KeyJam.net

Those of you that followed our launch and developments at the end of 2007 will no doubt be baffled that we cancelled the seminars we had scheduled for the end of 2007 and issued a statement saying that we were working on something big and we’d be back in 2008.

Well 3 months on the web can be a lifetime and it almost feels that way for KeyJam. Half of us is back in 2008 and while we thought that we were working on something big, but that’s not the way that it has worked out.

There was supposed to be a press blackout about Google South Africa’s plans after the Meet Google event at the end of last year. Those of you that attended may have heard Stafford from Google South Africa say at that event that KeyJam was working with Google South Africa to run online marketing and e-commerce conferences and workshops for them locally. We’ve been trying to get that idea into something workable for both KeyJam and Google since October last year. We even cleared the decks by cancelling the events that we had scheduled for the end of 2007 so that we could spend as much time as possible with Google to develop the training format and materials and schedule the resources.

By the middle of January 2008, we finally pulled the plug on our involvement in that program. We weren’t able to commit time, attention and resources to each other in a way that worked for both parties. We’re happy to still count Stafford and Google amongst our friends.

From the KeyJam point of view, it’s certainly unfortunate that we wasted the time and resources and lost the window of opportunity to take the web skills training concept to the South African market in 2007. There are now a number of outfits in South Africa that are pushing a web skills training agenda and no shortage of snake oil salesmen amongst them either. To them I say, “Good Luck”!

The web has always been a wonderful way to test an idea quickly and cheaply and we’ve tested the web skills training concept for a South African public in just such a way at the end of 2007. I’d summarise our findings as (admittedly based upon small samples, fumbling around for an explanation where there might not be one and plain old gut instinct):
- the South African public is highly price sensitive when it comes to conferences and day seminars
- conference and day-seminar attendees are highly likely to have their employers pick up the tab or not attend at all
- the early adopters in the target audience in South Africa is very small
- the most tech-savvy web and software developers have little interest in expanding their online marketing skills
- South African online marketing affiliates believe that they know everything that there is to know about search engine marketing
- offline or traditional South African marketers don’t attend basic online marketing workshops and seminars, because to do so would be to admit that they know less about online marketing than what they represent to their employers.
- South African SMME’s don’t see search engines as a sales and marketing channel that warrants attention. South African corporates barely do.

I don’t see web skills training as big enough in South Africa to sustain a meaningful business any time soon. We’re on about 5-million internet users in South Africa at the moment (10% penetration) and with the current state of South Africa’s web, that number is unlikely to change dramatically within the next year or two, more likely not before the country’s power shortages are under control beyond 2010.

All things considered, it’s unlikely that KeyJam will be hosting any online marketing or e-commerce conferences or workshops in SA during 2008, but we’re certainly looking at opportunities in the overseas markets.

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