After over a year of no events, TMIM finally got to attend our first in-person event to learn all about what’s changing in the digital marketing industry! We learned so much during the digital summit two-day conference, so we’ve picked our top 5 takeaways to let you have a taste of what and who we saw.

1. Quality over quantity

In a world where trends come and go, brands are struggling to keep up with the ever-changing digital landscape. To try and get ahead of the game, they often choose quantity over quality to get as much content as they can out there. However, when you look at the data, a business that publishes, for example, 10 posts a week on social media compared to one that publishes three could have just as much engagement. Audiences are more likely to interact with content of value, so spending more time on engaging posts will get you more results. If you are still struggling to get out content that’s engaging, then do some research. What’s worked for other businesses? Can you “remix” it into something usable for your brand? Following the trends and rewriting it to fit your brand and idea means you get the best of both worlds: a proven piece of content that’s still reformatted to your own brand.

(from “$0 Marketing Ideas: How to Market to Millions Without Breaking the Bank” by Jon Youshaei, Instagram)

2. Repurpose

Work smarter, not harder, by getting the most out of your content. For example, take a larger piece of content such as a case study or long-form blog and split it across multiple mediums. Try turning it into a couple blog posts, an infographic, an IGTV series, or find other ways to share the biggest points in digestible ways. Then you can also release the full piece as an ebook or downloadable PDF through email sign-up. Also take note of how data has shown a shift to content and video marketing as key investments. In other words, aim for creating readable and watchable materials.

(from “Where Customers Go, Content Must Follow: Delivering Personalized Omnichannel Experiences at Scale” by Julia Gebhart, Product Marketing Manager)

3. Human connection

The best way to grow a business is by creating a human, authentic identity. Amazing content won’t be recognized if there isn’t a community for it, so you want to make sure you understand your audience. Ask your followers about what they want to see from you—whether that’s through a social media poll or a survey you email to your mailing list. You’ll learn why they use your service or product, what questions they have, and what their values are. Then, you can better personalize your content to connect with the audience you want and encourage them to interact with your business.

(from “A Human-Centered Approach to Content Creation” by Abby Reimer, Uproer)

4. Keyword data

When researching keywords, you first need to find your target persona. Using keywords that get great search results isn’t enough—rather, find the intent of those keywords to maximize their use for your business. Do your own research to see which keywords get the most searched on Google and analyze your data as well to see which ones are getting hits. Knowing the best searchable terms will help you get more traffic on your website/blog and then you can better understand your audience.

(from “How to Write Content That Ranks” by Hannah McNaughton, Metric Marketing)

5. Consistent brand

One key to having a consistent brand is the “brand trifecta.” It includes a tagline, a value proposition, and a differentiator that can be used across your website or content. Your value proposition will tell the customer how you solve their problem. To better understand what you do, they’ll start creating comparisons to other businesses in their head. So, when they try to make that comparison, you’ll be able to say, “actually, this is how we’re different,” which is the last part of the trifecta that reels the customer in. You can craft your brand by asking yourself what your mission is and who your business serves. Your brand should provoke the potential customer into wanting to have a conversation and create a sense of urgency. In simple terms, your brand trifecta should say “if you do this, you get that.”

(from “Creativity, Content and Whiplash: How to Build a Consistent Digital Voice” by Matt Ingwalson, Heinrich Marketing)

If you want to see more key notes from the digital summit sessions we attended, check out our #DSMPLS highlight on our Instagram! Thank you to all of the amazing organizers and speakers at Digital Summit 2021 for an amazing time.