By: Dennis Schiraldi

We are very excited to announce our year-long sponsorship partners that are part of our benefactor program. These businesses will be routinely integrated into our content marketing strategy while bringing unparalleled value to our audience.

After the first of the year, we’re hosting monthly webinars on a variety of topics that will help with the professional development of marketing, business, sales and design professionals. These webinars will be sponsored and/or feature our benefactors.

In addition, we will incorporate them into our blog, weekly email (noting sponsored content), regular endorsement over social media, and provide these organizations with workshops and ongoing marketing consultation.

Traditional sponsorship packages are open to the public right after the first of the year. As for now, our call for speakers is open until December 31, 2016.

If you would like to present and/or run a workshop at DOYO Live 2017 on August 3, 2017 in Youngstown, Ohio, now is your opportunity to sign up to present. Sign up to speak at DOYO Live 2017 today!

We will make selections and announcements in the new year.

Furthermore, we have DOYO Live 2017 tickets being offered to our opt-in email list subscribers, loyal fans, and attendees from last year for $100. This will last until December 31, 2016. This is a $125 savings on full ticket prices. It’s early, we know, but we will fill out another line up of breakout session speakers and currently working on finalizing an agreement for our keynote speakers that are big names, similar to Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing World.

Sign up today and save on early bird ticket registration!

2017 DOYO Live Benefactors:

Now that you’ve learned about our progress for 2017’s much anticipated DOYO Live, it’s time to meet our benefactors. Welcome aboard!

Valley Digital Services

Valley Digital Services is a cooperative effort of WFMJ-TV and The Vindicator. As a family-owned and operated local company, they have helped local businesses for decades in the Valley by reaching local customers. Moving into the future of advertising, they remain an integral part of the community they serve and are here to help guide local businesses through the constantly changing digital landscape and offer services to access the local audience in a variety of new ways. Furthermore, they clearly communicate change and forward-thinking digital marketing strategies, which is exactly what we’re all about here at DOYO Live.

Valley Digital Services offers a full-suite of digital marketing options such as website design, search engine optimization, social media and reputation management, and targeted online advertising campaigns, including social media advertising. Working as a full-service Digital Team, they create custom marketing campaigns for our local clients and provide cross-platform marketing utilizing their television and print partners.

This benefactor delivers creative solutions to connect customers with brands anywhere, anytime. Although the tools have changed, they’ve helped businesses streamline their underlying message for 150 years. They create fresh quality content that keeps your business connected. You’ll learn how to tell the story of your business and distribute it to a variety of channels that include social media, email, newsletters, blogs, video, and text marketing.

Valley Digital Services has worked with some very recognizable businesses in the Mahoning Valley, including: America Makes, Ainsley Heating and Cooling, Charlie Staples BBQ, Western Reserve Joint Fire District, CHCC Companies and many others.

“I am very excited to have a media company now backing DOYO Live that can also provide marketing solutions for our audience,” said Dennis Schiraldi, founder of DOYO Live. “Valley Digital, WFMJ, and The Vindicator were very supportive of DOYO Live in 2016. I am very grateful for what they did for us heading into the conference last year. Between the coverage on Vindy Radio, WFMJ’s mid-day and morning shows, to Andrea DiPaolo, the digital marketing and sales coordinator for Valley Digital Services attending DOYO Live and many others from the Valley owned media entity.”

Dennis also mentioned that Valley Digital Services has an uncanny ability to pull together a comprehensive solution for digital marketing services. Digital marketing, TV, and print is extremely valuable to DOYO Live’s attendees, sponsors, and everyone involved with the conference. He is very pleased that Valley Digital Services is a benefactor sponsor of this major event, and that they can offer a turn-key marketing solution with digital and a comprehensive plan backed by the reach of WFMJ and The Vindicator.

JuggerBot3D

JuggerBot3D printing is start-up organization and brings the entrepreneurial spirit that we collectively share to the DOYO Live benefactor line-up. JB3D offers a high quality, cost effective 3D printer for manufacturers. Their top-notch quality 3D printers coupled with patented technology makes this start-up a player in additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping a player day one.

JuggerBot3D is a Youngstown Business Incubator portfolio company. CEO/Founder Dan Fernback is a local engineer who graduated from Boardman High School. He is also a Youngstown State University alumni.

Their printer is perfect for tool and die manufactures, aerospace, automotive, healthcare, and university research.

So, you might be scratching your head a bit. How does a start-up 3D printing company fit into the whole DOYO mix?

That’s actually a pretty simple explanation. First, DOYO is dedicated to the ongoing professional development of marketing, business, sales, and design professionals. Our benefactor program is a platform for businesses to educate their target audience on products and services. JB3D is a great fit since it’s developing a content marketing strategy through launching the Made For Engineers online community.

This online community promotes the ongoing education with thought leadership on the web. As they build critical mass via their blog, email newsletter, and LinkedIn, they will begin to leverage that audience to help them gain traction with their one-of-a-kind 3D printer. It’s not going to be an overnight success, but DOYO is also committed to the cause.

In 2017, DOYO Live is expanding our B2B learning tracks to attract more manufactures from an already deep-reach manufacturing market place in Northeast Ohio and Western PA. This will give Dan and Juggerbot3D an opportunity to expand their Made For Engineers community.

“I met Dan and Zac, both founders of JuggerBot two years ago. We had a couple of really awesome Saturday morning marketing workshops. There were donuts and coffee involved, which back then was their form of payment. On more than one occasion there were toddlers (mine of course) running around the YBI. Dan and Zac were students of the game from day one,” said Dennis Schiraldi. “Soaking it in, which it’s great to see this all come full circle because it was during those Saturday morning workshops that I began to help validate the idea of DOYO Live. They played a bigger role than they may think. I’m grateful they are coming along with us on the DOYO Live journey and know this will be a positive way for them to grow their business.”

Sokitnop Design

DOYO Live is not just a marketing conference—it also serves to help design professionals as well. That can mean a lot of things in today’s fast-paced landscape of digital marketing. Branding and design are still at core of marketing and Mike Pontikos, owner of Sokitnop Design, is the creative director of DOYO Live.

In addition to providing DOYO Live with his expertise on branding and design, he’s a marketing professor at Youngstown State University. Mike is doing remarkable things with helping to mold college students into professionals marketers. YSU Ads Club has grown to over 50+ students in a very short time, competes in national advertising competitions, and get exposure to real-world businesses.

If that’s not enough, Mr. Pontikos actually hosts his own event for YSU Ads Club students and marketing majors, known as the Ads Summit. This event was highlighted by a number of professionals including Dennis Schiraldi, giving  advice to students on having a career in marketing. This event will continue to grow under Mike’s direction.

Mike provided a considerable amount of design effort to the DOYO Live 2016 such promos, since Buster and Teo Face are his brainchild. We are very excited to see what Mike comes up with for DOYO Live in 2017.

“In year one of DOYO Live, Mike was 33% dedicated to the creative process of DOYO, 33% involved in the planning and logistics and 34% committed to keeping me sane aka back of the napkin therapist,” Dennis said. “I don’t know if DOYO would have existed without the help of Mike taking calls day and night leading up to the conference. Coming down the stretch there were a number of details, just like any event, that needed to be accounted for—he was there and I’m forever grateful to his contributions in year one, and I’m looking forward to what we can build in the future.”

R. Kashmiry & Associates, Inc.

Ray Kashmiry is a long-time business owner in Youngstown, Ohio. His company provides health benefit plans to individuals, as well as small and large group health insurance plans. Ray also will cover you on your next trip with travel insurance. In today’s complex world of healthcare insurance, the Affordable Care Act has created a lot of questions that Ray’s group can answer. [More about R. Kashmiry]

Ray and his team are committed to providing each client with unsurpassed service for your every benefit need. R. Kashmiry and Associates, Inc. believes in offering customized solutions to small and large companies as well as the self-employed and the Medicare eligible.

Founded in 1986, the corporate headquarters of R. Kashmiry and Associates, Inc. is located in Boardman, Ohio. They are well-respected leaders in the benefit design industry, working with multiple state associations and groups, as well as providing complete service to over 1,000 out-of-state clients.

“I love the fact that we’ve got Ray as a DOYO Live benefactor,” said Dennis. “I come out of healthcare and understand the landscape very well. As we establish different areas that are complementary to what we are doing at DOYO, I look at healthcare as being one of them. Last year, Mike Sevilla, MD, and Amanda Changuris from Highmark Health both presented at DOYO Live. They (including myself) all presented in the past at the Mayo Clinic Social Media Healthcare Summit. We are looking to expand our healthcare curriculum in 2017 and believe that R. Kashmiry & Associates, Inc. will help play a role. As a benefactor not only with expertise in the healthcare arena, but for any business that is attending DOYO and needs to get some advice on healthcare benefit plans.”

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