TechTown Visit

While most of the time I arrive at the Do Detroit offices between 10 and 11, today I braved rush hour on I-94 and the Lodge to make it to TechTown at 8 a.m. What possessed me to make the trek down to the New Amsterdam historic district? Why it was the “Marketing, Mania, & Money – Oh My!” entrepreneurs breakfast hosted by Wayne State University Technology Commercialization.

Guest speaker at today’s event was Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex and instructor of Michigan State University’s New Media Driver’s License course. Derek delivered an hour and half address to a room of 30-plus enthralled entrepreneurs and industrious professionals focusing on social and digital marketing strategies.

Some of the highlights for Derek’s speech were tips for personal branding in conjunction with your business’ identity, integration of the traditional with the digital, and evaluating the return on the investment (ROI) in social media engagement. With the Black Business Festival marketing campaign ending this weekend, Derek’s S.M.A.R.T. approach to assessing ROI will be of use when we review our efforts.

Throughout the event, Derek’s colleague Eric Rodriguez was live tweeting the event on Ingenex’ corporate account. One of my favorite comments Eric caught from Derek was:

If your business can't be found on Google, does it exist?

  

Side Note: Last night's Discovering the D featuring the Russell Bazaar is now available on demand on Detroit Public TV's Web site.

---Gill