Day two of Search Marketing Summit in Sydney, Australia came after a night of cruising around Sydney Harbour. Conference attendees mingled with local and international speakers while sipping local brews and taking in all the spectacular displays that Vivid Festival had to offer. The second day was all about user experience, landing pages, and nurturing leads; and what that means in a mobile environment. From an hour long Q&A with a Google Trends Analyst to Tim Ash reviewing attendees’ landing pages in real-time, #SMS2016 was formed around what the marketer wants and NEEDS to know.
Embracing Lead Inequality
After a morning roundtable with Aussie big-hitters from Finder and Mindshare Australia, SMSers split off on a Local & Mobile or Next Gen track. First up for the latter was David Lawrence of The Web Showroom. Lawrence proclaimed not all leads are created (or nurtured) equally and marketers must adjust for the disparity.
Lawrence offered 11 ways to identify and improve lead quality, on a quest to convert all leads into Larry Kim’s mythical unicorns (see Day One). The highlights below:
- Quality is not fixed – Every step is different and can influence a donkey lead to take on a unicorn’s path or heaven-forbid take a unicorn down a donkey’s bumpy terrain. Treat every interaction as an opportunity to improve quality.
- You need a framework – Don’t get lost in the digital sea of tactics. Define a process first and drive through tactics with the process in mind.
- KNOW your data – by trusting the source. Audit Google Analytics early and often to ensure data accuracy and validity.
- Think like a marketer – Keep your focus away from shiny tech objects by asking yourself what you do and who do you do it for.
- Evolve Constantly.
- Integrate! (No, SRSLY) Sales and Marketing need to work together — as much as you integrate marketing efforts, integrate your internal team culturally. Customers and the company will benefit from a shared knowledge base.
Integrate, integrate, integrate. Beyond tech & marketing strategy, integrate culturally with internal teams #SMS2016 pic.twitter.com/CqIT1jrzJc
AMP It Up!
Day One favorite ‘Gary-from-Google’ Illyes was back and this session was all about Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). With mobile being Google’s main focus, accelerated mobile pages are attracting a lot of attention from marketers and industry professionals. The biggest caveat for AMP comes when talking about Google organic search — currently the only verticals that are endowed with AMP SERPs are publishers and recipes. That does not mean that the rest of us can’t reap the benefits of AMP in all other mediums.
Google has published extensive documentation on AMP development, it is an open-source project available to anyone who wants blazing fast mobile load time.This is how Amp works – @methode #SMS2016 pic.twitter.com/9oWwEDiTcm
— Nishanth Stephen (@nishanthstephen) June 2, 2016
In typical and cryptic Google fashion, Illyes mentioned that AMP “in theory” could (will) be included on other Google products.
Think about the implications and call up your favorite dev magician to get AMPing!
SalesRecruiting FunnelsFrom one infamous bridge to another, Clayton Wood of Identity Labs in San Francisco took a step back from frontline tactics to detail the pits and peaks when scaling a digital army. The first stop on any company train is the hiring station. Finding, recruiting, and retaining #rockstars takes serious jedi mastery. Wood argues that if companies treat recruiting like a sales funnel — attracting, nurturing, converting, and retaining — the cream will rise to the top.
Four of Wood’s top tips below:
- Hold regular automation meetings with the leadership team. Discussing on a weekly basis what could be automated between departments and tasks will allow the company to scale with efficiency.
- Eliminate bulk by distributing any task that happens more than once and doesn’t require a certain individual’s personal touch or experience. Remove stop gaps from your top performers and free them to innovate.
- Scaling takes assembly line thinking. Everything should be based on a content calendar… and Wood means EVERYTHING. From data entry to content writing, create an efficient process that a team of 2 or 20 could adapt.
- Most importantly, conduct monthly reviews for all staff members. Set performance expectations with deadlines. Reviewing employee work in a positive and constructive environment encourages performance and drive, a must-have for all digital armies.
SEO Healthcare
The SEO Doctors closed the conference with Search Marketing Summit’s one-of-a-kind Site Clinic. Donning lab coats and free beers, four teams of seasoned industry professionals competed to deliver the best site audit for four lucky entrants. This unique Sydney-only experience gives local businesses the opportunity to learn from $1,000 an hour experts.
Where My Ladies At?
To wrap up #SMS2016, Barry Smyth thanked speakers and attendees for a record year. Receiving a thunderous applause, Smyth announced that this year featured the largest percentage of female speakers! Seven internationally renowned women graced Sydney stages, 33 percent of all presenting speakers, including Aleyda Solis, Cindy Krum, Motoko Hunt, & Jennifer Slegg, and yours truly. #SLAY
What’s left to do after two full days of filling the SEO & PPC knowledge meter? EAT (and see the sights)!
First Stop: Opera House
A photo posted by AIMCLEAR (@aimclear) on
Next: Scallops at Bondi Beach, are a must!
At Night: Vivid Festival from the Royal Botanical Gardens!
A photo posted by Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (@rbgsydney) on
Finish the trip with a visit to the Sydney Fish Market and you’ll never want to leave.
We went to the #SydneyFishMarket. Needless to say, we’ve started the application to become Australian citizens. pic.twitter.com/ShcQRMxZ3f
— Rachel Malone-Olson (@duluthrachel) June 5, 2016
Until next time, good onya, mate!
