Gildenberg will keynote the opening general session of the NARMS Conference on Sunday afternoon, April 5. As MVI’s Chief Knowledge Officer since 2004, Gildenberg oversees MVI’s Analysis and Insight efforts and is often cited as a global expert in retail insight by leading business publications and electronic media worldwide.

The annual NARMS spring conference is a gathering point for hundreds of retailers, manufacturers, retail support service specialists and associate member service personnel.
NARMS is also widely known for its professional retail job recruitment web-hosting via the JobBank database and other on-line tools, including The Recruiter, Career Connection and on-line training modules.

NARMS International’s 506-member companies perform over $3 billion in merchandising services, sales marketing, event marketing, demonstration and other retail services annually. The international trade association promotes and establishes industry standards and provides critical industry research and educational information about the industry with member companies servicing such classes of trade as: grocery, drug, mass, department, home & building centers, computer & office supply, electronic, value retailers, specialty and convenience retailers.

Additional information about NARMS and retail industry positions are available at www.narms.com with details to follow about the 2009 NARMS Spring Conference & Exposition at The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO on April 4-7.

Contact:
Ken McKenzie, Vice President
National Association for Retail Marketing Services
2417 Post Road #A
Stevens Point, WI 54481
Phone: 1 888 52 NARMS
kmckenzie@narms.com

The report detailed the benefits of being a Mystery Shopper.  One of the primary benefits is the flexible scheduale, which appeals to stay at home parents looking for a part time career.  ABC directed interested individuals to use NARMS website and jobbank listings as a safe way to find legitimate positions.  For most work from home or stay at home parents, the search for jobs such as a Mystery Shopper is often frustrating when looking on other job boards.  With NARMS, job seekers get to avoid filtering out advertisements and illegitimate scams which flood other job boards.  NARMS member’s can be confident their listing is professional, trust worthy, and attractive to job seekers.

Currently, NARMS website provides an excellent listing of member’s mystery shopping jobs.  The national exposure to the website will benefit the members by attracting more diverse job seekers.  NARMS members should take this opportunity to link back to the job board and make updates as traffic increases to the website.  

There is very little rest for the NARMS staff, Board of Directors and Divisional Committees as they converge in the next month or two for their annual mid-calendar year planning sessions. At the very top of each agenda will be development of new and exciting educational and networking opportunities for those traveling to Colorado next April.

Several new ideas are making the rounds including the inclusion of a Member Services Expo, which would be a B-to-B meeting venue for members and potential customers. The Expo would be accompanied by some form of digital support on www.narms.com. The committees and the board will give this idea much consideration to see if it is feasible and viable for the organization.

Another idea being kicked about is the inclusion of a Virtual Trade Show in support of the committed 2009 Spring Conference Exhibitors. The exhibiting companies will be eligible to participate in a graphically-rich web page on www.narms.com. Each company will be able to offer a video, link to their website or a static graphic describing the services available. The Virtual Trade Show will run on the NARMS website from January through April and will only be offered to those who are also exhibiting in Colorado Springs. The thought here is that the more than 2 million views per month will entice exhibitors to commit to the show earlier in order to reap the benefits in the months leading up to the show.

And speaking of support, many members and others have already committed to a 2009 Spring Conference sponsorship. The following companies have already committed to being a sponsor and thus will have their names appear in the July edition of the NARMS TODAY and in the Spring Conference Sponsorship Brochure that will be distributed later this summer: Synergy Systems, NaturalInsight, Notable Impressions, Mosaic, Prism, Lawrence Merchandising, bds marketing, Nintendo, and Crossmark. If you are interested in joining this list, contact Dan Borschke right away so you can be included in the print pieces. You can choose to not be billed until January 2009 or be billed immediately.

With all this activity, you can see that the leadership at NARMS is always on the job for you. As always, your ideas and support are always welcome. Contact NARMS HQ or a member of your Divisional Committee with your thoughts and actively participate in the process.

Don Koller, President of Lawrence Merchandising and Chair of NARMS International Board of Directors in making the appointment reflected on how far NARMS has evolved over the 13 years of existence as an association.

“Jim will be the first Manufacturer representative to Chair the Spring Conference and is just one more action taken by NARMS to build a total community of not only retail service companies but a membership that encompasses manufacturers, retailers and associate companies that see diverse value in an association that can attract all elements of the retail industry. We are proud of Jim’s involvement in NARMS and we look forward to his insights and leadership in making the 2009 Conference even more successful than its predecessors,” says Koller.

Kim Kiner, Vice President of Business Development for Crossmark has accepted the role as Vice Chair for the 2009 Conference and will become the Chair of the 2010 NARMS Spring Conference scheduled for April 17-20 at the Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

NARMS’ 501 member companies perform well over $3 billion in merchandising services, sales marketing, event marketing, demonstration and other retail services annually. The association promotes and establishes industry standards and provides critical industry research and educational information about the industry with member companies servicing such classes of trade as: grocery, drug, mass, department, home & building centers, computer and office supply, electronic, value retailers, specialty and convenience retailers. Additional NARMS information is available at www.narms.com.

For information on the 14th annual NARMS Conference, Annual Meeting and Expostion in Colorado Springs, CO April 4-7, 2009, visit the conference center.

Blaskey then demonstrated ow to filter through a search on The Recruiter, a database of reps, post a job on The Recruiter.

Wilhelm then asked each to pair with someone they didn’t know and “network” with various questions such as your name, what you need, etc. After a bit of conversation, she brought the group back and asked the listener to spend a minute with feedback to solve their needs as a demonstration of the verisimilitude of in-person networking to computer-based networking.

Social media, according to Wilhelm, is a conversation. 175,000 new blogs are created every day. 50% of computer users have a Facebook account, lots more blog. People don’t trust ads, but they do trust recommendations from their friends. Stats show that there is an 80% chance that you will buy or use the product the next time they are given the opportunity.

MarketExperiments.com did a study recently did a study where they compared a Google AdWords campaign and an employee who blogged, worked the social networks, etc. and the blogging returned a 1427% return ROI.

Many of the participants had blogs but mostly for internal use to keep employees and managers in the loop.

Wilhelm encouraged the participants to heck out blogs that they are interested in and get to know the people who write, to join the conversation… but, stay on topic and contribute insight that move the conversation forward.

Wilhelm then talked about bulletin boards and how to effectively contribute to them. She suggested that each participant also set up a Google alerts on their name, company and anything in the industry they wish to track. She stressed it was important that you contribute to a conversation and NOT self-promote or sell. Through becoming part of the conversation, the audience will see you as an expert and seek you out.

Wilhelm also talked about the power of YouTube. Her son does a Lego video blog.

She also talked about Digg, del.icious.us, MySpace, Facebook and various other social networks. She demonstrated a couple of companies that had successful MySpace and Facebook campaigns. Among these successes were Disney and Target. What made them successful Wilhelm says, is that the campaigns were conversations, not “corporate-speak.” It was about the relationship selling the brand, not SALES selling product.

LinkedIN is another social network Wilhelm showcased, saying that most Fortune 500 executives have a LinkedIN account, with an average salary of $108,000. Another site is Squidoo, which sets up lens that allow you to be an expert in a field.

Wilhelm wrapped up with a campaign plan that included:
- Create a blog Blog weekly and comment on other blogs
- Create a Squidoo lens and add 3-5 articles on your business
- Social bookmark your home page
- Create a Facebook page and group
- Create and publicize 3-5 videos and social bookmark the videos.

Audio Text

Rita Wilhelm is the founder and CEO of SnapMonkey, a networking site builder. Referenced sites include: Slideshare, DogWalkBlog, FaceBook, MarketingExperiments.com, Volition.com, Google Alerts, LegoAdventures.com, Digg,
del.icio.us, MySpace.com, LinkedIN, Squidoo