10 Things I Learned at the DMM

I learned a lot more than ten things at the Digital Mastermind Meeting in Tampa, so I’ll just list the ten that seem most immediately useful to our readers:

1. Run a small pay per click campaign to test keywords before you make a serious investment in content and other search marketing. The test will show you which keywords are most likely to convert.
2. Inbound marketing is about  educating, helping, and building trust. You can’t get that by having a salesperson call as soon as your web visitor shares his or her name with you. Separate your long-term inbound marketing from your cold calling and business development. Over the long run, the two will be equally effective if you do them both right.
3. Don’t make up core values and mission statements to put on your website. Discover the ones your company already has.
4. Think of the three things that differentiate your company. It may be that no single item makes you unique, but the combination of the three will. Use that list to power your marketing.
5. Your target market is smaller than you think, but focusing on exactly the right people or organizations will lead to success. The intersection of your perfect customer, client, or patient with the things that make your company different is the foundation of your digital marketing.
6. Collecting data about your web visitors through Google Analytics, Hubspot, or other strong tools helps you to identify your target market — the people who will be happy they found you.
7. Your IT department is part of your facilities, not your marketing.
8. When you’re giving a presentation, remember that it takes no longer to present 20 slides with one concept each than to present one slide with 20 concepts.
9. What will the digital world look like in 2020? Expect more and more personalization and customization of experiences, even more seamless connections between digital experiences and the physical world, and consumer insistance on accountability for brands. Start now to respond to the trends in your digital marketing and you’ll be on the cutting edge, not catching up.
10. 9 out of 10 small companies spend too little on marketing.

One of the major takeaways for me? I was impressed by how much the other digital agency owners I met invested in learning — they’re reading books, blogs, and magazines, working with business coaches, and attending conferences and trainings. They’re doing that a lot more consistently than most of the business owners I know. What about you? What are you reading, studying, and practicing?