In this article, we’ll share our impressions of the speakers, the atmosphere, and the new trends and old truths of digital marketing.
Lively discussions, inspiration and geeks everywhere you look: day one
The official programme of the Marketing Festival kicked off on Saturday 1 November in the morning. But for many, this unforgettable experience began as early as Friday, with participation in themed workshops. These were one of the new features of this year’s event. Saturday’s programme was kicked off by Jindra Fáborský, the organiser of the entire event, to whom we owe great admiration and thanks for putting together such a large-scale event. The stage was graced by many top-tier, primarily international, online marketing experts.
The most striking figure of Saturday was, without a doubt, Avinash Kaushik, who, in addition to his ideas on mastering social media, delivered a striking and slightly melodramatic speech, which the stage of the Brno theatre handled with ease.
Wit, case studies and a standing ovation: day two
Waking up to Sunday morning was followed by a sharp lecture by Jan Řezáč, who campaigns for better web design. On Sunday, there was also discussion of search and keywords in the Czech Republic and abroad, with Dr Peter Meyerse taking to the stage, as well as the future of AdWords scripts presented by Russell Savage. There was great anticipation for Filip Podstavec’s talk (he also worked with us at AITOM), in which he discussed tools that make link building more effective. His dazzling “one-man show” garnered a thunderous standing ovation, even before the talk had finished.
A new feature compared to last year were the case studies, during which eight speakers took to the stage, each given a gruelling five minutes to present their successful project. Can you sell mortgages on Facebook or recruit people for the unpopular role of insurance sales rep via an online campaign? Yes, you can, and these case studies showed us just that.
5 highlights from the Marketing Festival that are worth reading
- You don’t necessarily need a Facebook page if you don’t know how to use it. Avinash Kaushik demonstrated this clearly using Datart’s Facebook profile, which has over 46,000 fans, yet interaction with the page’s posts is virtually non-existent.
- Mobile traffic is increasing dramatically, so we need to think about it more and more; you have to approach users differently on mobile, because “content marketing today equals mobile marketing”.
- It isn’t important to know how many times a specific computer has visited my website, but I need to measure how many times the same person has visited my website from different devices. Measurement must be focused on people.
- The future lies in the automation of advertising and banners, and in thorough data collection, thanks to which Google actually thinks for you and knows what you want. But that doesn’t mean online marketers will no longer be needed; the human factor is essential in automation.
- Although it is often hated, email marketing trumps other forms of online promotion when it comes to return on investment.
What impressions did the AITOM team bring back from the Marketing Festival?
Four of us from AITOM headed to the Marketing Festival; read on to find out what caught our attention:
“What caught my eye at the Marketing Festival? Was it Avinash Kaushik’s amused exclamation ‘What the fuck?’ when looking at Seznam’s homepage? But seriously, all the talks were exceptionally interesting, yet it was Avinash Kaushik who inspired me with his ‘See Think Do Care’ theory, in which he explained what content to use to attract a visitor, how to guide them through the decision-making process right up to the actual purchase (conversion), and how to offer them aftercare. In other words, don’t just focus on people who buy, but target all the previous stages of the purchasing decision.” Michal
“I’m delighted that our incubator is producing people like Filip Podstavec, who proved himself to be a world-class speaker.” Honza
“The Marketing Festival was brilliant, even better than last year. I liked the new features, such as the case studies and workshops. I personally attended Tom Davis’s workshop on MailChimp and I certainly don’t regret it; I took away several interesting insights.” David
“I really enjoyed it; it was brilliant to see so many passionate people all in one place. The talk by Avinash Kaushik and Filip Podstavec definitely sparked the most discussion; for me, they were the two standout figures of the whole weekend.” Lucie