Content Marketing World conference and expo will be filled with sessions and information that specifically address key topics that agencies should know more about.
Even though this conference is huge, there are definitely a number of sessions that are specific to agencies to help them understand the content marketing for their own new business plus the strategies and tactics they should be using for their clients.
“Clients want traditional advertising as well as content marketing, so it’s time you become the amazing integrated agency your clients need and expect! Content Marketing World wants to grow their agency attendance to bridge the gap between agency core offerings and content marketing best practices. Those agencies that invest now and grow as the marketing industry continues to evolve will see the greatest return.” – Content Marketing Institute
There are over a dozen great sessions that every ad agency exec should be attending, including Drew McLellan (Ad Agency Owner & Agency Consultant, Agency Management Institute) and Susan Baier (President, Audience Audit, Inc.), who will unveil their new findings about what clients ask their agencies to do and why – when it comes to content marketing.
Here is just a sampling of some of the sessions that stand out for agency attendees:
New Approach to New Business (Tuesday Workshop)
My extended session will help agencies to “jump start” an inbound new business program within 30 days. A step-by-step process that’s been developed having worked with over 300 advertising, digital, media and PR agencies. New business has been a problem historically for agencies. It’s made worse with the paradigm shift in business development that has moved online.
In this workshop, receive a step-by-step guide on how to establish a comprehensive social media based inbound marketing program within 4 weeks, solve the problem of positioning and differentiating your agency, grasp the benefits of the strategies and tactics that will make new business much easier and more consistent (hint: effective calls-to-action, a more targeted pipeline and positioning your agency as a partner rather than a vendor), and understand how to create an integrated program that allows you to maintain awareness 24/7 without relying on interruptive type tactics. Lastly, find out how to use technology to manage your program and measure, adapt and grow. If you’re an agency principal or new business leader, you don’t want to miss this.
Curiosity Factor: The psychological phenomenon creative content marketers employ to earn and own attention in a noisy world (Wednesday morning keynote)
Former television producer and bestselling author Andrew Davis will show you the five things that brilliant businesses do to transform their marketing from boring to brilliant and two infinitely powerful psychological phenomena to catch, keep and capture, your audience’s attention.
Brand Attachment: The realm beyond brand loyalty and how to get there (lunch & learn)
Gordon Price Locke and Nicole Martin of PACE will take the audience through the difference between transactional brand loyalty and emotional brand attachment. Then they’ll explain how you can move brands from transactional loyalty into an unbeatable, unmatched and irreplaceable true customer-brand attachment by leveraging the entire brand experience
Developing your message: Getting Client buy-in and driving customer engagement (breakout session)
Zari Venhaus, the Director for Corporate Marketing Communications at Eaton, will demonstrate proven processes for aligning your client’s team in one messaging direction (even when there are a lot of stakeholders) by utilizing a message map – a tool for getting a broad set of client stakeholders aligned on customer-focused messaging. Walk away with the questions you need to ask of your clients to develop content that drives engagement and ultimately ROI that will keep your clients happy and help you grow your agency.
Email Marketing Automation at Every Level (breakout session)
Fellow agency veteran Jessica Best, Director of Data-Driven Marketing at Barkley, will introduce you to a powerful approach to email marketing. From welcome emails to a 36-point segmented email “journey” based on whether you’re progressing through the sales process, automated emails earn 2 times the open rate and nearly 3 times the click-through rate of batch-and-blast emails… And yet 51% of marketers still aren’t using marketing automation, which is what makes this arena such a huge opportunity for agencies to get a foothold in a new client’s business or simply help increase sales for an existing client.
THE FUTURE OF STORY: The Coming Revolution Called Immersive Storytelling (breakout session)
John Bucher is a renowned strategist, communicator, and cultural mythologist helps his clients understand how to use the power of story to reframe how products, individuals, organizations, cultures, and nations are viewed.
Think about it: people no longer want to just be told a story. They want to experience it: escape rooms, micro-themed parks, VR/AR, just to name a few. Agencies that understand not only that immersive storytelling will dominate the marketplace but how they can leverage this trend to grow their creative reputation, will realize a huge advantage in the marketplace.
The Agency Edge 2018: When, What — and Why — Clients Outsource to Agencies (breakout session)
Drew McLellan (Ad Agency Owner & Agency Consultant, Agency Management Institute) and Susan Baier (President, Audience Audit, Inc.) will help you understand how to build a revenue producing content program that will highlight your agency as a critical resource. Based on new 2018 research with 500 agency clients, this session will reveal new findings about what clients ask their agencies to do — and why.
Drew and Susan will dig into attitudes about outsourcing work vs. keeping it in-house, what capabilities clients see as agency strengths, and how they view their agency resources. Specifically designed to help agencies understand the topics and resources that agencies can use to reach prospective clients, we’ll also explore the messaging about agency capabilities that respondents find the most compelling.
Agency Change is Constant: Now What? (lunch & learn)
Karl Sakas of Agency Advisor Sakas & Company has advised 300+ agencies in 30 countries on six continents. In this session for agency leaders, you’ll learn five models for overhauling your content agency to better meet your business goals. They’ll cover how to grow, how to choose your service offerings and then price them effectively, and how to build the perfect team.
Client Reporting: How to Tell the Real Story (lunch & learn)
Michael Pratt, CEO of Panamplify will walk you through why you need enhanced client reporting. In an age of instant data access and a ruthless client focus on ROI, agency reporting has to evolve from administrative duty to marketing tool. Michael says dashboards are for managing client campaigns. But reports, reports are for real storytelling: What did you do with the client’s money? What happened with the money your agency spent? Did the campaign meet the client’s objectives? What should the client do next? Learn to create compelling report for your clients explaining what you did for them, and how well you did it.
How to Grow a Highly Profitable Agency Without Adding Overhead (breakout session)
In this content rich session, best-selling author, John Jantsch, will share his 5-step approach to scaling your agency without the need to add permanent resources and overhead: winning agency POV, turning services into products, turning leads into long-term retainer clients, partners you need to build your business, and how build the best systems and processes for scalability.
How to Get Started with Artificial Intelligence in Content Marketing (breakout session)
Paul Roetzer, Founder and CEO of PR2020 and author of The Marketing Agency Blueprint, will show you how your agency can begin to leverage the power of AI. Paul will share a framework that makes AI approachable and actionable for every agency. AI can be your agency’s competitive advantage, but you must know the 5 Ps of AI model. We’ll explore how AI is augmenting marketers’ knowledge and capabilities, and altering consumer expectations for brand experiences, and learn about the AI-powered marketing technology companies that are enabling a more intelligent future.
In addition to the regular conference agenda, there will also be a CMWorld 2018 Agency Happy Hour on the final night of the conference where you can meet and chat with your fellow agency owners and key staff members.
View the agency special packages at Content Marketing World 2018’s annual conference and expo or contact Cathy McPhillips for more information. Also, if you use code GASS you’ll save $100 when you register.
