You may remember our first credTen for marketing—we listed our favorites in 2018 (we still recommend all 10), and now we are back with even more marketing and advertising events that we love!
Check out this roundup of virtual and in-person marketing and advertising events happening in the next year.
This week we were joined by experiential content experts Ryan Brown (Ceros), Sharon Shapiro (Bluecore), and Paige Gildner (Bluecore) to talk about how brands can use interactive digital experiences to stand out from the “mediocre middle.”
Last week, marketers of all stripes flooded The Fairmont, InterContinental Mark Hopkins and The Masonic in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood to participate in RampUp. This was the 8th year for LiveRamp’s flagship event and as in previous years, the conference presented itself to be bigger and better than ever before.
Last week, the events team had the pleasure of coordinating an intimate dinner on behalf of MightyHive, a global leader in advanced marketing and advertising technologies, at Birdsong in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. The event was well-timed to take place directly after AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O, where MightyHive was participating and held a presence with their booth.
The night began with cocktail hour and canapés, with guests happy to mingle and unwind after their considerable day at Programmatic. Before inviting everyone to take their seats, MightyHive President of the Americas Emily Del Greco presented welcome remarks and housekeeping notes. Once everyone took a seat in the warm and focused atmosphere of the first floor space, attendees listened to a fireside chat between Emily and Electronic Arts Global Head of Media Belinda Smith.
During the discussion, Belinda and Emily looked back at their careers to trade lessons they’ve learned over the combined 30+ years they share in sales, marketing, and strategy experience. They debated the rewards (increased transparency, control of data, faster execution) and risks (steep learning curve, talent, startup cost) associated with in-house marketing. They marveled at how far in-house agency penetration has come even just in the past 10 years. Toward the end of the chat, it was clear attendees were intrigued by Belinda and Emily’s experiences and hoped to dive deeper into their own in-housing exposure during the Q & A session.
Before heading upstairs for the five-course meal, Emily suggested, “Of course talent is just one component of in-housing—I welcome you to discuss other challenges and opportunities that you have found along the way. Support each other, learn from each other, and share your wisdom.”
After the fireside, more than 15 MightyHive Partners were treated to a delectable tasting menu featuring dishes inspired by the Pacific Northwest. Birdsong, a recent recipient of the coveted Michelin Star honor, appeared to have its service down to a science as evidenced by the harmonious presentation of each plate. Wild boar, aged duck with mustard greens and Sonoma lamb were just a few of the mouthwatering items that graced the menu for the night. Conversation flowed as smoothly as the grilled butter atop the Peruvian purple cornbread, and topics rotated between specific in-housing accounts to the process as a whole.
Guests walked away from the night with inspiration from fascinating speakers along with new tactics for their brands’ in-housing strategy. As a parting gift, MightyHive gave each attendee a branded smart home plug that guests seemed eager to get home and test out.
Looking for help with planning your next event? Connect with us at events@credpr.com.
With nearly two-thirds of the population checking social media daily, there has never been a better time to utilize online platforms as a business tool. In fact, last June Instagram, reached a whopping one billion monthly active users, making customer engagement just one click away for most businesses.
For some people, social media may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. When executed correctly, social media is an incredibly effective marketing tool. It serves to boost brand exposure, encourages two-way communication, and humanizes your brand. No matter your experience with the various social media platforms available today, we’ve compiled eight cred-approved strategies below to help you drastically improve your online presence.
Establish a clear goal
No matter what your goal is, make it SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Once you have established your one clear goal, you and your team can collaborate on how to achieve it. Remember, it needs to be realistic. You won’t get 1,000 followers overnight.
Commit to your brand
In order for your company to be distinguishable from competitors, it’s important to establish one style for your brand. Every post, retweet, and Instagram story should be in line with your brand. This includes keeping everything consistent, from voice to aesthetics.
Pro tip: People are drawn to authentic brands so don’t be afraid to show personality, but always keep it professional. For more tips on developing your personal brand, check out this post.
Stay on top of trends
Channel your inner Austin Kleon and steal like an artist. When you notice new trends on social media, leverage it to your advantage by improving or expanding upon it. Things are popular for a reason. If you see a creative Instagram story or an engaging tweet, save it and then improve it later to make it your own.
Pro tip: Tag your location using Instagram Stories to broaden your reach and then organize your stories into highlights.
Use the right hashtags
Make it a daily habit to search trending hashtags on Twitter and Instagram to see what people are talking about. By consistently #hashtagging related content on your posts, your account will gain more traction and followers.
Make customer engagement a priority
Social media has opened the floodgates to instant gratification. In a matter of minutes, you can comment on a post and receive a response, and this makes customers feel important. By interacting with users daily, your company will be on its way to boosting followers and building credibility.
Track your analytics
Create a business account to learn more about your audience’s behavior and demographics. With Instagram Business Tools you can track your impressions, outreach, profile views, website clicks, and more. With Twitter Analytics, you can measure and boost your impact on Twitter by viewing your impressions. These insights will help you gauge what days and times are best for you to post your content, this way you can provide more timely and relevant content for your followers.
Create a content calendar
Using business accounts, find out the best times to post on your feed, then plan out your content for the month. By using a calendar, you can keep yourself organized and have your content scheduled ahead of time. This way, you’re never missing a day or struggling to find content to post.
Pro tip: Create content ahead of time and save them in your drafts. When the day comes around, all you have to do is press send.
Make a commitment
Last, but certainly not least: staying on top of mind should be your number one priority. In order to make an impression, you first need to make a commitment. Set reminders to post daily on social media so you never miss a beat.
By making time to post consistent, relevant, and relatable content on social media, you will be able to expand your reach, boost your brand exposure, and engage more frequently with your audience. By using these tips, you will be well on your way to improving your online presence and increasing your brand’s credibility.
Following the success of events in London, Berlin, and New York, Voxburner brought their Youth Marketing Strategy summit to San Francisco for the first time on June 12 at Fort Mason’s Gallery 308. YMS offers insights that reflect the latest trends and hottest topics in the youth marketing industry. We attended to see our speakers from Tophatter and Greenbrier and hear what’s driving the behaviors of GenZ and how brands and agencies can do a better job of meeting the youth market where they are. Here’s what we learned.
CEOs, VPs and Founders shared their thoughts on current marketing opportunities and challenges and why young people are so important to their organizations:
“These issues that are polarizing to older demographics are not to younger ones. Be a human, that’s what these young consumers want. Staying silent is not a long term strategy.” - Meredith Ferguson, DoSomething Strategic
“We know that most young consumers, don’t read the New York Times or watch Bloomberg Tech. Surprisingly, most younger consumers get their news from local news websites. We need to figure out how to meet them where they are vs. trying to get a story in a top tier.” - Lane Kasselman, Greenbrier
“We have to think very carefully about what we do. I encourage our company to act as a media/publishing company and think about planning every 3 hours vs. every 3 months.” - Livio Bisterzo, HIPPEAS
25-year-old Steve Bartlett of Social Chain helped us understand How to Avoid Becoming Completely Irrelevant in 2018 and the power of working with micro-influencers:
“Most people are creating things from the perspective that people care. The only thing people really care about is what I can do for them . . . you are not a marketer, you are a publisher.”
Personalization is the way to turn everyone into an influencer (ex. people sharing photos of their names spelled wrong on Starbuck cups)
Where is the opportunity? Podcasting, free reach on LinkedIn because they haven’t figured out their algorithm yet, music.ly, Twitch, and Facebook Groups.
During The Kids That Are Changing the World panel, the audience had a chance to ask ambitious youth what they want from their brand relationships. Authenticity, relatability and transparency were key:
“GenZ grew up on social and smartphones and can detect BS much faster than other generations. Brands need to take this into account.” - Tiffany Zhong, Zebra Intelligence
“No-one really gives a shit about you and what you’re doing, what they do care about is the content you're building out and what they can do with that. It’s all about trying to create content where, after people watch it, they feel like they’re walking away with something.” - Mehak Vohra, Jamocha Media
The first panel after lunch and a 10-minute guided meditation brought together speakers from brands TOMS, Casetify, Par en Par, and Tophatter to discuss The Future of Retail:
“Instant gratification is what we see shoppers wanting, and snackability. In a world where our attention spans are shorter than goldfish, you have to bump the adrenaline up quickly." - Malcolm Scovil, Tophatter
“It should be a given in your business model that you’re doing good, or at least doing no harm in your process of creating.” - Laura Choi, Par en Par
Ben Harms of Archrival gave an engaging talk on The State of Youth Culture and Shifting Trends. Key insights included:
Youth are compelled to find and follow their personal passions to build up a life resume of experiences.
GenZ is the most self-reliant generation yet. They know how to find the answer. 72% want to start a business.
“This generation has blown open the world of acceptance. The more unique and individual you are, the more oddly normal you are.”
“Girl Power” is an outdated mantra. In Z’s minds, the gender paradigm has already shifted and it’s up to us to catch up.
82% of GenZ said they’d rather trail blaze than follow traditional paths.
“The idea of building loyalty among this generation is one of the most elusive things. They’re incredibly loyal - but that definition is changing. Youth are loyal to creativity and innovation. Brands must constantly push themselves to keep favor.”
Ernest Hemingway called a blank sheet of paper the scariest thing he’d ever encountered in his life. Anyone can face writer’s block, and it’s especially difficult to get your creative, imaginative thoughts on paper. Whether you’re looking to write a speech, a novel, or anything in between, these five tips will help you get started on expressing your ideas in a unique way.
One of the simplest ways to improve your creative writing skills is to draw from your surroundings. By taking note of ideas from people you meet, conversations you overhear, places you visit, conferences you attend, speeches you watch, and beyond, the potential for creative thought expands. Become a sponge, and be incurably curious. Writer R. V. Cassill called notebooks “incubators” - carry a notebook and write down what you observe.
Reading is scientifically proven to expand your vocabulary and increase intelligence - two traits that can both improve and differentiate your writing. Reading a variety of content also exposes you to new styles, genres, and cadences of writing.
The more you write, the better a writer you’ll become. As with anything, writing more often can improve your practice. The hardest part is starting! Set aside 10 minutes every night to document your day, or do a writing exercise to challenge yourself, like the Pennebaker Writing Exercise. To begin, think of something - an upcoming event, a stress, etc. - that has been on your mind. For four days straight, write about it for 10 to 20 minutes nightly. Don’t think about style, spelling, grammar, or anything that may distract from your content. Simply write. Which leads to the next tip...
To unlock your creative juices, try stepping outside of the traditional approaches you currently know about writing. While understanding the fundamentals of writing and sentence structure can serve as an excellent base when getting started, breaking those rules will allow you to write more freely and uniquely. The outcome won't necessarily be stellar on first attempt, but keep trying to find your voice and utilize writing as an outlet.
Pay attention to the time of day that free-thinking comes easiest to you. You may feel your most creative first thing in the morning, before your mind is pulled away by the hustle of the day. If you're a night owl, 11 pm may be the ideal time to get your creative juices flowing on paper. Take note of when you feel sharpest and play around with a time that works for you.
Want to learn more? Check out these resources for strengthening your creative writing skills.
On Writing, by Stephen King
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr.
The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle, by Steven Pressfield
I Should Be Writing, by Mur Lafferty (podcast)
