The Ultimate First-Timer #MDMC18 Cheat Sheet!

What To Know About #MDMC18 For First Time Attendees


If it is your first time attending the Midwest Digital Marketing Conference (MDMC18) and you do not know what to expect, we are here to help. First off, be ready for two days full of exciting activities, new information, plenty of new people, and, of course, a lot of fun!
MDMC Session Schedule
MDMC18 is the largest digital marketing conference in the Midwest region, which is going to take place on March 27 and 28, 2018, at St. Louis Union Station. It is a full, two-day event offering over 100 concurrent sessions across nine tracks, such as, Data, Digital, Social Media, Innovation, etc.
We know, it is no easy matter to choose among the sessions presented by more than 100 speakers from such companies as BuzzFeed, Google, Pandora, Refinery29, SAS, Nielsen, GoDaddy and many more including the local talent, so make sure to read the schedule beforehand and make your choice.
Registration
Registration for the conference starts at 7 am on day one. You can receive your badge in the exhibitor hall: just tell us your name and the company you represent. Please note, there are going to be around 2000 people attending the conference this year so you might want to pre-register the day before the conference kicks off to avoid standing in the line. Pre-registration will be available on March 26, 2018, from 10 am till 6 pm, with free 15-minute parking included.
Keynote Speakers
Mark your calendar and make sure you attend keynote addresses on both days at 8:30 am. As soon as you grab your badge (and your morning coffee to keep your energy level high) head to Grand Ballroom D/E to listen to Dre Baldwin and Pam Moore setting the tone to the conference with their keynote addresses.
Venue Details
This is the third year for the MDMC to take place at St. Louis’ Union Station, which is a 120-year-old National Historic Landmark located on Market Street. The parking will be discounted for the conference attendees by over 50% to only $8.00 per day, just show your MDMC18 badge upon exiting the parking lot to receive the discounted rate on March 26th, 27th or 28th!

There will be refreshments and coffee offered at the conference, but lunch will not be provided. Food trucks will arrive at 11:30 am on each day and will be parked on S 20th Street. If you choose to eat off the venue, there will be a few restaurants in the area, such as, for instance, Maggie O’Briens or Hard Rock Café, providing discounts for the conference attendees.
Exhibitor Hall
While going from session to session, as well as during the lunch time, make sure to visit the exhibitor hall with more than 40 exhibitors this year to learn more about the companies and expand your network.
After Parties
The opening night party on Tuesday called “Your Date With Data”, will be hosted this year again by Momentum Worldwide. Momentum is a total brand experience agency located right across the street from Union Station. The MDMC18 closing party will take place on Thursday, March 28, and will be hosted by CIC and Cortex at 4240 Duncan Ave. Please register in advance for both parties using the official conference app.
Conference App
As a conference attendee, you should have received an email inviting you to download the conference app. The MDMC18 app, Guidebook, will help you access the conference schedule, create your own schedule, learn more about the speakers, see available food options, register for the after-parties, connect with your fellow attendees, and much more.
MDMC18 on Social Media
Want to get a chance to win an MDMC branded t-shirt or a tumbler? Follow MDMC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and give us a shout out using the #MDMC18 hashtag.


 

Exciting Video Marketing Trends for 2018

By: Lysa Young-Bates

Increasingly, marketers are turning to total experience immersion, allowing consumers enticing opportunities to “step into” a brand’s adventure. Whether through fantastical experience or real-time video-based feedback, the ways companies produce and buyers consume is rapidly evolving, and video provides an experiential medium for meaningful brand-client interactions.


Projection Mapping
Only a few years ago, video projection mapping (a.k.a. spatial augmented reality) was primarily a playground for artists. However, brands are increasingly embracing this powerful medium for high-impact, breathtaking visual presentations. Unlike conventional flat projection, projection mapping turns any building or dimensional surface into a distortion-free canvas, combining motion graphics, animation, and 3D to re-contextualize a structure’s “built” geometry, creating fresh opportunities for massive visual scale and illusional interplay.

VR Video Marketing
Virtual Reality (VR) offers another rich-video experience where consumers can “participate” with brands. According to Marketing Tech News, “VR content has been found to elicit higher emotional and longer engagement than traditional 2D.” Further, Goldman Sachs anticipates that within the next decade, VR will bypass TV, generating revenue of $110 billion. Brands including Merrell, Adidas, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Volvo, TopShop, Patron, and the New York Times have incorporated VR into marketing campaigns, upping the ante on inspiration, engagement, and impact with their consumer-base.

360 Videos
The appeal of 360 video stems largely from consumers’ ability to control their perspective while viewing content. Google recently compared a 60-second 360 video ad against a standard format video of the same length. Neither ad was listed or promoted, appearing strictly via in-stream campaigns or through peer-to-peer shares. Also, both ads ended with the same measurable call-to-action. While full-watch view-through rate was lower on the 360 ad, it out-performed the standard video on overall view, shares, and subscribes. These metrics support 360 video’s benefits of immersion and engagement, increasing the “storytelling” quality of a video experience where customers can manipulate and interact within the view. Psychological studies further indicate that users’ affinity increases in situations where they feel greater control, offering compelling support for brands to consider meaningful ways they can incorporate this technology in their customer interactions.


Via: 
https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/4-exciting-video-marketing-trends-2018/
https://www.creativebloq.com/video/projection-mapping-912849
https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-brands-use-360-video/
https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2017/jul/06/360-degree-and-vr-video-future-marketing
http://mbryonic.com/best-vr/

Sessions to Attend: #MDMC18 Bucket List

The Midwest Digital Marketing Conference, also known as MDMC18, is the largest digital marketing conference in the Midwest, which is going to take place at St. Louis’ Union Station on March 27 and 28, 2018. Going into its sixth year, the conference boasts more than 100 speakers from such companies as BuzzFeed, Facebook, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Google, GoDaddy, Nestle Purina, Monsanto, Yelp, and brings marketing professionals together from all over the US.
Being a full, two-day event, MDMC18 will feature more than 100 concurrent sessions across nine tracks, namely, Data, Digital Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Academic, Career, Creative, Innovation, Social Media, and Technology.
With such a variety of topics offered for discussion the choice which sessions to attend is not an easy one. Keeping that in mind, we decided to help MDMC18 attendees get the most out of their conference experience and advise which sessions might be beneficial for them to attend based on their professional role.


Role: Social Media Manager
For those who manage social media and deal with various social media platforms on a daily basis, here is our recommended bucket list.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
○          Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Combining Paid Social and Influencers to Drive Growth for Your Business, Steve Weiss, MuteSix
○          Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
○          Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          Livestreaming for Your Brand, Stephanie Liu
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Livestreaming Panel
○          Facebook Family Feud, Clayton Clark, Big Rush Marketing
○          How to Create Digital Videos that Drive Real Results, Tyler Kelley, SLAM!
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          The Future of Visual Search, Raashi Rosenberger, Pinterest
○          Metrics That Matter: How to Show ROI On Your Social Media Marketing, Steph Nissen, Atomic Revenue
○          Social Media Crisis Management Panel
 
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Why is Fewer and Bigger . . . Better on Facebook?, John Patten, Facebook, and Stephanie Harwin, Nestlé Purina
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          $4.6 Million, 24 Hours: Using Facebook Live to Raise Millions in Louisville, Chris Strub, I Am Here, LLC, and Cara Baribeau, Community Foundation of Louisville
○          Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          The Power of Full Funnel Content on LinkedIn, Rachel Rickles, LinkedIn
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          The Secret LinkedIn Playbook to Generate High Quality Leads, Build Relationships, Pat Henseler, LinkedSelling
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          AI Can Drive What We Buy: How Social Media is Changing Content and Commerce, Obele Brown – West, Weber Shandwick
○          #Ad Isn’t Enough: Laws Affecting Influencer And Social Media Marketing, Mark Sableman, Thompson Coburn LLP
 
Role: Vice President / Director
Below is the list of sessions we would recommend to those holding managerial positions and defining company’s strategy.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          The Challenge of Becoming a Data-Driven Company, Sean Cotton, Coegi, and Matt Hertig, Alight Analytics
○          Level Up Your Marketing: Using Gamification to Enhance Marketing Campaigns, Mitch Canter, Vanderbilt University
○          Can Elephants Dance? Agile Marketing At Scale – CA’s Story, Yuval Yeret, AgileSparks
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Marketing & Media: The Intersection, Aaron Perlut, Elasticity, and Jack Speer, NPR-Washington
○          The Future of Advertising, Ben Williams, Eyeo/Adblock Plus
○          Building A Digital Dream Team Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          The Price of Privacy, Ayana Miller, Privilgd
○          Mobile UX Case Studies – Mistakes, That Most Of The App Designers Make, Csaba Hazi, Webabstract
○          Avoid The Trappings That Lead Digital Teams Toward Failure Or Mediocrity, Kevin Farr, CNTRD
○          Live Podcasting Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Livestreaming Panel
○          Why Can’t We Be Friends? A Modern Marketer’s Guide to Teaming With Sales, Sam Mallikarjunan, HubSpot
○          Turning Big Data to Shopper Experiences, Shaun Brown, Momentum Worldwide, and Steve Mackinnon, IBM Global Business Services
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          Making The Case For Interactive Email, Heidi Olsen, and Cher Fuller, eROI
○          Ways to Leverage AdWords, Google Shopping, & YouTube for Full Funnel Growth, Brett Curry, OMG Commerce
○          Programmatic: The Quality Conundrum, Lindsey Freed, Centro
○          They Filled Out a Form; Now What? Drives Sales with Marketing Automation, Shane Freeman, Eureka Consulting Group
○          Social Media Crisis Management Panel
 
Day 2, March 28th
9:30 – 10:40 am
○          How to Supercharge Your Marketing with Competitive Intel, Ellie Mirman, Crayon
○          Building Brand Love in B2B, Jazzy Danziger, Atomicdust
○          Beyond The Tactics: Integrated Marketing Strategy For New Product Launch, Joe Duffin, Spry Digital
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          How To Get Fans To JOIN Your Brand, Andrew Cohen, Moosylvania
○          Your Brand Is A Hypothesis: Data Science & Creativity, James Campbell, Slalom
○          Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          What’s The Deal With Location-Based Marketing?, Matthew Davis, Reveal Mobile
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Visual Storytelling: Creating A True Connection With Your Content, Carl Reed, Lion Forge Comics
○          Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          AI Can Drive What We Buy: How Social Media is Changing Content and Commerce, Obele Brown – West, Weber Shandwick
○          #Ad Isn’t Enough: Laws Affecting Influencer And Social Media Marketing, Mark Sableman, Thompson Coburn LLP
 
Role: Small Business Employee
Running a small business has its own benefits and challenges. Here are the MDMC18 sessions that we think would be beneficial for those working for small businesses.
Day1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
○          Combining Paid Social and Influencers to Drive Growth for Your Business, Steve Weiss, MuteSix
○          The Echo Chamber: How Content Is Ruining The World And What We Can Do To Fix It, Kasim Aslam, Solutions 8
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          12 Principles Of Viral Content, Ryan McCready, Venngage
○          Live Podcasting Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Livestreaming Panel
○          Facebook Family Feud, Clayton Clark, Big Rush Marketing
○          2018 Hiring And Compensation Trends, Elizabeth Ledbetter, The Creative Group
○          How to Create Digital Videos that Drive Real Results, Tyler Kelley, SLAM!
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          They Filled Out a Form; Now What? Drives Sales with Marketing Automation, Shane Freeman, Eureka Consulting Group
○          Social Media Crisis Management Panel
 
Day 2, March 28th
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          $4.6 Million, 24 Hours: Using Facebook Live to Raise Millions in Louisville, Chris Strub, I Am Here, LLC, and Cara Baribeau, Community Foundation of Louisville
○          Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
○          The Blogger’s Mindset – Find Topics, Write Faster, And Reach More People, Mike Alton, The Social Media Hat
○          Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          Why You Need To Optimize Your Video Content For Mobile, Elizabeth Giorgi, Mighteor
○          Branding While Broke, Keisha Mabry
○          Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Effective Advertising: The Keys To A Great Creative, Elizabeth King, Nielsen
○          The Secret LinkedIn Playbook to Generate High Quality Leads, Build Relationships, Pat Henseler, LinkedSelling
○          Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          Making Digital More Human, Eliot Frick, Bigwidesky
○          Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
○          Improving Your SEM Campaign To Reach Your Goals Panel
 
Role: Enterprise Employee
Working for a big company has its own peculiarities. We recommend the following MDMC18 sessions for those working for enterprises.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          The Challenge of Becoming a Data-Driven Company, Sean Cotton, Coegi, and Matt Hertig, Alight Analytics
○          Level Up Your Marketing: Using Gamification to Enhance Marketing Campaigns, Mitch Canter, Vanderbilt University
○          Can Elephants Dance? Agile Marketing At Scale – CA’s Story, Yuval Yeret, AgileSparks
○          Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
10:40 -11:30 am
○          Combining Paid Social and Influencers to Drive Growth for Your Business, Steve Weiss, MuteSix
○          Poetry Is The One Simple Hack To Increase Creativity, Shawn Pfunder, GoDaddy
○          Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
○          Building A Digital Dream Team Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          The Price of Privacy, Ayana Miller, Privilgd
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          2018 Hiring And Compensation Trends, Elizabeth Ledbetter, The Creative Group
○          Turning Big Data to Shopper Experiences, Shaun Brown, Momentum Worldwide, and Steve Mackinnon, IBM Global Business Services
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          Digital Storytelling: How Brands Can Better Understand Their Consumer Through Underground Blogs, Cami Thomas, FTCTV
○          Social Media Crisis Management Panel
 
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Data Driven Conversion Optimization, Sara Kear, Adept Marketing
○          Marketing Trends: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Craig Rutkowske, SAS
○          Building Brand Love in B2B, Jazzy Danziger, Atomicdust
○          Beyond The Tactics: Integrated Marketing Strategy For New Product Launch, Joe Duffin, Spry Digital
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Is Your Brand Ready For AI, IoT And The Sonic Revolution?, Gabe Tartaglia, Pandora
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          The Power of Full Funnel Content on LinkedIn, Rachel Rickles, LinkedIn
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
○          Making Effective Data Visualization Is A Key Marketing Skill, Kaiser Fung, Principal Analytics Prep
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
○          AI Can Drive What We Buy: How Social Media is Changing Content and Commerce, Obele Brown – West, Weber Shandwick
 
 
Role: Non-profit Employee
How does working for a non-profit organization differ from working for a for-profit company? Despite utilizing similar tools, marketing professionals build different strategies, target different audiences and employ tactics specific for the non-profit sector. Here is the list of MDMC18 sessions that we recommend to those employed by non-profits.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Social Media for Non-Profits Panel
○          Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
○          Massive Instagram Growth for Small Businesses, Stefani Pollack, Build Digital Marketing, and Scott Thomas, Grillin’ Fools, Inc.
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Poetry Is The One Simple Hack To Increase Creativity, Shawn Pfunder, GoDaddy
○          Data Driven Video – Your Unfair Advantage: Bringing Data to the Entire Marketing Funnel, Tony Yi, Videology Group
○          Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          12 Principles Of Viral Content, Ryan McCready, Venngage
○          Live Podcasting Panel

2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Livestreaming Panel
○          Facebook Family Feud, Clayton Clark, Big Rush Marketing
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          Social Media Crisis Management Panel
○          Digital Storytelling: How Brands Can Better Understand Their Consumer Through Underground Blogs, Cami Thomas, FTCTV
 
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Why is Fewer and Bigger . . . Better on Facebook?, John Patten, Facebook, and Stephanie Harwin, Nestlé Purina
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          $4.6 Million, 24 Hours: Using Facebook Live to Raise Millions in Louisville, Chris Strub, I Am Here, LLC, and Cara Baribeau, Community Foundation of Louisville
○          Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
○          Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          Why You Need To Optimize Your Video Content For Mobile, Elizabeth Giorgi, Mighteor
○          Branding While Broke, Keisha Mabry
○          Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Effective Advertising: The Keys To A Great Creative, Elizabeth King, Nielsen
○          Harnessing Our Humanity: Shifting Perceptions With Employee Storytelling, Kim Clark, GoDaddy
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          #Ad Isn’t Enough: Laws Affecting Influencer And Social Media Marketing, Mark Sableman, Thompson Coburn LLP
○          Making Digital More Human, Eliot Frick, Bigwidesky
○          Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
 
Role: SEO/SEM Managers
MDMC18 offers a number of sessions for those working with SEO and SEM. Here is the list.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          How To Befriend Google & Win!, Chris Brewer, Online Marketing Giant and OMG Commerce
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Turning Big Data to Shopper Experiences, Shaun Brown, Momentum Worldwide, and Steve Mackinnon, IBM Global Business Services
 
Day 2, March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Data Driven Conversion Optimization, Sara Kear, Adept Marketing
○          Marketing Trends: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Craig Rutkowske, SAS
○          The Future Of Mobile, Stephanie Cox, Lumavate

10:40 – 11:30 am
○          How To Win At And With SEO, Dave Rohrer, NorthSide Metrics
○          Is Your Brand Ready For AI, IoT And The Sonic Revolution?, Gabe Tartaglia, Pandora
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
○          Content Development Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Mapping Your Digital Footprint, Juntae Delane, Digital Branding Institute
3:10 -4:00 pm
○          Improving Your SEM Campaign to Reach Your Goals Panel
 
Role: Entry Level Professionals
For those conference attendees who are making their first steps in digital and social media marketing MDMC18 recommends attending the sessions listed below.
Day 1, March 27th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Crisis at the Speed of Social, Cully Eisenberg, FleishmanHillard
○          Digital Content Creation – Art or Science?, Finola Austin, Refinery29
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Poetry Is The One Simple Hack To Increase Creativity, Shawn Pfunder, GoDaddy
○          Mobile and Video Media Revolution, Kevin Murphy, DistroScale, Inc.
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          12 Principles Of Viral Content, Ryan McCready, Venngage
○          Live Podcasting Panel
○          The Price of Privacy, Ayana Miller, Privilgd
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          What They Say vs What We Hear: Translating Business For Creatives, Douglas Davis, New York City College of Technology
○          2018 Hiring And Compensation Trends, Elizabeth Ledbetter, The Creative Group
○          How to Create Digital Videos that Drive Real Results, Tyler Kelley, SLAM!
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          Social Media Crisis Management Panel
 
Day 2. March 28th
9:40 – 10:30 am
○          Marketing Trends: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Craig Rutkowske, SAS
○          Why is Fewer and Bigger . . . Better on Facebook?, John Patten, Facebook, and Stephanie Harwin, Nestlé Purina
10:40 – 11:30 am
○          Social Video: 5 Mistakes You’re Probably Making, Jeremy Corray, Coolfire Studios
○          The Blogger’s Mindset – Find Topics, Write Faster, And Reach More People, Mike Alton, The Social Media Hat
○          Facebook Advertising Panel
1:00 – 1:50 pm
○          Branding While Broke, Keisha Mabry
○          Search Snippets: How To Create Content That Targets Spot No. 0 in Google, Jared Reed, Pan Galactic Digital, LLC
○          Content Development Panel
2:00 – 2:50 pm
○          Making Effective Data Visualization Is A Key Marketing Skill, Kaiser Fung, Principal Analytics Prep
○          Personal Branding Panel-Creating And Applying A Successful Personal Brand
3:10 – 4:00 pm
○          Making Digital More Human, Eliot Frick, Bigwidesky
○          Next Level Native With BuzzFeed, Phil Cara, Buzzfeed
Check the full conference schedule here.


 

Turn Marketing Data Into A Business Advantage With Matt Hertig At #MDMC18


Matt Hertig is the CEO, CTO and co-founder of Alight Analytics – an analytics consultancy which works with such brands as the Memphis Grizzlies, AMC Theatres, Helzberg Diamonds and many others. When working with its clients, Alight Analytics utilizes the technology solution, called ChannelMix®, which is the world’s first data management platform designed for marketing.
During their session at MDMC18 called “The Challenge of Becoming a Data-Driven Company”, Matt and his co-presenter Sean Cotton, are going to share the tips on how to turn marketing data into a real-world business advantage, and generate real ROI from marketing analytics.
In the pre-conference Q&A session below, Mark provides his insights on digital marketing.


Q1. What do you think is the next game changer in digital marketing, such as a new, modern tactic, tool, or aspect of marketing? How will it evolve in the coming years?
M.H.: Right now, for too many marketers, digital strategy is like a puzzle without a box because there are so many channels and sources of data. Marketers have all these different pieces but no overarching view of how they all fit together. 

In the future, there’s going to be less of that fragmentation — as an industry, we’re going to solve the data problem. So instead of being forced to piece all these data sources together on your own, you’ll be able to start with a holistic picture of what happened. 
Q2. According to you, what are the top three mistakes committed by organizations today in leveraging digital marketing?
M.H.: One of the most common problems is using the wrong metrics to make decisions. It’s easy to get distracted by big numbers like impressions or pageviews. But are those really illustrating what’s happening with your marketing? You need to pay attention to the measures that will inform what you should do next. 

Another big problem is when marketers look at their marketing results channel by channel, in silos. We need to view analytics holistically — how do different channels amplify or interact with each other? 

And finally, too many marketers aren’t using analytics to drive their plans. When it comes time to allocate their media spend, they hand out 20 percent to digital, 20 percent to TV, 20 percent to search, and so on. It’s like Mom handing out cookies — everybody gets a fair share. 

But what we should do is leverage our marketing analytics to spend budget where it’s going to generate the best returns. Maybe search drives the bulk of your conversions. In that case, maybe it should get 50 or 70 percent of your spend. 
Q3. Which are your three favorite digital marketing tools?
M.H.: My team would kill me if I didn’t mention ChannelMix, our data aggregation solution for marketing. We can automatically collect, clean and organize all your marketing data, no matter the source, and put it into an analysis-ready format.

Once you’ve got that perfected data, it’s so much easier to analyze and visualize that with best-in-class tools. At Alight, we use Tableau and Google Data Studios. They’re comprehensive, customizable solutions that can do whatever you or your clients need. There are other viz tools out there that promise to be “easier,” but inevitably, we’ve seen people get stuck because those tools are so limited.
Q4. If you were looking to hire a digital marketer, what are the top 3-5 skills you would be looking for in a candidate?
M.H.: If you’re hiring an analyst or anyone who’s going to be directly involved with marketing analytics, there are three things you should look for: 

– a core knowledge of how data works 
– a contextual understanding of how different channels impact and influence each other
– the ability to tell a holistic performance story 

Because if you have all those things — that core knowledge and context — I can teach you all the technical skills you need. It’s a lot harder to teach the intellectual skills. 
Q5. What’s the industry buzzword that annoys you the most these days and why?
M.H.: “Dashboard,” at least when people treat dashboards like they’re a crystal ball that will magically tell them what to do. 

In reality, the dashboards used by most marketers aren’t tracking metrics that will enable them to make good business decisions. These visualizations are usually very pretty-looking, but they don’t contain the kinds of decision metrics that marketers need.  

We prefer the term “performance stories” when we’re talking about marketing analytics. That’s because the different pieces of your data ecosystem affect and influence each other. “I did X, which caused Y, and that resulted in Z.” When you achieve that comprehensive view, you’re going to understand your results with greater insight.