AllWeb Albania is a digital marketing conference which is being held in Tirana for the second year in a row and, as a concept, it was created and held for the first time in 2012 in Macedonia with the aim to provide a unique experience, quality content and sharing knowledge between participants and speakers.
On October 12, my colleague Ljiljana Polić and I, went to Tirana, specifically Tirana Business Park, ready to hear 14 inspiring lecturers.
New project – New learning
Heimo Hammer, Austria’s Mr. Digital, the founder of Kraftwerk, a full-service digital creative agency, opened the event with a message that it’s not the product itself is not primary, but the identity. As we already know, you don’t sell a product, but a whole philosophy, and when this is confirmed by someone who has 27 years of experience in teams which launched over 2 000 campaigns and more than 2 500 digital projects for clients such as Red Bull, Coca Cola, Opel, and Lufthansa, you know this the way to go.
Non-data-related marketing is a “no-no” in the 21st century
Anke den Ouden, Microsoft‘s General Manager for CEE region, followed up by saying that, if we want to make an impact, we need to understand the whole consumer’s journey in the decision-making process. It is important to analyze patterns of behavior because data are crucial in the marketing.
We all agreed that it’s unacceptable to do a non-data related marketing today and prepared for the lecture of the founder of the SpringTab. Peter Szanto said that data are not smart or stupid, but we make it look like that and encouraged us to use digital marketing techniques even more. According to research, 98% of people feel disturbed when they see an advertisement that they don’t really want to see. If you don’t want to be one of that disturbing kind, get to know your target group, your existing and potential customers, introduce yourself and give them a personalized experience.
Give consumers a chance to understand your product
“We are not there just to sell, but to give consumers the opportunity to understand our product”, pointed out Kentan Makwana, Executive Director of Enterprise Lab. Whether you will do this through free samples or trial period, it’s up to you.
When we talk about the data, it’s not ok to ignore the numbers, so here’s something that took over our attention:
- 50% of the market doesn’t understand the values you are sharing. Hence, your task is to stimulate them,
- 40% of the consumer market don’t know product specifics and need to be educated,
- 7% of consumers are not ready for you and they need more consulting
- 3% of them are already your customers; stop selling to them, serve them instead.
Is it time for VR and AR?
And how can you do all of this? Well, there is simply no better way than creating the right content. Ivan Brezak Brkan, founder and editor of Netokracija, talked about content marketing, the most powerful weapon of digital marketing. That investing in content makes sense, he explained to us through the examples of Coolinarika and Buildingbody, online platforms whose aim is to provide content that informs, educates and then, after all, sells. “Invest in new things, it’s time for VR and AR”, that’s his advice.
Enkeleid Zotaj, IT director at Raiffeisen Bank, a technology leader with more than 15 years of experience, told us that digital is not a solution, but a tool for creating the most important thing – consumer experience. Nathan Ott, the co-founder of The GC Index, taught us about digital transformation and leadership and how to develop strategies for transition from analog to digital sphere of business.
Make a video that you would actually watch
It was about time to hear Darko Buldioski from the New Media MK marketing agency and Program Director of the conference. This time, the video content was in focus. Video format is one of the latest trends, especially on the social networks, and the secret of creating viral video is to make a content that we would actually watch and enjoy. One thing that may have surprised us is that in a duel between shorter and longer video, longer came out as a winner.
Be drivers, not passengers in digital marketing
And then, the presentation which was highly expected. Robert Petković, Analytics Lead from Bruketa&Žinić&Grey, presented the power of Google Analytics for measuring the progress in order to be successful in planning the sales, customizing content etc. A number of sessions and users, average duration of the session, bounce rate and % of new sessions are just the beginning and the basis, but this is by no means sufficient for a comprehensive performance analysis. It is necessary to observe, analyze and understand cause-and-effect relationships, such as which channel preceded the one that led to the conversion.
We agreed with Robert that there is no digital marketing, but only marketing on different channels; the one that solves the problems and the one that doesn’t. The last lecturer, Paul Papadimitriou, had very inspirational speech and motivated over 250 marketers and entrepreneurs, conference participants, to dare to risk and create magic, because “people don’t really care about how something is made, but they want to see the magic when you show them your product or service”.
Easy to say, but is it so simple when it comes to realization? Inspired and enriched with new knowledge, we are ready to create not only the new experience but a true magic.
Are you? ;)
Photo: AllWeb Albania
