On September 23rd, we hosted our second Outreach Marketing Virtual Summit here at GroupHigh. We had over 30 presentations and over 2,000 people tuned in to soak up new trends, strategies and tactics in the world of outreach marketing.

If you missed and that bums you out, all presentations are available on demand here.

I’ve developed my own marketing strategy by identifying common themes in strategies used by marketers that I admire. Of course I did that with all of our awesome presentations and I want to share what I observed as common themes and trends talked about at the summit. They are trends for a reason and hopefully these talks will help you take your outreach marketing strategy to the next level. (View talks here)

 

Authenticity is the new black.

Whether it’s through honesty (even when you screwed up) or through a human vibe, consumers trust and long for brands they can relate to. Strategies thrown around at the summit range from not being afraid to give your customers a social voice—the bad and the good all contribute to a brand’s human image—to being passionate in your relationship with consumers.

Get caught up with these talks on authenticity from the summit:

Barry Feldman: Kiss my Glass: How to Create Passionate Relationships between Your Buyers and Brand

Jay Baer: Let There Be Sight: How to Fix Your Marketing Blind Spot

Chris Keevill: The Truth Will Set Us Free: It’s Time to Start Trusting Customers on Social

 

Consumers want friends.

Consumers want to be able to interact with the brands they love or are checking out socially. They want conversations in the comments section of blog posts, to be tweeted back to and to recognized for their advocacy. A good friend provides their friends with information and advice they need—not an agenda. Build your brand in to a best friend vestibule!

Get caught up on friendship with these talks from the summit:

David Pride: Care, Connect, Convert

Gini Dietrich: Advanced Blogging through Influencers

Tracey Parsons: Becoming the Brand Manager of You

 

Virtual conferences are amazing.

I loved everything about the virtual conference setting. It was easier for people to attend because they could hop in and out as they pleased.

It was free—no travel expenses or cost to attend—but presentations were just as good as in person! You can tune in from ANYWHERE while wearing ANYTHING!

Presentations are available for a whole year, I’ve never been to an in person conference with that element!

Vconference not only offers an awesome platform to host but they have staff that helped with the technical components of putting together a conference. The networking and conversations that occurred all day on Twitter were just as good as the presentations. I made new friends!

Put together your own conference with this talk:

Stephen Wynkoop: How to Incorporate Virtual Events in to Your Digital Strategy

 

Visually driven is not optional.

Attention spans are getting shorter and long blocks of texts coming at readers is terrifying.  There are so many creative ways to break up scary text blocks with custom images and blog posts that are easy to digest through concise headings and sub headings. I learned some great ways to create custom images—because stock photos are flat—without using Photoshop!

Ramp up your visually driven strategy with these talks:

Julia Campbell: How to Create Eye Catching Graphics without Photoshop

Danny Ashton: How to Build a Viral Idea Machine

 

Advocates are where it’s at.

Through happy consumers and lovers of your brand the best marketing and brand conversations are taking place. Marketers are focusing more than ever on not only harnessing these voices and giving them a place to be heard. Private Facebook groups and advocate marketing platforms are exponentially growing.

Love on your advocates after these talks:

Melanie Cohn: Influencer and Advocate Strategies for Instagram

Jess Ryan: Leveraging Brand Passion to Create a Social Media Brand Ambassador Program for Whole Foods

Robert Clarke: How Influencers Can Help Your Crown Your Content King

 

Data isn’t boring.

Your brand’s data can educate your consumers on industry trends and share valuable insight. The key is to present it in a way that people can use and understand. Infographics and podcasts are a fantastic medium in which to introduce your data to the world!

Make a plan to present your data with these talks:

Dechay Watts: How to Uncover the Personality in Your Data

Phil Davis: Personalize Your Email Campaigns With Predictive Analytics

 

Silos are being knocked down.

And it’s about time too. As someone who lives and breathes outreach marketing, I know how hard it can be to integrate sales and marketing. Let alone track and execute tactics in one place so that data and strategy don’t exist in a million applications, emails and in person conversations. Sales and marketing here at GroupHigh are integrated and full of communication which has helped our marketing efforts a ton!

Learn how to knock down your brand’s silos with these talks:

Leigh George: Why Content Marketing is Your Only Chance to Reach Consumers Today

Trent Dyrsmid: How to Leverage Podcasts to Open Cold Doors

 

Other Voices on Summit Wrap Up:

 

Get caught up on presentations by checking out the summit on demand and reach out to me with any questions!