After two fantastic days at Content Marketing World 2015, my brain is swirling with thoughts and new ideas. Both days of the main conference were filled with great topics, wonderful speakers and networking with marketers from all over the world. (53 countries to be exact!) Here are my top 10 takeaways from this conference!
1. Andrew Davis is the best presenter I've ever seen. I thought this at last year's CMWorld when he was one of the keynote speakers, and the same goes for this year. I went to his session on Social Momentum, and I can say that this was my favorite session of the conference. Main takeaway: Stop making noise and instead build social momentum. Stop vomiting your content on every channel and instead distribute your content when your audience needs it, not where.
2. Jay Baer had the best one liner of the conference that really stuck with me: "Are you creating content, or are you making a difference?" I won't elaborate more on this, because I believe this statement says it all.
3. Saying "no" is a powerful thing. Kristina Halvorson, one of the opening keynote speakers mentioned we always want to say "yes" but when we say yes to everything we do a lot of little things and overlook the big things and the talents of others. Main takeaway: You always have to start out with "Why?" Why are we doing this in the first place?
4. Does your content pass the "mom test"? Jay Baer's keynote was awesome. His key point: Your mom will always tell you the truth, no matter if you want to hear it or not. So, would your content pass the mom test? Main takeaways: If your mom doesn't like it, no one will. Content is having a transformative impact on the world- so don't give up! You're under a lot of pressure to me a "marketing machine"-- but don't forget we are lucky to do this. Creating content is an honor and an opportunity to help people and improve lives.
5. Ann Hadley's breakout session on "Good Content vs. Good Enough Content- a fight for sore eyes" had great tips for creating bigger stories, bolder marketing and braver tone of voice. Main takeaway: 51 percent of B2B companies will spend more money on content marketing in 2016, but only 30 percent know if their content marketing is effective.
6. "Hug your Haters" session with Jay Baer: Customer feedback= a petri dish for content marketing. A place where ideas can flourish! Main takeaway: Embrace the complaints of your customers- if will make you a better marketer. Complaints and questions of your customers= your content marketing ideas!
7. Juntae Delane's session "Smart Content: Using Big Data to Inform Your Content Marketing Strategy" had great points. My main takeaway: We create content first and then analyze the numbers. We need to flip it around and analyze the numbers first and create your content from there.
8. Orange snacks are everywhere! Main takeaway: Who knew there were so many orange snacks?
9. John Cleese was hilarious! I was in tears at some points from laughing so hard. Main takeaway: John can't believe people live in Cleveland. (Hopefully his opinion changed after walking around!)
10. Our learning as marketers never stops. I think that was my favorite part about the conference; being surrounded by 3,500 like-minded professionals who face the same struggles and challenges. Main takeaway: If you can make it next year, I highly recommend going to this conference in 2016. Save the date- Content Marketing World will be back September 6-9!
