Conference to help navigate the digital market

MOSES LAKE — The Internet is always changing. So, small business people need to stay on top of the latest changes so they can best connect with their customers.

“Advertising is always changing too,” said Rosalie Black, a sales manager with the Columbia Basin Herald. “With the power of digital media, you can attract the right customers and get customers involved.”

Black is one of the organizers of the Digimark Summit, a day-long conference for businesses wanting to learn the latest in online marketing techniques being held on Wednesday at Big Bend Community College.

Sponsored by the Grant County Economic Development Council (EDC) and Hagadone Digital — also owned by the Columbia Basin Herald’s parent company — the conference is bringing folks from as far away as Spokane and Pullman to learn the latest in on-ine marketing and advertising.

Scheduled to speak at this first annual conference are social media specialist Baltej Gill, Hagadone Digital Chief Operating Officer Doug Schust, and Google training specialist Frank Fausto.

“Hagadone Digital is a proven entity known worldwide,” said Allan Peterson, business development manager for the EDC. “We’re going to get world-class information locally.”

Black said the goal of the conference is not only to train people, but to give attendees the skills they need to train others and continually keep up with changes in advertising and marketing.

“Our hope is to create a community that can help each other to stay informed of changes,” she said.

Black said it is not too late to participate in the conference.

“We will still be taking registrations up until the day of the conference,” she said.

Peterson said the EDC hopes to make this digital marketing and advertising conference an annual affair.

“It’s tremendously useful [for a business] to have a website, and do social stuff, but there’s way more to it in a digital world,” Peterson said. “And we want to expose people to that.”

For information on the conference, or to register, contact Black at rblack@digimarksummit.com or 509-760-4557.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.