Day two of the 2017 Interact Digital Marketing Conference

Day two of the 2017 Interact Digital Marketing Conference was even more electric than day one. Attendees were welcomed into a large conference room with music playing; large screens displaying information about the day only created more anticipation. 

Interact17 upped the ante and made the entire conference interactive through their geo-targeted Snapchat filter, and an augmented reality app that encouraged attendees to network themselves throughout the day by scanning QR codes on session signs and other attendee’s name tags. It’s getting someone’s contact information without any awkward conversations!  

The day was broken up into multiple sessions and keynotes, all revolving around the digital blur. The world is moving and growing fast, and keeping up with the latest marketing trends is essential to success. There we some key takeaways from the day that any modern digital marketer can use to their advantage. 

Reach for the brass ring

The high-speed merry-go-round that we call marketing moves a hundred-miles-a-minute. It’s easy to hold on and enjoy the ride, but if you’re not trying to reach big goals (i.e. the brass ring), you’ll never achieve the success for your company, your clients or your agency that you set out for and it’s a failure. 

Harsh, but true. 

We’re in the age of customer centricity. Our brand, our content, and obviously, our product should be made for the customer, which isn’t a metric. It’s easy to get caught up with all the data and analytics involved in digital marketing, but it’s important to take a step back to remember that every customer is a person. 

Think beyond the written word

Every customer is a person and consumes content in different, multiple ways. But in marketers’ quest to provide content, it’s become a torrent that overwhelms consumers with a wide, fast-flowing river of information. It’s getting difficult for the user to keep from drowning, and marketers continue to crank open the flood gates. 

So how can we make it all more consumable? Create remarkable content that is environmental, e.g. not wasteful and created for a specific intent. Voice activation services like Amazon Alexa streamline the process of search, along with a plethora of other functions. Virtual reality inspires users to explore and consume content at their own pace. 

Heike Young of Salesforce discussed how you can make remarkable content that drives brand awareness with podcasts. Just like Netflix, podcasts are binge-able and on-demand. Users can consume the exclusive content when they want, where they want. It’s content made for the user’s intent. 

Crush the email marketing myths

There are many myths about email marketing that just aren’t true, and Justine Jordan of Litmus Email Marketing settled the score for us. Emails are still relevant, and yes, millennials still use email too! Here’s the truth:

1. You must follow the spam laws of the countries you are emailing to, not just the country you are emailing from!
2. Email is not a static medium. We can work to make emails interactive and engaging. 
3. Emails are not “blasts.” Emails are one-to-one direct interactions with your customers. 
4. Above all else, in order to be a successful email marketer, we must find the balance between subscriber needs and business needs and balance the trust between user and marketer. 

But how? Build a powerful subscriber experience with the hierarchy of needs. 

1. Your email should be respectful and reach the expectations and permissions of the subscriber. 
2. The email should be functional. All your links and images must be optimized for every browser and, more importantly, every device. Mobile email opens have increased 600 percent in five years.
3. Emails should be valuable. The content in the email should be relevant, targeted and personalized. 
4. Email should be remarkable. Everything you send should garner exceptional content and even better experiences. 

Interact17 was a day full innovative solutions. Minds were melded and connections were made. But most importantly, everyone at Interact broke through the digital blur.