As a first time SXSWer, I've realized something very quickly: This thing is big. Trying to navigate the countless events, sessions and meetups isn’t easy. So for any marketer attending SXSW, I’ve put together a list of essential sessions that will provide insights into marketing’s future. Take a look:
One of the biggest challenges marketers face today is the data problem. There’s a ton of it available. And that data is going mobile. This panel presented by Team Detroit will help marketers turn behavioral intelligence into personalization strategies for mobile.
With the rapid pace of technology changes, it’s easy to get distracted by the newest things. But many marketers forget the basics when it comes to their strategies. In this session, Kristina Halvorson of Brain Traffic challenges marketers to take a pragmatic, principled approach to marketing before they try to use SnapChat to sell industrial shredders.
Real-time data is so 2013. The next generation of data analytics tools and techniques will involve predictive modeling, so that you can know what consumers want before they do. Adobe’s Bill Ingram, localresponse’s Nihal Mehta and Boostable’s Selcuk Atli join forces for a panel discussion on marketing’s next big thing.
Mark Schaefer sent shockwaves through the content marketing world when he first posted about Content Shock. The basic idea: We’re getting to a point where there’s too much content out there and not enough time to for consumers to engage with it. Now he’s bringing the topic to SXSW in order to provide some creative solutions to content marketing’s top challenge.
As the Internet gets bigger, the communities are getting more and more niche. For marketers, these smaller groups of people provide opportunities for highly targeted communication. James Anstey of Hill+Knowlton Strategies will look into how these communities are shaping the Internet and how they fit into the big picture of your marketing strategy.
Google wanted to get this close to creepy without crossing that line, and now every marketer has the power—and responsibility—to do the same thing. In his session on predictive analytics, Graeme Noseworthy will discuss how marketers can better utilize behavioral data to drive relevance and market to consumers as individuals.
Remember the days when getting more followers on social media was your primary metric for success? Well, they are over, friends. In this session, Jim Rudden of Spredfast discusses how you can and should measure results for your social programs.
For marketers today, what’s true in the morning might not be true in the afternoon. The technology we use really is changing that quickly. Being a leader in this environment can be difficult. That’s where this session from John Ellett comes in. He’ll provide strategies and information for being an “agent of change” in our ever-evolving world.
Many marketers are just getting used to the idea of making their websites display properly on every device with responsive design. But what’s next? A panel of design experts comes together to discuss the future of content consumption on the web.
As if one panel wasn’t enough, Team Detroit (mentioned above in Marketing As A Service) presents another session, this time on creating relevant content for individual consumers in real-time. How do you integrate real-time relevance into your marketing strategy, and what tools do you need? You’ll find out here.
Advertising? Yep, you still need to do it. But Bob Thacker, former Sr. VP of Marketing at OfficeMax, has some tips for making advertising that connects people not with brands, but with other people.
Are you going to SXSW? What sessions are you looking forward to most? Share with us in the comments!
