Florida Direct Marketing Association (FDMA) Launches Search Engine and Email Marketing Seminars February 28 and March 21 in Ft. Lauderdale

The Florida Direct Marketing Association announces the launch of a direct marketing professional education initiative for 2007 and beyond. The regional trade association for Florida-based direct marketers has developed a series of seminars on various direct marketing disciplines that will be offered throughout 2007 in sunny south Florida. The first two events focus on the newest direct marketing channel, online marketing, and are scheduled to take place at the Westin Hotel Ft. Lauderdale. Organic Search Optimization - Basics to Advanced will be held on Wednesday February 28, 2007 and Email Marketing Boot Camp is scheduled for Wednesday March 21, 2007.

"We're thrilled to expand our programming to include in-depth professional development in the direct marketing arena, and to bring such educational opportunities specifically to the south Florida region at a price affordable to a wide range of companies," said Keith Fletcher, FDMA President. "Although many associations, including the national Direct Marketing Association (DMA), offer direct marketing professional education, not many events are held in our area on a regular basis. Our new seminar initiative not only delivers added benefits to current members, it also meets the direct marketing educational needs of the south Florida business community and offers an attractive educational program destination for marketers from other areas of the country."

At price points under $500 for a full-day seminar, the FDMA's professional education seminars cost only a fraction of what most full-day direct marketing educational events are priced at. "Access to professional, proven instructors attracted to our locale allows us to bring formal instruction to companies and individuals who otherwise couldn't afford it," added Fletcher. The organization plans to offer at least four direct marketing educational sessions in 2007 beginning with a series of two online direct marketing seminars: Organic Search Optimization - Basics to Advanced and Email Marketing Boot Camp in February and March respectively. (Additional sessions of each seminar may be scheduled should demand require it). Ongoing topics and months will be determined and announced as they are finalized.

With use of the Internet yet to peak, search engine marketing is a topic many advertisers are clamoring for more information on, and that's exactly the need Joe Laratro set out to meet when he founded Tandem Interactive, a firm offering search engine marketing training, education, and consulting. Mr. Laratro is a highly regarded search marketing expert and is an active speaker at industry events including Webmaster World and Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conferences. He frequently moderates numerous sessions at the Webmaster World Search Conferences across the nation and has also been quoted in articles in Internet Retailer, eMarketer, DMNews, eWeek, MediaPost, and Target Marketing. Tandem Interactive was also a collaborator in designing the DMA's Search Engine Marketing Certification Program, so Joe was a natural choice for the FDMA seminar.

Organic Search Optimization - Basics to Advanced is a one-day intensive on the how-to's of non-paid search engine optimization, from basic to advanced. The seminar will begin with the basics of Search and conclude with advanced content generation. It will cover page optimization, Web site architecture optimization, linking strategies, blogs, local search, second-generation submission techniques, and poor techniques (AKA spam). As an added bonus two site clinic sessions will be held. During these clinics, audience members will volunteer their Web sites for reviews based on the topics covered. Registration will be limited to fifty attendees in order to keep sessions as informative and interactive as possible.

An even more conversational online marketing channel than search is email, so the FDMA will also offer an Email Marketing Boot Camp taught by veteran email marketing educator Karen Talavera of Synchronicity Marketing. This one-day seminar is an ideal immersion into permission email marketing, covering the essentials from evolving legislative regulations to message design to campaign deployment, as well as advanced tactics such as testing and dialogue marketing. Numerous real-life email marketing messages will be showcased and analyzed. Having designed and taught the DMA's email marketing seminars for nearly the past decade, Talavera is an experienced email and integrated marketing expert who moved her consulting business to south Florida two years ago. "Since I began teaching email marketing in the late 1990's I've been continually amazed by the growing appetite for formal instruction. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to bring email marketing education to my local community," said Talavera.

Each of the first two FDMA seminars will run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Westin Hotel, Ft. Lauderdale. Cost is $399 for members, $499 for non-members with an early registration discount of $50. Organic Search Optimization - Basics to Advanced will be held Wednesday February 28 and registration is limited to the first 50 individuals (additional dates may also be offered). Email Marketing Boot Camp is scheduled for Wednesday March 21; registration is limited to 75. Online registration is available at FDMA.org.

About the Florida Direct Marketing Association (FDMA)
The FDMA has over 200 members, including catalogers, Internet retailers, financial services providers, publishers, book and music clubs and retail stores. "Direct marketing" is the art and science of sending one-to-one promotional messages directly to consumers, which allows marketers to measure response rates and campaign effectiveness. FDMA regular monthly luncheons are held on the third Thursday of each month at the Westin hotel in Fort Lauderdale. New members attend their first luncheon for free. Special membership rates are available for non-profit organizations as well. For additional information, please contact Keith Fletcher, FDMA President, at 786-357-3275 or visit www.fdma.org.

About Synchronicity Marketing
Synchronicity Marketing™ is a consulting firm specializing in integrated and email marketing strategy and education. Its mission is improving marketing effectiveness and increasing return-on-investment by harmoniously synchronizing individual marketing activities into holistic programs which result in a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The company offers a variety of marketing planning and campaign development services as well as integrated and email marketing program design, expertise, and analysis.

Founded and led by Karen Talavera, a 20-year direct marketing veteran and national Direct Marketing Association (DMA) seminar instructor for the past decade, Synchronicity also offers customized email marketing workshops, and Talavera frequently teaches these and speaks on related topics throughout the country. Located in Lake Worth Florida, Synchronicity Marketing is a member of the Florida Direct Marketing Association and the Email Experience Council. For more information call 561-964-7237 or visit www.synchronicitymarketing.com.

About Tandem Interactive
Founded in 2006 by Joe Laratro, Tandem Interactive's mission is to work together with clients for Web site success through online marketing strategies that will drive bottom line results. These strategies include local search marketing, pay-per-call lead generation services, corporate podcasting, blogging, analytics, conversion consulting, usability consulting, search engine marketing training and education, and search engine marketing department formation and development.

Joe Laratro is a recognized and leading expert in the Search Engine Marketing Industry. For more than 6 years, he served as the Chief Technology Officer at MoreVisibility, one of the world's largest and most experienced Search Engine Marketing and Optimization firms. He joined the Company in 2000, bringing over 11 years of Computer and Internet-related experience. Under his technology leadership, MoreVisibility quickly expanded and was named to the INC 500 list in 2005 and 2006 as one of the fastest growing privately held firms. As one of the first 100 certified Google AdWords Professionals, a contributor to the founding of the Yahoo! Strategic Provider Program, and a certified Yahoo! Strategic Provider Ambassador Mr. Laratro continues to prove that he is on the cutting edge of industry developments. In March of 2006, he was invited, as one of only twenty professionals, to sit on the MSN adCenter Search Council. For more information call (954) 822-7700.