In Episode 75, we are taking a look at how sponsoring conferences can help you grow your eCommerce site. We touch on both conferences, and WordCamps, which are unique to the WordPress community and users. To hear some great first-hand experience we invited Devin Sears, Field Marketer for Bluehost to give us some insights on what you should consider when making that first move in sponsoring conferences as well as having booths at a conference. You will even find a few good tips if have already dove into conference sponsorships on what you should expect and maintain in your marketing efforts.

We chatted about:

* The challenge of smaller businesses having budgets for larger conferences

* The value of sponsoring smaller conferences 

* How to approach direct competition in conference sponsorships and vendor booths

* Why you want a swag strategy

* The benefits and challenges of having larger giveaways at your booth

* What you should expect when it comes to ROI (return on investment)

Thanks to Our Podcast Sponsor: Bluehost

Transcript

You can also download a pdf of the full transcript here: WordPress eCommerce Show Episode 75 May 10 2017

Bob Dunn: Hey, Everyone. Bob Dunn here, also known as BobWP on the web. Today we are taking a bit of a twist with the podcast when it comes to marketing your online store, or in fact any online presence you may have, when it comes to selling your product service. And that is the value of participating in industry conferences. Not talking here about a networking event, but rather sponsoring the event or participating via a booth, which conferences often call the expo part. In any case, I thought what better guest to bring on our show than Devin Sears, who does field marketing for BlueHost, the sponsor of our podcast shows. Welcome to the show, Devin.

Devin Sears: Thank you, Bob, and thank you so much for having me on the show. I know you and I have had the pleasure of working together a lot. So it’s nice to be a guest on the show once again. It is my second time. Hopefully a couple more times down the road.

Bob: Oh yeah, we’ll get you on again. Well, I know we have chatted and hung out a lot together. ‘m looking forward to picking your brain on this subject because it’s something a lot of businesses and online sellers can use. Devin before we get into this subject, can you tell us a little bit more of what that exactly field marketing is?

Meet Devin Sears, Manager of Field Marketing for Bluehost

Devin: Yeah. So it’s kind of interesting right now, especially in the tech industry, because there’s a huge push for digital marketing. As you know, that’s PPC, anything online like that. I do the kind of marketing for Bluehost that is pretty much everything else. You know, anything that doesn’t happen on the web, the interpersonal communication stuff.

I manage a team that goes to different events around the country, sometimes around the globe, and we advocate for Bluehost and a lot of it is educational, which I will get into a little bit more as we go through this podcast. But I love my job. It gives me a chance to travel and meet tons of people and it’s amazing. It’s a lot of fun.

Bob: And you’re very good at it, too. I will admit that sometimes with technology it takes you a little bit to get the job done but with the events, you’re really good.

Devin: I’m a little slow, Bob, but I’ll get there.