Being a sales and marketing bod often involves going to a lot of trade shows. This week’s was the TFM&A (Technology For Marketing and Advertising) at Earls Court 2.

A very interesting day it was too. I was particularly impressed with Danny Meadows-Klue, from Digital Strategy Consulting and his talk on “Marketing to the Facebook Generation”. While there was an element of preaching to the converted about his talk, he raised a number of interesting points about the flow of traditional marketing spend to the internet and how best to manage this change.

One point that he made which really resonated was the current underuse of online channels by many companies of all sizes. It was only a small part of the talk, but was particularly interesting to someone who devotes a lot of time and energy trying to convince companies to devote a larger chunk of their marketing spend to the web.

His point was that, for most companies that now advertise online, this media channel would be the least likely to suffer cutbacks in the coming squeeze. The strange thing is that many companies are yet to even dip their toes in online marketing!

(This seems like a convenient point at which to crowbar in the fact that we are now getting some coverage in the print media - check out my internet marketing column in next Tuesday’s Brighton & Hove Argus - it’ll be in the Business Section and called “The Bottom Line”)

Danny gave some examples of great online marketing campaigns - the two which come to mind are Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and STA’s great travel blogs, which are offered to anyone who purchases a ticket from the company. These campaigns show how a little thought goes a long way with online marketing. The Dove campaign shot from inbox to inbox around the world in record time. STA, on the other hand, is a grower. Both are examples of fantastic social media (or web 2.0) marketing.

Having worked online for a couple of years now, it is amazing to see how seriously people are now taking our field. Even four years ago, internet marketers were viewed strangely by the traditional marketing world, kind of like a geeky subculture. Now, everyone is scrambling to get onboard. Early adopters have seen fantastic returns in both brand perception (one of the cornerstones of Danny’s talk) and - this is particularly true of SEO users - sales.

Next stop SES on the 22nd!