SBR 66: What we learned at Digital Marketing World Forum, new york
Digital is not a f***ing strategy.
Louder for those at the back.
I spent 2 days hosting a stage at DMWF in New York a week or so ago. Different time zone same marketing truth: channels change, fundamentals do not. If you want growth, keep you’re a firm hold of the brand building basics basics.
We went along expecting to be wowed by new tech wizardry and techniques for growing your brand, but there was a suprising (to me anyway) and refreshing theme that emerged.
The red thread: Almost every session circled the same core ideas: understand real people, reach as many of your category buyers as you can for the budget available, show up with a clear story, and give it time to work. The tactics flex by platform. The principles do not.
11 takeaways you can use next week
Audience first. Always. Start with the job to be done for real buyers. Then decide how best to reach them. Creators and employees should speak to their own tribes in a way that’s authentic for them. That is how relevance scales.
Know your brand. And when you know your brand inside out you can decide whether a creator is on brand or not. Select ones that are, and let them do their thing. As much as it is hard to do for brand owners, light the blue touch paper and stand back.
Reach (still) matters. Growth comes from reaching more of your category buyers, not just superfans. Optimise for discovery and breadth, then let engagement deepen the relationship.
Grow the category, not just your brand. When you make the apple-pie bigger, your slice can grow.
B2B and B2C share the same heartbeat. People buy from people, even when a purchase order is attached. Personality, trust and useful content travel well across both disciplines. Of course it’s ok for your tone to be human and engaging in B2B.
Creators are a channel, not a stunt. Longer-term partnerships build memory and credibility. Shared values beat raw follower counts. Think of them as part of a considered media plan, not a lottery ticket.
Employee advocacy is an underpriced asset. Equip your teams with clarity, simple guidance and assets. Their combined networks out-perform the corporate page for reach and engagement.
Data helps you adapt, not abandon. Spot patterns, repurpose across formats, and keep accessibility in mind. Test and tweak, but do not bin the story every week. Consistency is an under-rated strategy.
Community beats vanity. Real conversation, useful replies and steady presence win over performative metrics. Be choiceful and agile. Reach people who count, don’t just count the people you reach.
The path to purchase has some new doors. Social commerce is not a gimmick. It forms a critical (and relatively new) part of the same path to purchase we’ve been using for decades. Map your barriers, fix them, and maybe place some creators where they remove friction.
For smaller teams, organic still works hard. Reviews, replies, and proper community management make other channels work harder. If budgets are tight, helpful consistency will outpace erratic spend.
If you want to know how to implement a marketing strategy that includes but isn’t limited to digital, then you know where we are.
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