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Posts Tagged ‘email marketing’

PUSH to PLAY – A New Enterprise Initiative

Friday, February 18, 2011 @ 03:02 PM
Author: Nial

Congratulations!

Thank you for taking the first, and most critical step, in finding out how our PUSH to PLAY services can really help you take your new business forward over the months and years ahead.

PUSH to PLAY is a unique offer provided through PUSH Marketing Partners and Business Growth Specialists.  Our aim is very simple; we want to give you the very best chance of succeeding in your New Enterprise.

Through our strategic alliance with LloydsTSB Business Banking (East Anglian Region) we offer TWO main services that are designed to give you the knowledge and confidence to step into your new business and know that you are ready.

Pre-flight Check (CLICK HERE FOR BROCHURE)

It’s amazing how many people, who are about to start a new business, focus on the important elements like retail space, suppliers, finance, staffing, etc. but often overlook one of the most vital elements of every successful business – Sales & Marketing.

Making sure your business is financially viable from day one and ensuring that you are profitable IS the ‘bottom line’. To ensure you’re completely confident in this area you need a simple but practical view of how you will market and sell your products and services.  Everything else comes second to this.

If you’ve not yet written out at least a basic Marketing Plan, or thought how your Sales and Marketing function will work, then now is the time to address this.

With Pre-flight Check we’ll walk you through a very simple but highly effective process that will ensure you have everything you need in place before you let your new business fly.

“Many thanks… you helped me realised how important it is to focus on my approach to sales and marketing; it’s started paying off already”

Steve Wright, Photographer

Steve Wright - Photographer

Pre-flight Check is an audit and review service; we ask you to complete a simple questionnaire (and we can help you with this as well), then we review the results and give you a practical plan to follow.

Pre-flight Check -  Standard Audit Charge – £197.00 However…

LloydsTSB Business Customers can claim a New Enterprise Voucher for this and obtain the service at NO COST.

Please note; in every case we conduct a brief telephone consultation to ensure the suitability of this service and confirm your eligibility for this free New Enterprise Voucher.  Also, there are a limited number of vouchers available each month so please register your interest first and ensure your application is live.

“the Pre-flight Check really helped me understand what I needed to have in place to get my business started, now I feel so much more confident”

Christine Alexander Smith

Christine Alexander Smith - Development Specialist

Need Good Training?

The Second PUSH to PLAY Offer available is our Flying Start Enterprise Training events.  Here’s the BROCHURE just click.

These half-day workshop-based seminars will ensure you have everything you need to make your new business fly.  Learn the essentials basics that every smart owner/manager knows and give yourself the best opportunity at succeeding.

To find out about these training events please request details via the contact form below.  Just put ‘Flying Start’ in the request.

To register your interest in a Pre-Flight Check – call us now on 0843 289 4320 (lo-call rate), or register your interest in the form below and we’ll contact you back direct within 24 hrs.

Comments or questions are welcome.

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The New Enterprise Voucher Scheme is offered in collaboration with the

East Anglian Enterprise Initiative

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Common Marketing Mistakes

Monday, September 13, 2010 @ 04:09 PM
Author: Nial

Ten Common Mistakes that Business Owners Make with Their Marketing

I’ve written the ten most common marketing mistakes that I’ve come across over the years.  Small business owners everywhere are looking for better results from their online and offline marketing strategies.  It’s not all about government grants, business loans or having a budget the size of a Formula 1 racing team like Ferrari.  You just need the know-how and someone to show you the ropes.

 Ask yourself if you are making any of these and then make a plan to learn how to get it right:

  1. Gambling with resources rather than using proven strategies to make marketing produce a profit – understand the concept of Cost of Acquisition and apply some logic.  Learn how marketing works, get help to apply it, then build your business.
  2. Becoming obsessed with the look and feel of the brand at the expense of expressing what you are really offering – sell the benefits, not the packaging.  Remember to see your offering from the (potential) customer’s perspective, not your own.
  3. Having no marketing plan at all – even a basic plan, which is easier than you’d think, is better than nothing; come on, this is your business we’re talking about!
  4. Not testing results – the absolutely fundamental rule of marketing; test and measure everything you can.  It’s the only way to know if you’re succeeding or just wasting money.
  5. Trying to be too clever – don’t make your audience work for it; keep it simple and spell out your offering in a way that’s easy for people to understand.  There are no prizes for making your customers think you’re clever!
  6. Sloppy brand identity – there’s no excuse these days, everyone in business should have some pride about the way they present their business; make sure you look the business and you’ll gain the respect you’re seeking.
  7. Ignoring the power of new strategies and tactics like Social Media – remember the .com gold rush a few years back? It’s here again; harness Social Media now and you’ll see rewards for years to come.
  8. Confusing Price with Value – price is nothing more than a concept; value is what people are looking for; stop trying to price your services and create a value proposition instead.
  9. Ignoring the value in referrals; about 80% of the businesses I meet tell me that about 80% of their business comes from referrals and about 80% of business owners have no strategy for getting more referrals… spot the pattern?!
  10. Over estimating the short term and underestimating the long-term – smart business owners recognise that good marketing strategy is a longer-term plan.  Do the right things today and build on them month after month.  Don’t scramble about looking for a short-term fix and expect to create effective results.

If you really want to change things, if you want to stop gambling, scrambling and spinning your wheels on marketing that’s not producing, STOP, take some time to learn how to do it properly and then you can start to enjoy it…

PUSH Marketing Academy

Learn effective marketing for small business

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Learn how REAL marketing works

Friday, September 3, 2010 @ 09:09 PM
Author: Nial

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PUSH Marketing Academy; You’re Invited!

Monday, August 23, 2010 @ 02:08 PM
Author: Nial

The PUSH Marketing Academy

Your invite to enrol for the New Year Term 2011 – Starting 18th January

Welcome!

Over the number of years I’ve been helping business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs I’ve learned that good marketing really is at the core of every successful business. More than this though, I’ve also learned that the owners/managers of strong and profitable businesses actually understand what effective marketing is all about.

While some business owners prefer to pass this responsibility on to others, the smart people out there have a good handle on how marketing can bring paying customers to their door, over and over again.

The strange thing is that so many people think good marketing is a mystery, or some sort of black art, when the truth is that good marketing – one that puts money back into the business and at a profit – is really very simple when you know how. To start with you just need someone with experience to show you the ropes and give you a proper plan to follow.

So let me ask…

  • Do you sometimes feel confused about where to even start with your marketing?
  • Are you ever anxious about the fact that you’ve not got a solid marketing plan to follow?
  • Do you know what Return on Investment you’re currently getting from your marketing efforts?
  • Do you wish you could find a practical way to get your marketing revved up for the months ahead?
  • Are you conscious of the fact that SME marketing is changing rapidly… want to keep up?!

It’s in Your Hands!

At one of my Seminars earlier in the year I talked about the relationship between Business Knowledge, Focus and Systems. These three elements, when working in harmony, can create solid and profitable results. So you’ll understand me when I say that keeping up with your Business Knowledge is just like any other vocation; it’s something you need to invest in frequently to ensure you’re growing and moving forward. Remember; if you’re not growing, you’re falling behind the pack, as others (your competition) are forging ahead of you and probably stealing your customers.

I’ve also learned over time that trying to help improve the results of a business simply by adding some systems and a few new ideas rarely produces long-term gains. You see, the truth is that as business owners it’s all about us and our ability to grow, expand and APPLY our knowledge.

You don’t need to be a genius to be great at business, you don’t need to be the most creative, the most dynamic or even blessed with special entrepreneurial talents… you just need to UNDERSTAND how good business works and then focus on doing the right things every day!

This is why I’ve created a new learning platform for business owners who wanted to gain practical knowledge that can be applied, in real-time, to their business. Yes, there are lots of opportunities to gain academic knowledge about marketing; you can walk away with nice certificates for your office wall and lots of folders to fill the bottom draw of your filing cabinet. I wanted to create something far more tangible than this and ensure that this learning opportunity was married to practical action, so you can see the results of your learning in the bottom-line of your business. I wanted learning to go hand-in-hand with a real plan for action.

The PUSH Marketing Academy is a new way to get the knowledge that will help propel your business forward. It’s not online, home-study or distance learning, it’s up-front, ‘live and unplugged’ if you like!

You’ll have the chance to attend a Course Study Day each month with a small group of like-minded peers and learn direct from my personal experience and knowledge. The Course Programme is centred on current and relevant information that’s been assembled to ensure you can apply it to your micro or SME business in real-time and watch the new results you’re getting.

There are some great academic courses out there on marketing, and you can learn all about how the big names apply strategic and brand marketing to capture large chunks of the global market; but I’m guessing you’re much more interested in knowing how you’re going to improve your own business, without massive budgets or a marketing team the size of Saatchi & Saatchi!

You’ll also be learning a Programme that has been drawn from real-world experience of over two-decades (and not just my own). I’ve got my hands dirty and built a strong reputation on getting results where it counts. With the greatest of respect, there are some self-professed business tutors and coaches out there who have never run a business in their lives, let alone worked with (hundreds) of others.

It’s a Roll Call!

For the Winter Term I’m looking for just 15 people who are really serious about expanding their business knowledge and want to put this to good use and see this produce better results for their business.

The Programme is drawn from over 22 years of my personal business experience and focuses on the strategy and tactics that I know actually work. If you’re new to business (or even just new to marketing) it will help you cut your learning curve down considerably – not to mention potentially saving you massive amounts of money wasted on marketing that just doesn’t work.

As this is a live Programme you’ll be exposed to the very latest cutting-edge marketing tactics that capitalise on the recent significant advances in technology; all helping to make your life easier and your business simpler. You’ll find out just how much marketing has changed in the past two years and why so many businesses today are seeing diminishing results from their old-style campaigns.

The Course lasts four months and you’ll attend a One-Day Group Study Session each month, learning from a specially tailored training Programme that’s been designed and recently updated to ensure the content is fresh, relevant and applicable. You’ll be following a plan and have study material to follow as you go along so you can park your learning and build upon this progressively.

You’ll also have 1-2-1 Tutor Time with me personally to make sure you’re keeping on track and advancing your learning, as well as applying it in your business each week. There will be informal Peer Group Meetings too where you can share ideas and experiences along the way with your fellow students, helping you to even better understand and apply this new knowledge.

This Course Programme includes:

  • Building & Communicating a Business Proposition
  • How to Identify your Current Marketing Assets
  • Effective Brand Creation & Management
  • How to ‘Buy’ more customers and make a Profit
  • Creating Real Leverage in Your Marketing Strategy
  • The Fundamentals of Permission-Based Marketing
  • Setting your Marketing Plan & Campaign Schedules
  • Creating & Managing Multiple Marketing Channels
  • How to Integrate your Marketing and Sales Strategies
  • Tactics for Social Media – A New Wealth of Opportunity
  • Setting Realistic Marketing Budgets and Measuring ROI
  • How to Write Killer Marketing Copy like a Professional
  • Effective PR that you can do for Yourself
  • Working in Collaboration with Others – the Power of Joint-Venture

PUSH Marketing Academy Venue

… a fitting location; Drayton Old Lodge, home to our Academy!

Is this for you?!

You don’t have to be a post-graduate or possess any special academic skills to join this Programme; a modest working knowledge of verbal and written English is all that you require… and a serious thirst to learn about practical marketing.

I’ll walk you through the essential basics first, then introduce you to the exciting stuff and show you how other businesses are adopting new ways to successfully market their products and services. You’ll learn what’s most current in the world of marketing, not re-hashed material that was out of date ten years ago!

Above all, this is a chance to really get some focus on your business from a marketing perspective; and I’m firmly of the opinion that if you’ve got a good handle on your marketing you’re more than half-way on the road to business success.

There will be only 15 places available for this next Term and I want you to have all the information you need to decide if this is right for you.  So I’d like to encourage you now to request the full information pack to find out more (you’re not making any commitment at this stage).

To get this Prospectus Information, all you need to do is submit your name and email address below; this will ONLY be used by PUSH Marketing and not passed on to any third parties and you can unsubscribe at any time.  Please note; the Prospectus is not on general release but on request only.

So… I’m going to leave you with a few very straight-forward questions that I think will help you decide if you’d like to be on this Programme:

  1. How serious are you about ‘growing’ your business?  If you’re happy with the way things are and really don’t think you can change your results then this Programme is clearly not for you.  If you know things could be better, then read on…
  2. Do you feel that your knowledge of practical marketing may be lacking or perhaps just a little bit out of date?  And more importantly, do you want to DO something about it now?
  3. Do you find that you learn best when you’ve got a proper tutor guiding you through structured lesson plans, with practical exercises and follow-up work to complete?
  4. Would you value the benefit of studying alongside like-minded individuals who also want to gain an advantage in their business?  Do you like learning in small groups?
  5. Have you ever felt that you’ve previously missed out on a more formal academic business education but never really found a programme that makes sense in terms of time and money invested?
  6. If you could learn new ways to bring new customers and clients to your business and all this took was some knowledge, your focus and some support, would you go ahead?
  7. Are you ready to step up a gear, demonstrate your business commitment by investing in yourself and learning new skills that will repay you over and over again..?

If my message above has stirred something deep inside you and if you’re curious to find out more, I’m offering you a chance to get the new Academy Prospectus and apply for a place on the next term of this year.

Just email apply@pushmarketingacademy.co.uk and mention where you found out about the Academy; I’ll send you a PDF Prospectus by return.

If you just want to talk over your thoughts or ask me any questions, I’m here – unlike some, I don’t hide behind my website!  Pick up the phone and call me for some personal time and attention – 0844 357 0230

I very much hope you’ll take the next step on your journey of learning and would love to welcome you to the PUSH Marketing Academy this year.

Sincerely

Nial Adams

Academy Principal Tutor

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Find out how every business can harness the power of EFFECTIVE Email Marketing… today!

A 60-minute presentation that lifts the lid and shows you how you can steal the advantage!

For too long email marketing has been ineffective and hard to measure accurately.  Many businesses still see email as a way to just stay in touch; however, significant new advances in email marketing technology have changed all this.  The smart business owners and managers are using this already, are you?!

“Since we’ve been using the new system we’re getting results that are 100-200% better than anything before”

Email marketing is still rated as the most cost-effective way to get your message right under the nose of your target audience.  Even more than this, it can deliver a number of ways to accelerate your business.

Nial Adams, acclaimed marketing specialist and public speaker will be delivering this presentation and sharing his knowledge with you.

“This guy knows what he’s talking about and shares everything!” – Previous Seminar Delegate

Attend this presentation and find out how properly managed Email Marketing can help you:

  • Sell more and increase your profit margins
  • Reduce waste in your current marketing
  • Refine and grow your prospect/client data
  • Help you find out what your customers actually want
  • Build your client community and relationships
  • Ensure email is integrated with your other marketing

Email Marketing has been around for years and for many the perception is that it simply doesn’t generate results and can alienate potential customers.  New ways of managing and distributing your email campaigns can significantly increase the results you get and help you build on this month after month.  Best of all, you can be up and running, in control, with your new email campaigns in a matter of days, and with low start-up costs.

People tell us:

“I don’t want people to see us as spammers”

“How can I effectively measure my results?”

“I don’t know enough about it to be confident”

In this fast-paced sixty-minute presentation you’ll find out how the new PUSH Email Marketing System is generating controllable results, today, that significantly beat the competition.

You will see a live demonstration of how powerful systems can help you run a campaign in the morning and start making sales in the afternoon.  You’ll also find out why most businesses that use email marketing currently are actually damaging their brand, losing out on simple ways to increase results and letting their profits end up in the pockets of their competition.

TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT PLEASE CALL - 0843 289 1590

OR EMAIL – briefing@pushemailmarketing.co.uk

Book Your Seat(s) Below.

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Forget getting customers to buy from you…

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 @ 01:06 PM
Author: Nial

…ask them to design your product as well!

Times have certainly changed; there’s a new cool breeze blowing through marketing and it’s sweeping away the old guard.  People are finding better ways to do things and harnessing the immense power of technology that every business – and yes, that includes YOU! – have at our very fingertips, right now.

You’ve possibly heard about the revolution that’s known as Permission-Based Marketing.  As far back as 1999 Seth Godin and his team identified the fact that new ways of thinking about marketing could turn the traditional method of ‘spray and pray’ on it’s head. Seth explained that we could ‘turn strangers in to friends and friends into customers’.

Welcome to a new dawn in the story of marketing..!

Despite the fact that this idea has been about for over ten years, I still come across people who refuse to accept there could just be a better way to spend their marketing budget.  They continue to flog the proverbial dead horse by sending out marketing that is dull, completely irrelevant and to people who really have no interest in how many sheets of paper a photocopier can spit out in a minute.

Only a year or so ago I met someone who suggested the idea of using facebook for marketing was going to damage their prestige brand and, after all, facebook was just for kids!  Sadly this mediaeval perspective still exists in some dark corners today.  Thankfully other companies, the smart ones, are making hay while others sleep.

I’ve recently read that Papa John’s, the American pizza company, is using facebook to recruit fans and then asking them to come up with a winning pizza recipe! Talk about engage with your target market!  This stroke of genius is simple, fast and has already caught the attention of our pizza-loving friends.  Over 6,500 people entered the Papa’s Speciality Pizza Challenge and the facebook application has been loaded over 80,000 times.

Oh, and I think they’ve sold a few more pizzas too!

Now, your business may not be operating on the same scale as Papa John’s but there’s a clear and simple lesson to be learned here; engage your audience and find out what they really want and make them feel part of your team. 

The fatal flaw that can be found in so many businesses is that they’re designing products and services they like the idea of and want to sell; instead they should be asking the customers what they actually want and create it for them.

So I’ll leave you with a few challenging questions:

  • How do you engage with your target customers to find out what they really want?
  • How do you know that what you’re selling today meets the needs and desires of others?
  • What could you do, within the next fourteen days, to turn your business into a customer magnet?

And… What’s your combination for that killer pizza on a Saturday night?!

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Does email marketing really work?!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 @ 12:06 PM
Author: Nial

Email Marketing – Scourge or Saviour?! 

Today email has changed the face of modern communications.  We have the ability not only to open and read our emails at our desk or on our laptop but with mobile technology, our email accounts (and we’re sure to have more than one) can live in our pockets.  Smartphones and netbooks mean we can take our email wherever we go. And who knows what the new iPad from Apple will do for it!

So how has all this affected the power of email marketing?  Well, firstly there has been a significant change in the way smart marketers are using email.  Sadly, there will always be the spammers, happy to spew out millions of emails a week with completely non-relevant subjects to every possible address on the planet.  However, new technology and greater access to it now allows everyone the opportunity to harness email as it should be used, following that well-worn marketing mantra of Right Message – Right Person – Right Time. 

With a stronger move towards the powerful concept of Permission-Based Marketing, good marketers out there are looking for ways to get appropriate messages in front of potentially interested customers.  More than this, we can learn about our customers too.

Email marketing, used properly, can become a cornerstone of a solid marketing strategy.  It can be used to attract new customers, as well as maintain effective contact with existing ones.  It allows us to deliver the right message in a timely way and, most importantly, to the right individual.

Other reasons why email marketing is still among the top tools for SMEs include:

Speed; there really is no other way (with the exception of SMS Marketing perhaps) of getting a campaign running faster.  You can release a campaign in the morning and start making sales in the afternoon.  You also get very fast (real-time) statistics that allow you to fine-tune your marketing campaign as you go.

Split-testing; I can’t believe there are still people out there who continue to run the same adverts week after week, month after month, with no plan to test them.  This really is CRITICAL and split testing is the easiest way to achieve this.  If you’re not aware of how to do this, FIND OUT and stop wasting your money.

Return on Investment; because email marketing can be so much cheaper than other forms of marketing, if you USE IT PROPERLY, you’ll see an amazing ROI.  It’s no longer about ‘spray and pray’ it’s all about getting the mix right.

So what is the magic mix?  Well, I’m going to give the game away at my next seminar on email marketing but here’s a sneak preview of the elements that I’ve found have a massive impact on results:

Get good data – This really is rule number 1.  You will want to collect and source data in the right way and if you’re buying/renting data then use good suppliers, there are many out there.

Use a good email system – Forget about trying to manage your emails through standard applications like your Outlook account, you’re wasting your time and money.  A proper email marketing tool will give you amazing power and control over your campaigns and help you to build progressively.  Try this one!

Know how to play the game – Understand how email marketing works and what the ‘rules’ are.  These are really quite simple (when you know them!) and will help you double, treble or more your campaign results.

Get strategic as well as tactical – Ensure that you build your email marketing into your overall sales and marketing plan.  It will never work effectively for you if you just do it occasionally and with little thought or attention.

And lastly…

Always remember to use email to appropriately – It will help you to build your community and maintain contact with it. Stick to the guidelines and you’ll ensure your emails are seen as positive communication, not intrusive and annoying.

STOP PRESS: Watch this space… PUSH Marketing Partners will be running a competition and giving away 1 License for their new PUSH Email Marketing System and 1 years worth of free support and training, worth £1480..!

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“Make Your Marketing Work!”

Monday, April 12, 2010 @ 08:04 PM
Author: Nial

Find out how to turn up the volume on your marketing and start getting the results you want!

You’re invited to our next Marketing Briefing…

21st  June 2010

Holliday Inn – Norwich Airport

Registration 9am – Presentation 9:30-12:00pm

Limited Seats for this invitation-only event

Your Complimentary Ticket – [Worth £97]

At this morning event you will discover how effective marketing can be applied to your business or organisation to generate profitable and tangible results, fast – no matter what size of business, sector or level of experience. 

Presented by acclaimed marketing and business growth specialist – Nial Adams – you’ll learn about the latest developments in strategies and tactics that make marketing sense and create a positive Return on Investment.

A shocking fact:  The majority of businesses (of all types and sizes) have no marketing plan, no clear marketing strategy and no idea of what their return on investment is.  For many marketing is a confusing subject and this lack of understanding means many businesses are losing out on profits.

You’ll learn about:

  • Why Permission-based marketing is replacing the traditional ‘spray and pray’ approach
  • How you can multiply your results from practical marketing actions and increase profits
  • The difference between selling and getting new customers to buy from you
  • The Number 1 golden rule in marketing that most ‘experts’ don’t want you to know

And..

  • How the new ‘PUSH Marketing’ system can help you use the most appropriate methods for your business and start generating the results your business needs.

Your seat for this event has been kindly sponsored and tickets are available by invitation only.

Who Is This Seminar Event For?

  • Owners of Small & Medium Size Businesses, Organisations and Charities
  • Directors and Senior Managers responsible for marketing results
  • Those thinking seriously about starting a new business
  • Everyone who realises that marketing is essential to their business

Who is Nial Adams?

A seasoned business professional who had worked in Europe and the US, Nial has gained a reputation for clear, real-world, strategies, and proven his methods work, time and again.

“Nial’s gig on marketing taught me more in that presentation than I have learned for some time! I would have gladly paid £100 plus for that input. I followed his advice, picked up the phone the next day and secured £1000 worth of business from existing customers.”

Steve Gaskin
Right Angled CSI
www.csinorwich.com

“Nial is what I regard as the Marketer’s Marketer, a true expert in his field, Nial’s insight and easy-to-use strategies have enabled my business to make a quantum leap in results. Nial is the person for anyone looking for spectacular results. Do whatever it takes to get this guy!”

Hakan Volkan
Chairman – Volkan & Associates

If you are serious about your marketing, come and join us.  To find out more and book tickets please call the booking hotline on 0843 289 4082 and leave your name and contact details today – we’ll contact you to confirm your reserved seats.  Or email your details to events@makemarketingwork.co.uk and quote this event.

PLEASE NOTE: Our previous event was oversubscribed, so booking is essential!

The Details -

WHEN: Monday 21st June 2010

WHERE: The Holiday Inn, Norwich Airport

START: Registration & Coffee: 9.00-9.30am

PRESENTATION: Seminar: 9.30am – 12.00pm

COST: Your seat is complimentary (standard ticket £97)

We look forward to inviting you to attend this unique presentation!

Sponsors for this event:

 

PUSH Marketing Partners

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