Back for another year, the 2016 Canadian Internet Marketing Conference (CIMC) will feature a powerhouse line-up of more than 30 of the world’s top minds and movers of the digital marketing industry. FreshGigs.ca got the awesome opportunity to have a pre-conference brain-picking sesh with each of the keynote speakers and panelists. Today’s Q & A is with Justin Young, creative director of Village&Co.
Some would say that today’s tech-based marketing needs to be helpful, not invasive. How do you think brands can best achieve this?
Brands can best achieve this through:
- Targeting: with paid digital media targeting options, hone in on your target and mitigate wastage.
- Relevance: taking into account various targets/profiles, customize creative/messaging to ensure resonance.
- Context: consider the customers’ mindset/context and work with it.
- Content: add non-branded content to the mix like UGC, relevant articles, etc.
Beyond Facebook and Twitter, there are new tools out there that are available for today’s digital marketing professionals. What are your favourites?
- Facebook Business Manager: It now includes Instagram; it’s a very powerful online tool to manage, optimize and measure campaigns on both Facebook and Instagram (where we primarily advertise).
- Hootsuite: the mighty de facto social media scheduling, posting and listening engine.
- Influencer talent agencies: Like Cycle, Tinker Street, WM Influencers, #paid. Influencers no longer do favours; they now have agents, rate cards, terms and conditions.
I think there is a huge opportunity to marry on and offline – bringing online or social into the physical world and offline into the digital world, in surprising and creative ways.
What’s on the horizon when it comes to creating a sense of community among digital consumers?
With the growth of even more niche online communities, there is an opportunity to authentically reach, connect and create advocacy within these groups. And with developments in software like Facebook and Google Translate, barriers of communication can be eliminated, allowing these niche communities to exist on a global scale.
What aspects of analog marketing do you think people can use in the digital landscape?
I think there is a huge opportunity to marry on and offline – bringing online or social into the physical world and offline into the digital world, in surprising and creative ways. Despite the high adoption of digital media, some analog formats (e.g. books, vinyl records) have started to make a comeback – surprisingly enough with many millennials. A great indicator of this shift is Amazon’s announcement that they are planning to open 300-400 physical bookstores in the near future.
What lessons from marketing’s past can benefit the industry’s future?
Be authentic and trustworthy. Foster advocacy. Experiment. Communicate. Over deliver. And don’t leave your most important roles (e.g. community management) to interns or family/friends.
Justin has had a dynamic career in marketing communications, with the majority of his 20 years experience rooted in digital. From his first job working on Kokanee in Vancouver to being swept up in the dot-com world in San Francisco working on high profile and award-winning accounts such as Hewlett-Packard, Miller Brewing and Banana Republic. As the Managing Director of Radar DDB he led the Canada Tourism Commission’s robust and award-winning social media program, which was the perfect springboard to starting up Village&Co., an agency dedicated to social media.
The CIMC runs April 14-15, 2016 at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish BC, Canada. For more conference and ticket info, click here.