Driving Forward > Digital Marketing Blog

NEDMA Annual Conference 2019 Recap Part 2

written by Jessica O'Brien May 30, 2019

The morning of the NEDMA Annual Conference may have been filled with fresh faces, eager to learn – but the afternoon was dominated by marketing warriors, equipped with actionable insights and braced for knowledge yet to come from upcoming sessions. Read the recap of the first sessions of the day, including CEO Harry J. Gold’s “5 Pillars of Ecommerce” here.

 

Triggered Direct Mail – Spend Less & Get A Better Response

Dennis Kelly, CEO, Postalytics

How do you break through a digital world filled with ads vying for your audience’s attention? Effectiveness and efficiency are the names of the game to get the most bang for your buck. This is where triggered marketing shines. There are two types of triggered marketing: behavioral and demographic. Behavioral is usually associated with email or digital media, that brown boot you abandoned in an online shopping cart is now following you around the web through ads. Whereas demographic is location and persona-based.

Still, even with targeting users using ads based on triggers in the consumer lifecycle, the digital arena is getting overcrowded. Postalytics’ session highlighted how direct mail’s resurgence of popularity with consumers combined with automation can solve these response issues by using segmented, timed, and personalized campaigns.

 

 

Augmented Reality – The Rise Of Digital Twins

Nicolas Robbe, CEO, Co-founder of Hoverlay

 

Imagine a different kind of a shopping experience, where you could try on clothes from Zara without having the physical items. That’s the new reality of living with AR – moving digital content off screens and into the real world. In essence, artificial reality bridges the gap between “real” and digital.

Digital twins, or the virtual replications of physical things, will allow us to customize our lives in new ways – like a digital poster that you can superimpose onto your wall using your phone’s camera. As people start using AR it will reset their expectations on how content is delivered (like how Uber has made taxis increasingly obsolete). Marketers will need to jump on this technology now to stay ahead of this inevitable trend.

 

How Great Design Promotes Engagement and Response

Dan Greenwald, CEO, Chief Creative Officer, White Rhino

 

Some people are more sensitive to design than others. If you’re a decision maker and aren’t affected by design, make sure you’re listening to someone who is. There is a way, however, to start turning your brain toward design thinking. Design thinking starts with empathy, by putting yourself into the consumer’s shoes.

Why is design so important? It’s simple – when you come up with stuff people like to look at, you get buzz, and then clients want to share it more. More than 90% of the time, the reason users disengage from marketing is because of poor design. In summation, less is more, white space is your friend, and if you want better response – invest in good design.

 

Building a Successful Fundraising Program

Steve Maggio, President/Chief Creative Officer, DaVinci Direct, Inc.

Tony Genovese, CEO, DaVinci Direct

Our brains are hardwired to respond to stories, it inspires empathy. Driving any response, like a purchase, can feel like an uphill battle. When it comes to donations, your audience needs to feel emotionally connected to open their hearts, and their wallets.

Of course, it doesn’t matter if you have the best copy and the best design if you’re sending it to the wrong people. A solid, successful fundraising program starts and ends with your donor list. Establishing who your audience is will help determine the message you craft to illicit compassion and donations.

Additional insights from the session included:

  • Personalize letters to give consumers the feeling of one-to-one communication
  • Capture people’s heart by first attracting their brains
  • Bounce-back cards can create a touchpoint
  • Make your offer simple and specific
  • Use a deadline to create urgency

 

Direct Mail is Back!

Arian Radmand, CEO & President, IgnitePost, Inc.

According to Arian Radmand, direct mail can cut through the digital noise to actually reach your target audience. Assuming you can get someone’s address correct, you can basically guarantee your message gets to the intended end point. This is antithetical to digital, where there are spam filters and so, the delivery rate is much less than 100%.

If you bombard your audience with email, and it remains unopened or goes into spam folder, you could get blacklisted. Consistent direct mailing, however means people will become familiarized with your brand, interacting with it on a consistent manner. Coupling a highly effective direct mail campaign with digital can make all the difference when it comes to actually reaching and engaging with your target audience.

 

Voice Search 101: Winning the SEO Game in the Age of Alexa

Christina Inge, Founder & CEO, Thoughtlight

We are entering a new era of technical SEO. Content is still king, but effective structure is the key to being discovered by consumers in this newfangled world. Dust off your semantic skills, as it matters a lot for voice SEO.

41.6% of consumers have only started using voice search in the past year. It’s all very new and consumer behaviors are not locked in stone. Marketers have the rare opportunity to really shape consumer behavior for the future, rather than conforming to it.

So how do you create content for voice?

Start by breaking your content into little chunks and using structured data types to help it get found. Then, conduct voice searches on things you want to be found on and see what’s coming up right now.

At the moment – voice search is mobile search. It all starts with mobile SEO optimization. With mobile focus for voice—consumers are increasingly catching onto using voice commands for web searches with their smartphones.

This technology is still young and it can only get better.

 

 

Real Time is Big Time on Social Media – a Panel Discussion

Panelists: Katelin Cwieka, AVP Social Media & Brand Communications Manager, Avidia Bank

Ashley Perssico, Strategic Marketing Manager, Constant Contact

Moderator/Panelist: Bob Cargill, Social Media Marketer, Copywriter, Content Creator, Cargill Creative

 

They say practice what you preach. This session featuring real-time on social did just that, kicking off by Facebook live streaming the panel introduction to attendees. Conference members were treated to a live demonstration of how to use their smartphones to record and stream video straight to their own Facebook profiles and business pages.

Of course, with great streaming power comes great responsibility.

  • Be adventurous—but err on the safe side
  • Don’t do real-time social media if you don’t understand the event or hashtag (e.g., newsjacking a serious event with a joke)
  • The internet is forever, so play the “what if this was a screenshot” game (you can’t just delete mistakes on social media and expect it to go away)
  • Don’t play with branded terms unless you want a cease and desist letter (Olympics, Super Bowl etc)

Social video can take little effort and make a big impact – especially as algorithms continue to favor the medium.

Ready for more marketing insights and learnings for the day? Stay tuned for the recap of the second part of the day, coming soon.

Want to kick your marketing efforts into high gear? Browse our website to see our range of digital marketing services.

And that wraps up the day! Did you attend the NEDMA Annual Conference? Share your experience with Overdrive on Twitter and Facebook.

Don’t miss your chance to advance your career. Bookmark your calendar now for the Marketing Technology Summit on October 3rd! Previous years have featured speakers from Google, Hubspot, MarTech, and more.

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