Table of Contents
Introduction
You’ve been hard at work through the year, trying to surpass industry benchmarks and create new ones for others to follow. In this frantic race for excellence, there will come a time when you need to take a step back and see the bigger picture. After all the long hours you’ve put into thinking out of the box, there will be that innate desire to know what your peers think about your efforts.
Being part of a digital marketing conference is one of the best ways to meet industry stalwarts or showcase your product in front of like minded professionals. We all know the digital age has arrived and is here to stay, however some good old fashioned networking never goes out of style. That is what a conference enables you to do. Learn best practices, latest trends and exchange knowledge about emerging techniques.
But is it really for me?
If you’ve found yourself asking this question, you’re not the only one. Many young entrepreneurs and professionals think of conferences as playgrounds for the big leaguers. But this mindset is gradually fading away. With disruption as the mantra, young minds arrive at these conventions to know and see what is shaping up the industry. Conferences have now become the place to be seen at, for taking your idea to a whole new level.
Still sceptical about attending a digital marketing conference? Glance through the points below and you will find yourself booking the next available conference.
Best minds at one place
All conferences make it a point to invite industry leaders as speakers. Getting insights from the brightest minds in the industry can act like a catalyst for your own idea. Imagine listening to stalwarts like Rand Fishkin or Neil Patel, while they share their experiences and best practices.
Brand recognition
You know you have the right product, but now is the time others knew about it too. A digital marketing conference is just the kind of platform you need to showcase your brand. The best part is you will be projecting your brand to a niche audience, who will then spread the word on your behalf.
Networking
Move over business lunches, digital marketing conferences are here. By far, the most important aspect of any conference is the chance of meeting potential business partners or funding sources. By creating new contacts you will give yourself more options at building a successful brand. You never know a casual meet-up at a conference might lead to bigger things in the future.
Latest trends
In the digital age, new marketing techniques are being created at the speed of light and to keep yourself updated can be quite a task. A digital marketing conference is like a beehive buzzing with the latest information that’s making waves in the industry. With knowledge sharing one of the main agendas, one can be sure to come face to face with all the emerging trends.
Now that you know why you must attend digital marketing conferences, you should also be aware of the ones you must attend. With the year drawing to a close, we have compiled a list of 5 must-visit conferences in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Martech East – October
In their own words “Martech is an intense, two-day conference designed for hybrid leaders in the marketing technology world.”
Martech’s main agenda is to break marketing silos to increase sales. With a host of guest speakers from brands like Dropbox, Gartner, IBM and Ogilvy, participants will surely gain precious knowledge about ongoing trends and the best ways to leverage data and analytics for growth.
City – Boston, Massachusetts
Date – October 1-3, 2018
Venue – Hynes Convention Center, Boston
Pricing – $850 – $2000
Content Jam – October
At Content Jam you can get tips and tricks on enhancing your content strategy. Meet like minded people, brimming with ideas about content marketing, analytics and conversion optimisation. Content Jam has fast become Chicago’s best known content marketing conference.
This year’s conference promises to offer workshops and sessions on SEO, Social media optimisation, Video marketing and much more. Content Jam prides itself in providing actionable marketing advice and is quite popular due to its relaxed atmosphere.
City – Chicago, Illinois
Date – October 9th & 10th, 2018
Venue- University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center
Pricing – $650 – $950
Web Summit – November
Called the largest tech conference in the world, Web Summit attracts more than 70,000 eager minds each year. Started in 2010, Web Summit has successfully connected the tech community with other industries to create an organic growth trajectory for all.
This year Web Summit will see speakers like Brad Smith from Microsoft, Evan Williams from Medium, Ben Silbermann from Pinterest, Greg Peters from Netflix and many more industry leaders, who will share their experiences and tips about digital marketing.
City – Lisbon, Portugal
Date – November 5-8th, 2018
Venue- Altice Arena, Lisbon
Pricing – $1000
B2B Marketing Forum- November
B2B Marketing Forum aims at bridging the gap between what marketers already know and what needs to be done to become the best. With this premise, B2B Marketing Forum has become the go-to conference for all marketers.
Since its inception twelve years ago, this conference has attracted some of the best minds in the industry. This year will be no different with keynote speakers like Ann Handley from MarketingProfs, Gopi Kallayil from Google, Rashmy Chatterjee from IBM, amongst other luminaries.
City – San Francisco, California
Date – November 13-16th, 2018
Venue- San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel
Pricing – $1395 – $2795
Growth Marketing Conference – December
This is a globally focussed event for B2B and B2C marketers. The convention boasts of over 50 plus sessions. These sessions include discussions about actionable strategies, personal experiences, shared by marketing professionals from companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook and IBM.
Some of the topics lined up for this year’s conference include “Inbound and Outbound Optimisation”, “Lessons from World’s Fastest Growing Companies” and “B2B growth strategies for 2018”.
City – San Francisco, California
Date – December 11-12th, 2018
Venue- Fairmont Hotel
Pricing – $200 – $1100
Conclusion
Be it an entrepreneur, a marketer or even a large enterprise, digital marketing conferences offer something for everyone. In today’s fast paced world of hyper connectivity these conferences will give you a chance to slow down and gauge your own growth as compared to your industry peers. With deeper insights into industry best practices and trends, attending a digital marketing conference will surely help you raise the bar higher and higher.
