A round-up of The Stray Ferret's Digital Conference

At the end of 2023, we attended the Stray Ferret Marketing Conference, held at the Pavilions in our hometown of Harrogate. This was the first Marketing conference The Stray Ferret has hosted and was part of the Leeds Digital Festival, a month-long event that showcased and celebrated all things digital across the area with a series of insightful and thought-provoking events and seminars.

Over 250 Marketing experts from all different types of industries attended to hear the various talks and panel discussions that were planned. Show + Tell and Next Chapter were invited to exhibit at the event, with two of our leaders also invited to join the speaker panel. 

Our CEO, Charlie Hartley, spoke about "How brand and digital innovation can drive growth", and Daniel Swepson, Head of Marketing at our sister agency, Next Chapter, spoke about "Developing a digital marketing strategy". 

To share some of the many insights from the event, our Digital Project Manager, Tim Inggall, has shared some key takeaways:

Charlie Hartley - "How Brand and Digital Innovation Drive Growth"

Charlie discussed the importance of adopting digital innovation to stand out from competitors and how this can be used to drive business growth. Businesses that remain stagnant in their digital strategies can quickly fade away in their market and so it's crucial for an organisation to continually evaluate and improve their digital presence.

Digital innovation can come in many different forms. One of the ways we help our clients innovate when creating new best-in-class website experiences is to consider the CMS platform that the website uses. WordPress is certainly one of the most common Content Management Systems used - it powers 1 in 4 websites across the internet - however, there are newer and more performant CMS platforms out there such as Sanity or Payload. 

These modern platforms offer many different benefits such as headless architecture, simplified content management, performance & speed, improved security and lower total cost of ongoing maintenance and development support. Recent web build projects undertaken by Show + Tell use and benefit from these new types of platforms, and it’s an extensive topic we’ve shared a little more insight on here. 

Charlie then went on to outline 3 ways in which a business can use brand and digital innovation to drive growth:

• Put your customers at the heart of your digital strategy: Customers are the lifeblood of any business. Placing them at the centre of your digital strategy ensures that your efforts align with their needs, preferences, and expectations. By understanding a customer’s behaviours and preferences, organisations can create content and experiences that truly resonate with them. This increases engagement, leading to longer interaction times and a deeper connection with your brand. Businesses that prioritise customers tend to outperform their competitors, as customers are more likely to choose a company that consistently meets their needs and provides a superior experience.

"Only 8 per cent of B2B organisations are currently set up to deliver highly personalised experiences. But, of that 8 per cent, three-quarters report growing market share"

• Stand out in a crowded market. Organisations need to understand their value proposition. A value proposition is a brief statement which explains to potential customers how a business is unique, what it offers, and how it can improve their lives

• The final point was to embrace technology and not let it hold your business back. Technology should be used to aid business growth. Businesses that adopt technology are more competitive. In a survey by McKinsey, 72% of executives said that technology is at the core of their competitive advantage.

Charlie's talk was well-received by the audience, sparking a lively discussion and a multitude of questions, particularly regarding CMS choices. His insights into the benefits of modern platforms like Sanity and Payload resonated with the attendees, offering valuable guidance on enhancing their digital strategies and staying competitive in today's evolving landscape.

Daniel Swepson - "Developing a Digital Marketing Strategy"

Daniel spoke about developing a digital marketing strategy. He went into great detail and discussed the importance of a marketing strategy to a business, and delved into the intricacies of creating an effective marketing strategy, offering practical insights and actionable steps to the audience of professional marketers.

"Nearly all brands do marketing, but hardly any of them have a strategy". 

Sound surprising? I thought so too, as without a clear strategy in place, it's hard - almost impossible - to align your marketing activity with an overall end goal or commercial objective. However, it does mean that there is a lot of untapped potential for business growth and commercial potential through the implementation of an effective marketing strategy, which as a Marketing agency, is exciting for us to hear!

Daniel took the audience through Next Chapter's 4-step marketing strategy. His presentation offered a top-level perspective on a marketing strategy that is exceptionally intricate and detailed. Daniel was able to simplify this complexity into easily understandable insights for the audience to learn from and take away.

Step 1 was goals and objectives. Daniel explained the different types of goals and objectives that a business can have and how each piece of Marketing activity that a business carries out, should count towards one of these objectives.

Step 2 was all about personas, which are a fictional but data-driven representation of an ideal customer, used to guide marketing strategies and content creation. Daniel explained that a business should have a thorough understanding of their customer's personas and that these personas are crucial to helping marketers tailor their efforts to better meet the specific needs and preferences of their target audience, resulting in more effective and relevant messaging.

In step 3, Daniel spoke about channels and user journeys and how traditional marketing user journey mapping typically involves using something similar to the marketing funnel. The big hole at the bottom of the funnel is where customers tend to drop off in engagement. Daniel introduced the audience to the idea of the "flywheel model" in which customer engagement and satisfaction drive continuous growth by creating a positive feedback loop.

Content pillars were discussed in the final step. Daniel gave the audience insight into creating effective content pillars that align with marketing and commercial objectives and aim to attract, engage and convert a business’ persona.

We heard from many markers following Daniel's talk and we were delighted to hear that everyone we spoke to found his presentation extremely insightful and informative. Many of them were eager to get back to their office, armed with questions such as "Do we have defined business objectives?", "Who are our business personas?", "What marketing model do we currently adopt and is it working for us?", which is exactly the desired outcome. We’ve also been able to engage with a number of these businesses since the event and we’ll hopefully be able to help them, whether it be moving to a new CMS or with their digital marketing strategy for the year ahead. 

To get a taster of the event, check out our video:

If you’re planning your digital strategy or are looking to work with an established partner to reimagine your website or brand, get in touch.