Tag: columbus

2019, columbus, marketing, Uncategorized

Key takeaways from the Together Digital National Conference

Debbie

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I attended the Together Digital national conference on Thursday and Friday. It was jam-packed with informative sessions, case studies, and panels. I got to hear from some of the most talented, motivated and compassionate women in the marketing industry. Part of what makes Together Digital so unique is that members commit to 12 Asks and 12 Gives each year. This can be anything from asking if anyone knows anyone at a company you want to work for all the way to giving members an audit of their LinkedIn profiles. When women ask for help and give support to one another, we can build each other up. The group has been instrumental in shaping my career.

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There were so many awesome sessions to choose from at the conference, I found myself wishing I had a time-turner like Hermoine’s from Harry Potter. I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of the key takeaways I learned from the conference.

Kickstart Your Organic SEO Strategy by Caitlin Boroden, Director of SEO, Catchweight

– SEO is the practice of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic. The three pillars of SEO: Technical SEO + Content + Digital PR (link building). I think of this as a pyramid with Technical SEO on the bottom.

– When you’re doing an SEO Audit it can feel overwhelming at the amount of stuff you need to fix. Conduct an Impact vs Effort analysis for when you have a laundry list of changes needed. This will help you map out what tasks are high impact- low effort, etc.

– Make sure to use smaller image sizes on the website so the page can load quickly.

– Be sure to fill in meta descriptions and alt text to help it be understood by Google. Each page should have H1 tags.

Creative ways to drive email conversions by Amanda Scarnechia Manager, CRM & Consumer Data of Scott’s Miracle-Gro

– If you don’t have the data, ask for it. Scott’s Miracle-Gro wanted to let their audience know about a new product they had for people with an irrigation system. They didn’t know who in their database had an irrigation system so they sent them a short one question survey in an email. Ask your audience a basic question.

–  Write at a fifth-grade reading level or below. Average American reading level is about seventh grade.

–  Apply the learnings from other departments. Maybe your paid social media team has already figured out what copy works for your audience and you could borrow that in your email campaign.

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Present like a Pro by Rachel Brewster of Unforgettable Leadership

–       Set the agenda. State here’s what we’re going to cover. Set the time for the topics. Email the agenda the day before.

–       Talk about the bigger picture first before diving deep. Start with the big picture. Don’t just start in the middle. Give context and orient them.

–       Help them make decisions. Using analogies to communicate complicated concepts in a way that’s commonly understood.

–       Repeat their vision back to them, helps them feel understood and heard. Then say we have two options, here are our recommendations.

–       Know your leader and how they want to be presented to.

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Social Marketing & Media Case Study

– You can create buyer personas for each social media platform like a Facebook persona or Instagram persona.

– 78% of users who follow a brand on social will visit their physical store.

– Provide social media training during the onboarding process to teach posting best practices. Have your social team teach the sales team how to use social selling correctly. Provide content the sales team can share, teach them about a complete LinkedIn profile, educate them on what a Facebook business page looks like. Do a yearly audit of sales reps social profiles.

– Make social-first content. Reframe social media to be a business driver. A/B test to learn what your customers really want.

– Facebook is the best place to reach Moms. Moms are online for support and community.

– Bad social media goal: Grow your social media following. (That’s not specific nor timely.)

– Good social media goal: Increase purchases on our website from Instagram by twenty percent by the end of the year.

– In your social media photos, have a clear focal point. Make your product pop. Show the product in action. Show how to use the product, explain what it is. Product demos. Real customer highlights.

And that’s a highlight of some of the things I learned from the Together Digital National Conference in Columbus, Ohio on September 19-20, 2019.

Learn more about future Together Digital Events

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2019, columbus, marketing, Uncategorized

What I learned at interact19

Debbie

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Yesterday, I went to a digital marketing conference in Columbus called interact19. I’ve been to several conferences before and I can honestly say this was one of the best I’ve attended. Every presentation and speaker was filled with actionable knowledge that I could take back and apply to my workplace. So many of the tips were practical and cost-effective, requiring just time and skill. 

I’m starting a new job later this month and in my interview, my future manager asked if I knew anything about Voice Search and I said I wasn’t that familiar with it and needed to do more research about it. Well at this conference, two of the speakers talked in-depth about the state of voice search, how to use it and where it’s going in the future. Now, I have practical information I can tell my new boss about how we should be using voice search. By attending, I learned something I can apply in my job and I can show that I’m staying up to date on marketing trends and best practices.

I definitely would recommend this conference and want to go back next year. I’m grateful to Volunteers of America for making it possible for me to attend. 

I want to share what I took away from each session at yesterday’s conference:

Opening + Morning Keynote: Be Mighty by John Fimiani

  • Unify around the brand promise
  • Best Buy was able to turn around their business by focusing on human relationships and creating human experiences
  • It’s more important to be human than it is to sell.
  • The University of Oregon was able to redefine themselves by investing in simple branding and aligning around a purpose. Now everyone knows that Oregon Football = Faster.

The 1% Content Strategy: Combining the top SEO and lead gen tactics to statistically beat 99% of content programs by Andy Crestodina

  • People link to helpful blog posts
  • When people link to your blog, that causes page authority and is link building
  1. Publish your mission
    • Our content is where [audience] gets [information] that offers [benefits]
      • Content mission formula :Where __ find ___ for ____
      • Our content is where moms get tips on how to save money
      • Marketers are more successful when they have a content mission statement.
    • Answer the webpage visitor’s question “Why am I here?”  Why is your visitor on your page?  Spell it out on your webpage. 
    • Your email sign up link should be
      • Prominent- big and on every page
      • Promising – what will they get when they sign up?
      • Proof- how many current subscribers are there?
      • CTA- Sign Me Up
    • Your social bio is your promise to your followers
  2. Find topics they’ll love
    • What does my audience want?
      • Data-driven empathy
      • Use Google autocomplete
        • “Audience” ______
      • Use keyword tool:  www.keywordtool.io to find relevant keywords and blog ideas
      • Use https://answerthepublic.com/ tool
      • Use https://www.quora.com/ tool
      • Make a list of topic ideas, sorted from least detailed to most detailed
        • High-level list posts
        • Overview of a specific topic
        • In-depth detailed posts
  3. Create Original Research
    • Well-researched and evidenced content
    • Original research gets linked to the most
      • It’s like a citation used in a bibliography
    • Observation: you’re contributing to the conversation
    • Survey: gather new data
    • What are the assumptions in your industry that are lacking data?
    • 10x effort = 100x results
    • Spend more time creating better quality blogs
    • Don’t take shortcuts. They take too long.
    • Most successful content creators:
      • Write 2,000+ word articles
      • Publish more than weekly
      • Spend 6+ hours per article
      • Write guest posts
      • Publish original research
      • Collaborate with influencers
      • Add videos to articles
  4. Write for your prospects
    • What questions is your audience asking?
    • Create content that answers their questions.
    • Talk to other people in your organization to find these FAQ
  5. Upgrade the visuals
    • Infographics, diagrams, graphs, memes
    • Let’s turn our top _____ into ______
      • Let’s turn our top blog post into a video
    • Testimonials using your keywords are gold
    • Test email subject lines on social
    • Update, repurpose high performing content
  6. Collaborate with influencers
    • Influencers who link to your website is gold
    • To find influencers search “your topic” + “blogger” “writer” “author”
    • Use https://followerwonk.com/ tool
    • Use https://buzzsumo.com/ tool
    • Work with influencers for
      • Deep dive interview
        • People love to be interviewed
        • They’ll be flattered
      • Use their quote in your blog
        • Include the influencer in your content
        • Single Point of View content is a thing of the past. Think of it, a news article would never use just one source. You should use multiple sources too.
        • Use a headshot with their quote
  7. Write for other websites
    • Guest blog, collaborate
    • Write an article for them, send it to them.
      • “Here I wrote this for you. Here you go.”
    • Pitch to podcast hosts
    • Repurpose How-To articles into How-Not-To articles to be published on other websites

Research who is linking to your site.  

Research how many links your competitors have.

If you make content that’s Mission Driven, Research Anchored, Influencer Powered, and PR Focused, you’ll be in the 1%

SearchSocial
Long form textCompelling visuals
Answers questionsTriggers emotion
Meets expectationsUnexpected
😬😐
Looking, huntingUnplanned, waiting
Expert quotesinfluencers

 

Growth by Content: Driving Massive Traffic Without a Big Budget by Nadya Khoja

  • Content marketing is easier and cheaper than buying social ads
  1. Goals
    • Set multiple specific goals, like high domain authority, more traffic, higher conversions
    • One piece of content will not meet all of these goals. You need to create content for each goal.
      • One content per goal, not one content all goals
      • You can’t just brainstorm fun ideas to write about.
    • Goal: Domain authority  (your site’s reputation and credibility)
      • Make viral, editorial content
    • Goal: Conversions
      • Make how-to content
    • Goal: Traffic
      • Make inspirational content that will rank for long tail keywords
      • One in-depth content piece for many keywords
      • Publish new information and data
  2. Research
    • You don’t have to write ALL the things
    • Start with keyword research
    • Make content that’s connected to your landing page (or pillar page) that meets your goals
    • Make a spreadsheet with
      • Search term categories  (Words) Your Pillar Term
      • Average monthly searches (#)
      • Difficulty (High, Medium, Low)
      • Keywords related to categories
      • Search terms  
  3. Authority
    • Get high-quality backlinks, focus on link building
    • Guest blogging can help you get backlinks and authority
    • Use https://ahrefs.com/  SEO tool
    • Use https://mailshake.com/ to send a pitch email to ask for links
      • “Hey, can I give you something if you link to us?”
      • Build relationships
      • Offer value in your outreach, give them something
      • Find content that already mentions the keyword you want to rank for. If they don’t have that keyword linked, email them and ask
      • Cold outreach has about a 3-5% success rate
      • Don’t sound like a robot in your cold emails, be yourself
      • Link building is a long term strategy
  4. Promotion
    • 80% time spent on promoting content and 20% of time spent creating

 

The Future of Voice and Its Impact on Content by Adam Deardurff

  • Alexa, Siri, Google Now, Cortana, Bixby
  • Most people use voice for Music, Weather, Fun Questions, Search, Alarms, News, Calls
  • Google serves up Position Zero aka Featured Snippet in voice searches
  • How to get a featured snippet
    • Research FAQ and common searches
    • Answer FAQs on your website
    • Use schema.org markup    
    • Follow baseline SEO best practices
      • Have a Google My Business page
  • Podcasts are growing, especially among ages 12-24 years
  • Consider hosting an internal podcast for employees
  • How to leverage podcasts
    • Understand your audience
    • Explore podcast advertising networks
    • Reach out directly to targeted podcasts
    • Start creating your own
    • Be a guest on a podcast
  • Start talking to your voice speaker. Learn about its capabilities
  • Get specific with your content. Be the Waldo.
  • Get your product audible
    • Podcast ads
    • Influencer marketing
  • Give your people a voice
    • Highlight top employees and corporate culture
  • Accessibility and security

Five Hot Digital Marketing Trends and How They Impact You by Pam Didner

  1. Voice search
    • Optimize text and voice search for how you talk
    • Longer inquiries, shorter answers
    • Use local search like Google My Business
    • Voice is another form of content
    • Explore questions that are likely to be asked
    • Put voice search and voice content in your annual marketing plan
    • Look into Alexa for Business and Google Home for Business
  2. Add intelligence to products
    • Voice controlled microwave
    • Smart plugs to make basic appliances smart
  3. Product Personalization
  4. AI
    • Using AI for lead gens, follow-ups and chatbots
  5. Marketing fundamentals haven’t changed

 

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How to Be Remarkable: The Unusual Yet Proven Path to Marketing Success by
Andrew & Pete

  • 90% of your effort should be on doing something remarkably well
  • 10% should be spent experimenting
  • Posting something is not better than nothing
    • A successful blogger, SEO pro only has 50 blog posts but generates 200,000 page views
    • He writes long pieces
    • He only makes a new blog when he’s happy with his current blog’s page rankings
  • People who spread themselves thin don’t win
    • You don’t need to be on every platform
    • You can’t do everything well
    • Do one thing remarkably well
  • Make relatable content
    • Lean into the reaction spikes you see.
    • Do more of what’s working
    • Listen to your audience and give them what they want.
  • Reallocate your efforts
    • Readjust your strategy based on where your audience is moving
    • A brand moved from Snapchat to Instagram Stories
    • It’s scary to drop a channel or stop doing something but data will guide your decision
  • Consistency
    • YouTubers promise new content weekly “new videos every Tuesday” giving their audience a reason to come back
  • Create fun content
    • Do you enjoy marketing?
    • Find the Fun
2019, About Me, blog, blog post, blogpost, myblog, personal

An unforgettable Valentine’s Day

Debbie

Nate surprised me with an unforgettable Valentine’s Day. I feel so loved.

He picked me up after work and we drove to campus. The whole drive, I was trying to guess what we were doing and where we were going. We parked at Chadwick Arboretum, where we had a picnic on our second date. Nate told me he had an evening planned walking down memory lane. I started to tear up; it was just so thoughtful. We strolled around the pond at Chadwick, talking about who we were back then and how we were both so nervous and unsure where the relationship would go.

I remember that after the picnic, almost three years ago, we went to the Chocolate Café. So, on our walk down memory lane, that’s where we went next! Okay, we weren’t the only ones with the idea to go to the Chocolate Café on Valentine’s Day but the wait wasn’t that bad. I ordered the lobster bisque soup and a Dirty Girl Scout martini. Nate ordered a dirty martini, the special sandwich which was pulled pork, mango and habanero with a side of cream of mushroom soup. I never get tired of talking to Nate. We always find new things to learn about each other. We talked about our babysitters when we were little. I liked babysitters because they’d ask me what I wanted to do and Nate said he’d just walk over to a friend’s house and didn’t really have babysitters.

Nate warned me that the last thing on our itinerary had a set start time but it was okay if we were late. What could it be? He told me we’d been there before, there’d be food available, and it would probably end around 10pm. I had no clue. We drove back home and parked. That’s when I connected the dots that we were going to a Blue Jackets game. I’d get to see my other Valentine, Cam Atkinson! It was so sweet of Nate to surprise me with hockey tickets. We got there at the end of first period. The guy next to us had a thick British accent and kept yelling very British things like “rough ‘em up, lads!” and “Come on, lads.” I got a tub of popcorn at the end of the second period and ate about half of it. The Blue Jackets weren’t playing their best and lost 0-3 to the New York Islanders. Oh well.

I still had a memorable and romantic evening. We came home and watched some old Pixar shorts that I had on DVD.       

2018, event, marketing, may, Uncategorized

What I learned at Columbus Startup Week:

Debbie

I attended my first Columbus Startup Week yesterday. I’d heard others tell me how neat this event was and the price of the conference was right. It’s all free!  It was an inspiring day with a diverse group of people who all shared a love for both Columbus and innovation.  I just attended on Thursday which was the Marketing and Technology day. I’m grateful that I work at a company that believes in professional development and allows me to take time to attend events like this.

I love to take notes and so during the day I jotted down points that I found interesting in my notebook and typed them up. This process of reading over the notes again helps me better process what I wrote down. These are my notes:

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How to Use Data and Research when Building Your Brand

This was the first session of the day and it was a panel of four guys who each own their own business and talked about their career journey and got a little side tracked by also talking about how much they like traveling. I appreciated their stories of what it took to get them where they are today. 

  • A lot of brands are using colors effectively in their names and identity
    • Orange Barrel Media, Purple Mattress
  • Creative and emotional content is best
  • Netflix tracks every click someone makes so then they use that data to craft hit shows. Data is so valuable.
  • One of the panelists, a photographer, met a hotel owner, stayed in touch, sent messages back and forth which led to a life-changing gig photographing a luxury hotel in Costa Rica
  • Making money and helping others aren’t mutually exclusive
  • A creative filmmaker took a gig out of grad school shooting commercials for Wal-Mart and while he wasn’t thrilled at the opportunity it turned out to help his career and he made the best of it.

Rethinking Brand, Marketing, and Advertising for Startups

Every now and then you meet a presenter who makes you want to bow down and say “I’m not worthy.” Barry Enderwick really understands branding and impressed me with his passion for transforming companies. 

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  • A brand is everything a company does and how the world perceives the company
  • Every company has a brand
  • It’s shaped by news, employees, scandals, products, etc
  • Brand Promise is the problem that a brand solves for a customer
    • Netflix 2001 brand promise: Best Way to Rent DVDs
      • This is too transactional. Makes them seem like just a vending machine.
      • Later revised brand promise to: Movie Enjoyment Made Easy
    • Brand Attributes: tone of voice, persona
      • Instead of “customer service phone lines open 24/7” they phrase it “Call us anytime”
    • Brand Story: how the brand came to be, what problem the founder wanted to fix
    • Netflix used to require customers to call to cancel subscriptions but that was a hassle for customers and employees so they switched to an unheard of at the time, 2 clicks to cancel model online. This led to increased customer satisfaction and customers more likely to return.
    • Brand Advertising: No call to action
      • Nike Just Do It
      • Can be expensive, requires existing brand awareness
    • Create a customer survey to better learn about what your customers want
    • Netflix partnered with DVD manufacturers and put a free trial sticker on DVD boxes and gave DVD manufacturers a cut of the profits.
    • InstantPot sent their product to bloggers, optimized their Amazon listing, and chose to focus on grassroots influencer marketing
    • Diesel’s brand is about letting people express themselves so they opened a pop up shop in New York City with a knock off Deisel brand.
    • Do not talk about your competition in your marketing materials. Why would you give them free advertising or exposure?

The Start Up’s Voice + Find It or Drop It 

Alaina from Women in Digital spoke about her career journey, Cement Marketing and Women in Digital. IMG_0090.jpg

  • Don’t create the same content as competitors

How to Create Marketing Partnerships That Grow Your Business

This session was after lunch but trust me when I say nobody was dozing off in the audience. The panel of local business rockstars was very knowledgeable and open to speaking about their marketing partnerships. Claire Coder of Aunt Flow struck me with how she’s only 21, is incredibly extroverted, talks up the brands she works with and is killin’ it. #GoalsIMG_0096.jpg

  • A marketing partnership could mean samples, trials, etc. It doesn’t have to be an exchange of money.
  • It does have to be mutually beneficial and elevate both brands
  • Approach big corporations with a shower of love and appreciation for them. They don’t need you, you need them.
  • Aunt Flow partnered with Ask Pattie (a company that certified auto dealers as being female friendly) because they are similar businesses, like-minded “Give your bathroom a tuneup!”
  • You can find marketing partnerships all around you, with the people you meet. Just ask them and message them.
  • Big companies like working with smaller companies because they have passionate followers and trustworthiness.
  • Come to the table with a specific ask. Do not say “Do you want to collaborate?” Do the work if you’re asking and propose an idea with a specific set of dates.
  • Be careful of politically charged partnerships (Ex. If you work with Planned Parenthood, then Catholic churches might not work with you in the future.)
  • Have a dedicated contact person at the company you’re working with. If shit hits the fan, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters?

Marketing Without A Lot of Money  (My favorite session!)

This session was packed! Man, this guy is the real deal. He knows how to break through the clutter and stand out. I love presentations that tell stories rather than rattle off statistics next to stock photos. He was honest, real, and friggin’ human.  My biggest takeaway from his talk: Don’t be a turd. (I loved how he looked to the audience and was like “Some of you are turds. I know it, but like don’t be. Sometimes I’m a turd, yeah, but I try really hard to not be a turd.”)

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  • To stand out at SXSW, his emerging marketing agency handed out scrolls, not business cards. It was an ice breaker, memorable and made follow up calls easier “We’re the guys with the scrolls.” Budget: $135    Don’t steal his idea. No seriously. 
  • To advertise an Homage clearance sale, they held a carnival where people could spin a wheel to win a prize. They started out knowing they wanted to do something with a carnival and spinning a wheel and decided Facebook Live would be the best medium for this idea. They told their fans in advance and then on the specified day, every hour on the hour, they did Facebook Live, spinning a giant wheel, giving out prizes to commenters and having inside jokes. They just used just an iPhone on a tripod. Budget: $400
    • Message before the medium. Who’s the audience? What’s their language?
    • What freebies can you offer?
    • How can you lighten up?
    • What can I do to listen to my customers?
    • How can I gamify my services?
    • People want to win something and they like free stuff.
  • To move Hot Chicken Takeover from a takeout window in Old Towne East to the North Market they needed to keep it authentic and please their loyal fans. They chose to hand make everything, like hand painting the menus, using pallets on the walls, chalk board signs etc. Budget: $610
  • Listen to your customers, store managers, people on the ground floor. They know best.
  • Show your personality in Instagram Stories
  • Barter for your services. You can do marketing for a lawyer to pay for your legal fees
  • Send handwritten thank you notes  (amen!)
  • Join the chamber of commerce

What the top CMO’s have to say about Marketing

I learn best when I hear from people who are on the ground doing marketing. This was a panel of CMOs from big local companies. They didn’t say a whole lot that I found to be earth shattering. Yeah, I know that data is important and voice is an upcoming trend. 

  • You can’t fix what you can’t measure

Vlog like a Boss: How to Create Video that Gets Attention 

Man, this was not her first rodeo. Amy Landino was an experienced presenter who knew how to keep the crowd awake and listening. I’d heard her speak before at a Columbus Young Professionals event and again was struck by how much of a boss she is. She’s good at what she does. 

  • Make videos of frequently asked questions. People like customer-service style videos that will help them.
  • Your video will last on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for about 24 hours but will be on YouTube for years.
  • Video making process
    • Idea, research, outline
    • Film
    • Edit
    • Upload and optimize
    • Make a custom thumbnail
  • When doing a tutorial or vlogging, show the end result first. This adds trust and keeps the viewer watching.
  • At 8 sec, people decide to keep watching or leave
  • Keep their eyes moving, use B Roll, text on screen, different angles
  • End your video with one CTA that you say out loud
  • Don’t link to YouTube videos on Facebook. The platforms don’t like each other and don’t want traffic leaving their site. If you need to share your YouTube video also on Facebook, natively upload a different and shorter video to Facebook.
  • Talking head videos don’t work on Facebook. Not engaging to people scrolling thru news feed