This year I had the pleasure of attending the Digital Summit in Philadelphia, which I heard about from a woman I randomly met in the center city Paper Source – thanks stranger for letting me know about this data-packed event! The Digital Summit is a two-day digital marketing conference that takes place in over a dozen cities across the U.S. throughout the year.
The highlight was listening to Seth Godin, who Clarity Quest admires, share some thoughts on marketing.
Presentations varied from how to do certain processes, to case studies, to lists of tips, and the list goes. Here are my top takeaways:
1. Click-through rate (CTR) is not a ranking factor. This is a big misconception with SEO that people have. There are lots of ranking factors, but CTR is not one of them. Unfortunately this is a conversation that gets rehashed over and over again, and Google doesn’t have a great explanation, other than this. But, at least It’s settled, once and for all!
2. Don’t expect significant SEO results in less than 4 four months. Don’t get me wrong; you can absolutely have results faster than that. But if you’re hiring an agency to help improve SEO, hire them for a minimum of 4-12 months, especially if you want to rank for competitive search terms
3. Only 5.7% of all newly published pages will get to Google’s top 10 in the first year. Be patient. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.
4. Headlines are more important than you think (for what? Email, landing pages, social posts, all of the above?). Use this headline analyzer to write attention-grabbing titles.
5. *This goes against popular opinion, but I can see how this would make sense for some companies, and I liked the suggestion the speaker offered instead of the normal demo.* Don’t make customers go through hell (a demo) just to find out the price and if the product/service is a good fit. A quick video could be a viable solution to give the prospect what they’re looking for and save you time.
6. SEO is about brand, not website. Create quality content for your audience, distribute your content wisely, and the rankings will come.
7. “Humanization is at the core of personalization. Authentic conversations, true human connection, and being NICE are what lead to conversion and happy partnerships – not mass messaging or purely transactional interactions.” This is my favorite takeaway, and it’s actually from my friend, Olivia Guerrasio, who attended the Digital Summit in Washington D.C.
For more answers to your digital marketing questions, check out the calendar to see when the next Digital Summit is in a city near you.
Can’t wait for the next Digital Summit?
We’re a full-service digital marketing agency. We grow your company and brand valuation. Let us know what you need.
