Best Of APMP Digital Marketing Conference

This is the first ever APMP Digital marketing conference. . There are two educational tracks: opportunity and proposal planning and development. There are 24 sessions including a keynote session, two interactive workshops. There is also a Power Half Hour. There are also giveaways and surprises happening during the event.

Welcome Session – Krystn Macomber
Using Research To Build Authority, Credibility & Trust Online – James Tattersfield
Writing Proposals with Content Reuse in Mind – Kathryn Potter and Andrew Loveridge
Applying a Digital Mindset to Bid & Proposal Development – Graham Ablett
Social Learning in Capture and Proposals Social Learning in Capture & Proposals – Jeremy Brim
Telling not Selling – Tim Ward
How to Create Compelling Presentations – Richard Goring and Krystn Macomber
A Brief Outlook to the Digital Transformation Impact to Marketing and Proposal Professionals Roles – Cezar Badalau
Win with AI in Digital Marketing – Georgy Thomas
Digital Marketing, Procurement and Personhood: Elevating Digital Accessibility and Inclusion in the Bid Process – Josh Loebner
Launch a Brand-Building Social Media Strategy (Workshop) – Baskar Sundaram
Power Half-Hour: The Power of Thinking Like Amazon – Rick Harris and John Rossman
Opportunities for Digital Marketing in 2021 – Dr. Angela Hausman
The Digital Journey For Capture and Proposals – Graham Ablett and Marian Paton
A Scalable Way To Always Create Your Best Content – Angela Earl
Transforming Your Company into A Social Media Powerhouse -Jamie Raper
Media & Bid Strategies – Gene Metcalf
Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Network and Your Business -Samantha Enslen
Breaking Down Silos: Proposal and Marketing – Together for the Win – Cristina Miller
Launch a Successful Podcast that Grows Your Brand – Baskar Sundaram
How Does Data Inform Content Creation? – Sophy Regelous
Old School Vs. New Wave Marketing: How Customer Networking Crushes Mass Marketing, Every time – Rick Harris
The Psychology of Messaging – Taemi Tran and Katherine Becchina
Why Your Business Needs Digital Advertising – Brian Meert and Monika Lamud
Conference Wrapup Session – Rick Harris, Kelsea Watson, Julia Duke and Krystn Macomber

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1 Welcome Session

- Krystn Macomber

This is the first ever APMP Digital marketing conference. Krystn Macomber began the event by walking the viewers through some of the main webinars. There are two educational tracks: Opportunity and Proposal planning, and development. There are 24 sessions including a keynote session-and two interactive workshops. There is also a Power Half Hour. The event also comprised of giveaways and surprises. All the content will be available offline till June 20^th.

2 Using Research To Build Authority, Credibility & Trust Online

- James Tattersfield

In this session James Tattersfield spoke about tips and tricks for bid professionals who want to position themselves as leaders and experts in their sector. He highlighted how by thousands of solutions, quick fixes and millions of expert advise.

But the real question is how do organisations work as a team, get noticed and win the business?

Let’s find this by asking some questions…

Part 1: What customers really want?

Customers want a trusted guide who could demonstrate authority and empathy about the problem they are faced and provide a clear plan of action that would lead them to a solution, some words like “I understand the situation you are in”, “I know what it feels like”, “I know where you are looking to get to and how we’ll get there” are very helpful.

Part 2: What customers actually receive?

Unfortunately, the solution customers received was far away from the set expectations. They receive service from a partner or a solution from a bidder. Customers want a quality product which is properly priced timely delivered. Majority A lot of providers offer solutions that cover only one or two of these, and failed to comply with all three factors.

Businesses must provide a level of trust, security and assurance to the customers they are bidding to and provide a level of credibility to the solutions that are offered.

So, there are five different ways the individuals’ businesses and bid teams can achieve it:

Alignment-Infuse by references and shared relevant, existing research from respected institutions or research partners. Heighten your position as an expert in the sector that you are working in by aligning yourself with experts or institutions. It is incredibly powerful and can be done through webinars and other events, where you can work in partnership with an expert to provide your point of view and anchor it against the expertise of research expert or institutions
Be a Benefactor-Support or sponsor researchers who have already worked in your area. This emphasizes that you believed in your area of expertise and understand its significance for business.
Commission New Research –Focus on the users or employees your customers care about as opposed to your solution. This allows you to understand the subject you look at and establish trust with the customers that you cared enough.
Evidence Gathering- This is a part of your operating model. Ensure there is a customer feedback loop and leads for improvement.
Expert Positioning-This is about using the research that you have got or commissioning or sponsoring to further pursue the business to an expert area. It is primarily about preventing customers from looking elsewhere. Research is an incredibly powerful way to achieve that.

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3 Writing Proposals with Content Reuse in Mind

- Kathryn Potter and Andrew Loveridge

Kathryn Potter and Andrew Loveridge will show how you can use your proposal writing process to create content that is tailored for this time and also easily adapted for the next time around. They begin by speaking about the importance of knowing the actual relationship between sales and marketing.

Some said sales is hard, but it is actually a revenue-generating activity that helps to grow the business. It helps to develop contacts and have relationships with Customers which will help us in the future. But above all there are different aspects to it like developing an image in the minds of the customers so that they recognised us.

How do sales and marketing relate to proposals?

Suppose you have a set of potential clients. Here marketing plays a role with sales to involve by engaging the customers. Then comes the RFP and followed by the proposal where both the marketing and sales team engage to construct the best proposal.

What should go in the content library?

A great way to starts is with a list of your proposal qualifications. It covers everything you do and reflects the whole organisation. It also includes all details and information.

There were three elements to consider

Style it consistent with the glossary of important terms
Replicate the format precisely like the paragraphs captions bullets etc.
And everything should be structured in a consistent way

Content creation and management

This isn’t about only creating new content but also to be able to manage it well. When we look to create the content, we make sure it is consistent, well written and gets approved. It’s should be centrally stored for ease of access and availibility. Feedback and storing are also important aspects to be considered.

It should be the Golden Source, this is the only place where the information is stored and the one place where everybody looks. It is all about efficiency.

Content creation for reuse

Content has to be concise and provide meaning. Keep it short and simple. Subject matter experts should considered. It is done in the beginning, not at the end. Use an approach like fact-based, cut and paste content helps a lot as it reduces time. Collected evidence of where you have done it the past. Use Document templates and stored them.

4 Applying a Digital Mindset to Bid & Proposal Development

- Graham Ablett

Digital techniques, tools and assets are a part of our everyday lives, but the pace of change is accelerating. In this session, Graham Ablett looked at how a digital mindset changed how you looked at pre-proposal planning and proposal development. It possibly created opportunities to improve your chances of winning.

What is a digital mindset? This is about acknowledging that there have been changes around us and that we have used digital technology to evolve and exploit those changes.

Recent Trends

Marketers have realised the importance of providing consistent unified experience to consumers. People realised that videos are getting more engagement as they were ten times more effective, and some reports says that video is ten time more effective when compared to campaigns and email marketing. Recent survey shows that 59% of the executives will prefer video over text if given the option. Customer expectations are changing, and businesses must keep up with those changes through technology.

So how do we apply digital mind-set?

Targeted marketing on LinkedIn
Ran a webinar by an expert to gain trust
Emailed people directly and thought about producing more branded emails
Secret to created content was to create with reusability
Invested more time and efforts in advertising with targeted marketing and created videos or animation to present solutions and benefits
Interactive PDF that made the content more interesting
Used videos to demonstrate the case studies
Microsite was like a mini website which was made exclusively for your company. Selected people got access to it and they were able to see and read pdfs and also watched case studies and read about the success stories of your company.

5 Social Learning in Capture and Proposals Social Learning in Capture & Proposals

- Jeremy Brim

Jeremy Brim will explore his research and his experience with clients this year regarding the power of social learning in the work-winning space. Research shows that social learning returns a 75:1 ROI ratio compared to formal training alone. As Albert Bandura, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University says, “Most human behaviour is learned observationally: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.”

Jeremy explained the background and fit of social learning in capability development and provided examples of how it can be implemented in your organisation. Here he spoke about his experience working with bid leads.

Learned concepts are important. People are the biggest assets and we need to invest in them. Be self-aware and focused on self-development. New initiatives for learning and opportunities are available everywhere.

Learning concepts are important. People are the biggest assets and we need to invest in them Be self-aware and focus on self development. New initiatives for learning and opportunities are such as happening everywhere.

70-20-10 formula is a commonly used formula in the training profession. It outlines the optimum spilt of learning and consumption. People learn 70% from the job, 20% from social interactions and 10% from classroom based learning.

Social learning theory states that people learn by observing the behaviour of others. It is said that social learning spans the gap between behaviourism and cognitivism.

Start by creating an environment that rewards performance and get recognitions for bids and proposals. Create a place where staff can ask questions and get answers. Where people can promote social culture of collaborative learning.

You can also consider reverse mentoring so engaging senior stake holders to coach team members. The biggest impact on win rates and growth of organisations is through sponsorship. Get someone senior behind your growth initiatives and particularly behind your proposals. Thus, social learning should start at work.

6 Telling not Selling

- Tim Ward

Tim Ward spoke about how to drive inbound enquiries, became the go-to person for all bids, tenders and contracts. He provides proven, simple steps to achieve that, to elevate our profession, and drive more inquiries than you know what to do with.

In this seminar Tim Ward speaks about his company how he has spent fifteen years in this profession and how he built the client base without selling but telling them. His mission is to bring small and medium business into this sector to make bid and writing more accessible

He spoke about using platforms like LinkedIn which is a good platforms for bid professionals.

LinkedIn is a great way to network and engage with people. Create posts which will gain attention. Cover topics that interest people and make sure to be consistent. Atleast post once a week.

Identify your audience to know what content to put out there. Create a post that resonates with the audience. You can use memes or create videos to gain attention. The feedback will be the likes, comments and shares.

Urgency sells. So create a sense of urgency to make people respond. If you can sell things in an entertained, educated and informed way using social media platforms, that’s when you benefit as an organisation.

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7 How to Create Compelling Presentations

- Richard Goring and Krystn Macomber

From this session by Richard Goring, BrightCarbon, and Krystn Macomber, CP APMP Fellow, LEED APBurns & McDonnell you can learn how to plan, write, prepare for and design a winning pitch presentation, with actionable theory and practical PowerPoint techniques and online delivery methods.

Introduction

Only a small percent of presentations are delivered well. With the current scenario and most meetings being held virtually, it is best to be fully prepared for a pitch presentation. Here are the some basic points to keep in mind when creating a presentation.

Prepare
Know the audience their size, roles, technical knowledge and hot buttons. Decide on the team of presenters and assign roles.
It is important to have a script. Decide on the time, key point and speakers.
If it is a virtual presentation you need to consider the lighting, camera, seating and background. Background is visual cue and using your brand will show consistency.
Make slides dynamic to gain attention. Be flexible and discuss tech issues before hand.
Dress code matters. Consider the background you use and the dress you wear.
Have a question and answer planned so that everything was in order. Practice is important. Build a schedule and stick to rehearsals.
Conduct a virtual interview prep.

Message

What are you trying to convey? Establishing relevance is important. How does your solution address their challenges?

Do not simply list the features.

Start with the problem. Introduce the solution and how it works to solve the issues. Address the benefits that the solution unlocks and always end on powerful note.Explain why should they do business with you.

Establish a clear set value proposition. Remember that the first and last information conveyed stays longer. Be compelling, clear and persuasive.

Capture attention of the audience. Consider the content you are presenting and keep your audience in mind. Ask questions and keep the meeting relevant, enjoyable and motivating.

Design

Use the grids and alignment tool to make the content more aesthetically pleasing. Use the three grid guideline to make the slides look more cohesive.

Use the white space in slides to focus on certain elements. Create a flow between the information and objects used in the presentation.

PowerPoint

There are many tools available to make the presentation more appealing. Remember to the short cut keys to help in creating the slides.

Morph is a stunning way to seamlessly transition between slides, but also to create motion, emphasis and tell stories. Highlight important points and information.

8 A Brief Outlook to the Digital Transformation Impact to Marketing and Proposal Professionals Roles

- Cezar Badalau

Disrupting technologies are not only reinventing products, services and experiences, they are changing fundamental ways in which we go about our daily lives. In this session, Cezar Badalau, aims to share a personal interpretation of how our roles are evolving due to innovative adoption of digital tools and anticipate how our roles will change and whether they will be relevant or not in the long run.

There are many Pros and Cons of AI some of which are listed below:

The impact of the technological revolution on labour markets and income distribution is significant. The amount of work to perform a task is lower. Automation of tasks may eliminate occupations.

There is also creation of new industries and products and an increase in productivity, lowering of costs and prices, higher growth and income. Now the amount of work to perform tasks is lower.

Higher income jobs are more threatened by AI. Most exposed occupations are Clinical laboratory technicians, Chemical engineers etc.

Marketers have more access to sophisticated and mature tools which have positive impact on work. Marketer’s top priority is innovation, engaging customers in real time, complying with privacy regulations. Marketers using AI realised that their sales increased from 29% in 2018 to 84% in 2020.

AI powered marketing

Intervening AI may help users reduce manual power in data entry. AI in lead qualification can help improve the performance of the sales team.

With insights from this bots companies can increase their sales history. CRM systems use customer data to understand customers. AI offers a personalised experience and checks their searches and interest areas. Improving personalisation will increase the revenue.

What the future Holds for us?

Marketers can be in the forefront of the innovations. Marketers can expect in next ten years to get a new technology. 60% of marketers believe that 5G will have major impact on marketing in the next decade.

9 Win with AI in Digital Marketing

- Georgy Thomas

Today, AI is delivering powerful digital marketing tools to businesses. It is also rewriting proposal solutions as we know them. In this session Georgy Thomas spoke about the two main frameworks of AI so that marketers and solution architects can make better choices to win with AI.

Digital marketing is a very powerful tool for opportunity managers. It is not limited to SEO and email marketing. Off-the-shelf AI prodcust are now part of solutioning and one must know how to use them.

What are Off-the-Shelf AI Products?

These are tools easily available online on platforms like Amazon which can be easily added to your website. Some of them are:

Natural Language Processing
Machine Readability
Fraud Detection
Voice and Chat Bots
Speech and Text Recognition
Image and Video Analysis
Translation Services

Machine learning is also am important facet of AI. The session ended with suggestions of books one can use to learn more about AI. Suggestions include, Genius Makers by Cade Metz and Super Interlligence by Nick Bostrom.

10 Digital Marketing, Procurement and Personhood: Elevating Digital Accessibility and Inclusion in the Bid Process

- Josh Loebner

Josh Loebner explores digital marketing, inclusive design strategies, marketing, communications and disability, diversity, equity and inclusion in this session. It is important to be inclusive in the bidding process. Disability inclusion is also important.

What is Disability?

Disability, according to the World Health Organization, is a nuanced combination of a health condition, such as cerebral palsy, or Down syndrome, cultural and environmental factors, including attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, and limited social support. Disability can be permanent, temporal or situational.

One billion people globally fall under this category. This is an opportunity as a possibility to include more audience. It is an huge audience to consider. They might not just be the customer but even people who are part of the bidding process.

Winning in the procurement and bid process is not just about a race to the bottom to be the cheapest. Winning is about being authentic, differentiated, engaged, connected and being accessible and inclusive.

Inclusive and Accessible

Brands have making changes to encourage diversity, equity and inclusion. But disability was something that was never considered. It was usually put in the side lines.

Virtue Signalling

Coined in 2015 by journalist James Bartholomew, virtue signalling describes public acts intended to align the signaller, it was a corporation, at very little cost, with the righteous side of a timely cause. In other words, was not undermining the power of creativity and ad campaigns, timely portrayals of minority allyship needed to extend deeper into a company’s culture and ongoing governance ad strategy commitments. That have been avoided. Showed that you are deeply committed.

Advertising has welcomed disability. Global and local companies created more ads and feature disability. When it came to marketing accessibility it was not the only factor you should consider disability as a creative factor. Do not ignore disability and make them feel segmented. Instead thought of creative ways which made them feel accepted and included.

Accessible digital marketing is about being authentic. Listen to disabled colleagues, customers and the community. Be proactive in planning for accessible and inclusive marketing. Sharing authentic stories through testimonials.

Accessibitity and inclusivity can be also shown creating new products. The disability community needs accessible websites, but some major businesses still did notsee value. Make websites and apps perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Publish an accessibility statement.

Audio descriptions allow people with blind and low vision to hear descriptions of scenes, actors and other elements that are not direct dialogue in commercials and content.

Advertisers have driven greater impact with ad formats that integrate optimal audio and captioning capabilities. Open captions positively impact ad performance within the first few seconds and beyond

Create a feedback system that is accessbile and comstantly improve yourselves.

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11 Launch a Brand-Building Social Media Strategy (Workshop)

- Baskar Sundaram

In this session Baskar Sundaram talks about creating a fully customized social media strategy that drives traffic, awareness, and engagement with your brand.

Social media as a channel

Social media should be build gradually and have sustainable growth. Social media should fits into the customer value journey. There is a lot of content put on social media. This content is different from what is shown in a proposal. Reframe your social media as something that is permanent and more open. This will dictate and define how your company will be perceived by others.

Consider social media as an ecosystem that contains many channels. It is a gaint networking event where you are constabntly connecting with people. What is posted on your website should ne reflected in your social media as well.

Set Your Goals

Think of the reason why you need to increase or establish a presence in social media. This has generated awareness, increase engemenet, drive traffic, build credibility or relationships? Find out why you want to use social media and create goals.

Audience Analysis

Identify your audience based on age range, job titles, interests, goals, hashtags used and content consumed. Connect with the right people.

There were many online platforms available, you need to choose the right platform based on your audience. Choose two platforms that you want to focus on. This will determine the content to be produced and the kind of audience you will attract.

Monitor your competitor and conduct an analysis to see how they use social platforms. Position your company accordingly.

Creating Content

Content should be created based on the platforms you use. You wanted people to connect with the content and get engaged. Every single thing you share is content on the platform.

Choose your content mix and plan it accordingly. Select the right tools for scheduling content like Buffer, Hootsuite etc. Use the right applications and tools for gathering assets and editing videos.

Build a Calendar

Be sure of your capabilities and think of what you can contribute. Identify the schedule best fit for you. Consistency is key.

Do not post more than once a day. Keep up with the decided schedule. Don’t overthink your content. Built authority is a long game. Remember to produce content that speaks to your goals. Don’t tag people unnecessary. Be human, show vulnerability. Learn along the way.

12 Power Half-Hour: The Power of Thinking Like Amazon

- Rick Harris and John Rossman

APMP scored a major guest when John Rossman, former Director of Amazon Merchant Integration and author of the book Think Like Amazon stepped up to the Power Half-Hour mic. Mr. Rossman and APMP’s CEO Rick Harris go back-and-forth on leadership principles, business ideas, and digital best practices from Amazon’s 50 ½ ideas. Learn how to utilize your technology like a big tech company, compensate to reward enterprise thinking, how to hire better and stay hyper-focused on the customer.

One constant that has been in our life is Amazon. What can one learn from this organisation?

Rossman complies little strategies that he gathered from studying Amazon and put it all in a book. This book Think Like Amazon is a catalogue of Amazon’s mechanism of what the company would do to get the results they desire.

Amazon is both a retailer and platform. The book is divided into ideas on how one can become a better digital leader. It can even be applied in your individual life.

Rossman talks about being a Day One company. A Day One company is looking for opportunities. They operate in the present and look into the future. Companies must align actions to the agenda.

Make sure everyone is on board when making decisions. Amazon promotes enterprise optimisation. Encourage people to think about the organisation first.

Think of how technology can be utilised to help business and create opportunities in the future. Be curious about the broader industry and focus on improving customer experience.

Create a customer-centric organisation. Write down the concept and ideas on paper first. This increases understanding.

Study how Amazon uses metrics to better themselves. There is not just one single strategy to reach success. These are just some of the tips shared during the Power Half-Hour.

13 Opportunities for Digital Marketing in 2021

- Dr. Angela Hausman

Digital marketing was never more important than now, as we emerge from the pandemic. In this session, Angela Hausman, provides an overview of various digital marketing strategies a business might employ as well as how to build an integrated plan using multiple option.

It is important to understand what marketing is. Marketing involves creating, communicating, distributing, and exchanging value between entities. Commonly the entities involved are business and customers. Digital Marketing refers to marketing efforts using a digital device or the internet.

Marketing

Market research is important to understand the customer in a very deep way. In a digital world, we can learn a lot more about the customers and prospective customers. We can learn what drives them and how they view products and communication. Competition, the technology used and other factors must also be considered.

Segmentation and positioning are also important to understand how customers buy products and why. The buyer behaviour process begins with understanding that there is a gap and knowing how this gap can be filled. Marketing also involves constant planning, monitoring and optimizing.

Why Digital Marketing?

It is inexpensive when compared to other forms of marketing. It can also be targeted specifically. It has an increasing impact on purchase. People are also relying more on online resources.

Elements of Digital Marketing

Website Design

Website is an absolute must. Customers trust the business based on the website. A website helps customers find you because most purchase starts with a search online. It must also fit both mobile and desktop devices.

Most websites also have blogs or news that promotes your business in a way. Address the issues that brought the customer into your website in the first place.

SEO

It stands for Search Engine optimisation. The link to your content must show up when searched. It should come on the first page preferably the one among the top three links. Producing valuable content consistently is important and keywords used in the content is important to rank higher in the search. Use keywords in the title, body and even in the images used. Backlinks are important as well to get more clicks. Other factors include site speed, bounce rate etc.

Content Marketing

Content is important for SEO. The goal to drive people to your website is to give them the information they need and lead them to make buying decisions. The more concrete information you provide, the higher it will rank and bring more traffic. Have a content strategy to ensure that you meet the goal of consistency.

Email Marketing

You need to build a subscriber base then send in the emails. Offer access to some products that make people give their email addresses. Webinars are also a great way to collect subscribers. Took your subscriber list and segment it based on interest, age etc. This will help you target the emails. Optimise your sending schedule and clean out addresses that do not open the mail. Emails should include a call for action.

Social Media Marketing

There are many social media platforms available. Choose the platforms that work for you. Choose based on demographics and size. Once you decide, you must be consistent in sharing content on that platform.

Analytics

Google Analytics is a free platform that gives you all the information about your website use. It is a critical resource to provide insights. Use these insights to optimize your performance of digital marketing over time.

All these elements must work in an integrated manner. Results of digital marketing take time. Give the marketing period some time before changing strategy.

14 The Digital Journey For Capture and Proposals

- Graham Ablett and Marian Paton

Digital marketing’s application in capture and proposals is relatively new. Momentum and demand are growing. Graham Ablett and Marian Paton look at why this is and then share a potential digital journey that organisations might go through with a prospect.

The proposal process has evolved over the years. Now proposals involve videos and the use of sophisticated technology. In 2020 what can you expect?

Maybe virtual reality and interactive documents. Technology is used to connect the gap between buyers and sellers. Barriers that prevented people before are being removed. Larger files can be shared. People are also ready to see videos and animations rather than read texts. Technology enables people to be creative and open. Digital is part of the bidding. It is the future.

One of the key trends for buyers is that change is coming. Digitalisation is in the top three priorities of procurement departments. Digitisation of the S2C process is one of the main use cases of digitisation. Transactional procurement is becoming more automated. Supplier management is more proactive. Access to data and agility is more aligned and the use of AI is becoming more common.

More and more B2B decision-makers prefer remote human interactions. Buyers are willing to spend more money digitally without face to face interaction. Digital selling is more effective in reaching and servicing customers. Customers are more willing to switch and try products. More and more sales interaction is done remotely.

There was also an increase in video advertising. To address these changing trends organisations need to rely on digital tools. Some areas that are use technology:

Organisational engagement and influence
Targeted marketing content
Customer-specific content
Customer information
Competitor information

These are just some of the key areas to use technology in to enhance the bidding process.

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All Baachu Scribble Plus Members Get Access To…

20 Execution Plans
30+ Bitesize courses
12+ Jumpstart workshops
12+ Micro Certification workshops
Ready-to-use 50+ Proposal Tools & Business Winning Templates
Our private, members-only CIRCLE community
Weekly Office Hours Webinars & Scribble Talk Teaching Podcasts
Up-to-date training with continuing education credits
Our Learning Management System (LMS) to help you track your (or your team’s) progress

15 A Scalable Way To Always Create Your Best Content

- Angela Earl

As a veteran marketing technologist, Angela Earl will dive into how response management software is fundamentally changing what is possible by giving companies the ability to create and access their best content when and where they need it. In this session, Earl will share response management use cases and how response management can uplift and enable all departments to do their best work.

Creating content is easy but creating good content is hard. Up to 70% of content produced by B2B marketing organisations goes unused. It is a lot of time and energy down the drain. Teams today are asked to do more with less. Now, people are expected to be smart about the content they create and distribute. Most contents are not original. Everything is repurposed including bids.

Another consideration is buyers’ expectation. They expect to be a partner and want to be heard. They want a seamless customer experience. They want accurate information and instant access to the provided. Organisations are still trying to make up for the loss of 2020.

Create content that is personalised and can be delivered quickly. Meeting demands with original content is hard. But technology alone will not solve the problem. Buying software without defining the process will not solve the issue. First, define your content creation process.

Think of your latest asset. Someone designed it. They needed a source and knowledge. How did they gain this? It can be anywhere from the minds and silos of the organisation. This decentralised and dispersed knowledge is what makes creating good content hard.

Most technology today is focused on distribution and access, not management and creation. There should be a solution that eliminates information silos and untethers the knowledge. Everyone should have access to the collective knowledge of the organisation. Create such a system.

Four Steps

Centralise Knowledge – Establish a single source of truth, likely a content library. This is will be your main source. The team should be able to upload and refer to needed templates and documents.
Empower Individuals – Enable users to create content, from a library of options. Give users the freedom and tools to create content but also the best space to work freely and be their best. Provide efficient access and use.
Personalize Delivery – Connect what you are delivering with why you are sharing it. Personalization depends on the industry and client. All good content is actionable, engaging and provides answers. When delivered with a personal touch it becomes great.
Decide with Data – Measure results to determine which content is truly effective. Use analytics to study how content is used and downloaded. Look at keywords used frequently and stay updated.Use the right tools to create good content. Manipulate your process to include these steps. This will ensure that you create content that gets noticed.

16 Transforming Your Company into A Social Media Powerhouse

- Jamie Raper

In this session, presenter Jamie Raper will discuss how to take your company from just posting to having a strategy that can actually help your business. He includes tips and tricks to earn buy-in, support proposal submissions, and generate leads.

First, decide on the social platforms that you want to use. Set up a profile and start. Layout how you want your brand to be perceived on social media. Figure out the tone, personality and voice that you want to establish. Start spreading the word through emails and create brand advocacy. Rally people in the company to support the posts.

Create a public declaration by giving some presentations. Arrange for a lunch and learn and spread awareness. Get someone high ranking in the company to rally your posts.

Instead of worrying about your content focus on promoting your services. Add value propositions next. Let people know why you stand apart from the competition. Get into the details about the products next. Tell people how your solution solves the problem.

Tie people in with your products, services and value propositions. Study your competitors’ profile and look at their posts. See which posts are resonating with people. Study this and make yourself stand apart and get ahead.

Show the result of your growth. Collect the budget for creating paid advertisements. Learn more about the demographic. Keep building on the social media posts and start generating leads.

17 Media & Bid Strategies

- Gene Metcalf

Companies use media to convey new and important information. This session Gene Metcalf will discuss how information provided in social media and other forums can be leveraged to develop quantitative estimates with bid strategies. He also discusses how competitors use social media to decipher company pricing strategies.

How many of you have a Facebook account, LinkedIn or Twitter? And how often do you check them? For what purposes do you use them, like profession or personal? Do you post about work relate activities? How many of your companies have established policies/training regarding use of social media?

The habit of using social media helps the companies look at their resume of the employees and check their social media accounts since it is an attachment to the image of resume.

How many of you have used social media to collect competitive intelligence? Social Media should andcan be used for it. What a company or an individual will or won’t do can be determined using this.

Social Media population – 1% who create content, 9% engage and 90% lurk.

Right now, the focus is on people who are lurking here just because you scroll past several posts does not mean most people scroll through them the same way. You might feel they do not pertain to you but there are lot of information you are passing through. Most companies show what their capabilities are in these scroll posts and from here we get some good nuggets of information.

Why is this info here?

Humans are inherently relational – We have a deep need to know others. Digital media gives a window thatenables users to observe others (passively). Over time, the lurker group look to know how friends are doing, how their boss is, is he retiring, is the job available, etc.

Humans are inherently expressive. We have a deep need to be known by others. Digital media gives a voice that enables users to be heard more broadly.

Humans are inherently self-centered. We each see the world through our own unique perspective

We gravitate towards things that make us comfortable – we tend to look at things that we enjoy, forget about the world, to look at the Facebook account and believe everyone thinks the way we do. Companies can stay in the areas where they felt comfortable and think this is how things work. But this passive ideology tends to start create an issue when it comes to bidding in the market.

We are comfortable with people and things that are similar to us. Social media gives us great power to shape and fashion our world by allowing us to connect with communities that share our interests and are passionate about the same causes as we are.

What happens when people in a society …

(a) choose things that are desirable (i.e., similar to them), and

(b) eliminate what is undesirable (i.e., different from them)?

Answer: Fragmentation / Polarization / Division

It is difficult to get out of the mindset as the algorithm shows us what is similar. Take how we make friends on different platforms. In Facebook, we may stick to only with people we know. But in LinkedIn, it is all about networking. We connect with whoever is ready to connect. It can work for you and against you depending on the situation.

The Risk Factor

Let’s talk about privacy. There are sensitive things you do not want anybody to know but there are non-sensitive contents like your university or company you work in. This categorization exists in professional level also. Low levels, in the case of companies are – for example, we are an aero-space engineering company, we provide service to the federal government. Highly sensitive information are – we work on this specific programme, this specific task, this is how we did it. These are the things you do not want everybody to know. Keep a balance between two – between what you want to show and hide. There are people who look at all aspects of your life to access how they are going to bid against your company.

Assessing competitors – what all levels you have to look at:

Who is competing – their Biographical Info and the Organizational structure?
Competitor behavior – Strategies and Marketing
Personnel Changes
Solution Improvement/Challenges
Teaming Strategy

Look into all these aspects. The simple comment out there can give a real look at what their company is doing, surprisingly.

Social Media as an Intelligence Source: What all we can find from Social media

Useful for:

Biographical info on government and company personnel
Hot buttons
Parallel projects
Company strategies
Marketing themes
Gauging market or public opinion/sentiment
Organizational structure
Partnerships / relationships
Points of contact for primary research

Primary sites:

LinkedIn

You can even get pricing strategies from a LinkedIn profile; check the ‘people also viewed’ to get possible teaming patterns; pay for premium and they will tell you who’s looking at you. You will get clues at teaming partners from views received. It can give sources of past clients for people who reviewed the company.

Facebook

Useful for profiling customer and/or competitor personnel, personal interests, relationships, pictures, company marketing presence (supplement to website), company recruiting activities and more

Twitter

Useful for monitoring competitor messaging. It is more personal and unfiltered. Comments often contain valuable content, Commentary from individual employees and customer personnel

Social Media Sources

flickr*

One of many graphic sites. It is useful for hobbyist submitted photos, prototypes, locations/facilities and faces of key personnel.

Other sources include Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Use social media search and analysis tools like SocialMention, SocialBearing, TwitterAnalytics, TwitterCounter, HootSuite etc.

Be ethical always. Look out for company policies. Competitor and customer sharing valuable information. Learn the best sources and tools you need. Use automated alerts for this. Be careful about what you share and others at your company share. You do not want competitors to know your policies and sensitive information.

18 Using LinkedIn to Grow Your Network and Your Business

-Samantha Enslen

Samantha Enslen takes about the importance of LinkedIn in this session.

Which is the biggest networking event in the world? LinkedIn. It has over 740 million members, 55 million companies with folks spread over 200 countries. Created in the year 2002 LinkedIn is not just an online resume. It does what one’s resume cannot, like having videos or a colleague’s recommendations.

It is a great way to build relationships with other professionals, demonstrate one’s expertise and build credibility. It helps to widen the sphere of influence.

Here are some ways to start out:

Create the right profile:

Use a professional to get the profile photo. Have it taken front of a white background or use a simple background. Dress professionally. Look straight into the camera, smile, stick just to the head and shoulders. Do not crop, not too close, not too far, not vacation photos, do not neglect to add a photo. Users who have profile photos have significant more views than those who do not.
Create a clear descriptive headline. Write a summary of 120 characters. Do not just add your job title. Include your differentiators that set one apart and define one’s place in the world. Keep it searchable with keywords and key phrases. Get the headline to give them a reason to scroll down.
“About” section of the profile. It is a personal executive summary. Add your values and philosophy. Include key phrases and words. One can also divide it into different sections like about and vision. Say it clearly, what one does, whom you do it for, what one brings to the table, what it is like to work with one, etc.
Experience – Keep it up to date, include keywords and phrases, highlight measurable results and key accomplishments and include details and not just job titles. Give the title, what I do, the content we create, even media and photos, link to articles one have written, make it a rich section. Just use three bullet points for each one of the experience sections.
Skills – Add at least five relevant skills, give people a quick snapshot of your capabilities and it should help people to find one.
Gather Recommendations – Get 10 recommendations from 10 colleagues, not necessarily all managers. Offer to provide recommendations for them in return, as well. Make sure to keep them rich, relevant to the job one is looking for.

Connect the right way

Who to connect with?

Do not connect with everyone, but keep a business perspective. Find leads to one’s own business.

How to connect?

Use connect and not use the InMail, always write a note to connect, and when they connect, say thank you in response. Do not make an immediate sale while since the idea is to build relationships.

Pick an ideal, current customer, look through the mutual connections with them in the first and second levels and discover a potential customer. Then ask to connect. While sending the note to connect, get to know more about them from their profile and add the relevant close mentions and wish them the best.

Another way to connect is with a specific RFX. One may get a response here even though they may have ignored a previously sent mail. Another way to connect is to inquire about a possible opportunity and find mutual connections to get valuable information.

When business begins, use email conversations.

3.Build credibility and stay on top of mind

Already created a network of trusted colleagues, customers, and prospects in a meaningful, authentic way. Now, stay on the radar using:

Posts – Posts can be about anything big or small. It can be much more sophisticated using images and videos or reports. Share valuable content highlighting expertise and knowledge. Look at who liked and commented on the posts and find possible connections.

Notifications – It gives a list of anything that goes on in the connections that one has. It can be work anniversaries or birthday.

Comment on posts and “like” the prospective posts. Look at opportunities to contact, like when the customers are getting a new position.

19 Breaking Down Silos: Proposal and Marketing - Together for the Win

- Cristina Miller

Marketing has the perfect brochure, website copy, image, template you need to make your proposal stand out, but you can not get access to it in time. Maybe your team is part of a global Sales and Marketing team, yet you do not have access to Marketing’s resources for your proposal. Cristina Miller talks about how you can increase your proposal win rate by collaborating with your Marketing Department.

Why is marketing essential to proposal development?

Its because a successful proposal builds an emotional collaboration between you and your client. A successful proposal builds an emotional connection between the client and your solution. It successfully demonstrates your understanding of the client’s pain, offers a way to relieve that pain and lays the groundwork for a long-term relationship with the client.

The practice of proposal stays on forever one way or other no matter what the technological advancement is. It is important to the overall marketing strategy. Hence it must be a seamless part of branding strategy.

Why Proposal-Marketing Collaboration Is Important:

Fosters Cross Organizational Functionality

That means, it fosters what is in vogue now and where different departments must collaborate and break down the barriers. It is essential for good business today.

Breaks Down Communication Boundaries

Both proposal and marketing have the overall objective to bring in business to engage customers. The collaboration builds on that.

Allows You To Tailor Your Proposal

Use existing marketing data allows to streamline proposal development process and mitigates last minute panic.

What Marketing Can Bring To Proposal Development

Branding Expertise – brand is paramount. Every word about the org from business cards to the final email sent on proposal. Brand guidelines is made. Marketing can help build the company’s rand and increase win rate with their branding expertise.
Access To Client-specific Data – geographic, demographic data etc.
Content – Marketing is a treasure trough of contents for proposals . Readability, logos, fonts, everything handy and make proposals made readable,

Breaking Down Silos Between Proposal and Marketing Teams:

Engaging teams is how one can break down the silos.

Lay the Groundwork

Schedule meet and Greets, like send a mail and ask about right questions to raise interests. Have a formal talk with them, first. Find Common ground – find similar objectives, personally or professionally with the marketing department. Say, thank you about a recent post, a positive feedback. Discuss about the logos, the look of the websites, the latest ad campaigns.

Invite them into the fold

Involve them into capture management process. Ask for feedbacks, since their job description does not ask for this and value their time. Invite them into the capture management team. Solicit and implement the marketing feedback on proposal themes, win strategy and graphic designs. Capitalize on what a proposal team does well and capitalize on what the marketing team does well. They can help to give insights into the proposing strategies.

Offer To Share Resources

Proposal departments have a trough of information on how systems work, customer service report, case studies about potential references. Share these with the marketing department.

Establishing Common Goals with Marketing Department

Share SMART goals. Include marketing in your departmental and individual objectives. Have a shared annual objective, something tangible to accomplish together.

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20 Launch a Successful Podcast that Grows Your Brand

- Baskar Sundaram

In this session, Baskar Sundaram spoke about how you can start your podcast journey.

The power of podcast carries the unique ability of getting into someone’s mind. Why or why not a podcast? It is not a place to sell or to pitch for one’s products and services. It is a key place for one to influence and build trust in the community.

Who is it for? Anyone who will help to build trust and authority in the market. It is important to come together to position oneself as an expert. The market is desperate for thought leadership.

Entrepreneurs and start-up founders preparing to launch their first podcast.
Freelancers and solos who want to get their first episode shot (and have a roadmap).
Agencies looking to add podcasting production to their menu of service

The Goal – even before you even launch a podcast:

Consider the five key episodes. Do not start with one, but five key podcasts. Then, focus on the great parts: content, communication and production.

Content

Why is one doing this? To position oneself as an expert in the market. It is important to join the conversation and join the journey if there are guests in the podcast. It is also about people involved in it.

Communication

Have character, charisma, be comfortable with being oneself when launching a podcast. Have chemistry with co-host and guests. Cheer on the listener. Put guest talent at ease and draw out great content. Have a voice that is pleasing to listen t to understand why people are listening and respect the listener’s time.

Production

It includes where it is launched, how it is edited, how music is added to it. It’s about mixing, adding spice to the podcast. Understand that audio branding shapes the content. Edit out repetition, bunny trails etc and clean up audio quality. Mixes and masters audio should not strain the listeners’ ears.

Part 1: Getting Started

Start with an idea. How to find one’s idea? Find a topic that one is passionate and expert in. When the creator has an idea then niche down so one can scale up. There are lots of podcasts, but the niche where it is positioned helps to give it an actual position.

Start with a plan

Step 1: Define the business goals

Where does the podcast fit into the business and sales funnel? Find new influencers and experts in the community and the wider market. It helps to create further content like blogs and social media posts. Create new advertising opportunities that help to increase brand awareness in the market.

Step 2: Define the Mission Statement

State the cadence, purpose, topic scope and how to do it. One can make a mission statement once these four are figured out. Ask oneself if it can be done alone. Having someone to help it with, like a co-host can give additional help. It’s a product of its own and not something for fun. It takes a lot of effort.

Step 3 – Format

Decide on the format like audio or video. Keep it consistent, do not try to mix and match. Traditional podcasts are where the host is the speaker, then there are topic-based, interviews, case studies, inspirational, storytelling and rant. Keep the audience as the key focus. The right kind of podcast depends on the sector one is working in.

Step 4 – Determine the workflow

There is pre and post work for podcast creation. Focus on the first five episodes. Brainstorm what the content for these five will be. Name the podcast.

DO make it SEO friendly
DO make it speak to the desired end result
DO make it a name that resonates with one’s audience
DO research to make sure it’s not already taken.
No fancy spellings, no cute names, not being too clever.

The artwork – keep it consistent. 1. Keep it simple 2. Dimensions 1400×1400 pixels 3. Format: jpg or png.

Part 2: Equipment and Technology

Do not be constrained by technology. What one needs:

Mic(s)

Condenser mic is easy to use when there are no guests. Dynamic mic, a radio type. A Lavalier Mic, perfect for face to face interviews, Shotgun Mic, focused recording and clear sound. The perfect mic depends on the scenario it is used in.

What kind of environment is it being used decides the perfect mic. There are advantages as well. Everyone can be remote. Just need a computer, USB Mic and headphones. It’s very flexible and do-able for busy lives.

Part 3: Recording and Creating the Content

Structure the questions a d have an open vibe environment.

The checklist:

Deep dive in subjects
Intentionally descriptive
Actionable takeaways for the listeners.

The entertainment checklist –

Banter
Chemistry
Storytelling
Get Comfortable & Have fun

Part 4 – Post-Production and Hosting

Editing, exporting and hosting the content happens here.

8 Step Editing Process:
1. Sync the audio tracks

Fix any major problems like background noise
Rough edit chopping out mistakes and repetition
Detailed edit, fixing any more problematic issues
Shape the content and work on the flow of show.
Add in transitions and music.
Mix and master
Export to mp3 file

Tools one can use are Logic Pro, Adobe Audition, Audacity and Gargeband. Music is also important. One can make custom music or use from stock music.

Use Music to shape the episode. This is the tricky bit. Make sure the music serves the story and content and does not compete for the ear. Some music and genres naturally do better at this than others. Pay attention to the feeling the music evokes and make sure it is what one wants the audience to feel.

Music is not a core content but a fill-up. But there are some Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s with Music:

DO make it serve the content
DO Stay on brand
DO make it serve the story.

Don’ts with Music:

DON’T make it too loud
DON’T be annoying
DON’T use too much.

Use Music to shape the episode. It adds energy & creates the mood. Provide transitions & segues. Provide a moment to let a powerful thought sink in. Provide a ‘brain break’ after a section of very technical information. Cover bad audio that otherwise can’t be fixed.

Platforms

The important factor is to know who’s listening, when are they listening and who’s missing. One needs the statistics so choose the platform wisely. Two major podcast platforms are Buzzsprout and Bluberry. This is the ultimate guide to starting your own podcast.

21 How Does Data Inform Content Creation?

- Sophy Regelous

A digital content team is responsible for the ideation, creation, distribution, analysis and optimization of information and experiences directed towards a person or an audience. That team can use creative content to change consumer behaviours during micro-interactions drawn from intelligence-driven data. But where and how do you start? The organization’s focus on content has changed this past year, and the importance of partnering with data analytics teams is more important than ever. The content world is complex, overlapping and variable, where data captured can lead to great success. Sophy Regelous discusses these concepts in this session.

Growth Marketing

It is very important to have data to make sure we address the need of our customers and employee. Modern marketing started understanding that if we break down audience into specific segments, one can give the experiences catering to their need rather than giving them a full brand advertising campaign. Through the ears of data, one was able to provide a customised message.

Growth marketing goes one step further. Standard marketing grows ROI through awareness and acquisition and it also leads to modern marketing with a deeper focus on customer segmentation and using that data to increase acquisition and retention.

Growth Marketing is about understanding the intentional growth of a specific customer group or metric through customized interaction targeting a persona. Targeting the content at them regardless of the channel they are on or the time of the day.

The whole purpose of Growth Marketing is looking for ways to establish micro-interactions meant to change an audience’s mindset and behaviour and ultimately changing them to take on what we are providing as a service. Dynamic content marketing is another way to influence customers.

Data

Started by what kind of campaign you were going to put together and what kind of content was used How do you want to organize the content to get the output you want. First, you need to understand the capabilities and have that kind of corporate knowledge with behavioural science and target audience data. This includes not just demographic data but also corporate brand sentiment and trust. Look at message reaction and response. In addition, look for predictive trends. Putting these together, you can come up with a market positioning and get the change you are looking for.

Start with the purpose of the content. Look at what one needs, what their pain point is and start how one is going to solve that.

Three pillars of the behavioural science customer journey: Learn, Specify and Purchase.

When we look at the Learn area, our brains are casting a wide net to find the information. Look into the customer mindset. Look what the customer mindset is looking for like security or archives in the case of data storage.

Specify the marketing message at a specific moment in the customer journey time. Now, only bringing them along in the journey and making the most of the micro-moment, to make sure that we are talking is relevant and it relates to their mindset at that time.

Purchase is when the customer is ready to contract award. Hitting on what you have learned and targeting the content to the user. Ensure the messages match that moment in the customer mindset.

A Content Team:

Roles that need to be there:

Content Strategist

It is the most critical role. The person who leads and understand the persona development. Try to understand the targeted audience and what kind of messages work for them, at what time and where they are. They must be responsible for understanding we have the right technology to support our marketing channel.

Content Creator

Content writers who gave good knowledge of SEO, know how to research and build stories and engage with a specific audience. It must not be a single skilled person, who can think freely and look at all the different methods of communication.

Content Manager

They start by understanding the pipeline and getting the market fit for keywords and topic to include in the content. They develop content ideas around these topics and does content analysis. Assigns tasks to creators and manage the timeline.

Content Creative Director

They drive consistent use of brand style and tone, ensures that it aligns with SEO strategy and formats content for Content Management System (CMS).

An Engagement Manager

They work through the project in a more agile fashion. They ensure cross-departmental collaboration.

Digital Content Universe

This is the world for the highly targeted content teams. Maximising the content across the diff channels – breaking a single content into different channels here. The idea is not to spend lots of time laying out the different areas but to get the content out in a way that it makes more sense. Use technology to be productive and efficiently maximize the multi-channels when you are surrounding the target persona audience.

Technology that can help:

DCOs: Dynamic Content Optimization is a display ad technology that serves personalized ads, based on data about the viewer, at the moment of an ad serving.

Creative Management Platform (CMP): It is a creative layer that also contains a DCO. The creative layer allows for creative team members to pull the required digital marketing templates, set the location and type of the dynamic content, both the creative asset and third-party data, and push to production without the need for code development.

How to start:

Determine what audience data you have access to. Research the delivery tools and tactic types – the channels relevant to you. Understand where the people can be found. Just get the tools in place. Speak to an expert.

22 Old School Vs. New Wave Marketing: How Customer Networking Crushes Mass Marketing, Every time

- Rick Harris

Rick Harris spoke about traditional marketing and digital marketing and rethinking the traditional marketing funnel in this session.

What is the role of a marketing professional in an organization?

Marketing professionals help in creating a reputation, connecting with customers etc. They keep the organisation fixed on the customer. Customers are at the centre of all the marketing. Marketing is the discipline within the organization.

It’s about getting in touch with customers as much as one can. The way one reaches the customer is changing, as well as the relationship with the organisation. Digital marketing is a little hard to get a hold of at first, but at the centre of it all is still customers.

Earlier, brochures were used. A lot of effort was put into crafting one, but only to find them in trash cans. Other previous methods were cold calling, magazine ads, tv ads. These are old school marketing.

One is now approaching from a much different level using LinkedIn YouTube, Facebook, etc. Now, one is working in a world where one is thinking of customers as a dynamic, interconnected network within which the organization is marketing rather than targeting a group of individuals. The previous level was just blank fires hoping to hit at least one customer.

When customers post something about the company on social media, it is a good, honest clean way of advertising the company. When one reaches out of the comfort zone, one needs to think about whether a customer could be the biggest competitor or the biggest business driver? Decide that. Stand and work with the customers. One often defends the organization rather than standing with them. Standing with them is the perfect way to get connected with them.

New customer network models:

Finding ways to connect with customers was impossible before. But now, a customer network model is created, since it’s a network now rather than a single shot. Customers are seen as groups of individuals anymore. Making videos on YouTube, posting something on Craigslist are all ways to communicate to the customers. We are in an expanded model and must think about it in an expanded way.

The set of current and potential and customers of an organisation, the ones we are targeting, the ones that need to be highlighted, link them to the organisation and link the companies to each other through a web of digital tools and personal interactions to communicate the message.

Communications Tool

Rethink the old way of communication like broadcast, the old way of using tv and radio, a direct mail and brochure, product test and comparison, In-store purchase, reward points etc.

New customer networks include search and blog, finding people who you never knew existed. Do online research to do targeted marketing like using social network and YouTube and Local search. Friending and following people on Facebook and Twitter are also some means.

No more mass messaging. Focus on niche messaging. Create and modify to the niche’s needs.

23 The Psychology of Messaging

- Taemi Tran and Katherine Becchina

With the impacts of COVID-19, companies have moving to digital marketing even more than before and it’s crucial to understand how to effectively connect with your audience. Taemi Tran and Katherine Becchina covered the fundamentals of psychology and how to leverage these principles in digital marketing.

Similar patterns of advertising or marketing everywhere says that there exist other people out there who are doing the same thing one is doing. We are invariably validating our behaviour and proving that it is the same as what the mass is also doing.

Psychological branding is around one. How psychology surrounds one? There are two definitions for psychology:

The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behaviour in a given context.

The mental characteristics or attitude of a person or group.

Attitude and behaviour are focused in both these definitions.

Why does it matter? Because understanding one’s clients’ attitude, behaviour, and the motivations behind their decisions can help marketers develop more persuasive marketing materials. These persuasive arguments can be applied in a proposal or a marketing or social media campaign that is put before the client. It is an important part of proposal development.

How humans process information:

The Elaborated Likelihood Model

It focuses on Central Route Processing and Peripheral Route Processing. Scrutinizing the information presented to one is the Central Route Processing. In Peripheral, a normal tv advertisement with a celebrity is an example.

In Central Route clients are motivated and able to scrutinize the information present to them. They rely heavily on argument quality, how good the info is and on the source credibility.

In Peripheral clients lack motivation. They rely on other factors to make the decision. They rely on argument quantity and rely on shortcuts of peripheral cues.

Proposal can be associated with Central Route and everything on social media to Peripheral Route. But they can be merged together.

How One Make Decisions:

Time to think through the information. There are different characteristics to the decisions that are made through each route. Decisions made in the Peripheral route is easily swayed than the other. In the Central route, the client must be present. He/she must be unwavering. The decision made by the client must be unchanging and resistant through counter persuasive tactics. One cannot really expect a client to always process information through the Central route and not be influenced by other characteristics under this route. They must be given a nudge through other shortcuts that the Peripheral route offer.

Ways to do this:

Source attractiveness: Mostly done in the beauty and fashion industry. It does not require a lot of technical information. This can be applied in the social media marketing campaign or in a proposal.

Source Expertise: Bets project manager or key staff is used. For social media campaigning, by curating a list of people one wants to associate the services or product with, thereby giving the audience they can hold onto.

Emotions: People want to make feel good about their decision, that they have taken the right emotion. A positive emotion must be imparted. The colours appeal to that emotion. Each colour means a different thing according to the situations. Like Red – passionate, exciting, active, etc.

How Marketers Can influence The Decision-Making Process:

Just like the Business Development Life cycle, taken straight out of the APMP Body of Knowledge, the marketing efforts must be cyclical. It should be always evolving. The earlier one can reach the client, the better it is. Start early before one gets to the proposal phase.

Details needed for the Central route and shortcuts for the Peripheral is combined. In proposals and marketing, this is needed since one has diverse audiences and ways to process information. Hence, it should be made sure that reaches the right people.

Steps:

Identifying the market, understanding the key clients and target audience.

Develop the case studies and technical white papers. Providing the challenges and solutions for this.

Develop websites and blogs. Develop content and then spread them everywhere, thereby maximizing the effort by using multiple mediums to reach the audience. Think about the audience and how they can easily digest the information.

Humanize the proposals by adding emotions to branding. It provides them with a shortcut to look through and read a little bit more into what one is.

Pick a theme and adapt to what one wants to do. Understand the client and make sure the concept is appropriate and how they will digest the information. Be clear and intentional. Do not confuse the audience or clients. Understand what the goal or message is. There are for the marketing campaign.

24 Why Your Business Needs Digital Advertising

- Brian Meert and Monika Lamud

Digital advertising isn’t limited to Facebook. There are multiple marketing opportunities that are key to business success: Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Tik-tok, Amazon, Google. Brian Meert and Monika Lamud discuss the various social media and other online platforms available for digital marketing.

25 Conference Wrapup Session

- Rick Harris, Kelsea Watson, Julia Duke and Krystn Macomber

The conference wrapped up with an interactive session and a fun giveaway.

Big Message

If you think Baachu Scribble is just about helping you WIN MORE you have missed the point, we stand for DEMOCRATISING BIDDING KNOWLEDGE