During Digital Summit Kansas City, four big marketing concepts were discussed throughout breakout sessions and by presenters. This presentation is a high-level overview of those concepts.

1. FOUR POWERFUL
MARKETING
CONCEPTS
Digital Summit brings together the most innovative thought
leaders in marketing for a two-day event in cities across the US.
Learn more at digitalsummit.com.
FROM DIGITAL SUMMIT KANSAS CITY

2. You’re (likely) Doing
Marketing Analytics
Wrong
Quantifying marketing’s ROI is hard.
In fact, only 8% of CFOs believe
marketing dollars are spent wisely.
Marketers must use analytics better
so they can articulate their value.
Smart Companies Ask
Smarter Questions
Marketing data often starts out as a
solution in search of the problem.
Smart organizations figure out what
questions to ask before they start
gathering data.
Level-Up Your Content
Marketing
Customers have already completed
up to 80% of the sales process
before they ever call. Savvy
marketers us content reach
potential customers when the sales
team cannot.
Smart Workflows Lead to
Better Ideas
Great companies are using Design
Sprints to spark innovations and
encourage customer-centric thinking
to make sure their marketing is
relevant to their audience.

3. YOU’RE (LIKELY) DOING
MARKETING
ANALYTICS WRONG
Too frequently we limit the value of what marketing delivers
by the reporting that is produced.
Be proactive with a data plan
Don’t look at the data and ask “what can I do.”
Look at the business and ask “what data do I need?”
Stop the hunter/gatherer mentality of data
Invest in bringing all of your data into one system.
This allows better analysis and efficiency.
Data is an expense
On average, marketers spend 82% of their time
gathering data from various sources. This kills ROI.
Solid analytics lead to a strong strategy
Reporting is an activity; analytics are a strategy.
Link your analytics to core KPIs for the best ROI.

4. 4
Metrics must have an owner
Find a subject matter expert in the
organization and have them take
responsibility for understanding how a
metric impacts the business.
Each metric has a threshold
A number can be good or bad. Before you
begin asking questions, establish where the
threshold is between a good number and a
bad one.
There are two types of problems
Problems which impact money and
problems which impact mission. Know
which one you are working to solve before
starting.
SMART COMPANIES ASK
SMARTER QUESTIONS

5. Quick Aside: Not all metrics are the same
GREAT PowerPoint Template 5
Understanding the type of metric you are dealing with is key to answering marketing questions.
Indicator
Indicator metrics show
behaviors and trends to let
you know if you are
accomplishing your goals.
Return
There is always a money
component involved with
marketing data. Return
indicators show ROI.
Foundational
Foundational metrics are
important metrics for your
business, however, they do
not move the needle.

6. LEVEL-UP YOUR
CONTENT MARKETING
In the digital age, brands build relationships with information rather than with sales people. Depending on the
industry, 70 to 80 percent of the sales process has already happened before a buyer engages a sales person.
With 90 percent of clicks going to organic search results over the paid links, your brand can’t afford to have a
subpar content marketing strategy.
Research and
Brainstorm Content
Figure out your keywords, then
use tools to optimize your
content for maximum visibility.
Align the Content with
Business Goals
The best content marketers align
content with business priorities
and support business goals.
Definitively Know the
Target Audience
Look at your marketing personas
and make sure you’re writing
content that’s useful & relevant.
Develop Content Arcs
or Themes
Cut through the noise by using
monthly or quarterly themes.
This will focus your message.

7. Quick Aside: Research Tools to Grow Content Marketing
GREAT PowerPoint Template 7
Research doesn’t have to be painful. Use these tools to get on the fast-path creating to meaningful content.
Google Suggest
Begin typing your keywords into
Google and see what it auto-fills. Use
an incognito window for better results.
KeywordTool.io
Enter your keywords into this
handy tool and get valuable
long-tail recommendations.
Answer the Public
Answering questions is the best way to
create meaningful content. This tool tells
you what questions are being asked.
YouTube
YouTube is the second largest search
engine. Use the YouTube Suggest,
and look at videos for inspiration.

8. GREAT PowerPoint Template 8
WINNING WORKFLOWS
GREAT COMPANIES USE
DESIGN SPRINTS TO
ANSWER CRITICAL
QUESTIONS
Design Sprints are a framework to help your marketers focus
on their customers.
Design Sprints have a narrowly defined challenge and a clearly defined outcome.
The first phase is to understand and clarify the challenge. Next, the team defines
the initial strategy to the solution. Before a solution is settled upon the diverge
phase begins. Here team members brainstorm as many ideas as they can to
come up with other ways of solving the challenge. Now, using a risk vs. reward
scale, it’s time to decide which solution to prototype. With prototypes, it’s easier
for the team to predict success or failure of the solution quickly. Finally,
validation occurs to see how your solution works with customers.
Not clear on using Design Sprints for marketing? I’ll have a blog post soon!

9. GREAT PowerPoint Template 9
Follow me on Twitter @ZacharyNelson for more marketing
insights. I’ll be sharing more of what I learned over on my blog.
THOSE ARE THE FOUR POWERFUL
MARKETING CONCEPTS
I TOOK AWAY FROM DIGITAL SUMMIT