Demand Success 2014 wrapped up this past Friday, and day 2 of the conference was packed full of inspiring speakers and thought leadership. If you couldn’t make it out, here’s a quick recap:
Google’s digital marketing evangelist, Avinash Kaushik, gave the opening keynote and to say he killed it would be an understatement. The crowd was enthralled by Kaushik’s fun, inspiring speaking style as he preached the importance of putting your social audience’s needs first.
Kaushik called on marketers to stop socially shouting into the void. Think about the process you want your customers to go through when they see one of your posts. You need them to see your content, take time to think about it, actually act on something you’ve called them to do, and, finally, come to care about your brand. What is the formula for the greatest social post in the world according to Avinash Kaushik? One that entertains, informs, and provides utility.
By the end of Kaushik’s session, a thick cloud of excitement hung in the room, and attendees expressed their gratitude with a solid two minutes of applause.
Later in the day, Ann Handley of MarketingProfs gave an entertaining and energizing talk entitled “Too Big for Your Niches: A Marketer’s Guide”. She encouraged marketers to ask themselves what their customers will thank them for.
A great takeaway from Handley’s session was her equation for great content marketing: Useful x Empathy x Inspired = Great Content.
Throughout day 2, the crowd buzzed with anticipation for Judy Smith’s keynote presentation. When it was announced before Smith took the stage that “due to the sensitive nature of the topics that would be covered, no video would be allowed,” you could feel that excitement grow tenfold.
Smith’s talk on crisis communications possessed a wonderful genuine quality. She advised everyone in the room to come up with a pre-crisis plan. Think about what could go wrong, and anticipate it. Companies with a crisis plan already in place when something goes wrong have a 90% success rate when it comes to making it through the storm.
When creating your pre-crisis plan, think about these 3 things:
1) What it will take for you to respond to an issue?
2) How you will choose to respond?
3) What you want the end goal of your response to be. Do you want to eradicate the issue? Minimize it?
As Demand Success 2014 wrapped up, marketers buzzed with excitement and inspiration. Vocus truly did a wonderful job this year providing an environment where marketers could think forward into the future and ponder innovative concepts. I can’t wait for Demand Success 2015!
