Where can you find personal branding, craft beer, social media planning, PPC, SEO, Facebook representatives, and content creation all in one place? At the American Marketing Association conference, of course. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the San Diego AMA Art of Marketing conference, and would like to share my key takeaways.
The 10Ks of Personal Branding with Kaplan Mobray
First off, Kaplan Mobray is a very energetic individual. He gets the crowd roaring before he even begins his “sermon,” if you will. Kaplan began his speech by stating that finding your own personal brand is much like finding the perfect brand for a company or product. First, you must determine your strengths, weaknesses, and attributes. He then proceeded to explain each of his 10Ks of personal branding:
1. Know thyself.
2. Know what you want to be known for.
3. Know how to be consistent.
4. Know how to accept failure as a part of building your personal brand.
5. Know how to communicate your personal brand.
6. Know how to create your own opportunities.
7. Know how to master the art of connection.
8. Know that silence is not an option.
9. Know your expectations, not limitations.
10. Know why you are doing what you are doing today and how it shapes your tomorrow.
Branding, Creating Grassroots Enthusiasts for Craft Beer
The first breakout session I chose to attend had six craft beer company representatives including Green Flash, Twisted Manzanita, Karl Strauss, Helm’s, and Groundswell Brewing Company. The focus of the session was on how these companies built a strong brand following from grassroots beginnings.
The key takeaway is that craft beer is more than just a beverage, it is a lifestyle. The kinds of consumers who seek out craft beer are ever-venturing to try new things, experience new flavors, and embrace new brands. Craft beer brands cannot push their product too hard, and even avoid traditional marketing techniques to avoid coming off too salesy. The brands embrace the “backyard brew” mentality and many companies have found huge success from what literally started as a backyard brew.
Another interesting point that came up was the brands’ difficulty in finding names for their beers that haven’t previously been trademarked. What’s even funnier still, is practically any name with the word “unicorn” it is has been taken. The speakers encouraged anyone with good ideas for names to please share them, because they are always struggling to find available names.
Social Media on a Shoestring with HootSuite
This was a very valuable session for anyone trying to engage their past, current, or potential customer via social media. The presenter explained that conversations on social media reflect conversations in real life. We at Incitrio Branding & Marketing Agency have found this to be true, we encourage brands to engage in social listening activities to determine what customers are saying about their brand.
Another thing to keep in mind is that social media is a two-way street. There must be a give and a take, just like a standard conversation that you would have in person. With that in mind, the HootSuite presenter recommended that you go by a 10-4-1 rule when planning social media communication. The “10” means that for every 15 posts you write for social media, 10 of those posts should be someone else’s content, such as industry articles, white papers, videos, etc. The “4” refers to the four posts that should link to soft landing pages that have valuable content for the visitor, but not necessarily a hard sell. These pages could be blog posts, helpful whitepapers you have published, or references from your website. The “1” refers to the one post out of 15 that should drive traffic to a landing page complete with form and call to action.
For those of you who have not had the opportunity to attend an American Marketing Association conference, I would highly recommend attending. In tomorrow’s blog, I will continue the key takeaways from the content-filled conference.
