Last month I boldly travelled to the big smoke, braving commuters on the DLR and take away food for hipsters, to spend two days at Integrated Live, a digital marketing show in London’s Excel Centre.
Absorbing the latest trends in marketing from some excellent speakers, I bring back what I believe are the most important points from their talks – There is no end to my commitment to RI customers!
International Busking Day
Julia Jones (@DrRockUK) – How something as simple as a hashtag could unite ordinary folk and beloved rock stars to help build momentum around a single event, International busking day.
- Use hashtags
- Get influencers involved
- Timely posting around trending topics
- Sent out a promotion package with the hashtag and instructions how to promote to others
- Keep the idea simple and easy for people to get on board
How to use the Psychology of Language to Boost ROI on paid search
Sophie Turton (@TurtonSophie) – Tweaking the language you use to encourage more people to click through and convert on your Google Ad.
- Start with why – Simon Sinek ‘customers buy why you do it’
- Remember first and last pieces of content we see
- Include your keywords
- Solve a problem – Target the issue as well as the solution
- Customer: Think about what they love and hate and who are their best friends and enemies
- Add in reviews directly to ad content. Sometimes Google will automatically pull through reviews
- Use site links to testimonial pages
- “Most people would rather avoid loss than acquire gain”
- Insert urgency
- Add Google countdown customisation in advert – Increased CTR by 32%
- Repeated messages are more likely to believed
- Landing page (on site) must mirror advert
(A similar presentation of Sophie’s on slideshare)
What Works? – (Video) Marketing in 2017
Claire Emes (@C_emes) – How to make video more effective to stop people skipping the ad or bouncing back to search.
- Attention decrease from 12 to 8 seconds – Less than a goldfish!
- If you don’t look like an ad and you won’t get skipped
- Showing your brand early in a video makes people skip, unless it’s essential to the story
- Use sound to break through as audio bigger impact than visual
- (however) 85% of Facebook ads are ‘listened to’ with the sound off – Use subtitles!
- Time matters – What’s the greatest idea in 5 seconds? Before they skip or bounce
Storytelling Content – The What, Why and How
Ed Woodcock (@edwoodcock) – Brilliant presentation on how to write more compelling copy – Make it a story.
- A story needs a Hero, an Antagonist (or monster), a Mission and a Resolution
- The monster is the problem/challenge and the hero is your brand/product
- Kurt Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories (good video, worth watching)
- All stories have a dramatic conflict (Sid Flickr) – Find the conflict!
- Embrace the dark side in story telling
Pics or it Didn’t Happen – The Power of Infographics
Robin Hüdepohl (@robinhuedepohl) – About combining text with visuals to make your concepts/sales pitches quick to understand and easy to remember.
- People process visual information 60,000 x faster than text
- Interplay between text and images will unfold the power of the story
A Facebook campaign, how we got results
Joel Davis (@joeldavis_) – A simple breakdown of their ad campaign for the new Thomas the Tank Engine film and what worked best for them.
- Video drives sales
- The more targeted the ads, the cheaper the CPM (Cost Per iMpression)
- Ad retargeting (showing the ad to people who visited the website) is incredibly important. In Cinema example people book within 48 hours of the show
- 10-13 seconds is ideal for Facebook video
- Important numbers to track – Cost/Sale, Sales generated
- What works to drive social engagement – Ask questions, run competitions
The Rise and Rise of Editorial Video
Simon Baker (@simonthebaker) – Creating video that people want to watch
- How to grow, sustain and engage an audience – Produce lots of Help content (long lasting and niche/specific). Add in Hub content (topical, short shelf life) then sprinkle with your Hero content (big ad/sales)
- Find sweet spot between audience passion and brand positioning
- Content checklist: Related to a topic?, Do you add value? Do people desire to see it? Is it right for the platform?
- Plan editorial agenda around current topics.
How to Listen: The Art of Not Making Noise
Samuel Goudie (@sgoudie) – Not only should you listen, but you should listen to people whose opinions differ from your own. Sam was an engaging speaker
- “When everyone is shouting no one is heard”
- Don’t block out opinions counter to your own. Actively seek out other people with different opinions