Last week I attended a marketing conference. I’ve been to dozens in my career and I am very careful choosing which to attend. With the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing and because I’m very picky, very few have been disappointing in giving great information.
But I was completely blown away by last week’s Ascend Digital Marketing Conference put together by AWeber Communications. It was billed as “an exchange of ideas, information, strategies and success stories designed to elevate your business to the next level”, and each presenter was a top expert in the field of content creation and digital marketing.
It was tough to whittle down all of the information I received, but here are my top five takeaways from an outstanding two days…
1. “We don’t need more content, we need better content.” The first presenter, Ann Handly, set the tone that this conference was going to be something special. I was halfway through her book – “Everybody Writes {Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content}” – so I was well aware of her fresh, honest approach to writing and content creation. The formula is simple – Useful x Empathy x Inspired = Great Content. The importance of the math is the multiplication, and if one of the key aspects is missing your product is a big fat zero. But to ensure relevance, ask yourself after every point… “so what?” You’ll end up with focused content that your customer will come back to.
2. “Having an audience is a privilege, not a right. Like wearing spandex. So you better be relevant.” Clearly the spandex part was an attention-getter, but Peter Shankman doesn’t need that. His upcoming book – “Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans” – is about creating fervent fans that help companies massively increase their customer base, brand awareness, and most importantly, revenue. I ordered the book as soon he was done. Shankman’s high energy presentation included tons of great information and best practices gleaned from years of entrepreneurial experience. The highlights included:
- “Never underestimate the power of getting up early. Before everyone else. You’ll do your best work with the perception of that edge.”
- “Put ten times the amount of help into the universe to one time you ask for it.” Sounds like obvious karma, and a tough number to hit, but I’d like to do more things for the good of the game.
- Call ten people in your contact list everyday. Check in. “What are you working on? How can I help you?” More good going out…
- In America… we expect to get treated like crap by customer service. The simple things make us loyal. “Treat your customers one level above crap.”
3, “Only 60% of marketers do A/B email testing.” As one of the disgraced forty percent, I squirmed in my seat during Anne Holland’s presentation. Methodologies are documented in many places, but my important takeaway was to get off my ass and do it. Getting better results from our current list reminded me of a sales belief I have repeated so many times – the greatest opportunities lie within your existing base. I need to make sure I am getting the most from my current list.
4. “Treat your customers as you would like to be treated.” No one works the room like Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion. His stunningly simplistic approach and equally stunning results should change the world of marketing, if we can get all out of our own way. His many rules included: “Treat your customers as you would like to be treated”, “Become the Wikipedia of your space”, and his four word philosophy… “They ask. You answer.” Sheridan’s ultimate belief is that “Honest and Transparent content is the greatest sales tool in the world. Period.” That last statement left everyone clapping and invigorated. But seriously… who in the room is going to have the balls to fully implement?
5. “Don’t worry about the fold. Embrace the scroll.” Our partying group unsuccessfully tried to get Justine Jordan from Litmus to hang with us late into the night. We were rewarded by HER good decision to make it an early night. Her leadoff presentation on the importance of formatting your email for mobile devices perfectly set the tone on day two. Forget about the increasing number of emails that are delivered to your phone… the real grabbing statistic is that over 80% of users delete emails if they don’t look good on their device. And a growing number of people will unsubscribe. Lesson learned! Maybe I’m late to the party, but now EVERY email I do will be optimized for mobile.
Some other great tidbits and soundbites from the two days of sessions:
“Consume more than you produce! Subscribe to ten blogs in a day, leave ten comments. Follow people on social – set an example, show the initiative.” – Lynette Young (AWeber Communications)
“Stop driving clicks and start building cliques.” – Will Reynolds (SEER Interactive)
“Next time I need advice from someone, I’m going to ask someone who hates me.” – Peter Shankman
“Analyzing audience needs? Get out of your own head. We don’t need segways, but cup holders are a must!” Jessica Ivins (Center Centre)
“Email is not an eblast. Blasts are weapons of mass destruction.” – Justine Jordan
“Your website is mousetrap, your marketing is the cheese.” – Andy Crestodina (Orbit Media)
“Brand everything you do. If people can’t get back to you, what’s the point?” – Peter Shankman
Last but not least, the conference attendees were also the cream of the crop… so the networking opportunities were fantastic. Plus.. some great food and swag! Few conferences give this much bang for the buck. I joked with Hunter Boyle, AWeber’s Sr. Business Development Manager, at the end of day two that they had nowhere to go but down. Can’t wait until my expectations are exceeded again next year.
Please share your thoughts on this conference. What were your takeaways? Also… What would your theme music be? I’m going with “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, but I’m a known head banger… Hope to see you next year!
I was up very early this morning. I typically don’t set an alarm, being fortunate to have a pretty accurate internal clock on regular work days. But for some reason I woke up at 5:00, tossed for a while then started scrolling through my phone at 6:00.
I woke up in Montgomery the next morning. I slept some, but CNN was on my television all night. A local merchant was standing on the street outside his business that morning, handing out small plastic American Flags. I still have it. Somewhere.
My friend said that this is the first anniversary that she has felt such uncertainty. Like any good parent, she was worried about her kids. The 9/11 terrorist winning again. I told her to ask yourself why… because of the constant news and information about it? (Here is when directed her to my 
I have been asking this question a lot over the last several months. Where do you get your news, and how do you know it’s real? Information is flowing fast and furious, like no time in our history. Surely it can’t all be accurate just because it’s in print, on television or on the internet.
to get all of the information I needed. I asked why those sites, and the answer was “Because they check their facts.” What a relief!! So I asked… “How do you know that they check facts?’ The reply came quickly… “Because I read about them on another site.” Now, I’m not saying anything bad here about my friend, because he falls victim to the same trap that we all do.
It gets better… let’s make it simpler. Recently I’d seen rumors flying around about the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) intentionally suppressing proof of vaccine-related cases of autism in African-American boys from reaching the public. I went to my trusted soothsayers for urban legends – Snopes. com. I was satisfied when I read that the CDC rumor was false. Whew! Faith in my fellow man restored! Until… I go back to the Google page and see an article titled “
PREDICTION: Jermaine Jones will do something that will cost the team. A red card, or a bad foul resulting in a dangerous free kick. I couldn’t have been more wrong… Jones was consistently the best field player for the USA (Tim Howard was team MVP, no doubt). My worry about Jones was that he had a history of cheap fouls and his temper getting the better of him. But after playing every minute and performing fantastic in every game – he made me a believer. His goal against Portugal was one of the best of the tournament, for any team.
Last thoughts… I observed a lot of soccer in the past 39 days. I watched at least one full match in the group stage each day, and fast forwarded through each goal in the others (love my DVR!). I saw almost every minute of the knockout stage matches. And I reveled in sharing the USA matches with hundreds of new friends and fellow American Outlaws at a few local watering holes. The crowds who gathered across the nation for these matches were incredible, and I hope that US Soccer keeps the momentum going. I know it’s only sports… but in those communal situations you realize that there is nothing more gleeful than a shared joy, and there is also nothing more soothing than commiseration.