30th June. Should you be unable, possibly because of holidays, to make one of the weeks you can always transfer over to the other course.

Here is a brief breakdown of the course:

Day 1

Background to the Internet - How it started? Who are the players? Definitions & Trends.
eCustomers – Understanding the on-line customer. What are their fears and motivations? How should you respond to them?
eMarketing Mix – A look at the 7 strate¬gic elements that make up the mix
SOSTAC – The key marketing model you will use to develop your company’s eMarketing plan.

Day 2

Site Design – What makes a good Web site? Critical look at client sites.
eModels – Old approaches are being turned on their head. What are the new business models?
eBusiness – Why do off-line businesses outperform on-line ones?
eCRM – How do you develop on-line customer relationship management?

Day 3

eTools – The main session of the day will look at how to raise the profile of your site on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and other search Engines. We explore keyword tools, content and developing links. Other sessions look at eMail Marketing, Banner Advertising, On-line PR, eMail Signatures, Blogging and RSS.

Day 4

Consists of Revison Session, CIM Test and Marketing Plan development.

And just to re-iterate, the course costs £350 and, on top of the above, includes a day’s Internet Marketing consultancy.

Attendees also get one year’s membership of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Completion of the CIM eMarketing Award course (report and test) gives you a full 35 hours CPD - half way to becoming a Chartered Marketer.
In addition, we offer also clients a £200 grant towards the cost of Internet Marketing activities such as Search Engine Optimisation, Google Adwords, Email Marketing, etc.
The course costs £350 and, on top of the course, includes a day’s consultancy. In addition, we can offer you a £200 grant towards the cost of Internet Marketing activities such as Search Engine Optimisation, Google Adwords, Email Marketing, etc.

From the 9th-11th May, Earls Court will host the biggest Internet Exhibition in the UK. Internet World 2006 boasts over 150 keynote speakers and over 200 exhibitors. Keynote speakers include MD’s, CEO’s and Marketing Directors from companies such as eBay, Boots, Lastminute.com, Blockbuster, Dabs.com and Condé Nast.

Brent Hoberman of Lastminute.com, Olivier Van Calster of eBay and Gillian Kent of MSN are some of the highlights. The show will offer further panels and presentations in different zones: Enterprise Content Management Theatre, New Media Marketing Theatre, Keynote Theatre and Internet World Theatre. Entry is free but you should register online beforehand, for both event and for some keynote speakers.

For SME’s this offers a great chance to learn some new tips and tricks on how to maximise their online performance.

On June 13th and 14th, 2006 the Millenium Stadium will host the inaugural B2B Wales Exhibition. The keynote speech will be given by Bob Geldof at what is billed as Wales’ largest ever business exhibition. Other business celebrities who have been booked to date are Simon Woodroffe from BBC’s Dragons Den and YO! Sushi founder, Jacqueline Gold, the force behind Knickerbox and Ann Summers, Richard Duvall, the creator of Egg and Zopa and Charles Morgan of the World-Famous Morgan Motor Company.

According to the press release

B2B Wales is one of 7 regional, significant business-to-business events running throughout the UK in 2006. This unique concept is targeted at over 3,000 owners, managers and directors of small to medium sized organisations, as well as senior buyers and decision makers from larger public and private organisations.

The organisers envisage that 200 exhibitors will be brough together under one roof, representing a wide range of products and services. The Welsh Assembly Government is the event sponsor, and the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce and the Sunday Times are working in partnership. Apart from the main speakers, there will also be a B2B Portfolio ‘Guide to’ sessions - these free seminars are set up as zones - Sales and Marketing, IT, Finance and Human Resources - each representing areas of interest to business.

Though the event programme has yet to be finalised, you can still register for free through their website.

On April 4th 2006, the eCommerce Innovation Centre (eCIC), in conjunction with Opportunity Wales, are running a one day workshop on on-demand CRM solutions. These powerful database driven applications enable a business to use a standard Internet Web browser to access, view, manage and analyse all their customer data – great for when a business has remote workers or multiple offices. The subject of the workshop will be ‘Microsoft Live Office and CRM 3.0‘. A full-day overview of these new technologies and a strategic update will be provided by Microsoft.

The workshop will be held at the McDonald Hotel, Holland House, Cardiff and costs £60 per delegate including lunch and refreshments. For further information or to register for the workshops contact Dr James B. Waddell at eCIC:

• Email: aecat@ecommerce.ac.uk
• Phone: 029 2064 7028

At the Liberty Stadium on March 15th 2006, the Bay in Business will be holding the Swansea Bay Sourcing and Local Supplier Development event. This event offers businesses in Swansea the oportunity to learn more about how Local Supplier Development & Contract Shop can help you.

There will be presentations about:

• Local Supplier Development Swansea Housing Stock
• Doing Business in Neath Port Talbot
• Opportunities in Carmarthenshire
• SA1 Sourcing

It also offers companies the opportunity to:

• Meet and network with likeminded companies
• Meet exhibitors from local authorities procurement units and business support representatives
• Register on contract shop website or update your existing contract shop profile

On May 19th, 2006 at Cardiff Internatinal Arena, the Western Mail Business Awards will be held. In it’s eighth it will “honour an acknowledge the very best in Welsh business“. We would very much hope the “very best” in Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot will apply to enter the awards and hope that some of our local businesses will actually win some of them. Here are the categories:

• Welsh Company of the Year
• Business Achiever of the Year
• Welsh Small Business of the Year
• Welsh People Development Company of the Year
• Young Business Achiever of the Year
• Busnes Dwyieithog – Bilingual Business
• Welsh Innovative Company of the Year
• The Opportunity Wales eCommerce Award
• The Excellence in Marketing Award

Being a deliverer of the Opportunity Wales project we very much hope that a number of clients will fill in the application form. Take a look at the company that won the Opportunity Wales Award last year.

On the April 6th, 2006 HM Customs & Revenue will be holding a Business Advice Open Day at the Liberty Stadium. Here’s a taste of what you can expect:

Designed for small and medium sized businesses, Business Advice Open Days bring together the largest collection of government agencies, departments and public sector organisations under one roof.

One of our WDA Advisers will be delivering a seminar on Emerging Technologies and the benefits that these can brings to clients. If you’re interested in attending any of the FREE events, please visit the Business Advice Open Days website and fill out the details on the Swansea page.