Introduction
On the 25th of April, Marketing Showcase stopped at Etihad Stadium for the day. This was a conference-style event that brought together some of the leading marketing firms together to share insights and advice with visitors. The venue was split into three sections, Theatre A, Theatre B and Theatre C, where each had a talk that started every hour about the different aspects of Marketing.
Some of the topics covered were, targeted marketing using TV advertising for all businesses, finding a new role for an email in 2023 and are Facebook ads still relevant in 2023? Most of my team took the time to go to the seminars throughout the majority of the day, we took notes and discussed possibilities and inspiration we had from the talks.
Below, I have included the seminars that I went to and the notes I took.
How to make your website your best-performing sales channel
Jan Barthelemy [] Leadoo
In this talk, Jan Barthelemy discussed the importance of having a reliable and effective website. 83% of buying actions are online, with only 17% left over to meet with potential suppliers. This shows the importance of having a digital presence to make the most of these digital buyers. 96% of visitors are not ready to buy when they visit your website and then 98% decide to leave, leaving only 2% that contact you.
Some of the things that Jan recommended was to hyper-personalise your website experience with conversations, this helps to establish trust on their terms. You can do this by having an active UX that addresses the remaining 10% that engages those visitors.
You should also offer multiple engagement opportunities, like surveys, price calculators and quizzes.
7 Must-Haves for a high-converting Website
Sean Giles [] WebBox
In this seminar, Sean explains the importance of having a digital presence in this era. He reaffirms that having an engaging and clear website is essential for retaining your customers and ensuring that new customers choose to work with your company.
- Optimising page speed
→ Improving your UX
→ Search results/ranking – Google is prioritising websites that have great mobile websites and ranking them higher
→ Ideally your page shouldn’t take more than 2 seconds to load
- Knowing your audience
→ Understanding your customers
→ Highlight problems that your company solves
→ Research and analyses – why are you different from your competitors?
- Having great CTA’s
→ Clear direct language
→ Variation of type – a sales funnel
→ Personalisation
- Quality Content
→ Quality over quantity
→ Enaging – you do not want your visitors to get bored
→ Personalised
- Effective forms
→ Essential info
→ Timing
→ Personalised forms – a more detailed form for second-time visitors
- Landing Pages
→ Lead generation click through
→ Use the other points to create your ideal home page
→ Create a unique experience
- Promotion
→ You need visitors
→ Having relevant traffic
→ PPC Campaigns
Are Facebook ads still relevant in 2023?
James Urquhart [] Let’s Run Social
James talked about the ‘buzz’ around using Facebook and their ads for campaigns, some arguing that Facebook is dead in the current market. James however, argues that they can still be used today, and how you should use them effectively.
He explains that Meta wants people to stay on their platforms – understandably – so you should use this to your advantage. Their default ads will send the forms that they used to send them to your website. There has been a 13% increase higher conversions going through WhatsApp, further solidifying his claim.
You should focus on short-form content. Meta has been copying platforms like Tik Toc and adapting their platforms to have short-form content, examples of this being Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. This doesn’t mean that you get rid of all of your longer-form content, but you can use cut from them to repurpose for shorter snippets.
How to Create a Brand with Raving Fans
Richard Michie [] The Marketing Optimist
Richard believes that Big Brands are not the only ones with ‘raving fans’, there are small brands and even start-ups that can create them. He explains that you only need a few raving fans to be able to grow and increase brand advocacy. You can create these fans by solving your customers’/clients’ problems, which they will then recommend to others.
What makes your brand special;
→ Why do people follow you?
→ Why do your customers love you?
→ How are we different from our competitors?
→ Focus on what makes you special
Overall
Overall, it was a great event that allowed us to take in the different views and opinions of other marketers in similar industries and connect with some new ones. We also took the time afterwards to do our weekly meeting over coffee, so it served as a team bonding experience.
However, the only feedback that I would give is that for the number of people that attended, the venue was quite cramped. The Theatres were just designated spaces with seating areas amongst the booths. This meant that it became incredibly difficult to hear the speakers talk when I had to listen to the continuous hum of conversation around the booths. Some of the talks as well felt a bit ‘sales-y’ at times, and sometimes just hit some obvious points.
But other than that, we enjoyed our day at the conference, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who works in or simply has an interest in marketing! Check their next events on their website: https://mktgshowcase.co.uk