Our Talk at the AMTA Annual Convention

“You made a potentially boring topic so much fun!”

^ (feedback from one of my attendees at my AMTA talk on digital marketing)

From my Snapchat as folks gathered for session #1

Yesterday I had the honor of sharing what I’ve learned over the years about digital marketing with the 167 people who attended my sessions at the AMTA National Convention in DC. Thank you AMTA for a flawless experience – thousands attended & your support for speakers & educators was on-point!

The fun … the energy … & the connections I make with people from all around the country are definitely the best part of these experiences. I always learn so much!

If you attended the conference, thank you so much for spending your precious time with me. In the first session, there were so many questions – thank you for your interest! I was able to rein it in a bit more during the second session and get through all my slides. If you attended the second session at 4pm, you got the full shebang. (Note to self: I was less timid about telling people “no” and that I’d answer their questions later!)

Digital Marketing Cliff’s Notes

In summary, here’s what we learned:

• Focus on the “Long Tail.” 1960s “Mad Men” personality Don Draper was a marketing genius, but he sold to the middle of the “bell curve.” But in today’s attention economy, where computing power is in good supply but human attention is the scarce commodity, your voice will be drowned out if you sell to the middle of the bell curve!
• Make it Personal. Digital marketing isn’t so complex when you remember: you’re still selling your product or service to a specific PERSON with real wants, needs and preferences. Yes, we need the data and there’s a lot we can glean from good keyword research. But imagine your ideal customer, the exact person you’re successfully selling to right now. Wouldn’t it be great if you could clone this person? You can! If all of your collateral speaks to that exact person (sociographically and in terms of pain points), you’ll attract more people with this exact profile to you.
• Be the Ball. When you can “be the ball” (yes, like in Caddyshack), you shine the spotlight on your customer’s wants, needs, desires and aspirations. This makes your message so much more cohesive and relevant.
• Specialize. Instead of missing out on business, specializing in a particular vertical or practice area is going to make you so much more relevant. People will often choose you over your competition simply because you have an area of specialty – especially if it speaks to their exact pain point.
• Help Your Customer Find Their Rainbow Dress. Just like I fell in love with the company that made my daughter’s Pre-K graduation dress, you too can create an online experience for your prospective customer that will make her choose you over all the rest.

If you still have questions, I’d love to engage with you in the comments below. If you have a question, chances are 10 other people have the exact same one. Please post them here and I’ll do my best to answer!