Dan Galante

I covered the Digital Summit Series in New York City this past Wednesday and Thursday. The Digital Summit Series provides attendees with comprehensive workshops on Digital Marketing that are conducted by speakers from leading brands along with industry through leaders. Topics ranged from Content, Email,Search, Mobile, UX Design, Social and Strategy. Attendees were also able to network with other attendees. I learned so much over these two days. Here are some of the highlights.

Stacy Minero delivered the keynote on Day One of Digital Summit entitled the Craft of Content in which she show how Brands can make an impact using Content.

1.Key takeaways were that Consumers want Brands to talk with them and not at them.

2. Consumers want Brands to take a stance on Social Issues.

3. Consumers expect Brands to solve social problems.

4. 89% of Content is not noticed at all

5. 40% of Consumers are more likely to respond to brands who respond to them

6. The old world started with Storyboards and TV now The new world starts with the customer and canvas.

7. Examples of Brands Creating Great Content include Heinz with the #MayoChup campaign and HBO with with its promotion of the digital streaming of Sopranos.

8. Before posting content Brands need to ask if the content they create is memorable or meaningful.

The keynote gave me a lot to think about.

Seth Godin gave the keynote entitled This is Marketing on Day two. In the keynote Seth covered many great points on Marketing from his book This is Marketing.

1. Marketers make change Happen.
2. Pick Yourself.
3. Tell a story that resonates with the people you seek to serve.
4. Pick the Smallest Most Viable Audience or Most Viable Market
5. Marketing is not advertising anymore
6. Television is about Mass Marketing and the Internet is a micro-medium

Seth also had an interactive Q & A session. He had a Poke the Box style Mic with the caption Catch the box; which he randomly tossed in the audience prompting them to to ask questions.

I really enjoyed the talk.

Other sessions that I enjoyed were on the topics of improving: Email Marketing, Marketing Workflow, B2B Marketing and Video Marketing. Pictures of these slides will be posted to Instagram.

If you want to attend in your city, click here for more information.

Did you attend Digital Summit? What are your thoughts?

Comment below.

Bonus Content

I had the privilege of covering the Venture Conference in Newark, NJ this past Thursday.

James Barrood, President  of the NJ Tech Council opened the Conference.

The conference was held at at NJIT; a school that prides itself on preparing its student for STEM careers.

NJIT is helping to innovate New Jersey. NJIT President Joel Bloom discussed this in his keynote address.

The conference was run by the NJ Tech Council.

The council’s mission is to: collectively representing tech, life science and tech-related companies and organizations as well as the professional firms that support them, the Tech Council has the unique ability to:

1. Offer opportunities to learn, network and grow
2. Recognize and promote member companies and their leadership
3. Nurture the tech and STEM talent pipeline critical to growth
4. Provide access to financing sources and additional resources
5. Advocate and support public policy which strengthens our ecosystem

Founded in 1996, the Council is a private, nonprofit membership organization, which supports the tech, innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystems across the state and region. It is among the largest and most respected trade organizations of its kind nationwide.

The focus of the event was to help New Jersey start ups grow and raise funds. Start ups pitched their businesses and asked for funding.

There were two rounds of pitches along with networking opportunities. The startups that pitched represented industries such as but not limited to: EdTech, E-Learning, Healthcare, Sports Betting and esports .

Round 1 included

Scriptertainment
Wapanda
LifeCuff Technologies Inc.
QwikScript
Boxcar
Upside Health
teliapp
SiLAS
eCare21, Inc
VibeGather, LLC
TrueConnect Systems, Inc
Krow Network
WearWorks
MARCo Technologies LLC
Lambent Data
Life Skill Software
OculoMotor Technologies
Sporttrade
TLCengine
SRL Group
Ribbit.io
Nutrivide
MedifVu, LLC
Totally Pregnant

Round 2 Included

PeerChecked, Inc.
Datafy
Medality Medical
Smirta Innovations Inc.
Vikar Technologies
Malbek
Verstill
Commerce Blitz, LLC.
PlayDate
XPEED Turbine Technology
Pochette, LLC
Genomic Prediction
Pullup Technologies
ROAR for Good
Indie Art World
Elemeno Health
Bloqcube
Caregiver Smart Solutions
MYXR Events Corp.
Paratrees
Speak2 Software
Gamefuly
Entractiv
Quintrix

More information can be found here.

You could feel the energy and excitement in the air as I was able to speak with 48 innovate startups.

I really enjoyed the keynote speech by the Fanduel EVP & Head of Strategy David Van Egmond.

In the speech, he discussed how he helped FanDuel grow and succeed. He also discussed the industry of online sports betting and esports; both are growth industries. These industries are legal in New Jersey and serve as a great source of revenue for the state.

It was a great event. I want to thank the New Jersey Tech Council for allowing me to cover the conference. 

Free or Low-Cost Trials

When creating a new offering, I would offer a free or low-cost trial of your product to the end-users and industry experts. Consumers look for social proof before they buy a product. Now if the product is new, none exists. To lower buyer resistance, you need to make it low risk and feel safe.

In addition to market research and product testing; the free or low-cost trial is a great way to build trust and get feedback. Surveys can be created to ask potential customers about their experience.

If your product helps to solve a customer’s problem they will be more than happy to share it with others; converting to paying users! The product will earn testimonials and endorsements. Testimonials and endorsements will address product reliability creating: loyalty, brand recognition, and Sales for your product.

Loss Leaders

In place of a free or low-cost trial, a loss leader can be an option. A loss leader is when you offer a product at a loss or break-even point to gain business in the future. Supermarkets do this all of the time when a new product is rolled out.

Another place I saw loss leaders was when I was in Field Sales. I was selling Dental equipment at the time. Certain customers were loyal to certain types of equipment. When I ask why they stated that these were the tools that they had used in school. When I called on Dental schools and Hospitals, I found they were locked up with large contacts. My larger competitors sold the equipment at cost practically giving it away. Why would they do this? My competitors were creating life-long customers who were trained on certain tools and refused to switch.

Connection, trust, and advocacy are essential for customer acquisition. It is your job as a brand to turn your customer base into evangelists.

The decision on developing and implementing offering free, low-cost trials and/or loss leaders will be different for each product.

Free, low-cost trials and loss leaders help to Increase Sales and Customer Loyalty.

How have you used free, low-cost trials and loss leaders to create Sales and Customer Loyalty?

Comment and share.