Chlo?'s 3 Things: Events / Summer Sprint / Guests
Chlo? Thomas
Follow for eCommerce, Marketing, and Sustainability stuff + LinkedIn Top Retail Voice 2023
Hello!
Happy Friday.
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This week's 3 Things:
Let's get stuck in...
Thing 1: Events ???? Spring Conference Season Takeaways
On Wednesday I got back from my final trip of the Spring Conference Season.
So I thought today would be a good chance to share my takeaways from the season.
For clarity here's a little background on the context of my season...
Real World
For each of these events I stuck around for the whole event, or at least half of it.
Virtual World
It's a really mixed bag right? From big massive expos, to content focused conferences, to software company client events.
Spanning the whole mix of business size too - from the smaller DTC brands right through to the big enterprise-focused events.
And for most of them, I get to have some level of behind-the-scenes insight in terms of the objectives and aims of the organisers and sponsors.
If you have an event you think I could bring value to - please do get in touch.
?? So what did I learn?
Everything is evolving right now.
We (as an industry - let's ignore the macro picture here) are in a big evolutionary phase.
Caused by many things, all of which drill down to these 3:
?? The economic/environmental/political backdrop
?? Changing consumer behaviour
?? The eCommerce market (esp in the UK) having shifted from the wild west landgrab we enjoyed for 20 years into a far more competitive space
I'm going to zero in on what I think that means for brands and events...
??? The Event landscape is evolving
I've been fascinated by events as long as I've been fascinated by eCommerce.
I can remember back to the days of "Internet World", the Red Eye masterclass breakfast series (if you know, you know!), and ECMOD.
I've seen the days where the length of the queues to get into the sessions at the big expos (eCommerce Expo and IRX) were so long brand-side delegates weren't sure they could risk grabbing lunch let alone wander the stands.
So yeah, it's always evolving!!
But I think the challenges are BIG right now:
?? It's as hard as it's ever been to get brands to come out to play - so you have to create something really appealing. And to get budget sign off that's probably educational.
?? SaaS companies and agencies are deploying budget far more strategically. With a lot of 'event' budget, going to 'partnership' activities - smaller events with far greater short term impact.
This is a HUGE challenge for the event industry because it's the SaaS companies who pay for it all. Ticket revenue is VERY hard to get in eCommerce.
?? The event calendar is getting more and more busy - I reckon you could have attended a 'potentially worthwhile' event every day in June and still missed out on some great ones.
?? The event calendar is diversifying - we've got small networking events, more SaaS putting on their own events - big and small, a plethora of 'secret' dinners and lunches, big expos, etc etc
I'm really glad I'm not an event organiser!
To balance the needs of the different audiences is tough:
? The objectives of the business - whether it's get the right targets in the door, or sell enough sponsorship
? The objectives of the brands - Create an event that looks good enough on paper to justify time out of the office AND to be more appealing than anything else they could attend.
? The objectives of the sponsors - get the right people through the door, and create a scenario where the sponsors get the sales impact they need.
And how to deliver really changes from event to event - and I'm not sure everyone's got that nuance worked out yet.
Super excited to see what the autumn season brings.
?? The eCommerce space is evolving
So what about the brands - what are my takeaways about them and their reaction to all this evolution?
The ones who win in 2024 and beyond will:
?? Internally integrate - kill the departmental siloing of knowledge and data - both through tech, and habits.
?? Optimise their tech stack - at the most basic level have it properly integrated to remove manual tasks. But also probably invest in some "DPs" - data platforms - whether that's awesome use of their CRM, a great personalisation platform, or a PIM. Making the data easy to use/report on/capture is all. (and yes, AI has a big part to play here)
?? Get focused - any brand side person's potential to do list (the 'could list') right now is overwhelming. Success is going to come from a company wide agreement on what 'should' be done.
?? Get better at promotions - more margin, more reaction from the right customers.
?? Really understand their customers.
领英推荐
That's my initial post-Spring-Conference season thoughts...
?? What are your takeaways from this season? Let me know in the comments ??
Thing 2: Summer Sprint ?? AKA I know what I'm doing this summer
Thing 1 got a bit long didn't it!! Actually had to cut myself off there - or it would have been lunchtime before I got this out. So expect more in a few weeks on that.
I'm now in the office for TEN weeks - 10 whole weeks!
My 'Summer Sprint' is about to begin...
BUT I'm not starting it next week...
I'm taking a step back for a week of planning and getting ready for the Summer Sprint.
I really want to get stuck into stuff... but at a rough guess what I want to do would take about 20 weeks... so I'm holding myself back to actually get strategic.
Prepping for the Summer Sprint
The aim for next week is to...
?? make a plan for the Summer Sprint.
My 'Could' list is MASSIVE, so I've got to get it whittled down to what's possible and most important to do.
I'm hoping to get as far as a week-by-week hit list... at least for the big projects, but I'll see if that's going to be the best way to manage it.
?? clear up all the post-conference season chaos.
All the travel time creates a fair amount of mess - so I want to get as much of it cleared up before I hit Summer Sprint as possible.
I'm 1.5 days into this, and I'm getting there. But STILL haven't called the plumber about the heating... (ah the mundanity of it all)
?? Get the team fully briefed on Episode 500.
We're deep in the final weeks of prep for Episode 500 - it's been ticking along nicely whilst I've been travelling, but there are several areas where the team REALLY need a solid brief from me to take us to the finish line.
If I can get 90% of this out the way next week... I'll be very happy!
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This is the first time I've taken the "Summer Sprint" so seriously - and certainly the first time I've given it a name. So I'm hoping the decision to take a week to get ready will pay off...
?? What's on your post-conference season to do list? Let me know in the comments ??
Thing 3: Guests ?? Is it you I'm looking for?
OK - here's where you can help me with my Summer to do list...
We have A LOT of content to get planned and recorded in the next 10 weeks, could you or one of your clients be the guest we're looking for?
Yes, this is a free PR opportunity.
eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast Guests...
We're looking for:
If you're a brand - apply here: https://ecommercemasterplan.com/guest/
If you've got clients you think would be a great fit...
Many of our best guest recommendations come from agencies and SaaS companies... so I'm always interested in guest referrals.?
And if one of your referred guests gets recorded I'll make sure you get an honourable mention in the episode.?
So send me a list of those you think would be awesome and I'll confirm which we're interested in, before you send out invites and get them excited! - I'd hate for you to get a client excited, and then them not be a fit.?
Keep Optimising Podcast Guests...
We're looking for guests to chat about:
Apply here: https://keepoptimising.com/guest/ (please do share that with people who might be interested)
eCommerce Explored Webinar Guests...
We're looking for panellists to discuss:
Apply here: https://chloelink.com/webinar-guest (please do share that with people who might be interested)
Tech Experts for Blog and other content...
One BIG project that's a non-negotiable for the Summer Sprint is to re-launch the eCommerce Tech website AND kick off the proper content and SEO creation activity.
So I'm looking for tech experts who'd like to contribute to blogs / write blogs etc
Apply here: https://ecomtech.link/tech-expert (and feel free to share)
?? Please do tag anyone we should be featuring on our channels. ??
That's it for this week, I'm off to continue clearing up the post-conference-season chaos.
I'd love to engage with you in the comments too, so please do add your thoughts below.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Managing Director at Look Fabulous Forever
4 个月Lauren Duncan would be a great guest for Ecommerce Masterplan!