Posted by: Tennessee Digital Marketing Association (TDMA)
from: Tennessee Digital Marketing Association Launches in Nashville with Unique Shared Learning Model
MURFREESBORO, TENN.–Sept. 13, 2023— Nearly half (47%) of businesses don’t have a digital marketing strategy, according to a Smart Insights report published last month. Yet Gartner predicts that within less than two years, marketers will use artificial intelligence to shift 75% of their staff’s operations from production to more strategic activities. Technology, tools and employer expectations are evolving rapidly, and it’s extremely difficult for most marketers to keep up. A new professional association, the Tennessee Digital Marketing Association (TDMA), launched this month with the focus on helping local marketing professionals grow their digital marketing skills by helping them learn in a judgement-free zone. Fueled by a peer mentoring model, TDMA is designed to give marketers a low-cost place to learn and experiment without fear while being supported by other marketers and local experts.
“Marketing has evolved incredibly fast, and the volume of skills that marketers are expected to master is daunting. The explosion in disruptive artificial intelligence tools, a reduced ability to target audiences with online advertising due to privacy changes and the 2024 loss of third-party cookies, major shifts in SEO and media relations… lately, every time we master one tool or tactic, it changes or another takes its place. It’s a tough environment with high client and employer expectations,” says TDMA Founder & CEO Carrie Morgan, a two-time award-winning digital marketing author and keyword analyst expert.
Morgan equates the TDMA mission to a combination of peer mentoring and co-working, where members of the TDMA Learning Lab are working on their own projects within a single marketing discipline, such as social media engagement or AI tools, with local experts standing by to coach and advise. Fueled by discussion, brainstorming and sharing, the environment stimulates learning, creativity and collaboration.
For years, Morgan had looked for an association that was part mastermind group, part think tank and part peer mentoring, where marketing professionals could truly work together. She couldn’t find it, and the TDMA was born.
“By lifting each other, we lift the community,” she says.
“My goal is to start something that really resonates with marketing professionals, so we can keep filling gaps and building expertise, helping each other improve instead of fearing competition. This is essential for marketers concerned with remaining relevant through these changes. It’s also beneficial to local businesses by continually strengthening the pool of available talent in the area.”
The TDMA is launching with a strong calendar of events. Its first event on Thursday, October 12 will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, 41 Peabody St., for $20 a ticket. Called “Must-Know AI Tools & Tactics for Marketing Professionals,” the lab will dive into how marketers are using AI, what is working and not working, how it’s impacting productivity, and what marketers should be using and testing, followed by hands-on work to explore a few popular AI tools. The November “Key Elements of Building a Solid Reputation Online” lab will be held Thursday, November 16 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., which is also $20 a ticket, and December’s event is “Secrets to Improving Engagement on Social Media.” Members can attend events for free.
Starting with one event per month in Nashville, the organization hopes to quickly add a second monthly event in Nashville or Murfreesboro.
To learn more about the TDMA and view upcoming events, visit https://thetdma.com/. Those interested in participating in a panel or sponsorship should reach out to Carrie Morgan at (602) 478-9919 or hello@thetdma.com.
About the TDMA
The Tennessee Digital Marketing Association (TNDMA) provides local marketing professionals with a nontraditional community platform for growth, education and building relationships. With a strong focus on collaboration and continuous learning, it helps members develop their digital marketing skills and expand their professional network through hands-on peer mentoring and coaching. TDMA logo donated by Snapshot Interactive.
About Carrie Morgan
Founder of the TDMA, Carrie Morgan is a deeply experienced marketing professional with more than 30 years of agency, corporate and nonprofit experience. Her core competencies include keyword analysis, on-page search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing and market positioning. She’s a keyword analyst consultant, and the two-time award-winning author of Above The Noise: Creating Trust, Value & Reputation Online Using Basic Digital PR (Motivational Press, 2016) and a Google Women TechMakers Ambassador. She resides in Murfreesboro, TN.
submitted by: Carrie Morgan