Last week we attended the first ever DOYO conference, a digital marketing conference that took place in our own backyard right here in Youngstown Ohio.
The conference brought together the region’s leading experts on digital marketing for a day of learning, dialogue and networking.
Here are some of our favorite points from DOYO Live 2016
1. Schedule Your Content Like a TV station
There was plenty of talk about Content Marketing at the convention. In fact, the morning keynote speaker was Content Marketing Institute founder, Joe Pulizzi. One of Joe’s ideas that we found really interesting was that consistency is more important that frequency. Having a steady content schedule can actually develop an expectation with your audience.
A view of Joe Pulizzi’s keynote talk
So just like you tune-in to AMC every Sunday at 9pm to watch The Walking Dead your audience will learn to tune in at a certain time each week to consume your content.
2. Be More Human With Social Listening
Never forget that there are actual people behind those twitter accounts!
In his session: “How to Win Big With Social Selling” Jeff Herman told an anecdote about how a prospective client shared her interest in being shot out of a cannon on her LinkedIn profile.
Jeff was then able to use that information in a subsequent conversation with the prospect to make a connection. Taking a few minutes to look on Linkedin enabled Jeff to come across as genuine, have an entertaining ice breaker and avoid being another typical shallow sales guy.
Moral of the story: people are putting valuable information about themselves online that we in the digital marketing community can use to build genuine relationships.
3. Video Is Where It’s At
And you don’t even need a camera like this one!
Another point that came up in Jeff’s talk, as well as several other sessions, was the importance and ease of creation of video content.
Video is the best way to capture someone’s attention, it doesn’t require them to read a lengthy article and it simulates face to face contact that’s hard to replicate over the phone. There’s just something about someone seeing and hearing you that facilitates communication so much better.
@mcconnellmktg pic.twitter.com/VSXbBABLIA
— Jeff Leo Herrmann (@JeffLHerrmann) August 5, 2016
And the nice thing is today it doesn’t take much equipment at all! Just check out this cool video note Jeff left us after the conference (shown above) it did not utilize a fancy production studio (in fact it was shot in a gym) but still makes a bigger impact than a text tweet or even this blog!
4. Being Successful at Content Marketing Takes Time… Lots of It!
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 90% of companies are doing content marketing but only 30% say they are successful. Of course, most companies are eager to embrace content marketing as a strategy but few are able to implement it correctly.
One of the biggest reasons for this lack of success is that many businesses aren’t invested for the long haul. Businesses should be prepared to put in 1 year or more of content marketing work before getting any real returns on their investment.
5. Depth Not Breadth
It’s better to focus on one target and nail it than miss several
With so many ways to create content and interact with an audience it’s tempting for companies to try their hand at everything, however digital marketing is a “less is more” endeavor.
Another theme presented at DOYO Live was the idea of narrowing efforts and trying to be successful on fewer platforms and media channels. For example, in his breakout session: “Essentials for Developing an Online Marketing Strategy” Gene Bonanno offered the advice that a company should only focus on optimizing SEO for one domain name, because most don’t have the resources or time to do proper SEO for more than one. A similar message came through in several other marketing presentations with the idea of focusing on fewer channels and fewer content types but doing them extremely well.
Did you attend DOYO Live? Tell us about your favorite part in our comments section below!
