The idea of a marketing conference might seem self-explanatory, but what exactly is an “authentic marketing” conference?
Josh Ochs, the coordinator of the recent event of that very name, has an explanation.
“The goal of the conference is campaign best practices, to help brands and influencers to work together to create campaigns that are meaningful,” he noted. “It’s unique because it’s full of tactics and tips, and very few buzzwords.”
The “authentic” aspect also means introducing tangible, specific steps that can be employed straight away.
“To help hit the ground running with ideas you can immediately start using to run more successful campaigns,” he added.
Of the many key ideas put forward throughout the day-long conference was for corporations to make better efforts at understanding the perspectives of the marketers they hire.
“A big problem tends to be that businesses don’t really listen to influencers,” lamented Ochs.
For the second year in a row, the conference – held at Microsoft Los Angeles Headquarters, Apr. 28 – brought out a diverse crowd including influencers, social media experts, corporate representatives, startups, and CEOs.
“By bringing smart people in the room, you can become a smart marketer. These are people who have relevant, current information, so you can become the best,” Ochs noted.
The approximately hundred attendees hailed from cities as far and wide such as Toronto, Winnipeg, San Francisco, and San Diego. One of whom was Los Angeles-based Ambar Januel, co-founder of Januel and Johnson, a company that helps brands develop their marketing strategy.
Concurring with Ochs, she noted that “a lot of brands don’t know how to work with influencers,” and at times even take a gamble on marketing on their own.
Brands, she said, might send out 500 emails to influencers about a product, and “if they’re lucky”, get ten per cent to agree to promote it.
“We do it in a more organic way. Our network is built of influencers. We’re able to have a lot more to offer to brands,” she said.
With a “few thousand influencers” working with her company who have fifty million social media followers collectively, a typical job will have “five million as the minimum number of impressions for any campaign.”
Currently, social media’s biggest payoff, she said, is on Instagram, YouTube and “solid blogs” to get the message out. “It’s really important to stay on top of the trends, and surround yourself with people in the field.
Everything’s happening so fast that you really have to be on top of it.”
A trend that has shifted of late, for example, is the increasing number of posts on hot-button topics in the news.
“It used to be that bloggers who were influencers hesitated to post on social and political issues, for fear that they’d alienate people. Today, there’s more of a conscience to posts, especially a time when people are paying a lot of attention to political discussions.”
