4 Takeaways from the 2019 Philadelphia Digital Summit

The Boom Visibility digital marketing gals had a great time at Digital Summit back in July! We headed to the Pennsylvania Convention Center for 2 days of digital marketing conversation.

This nationwide conference is great opportunity for us to connect with other digital marketing professionals and learn new strategies to better serve our clients.

2019 was our third year attending Digital Summit, and similarly to what we did in 2017 and 2018, we took some time to review our notes and parse 4 lessons that stood out to us during this year’s conference.

1. Authentic Content Builds Trust in Your Brand

During her presentation on Creating Content That Will Engage & Grow Your Audience, Bonnie Fuller from HollywoodLife gave some valuable tips on creating engaging content.

Make sure the information you share is meaty and factual, and that it supplies enough background that outsiders can understand it. And remember, exclusivity makes your customers feel special, so don’t think behind-the-scenes photos of your everyday operations are too boring to share! Your customers would love to see photos of you working in your auto repair shop or a video of your team pressure washing concrete. It makes them feel like they’re peeking into a world they don’t normally get to see, and it builds trust in your company.

Google places value in quality, informative, unique content, so keep that in mind when you’re sharing information on your website (or taking photos to share with your marketing team).

2. Is Your Marketing Successful? Understand Attribution Models to Find Out!

Lindsy O’Connor from Adtaxi reaffirmed how important attributions models can be when optimizing budgets during her presentation called, Up the Ladder, Down the Chain, Full-Funnel Attribution to Keep Your Boss Sane.

She reminds us that a night out with friends can be full of different interactions! Maybe you start the night off with a spicy mojito and then mosey to a friend’s barbecue for a glass of wine. Eventually, the party moves to a bar for a malty beer and then you wind down with a scotch and of course, a cheesesteak.

Although you had a lot of fun, the next day is rough. In order to vow you never feel this way again, you may ask yourself, “Which drink gave me the hangover?”

This answer is: all of them!

This is how digital marketing works. A combination of efforts driven by your marketing team creates results! Sometimes even we forget that a single marketing tactic can’t be valued over another, which is why we use several different attribution models to measure success.

Using Google Analytics, your marketing team can evaluate attribution models, like:

• Last Click
• First Click
• Linear
• Position-Based
• Time Decay

This variety of parameters gives marketing professionals several ways to track and evaluate interactions. We often use specific attribution models depending on the industry, competition, and demographics, but it’s the sum of all of our efforts that lands consumers on your site and helps bring in conversions.

3. Learn How to Use Facebook Messaging

In today’s face-paced world, instant gratification is valued. In fact, reports indicate that 9 out of 10 individuals prefer social media messaging because it is a convenient way to connect. The shift to private social media messaging is one sure-fire way to update your marketing strategy and grow your business fast.

MobileMonkey owner, Larry Kim, explained during his presentation on the 7 Facebook Ad Hacks of 2019 why we should all learn how to use Facebook messaging:

• Facebook messaging allows you to quickly target the needs of your consumers. According to Hubspot, direct messaging results in a 242% higher open rate and a 619% percent higher click rate than an email marketing campaign.

• Private messaging offers fast support services to consumers, increasing your value as a trustworthy business.

• Social media messengers allow you to build a client list quickly through creative tactics, like geotagging and hashtags. Individuals who interact with your company via social media (like tagging your business or product) are perfect to target; not only can this build loyalty but it can also help you capture new followers too.

4. Consistency is Key in a Visual Marketing Strategy

A big takeaway we got from “How Not to Suck at Display, Video & OTT: Leveraging Attribution for Success!” by Jeremy Hudgens of Genius Monkey is that you have to be consistent in your visual marketing strategy. If we think of “branding” as burning an idea into people’s minds, we want to show your visual ads to your targeted audience ads consistently, and with just the right amount of frequency. This strategy follows the same logic. And it works!

You might get worried when you see your display ads generating a ton of impressions but not many conversions. However, in many industries, like the auto industry, it can take as many as 10-25 impressions to get a customer to visit your dealership and seal the deal. Without that frequent and consistent exposure—meaning don’t vary your budget or turn your ads on and off—things tend to flatline.

We also have to keep in mind that it’s almost never the last ad a person sees that converts them into a customer. The entire journey from the first ad they encounter to all the ones in between are equally important. Many times your ads won’t even get clicked on. Instead, people will go straight to the site themselves, saving you money and allowing your potential customers to learn more about your business on their own time.

Thanks for Another Great Year!

We were grateful for the opportunity to attend the conference and learn from so many talented professionals. We’re excited to start using the techniques we learned to help our clients reach their full online potential.