Seattle Startup Week 2018 - Marketing Track Recap

Last week was Seattle Startup Week and I had the pleasure of working with a collection of marketing, design and technology professionals to create an engaging marketing track. If you missed it, don't worry.  We've put together a comprehensive list of the abstracts, speakers, decks and resources (where available).   

Keeping it Real – How to Do Smarter Social Media Marketing

You have limited time and budget. So you can’t afford to chase every shiny new thing when it comes to social media marketing. In this session, you’ll learn 3 things that work: listening to your customers, engaging your employees, and telling stories about the problems you’re trying to solve.
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Date: Tuesday 10/9
​Speaker: Elaine Helm, Social Media and Content Manager at Premera Blue Cross | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources:  PPT (Article to come)

10 Lessons You'll Learn Launching ABM

While ABM has been one of marketing's biggest buzzwords the past 3 years, very few Seattle companies have figured out how to do it well — and scale. That's because it's hard. You need your entire marketing, sales and leadership team onboard to radically change your customer acquisition strategy. Is it worth it? Is it for you? This talk will go over 10 lessons learned launching ABM with teams big and small. This isn't a step-by-step guide the launching ABM. You can find a million online resources to guide you there. This is a peek into the behind the scenes that happens once you dive in. The hard lessons you'll inevitably learn and what to prepare for as you re-think your marketing and sales strategies.

During this session, we'll explore the following ideas:

• Account based marketing is really account based sales development. If your demand gen and sales development teams aren't working as one team, your account-based strategy won't work.
• In the world of ABM, the MQL is dead. Before you change you strategy, you must get your entire team (and LT) on board with how you're going to measure success.
• Strategy first, technology second. Before you buy the latest software to round out your ABM tech stack, you have to think through your strategy. Your technology will only work hard for you if you have a solid strategy.

Date: Tuesday 10/9
​Speaker: Jori Saeger, Senior Director of Marketing, Koru | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources: Deck | Blog Article 

How to Rock Your Brand Like a Hurricane: Cheap Tricks to Help You Design Great Content Marketing

Whatever the size of your organization, you can make your customers into not only fans, but SUPERFANS with a few simple steps. Get them sharing your content and talking your brand up in less time than it takes to make a killer mixtape.

Date: Tuesday 10/9
​Speaker: Rob Christianson, Senior Art Director, Bridge Partners | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources: Deck | Blog Article 

Are You a Lover or a Fighter? Find Your North Star for Brand Storytelling

​Is your brand more about community and belonging, or autonomy and independence? Does it promise stability or change? Is it a Hero, an Explorer, a Ruler, or a Rebel? Focusing your brand around one clear archetype is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience, standing out from your competition, and accelerating creative expression. 

This fast-paced, participatory session will introduce 12 archetypes for deeply resonant storytelling and explore how they apply to brands, from articulating a clear purpose and establishing brand personality to shaping messaging, imagery, products, and company culture. The archetype model applies to all kinds of brands—consumer, B2B, non-profits, and personal brands. 

We’ll take a look at real examples from the Seattle startup scene, and we’ll work through exercises right in the room to help you find your north star, whether you’re building a new brand, refocusing a messy one, or ready for some fresh inspiration.  

Date: Wednesday 10/10
​Speaker: Catherine Carr, Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer, Vitamin C Creative | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources: Deck

Up-Leveling Your Startup's Facebook Ads

​You get it. You've been told hundreds of times about the power and importance of social media marketing for your startups success. You've got that one annoying friend who also owns a business that can't stop talking about all of their quality low cost leads! Yet, you can't seem to crack the code. Maybe you don't have the time. Maybe you don't have the resources. 

In this session you'll learn:

• How to build a strong foundation on Facebook to sustain results as time goes on
• How to properly build a Facebook funnel that doesn't just get you leads, but gets you qualified leads
• How to recognize signs that it's time to freshen things up

Date: Wednesday 10/10
​Speaker: Matt Mason, Senior Media Planner, Possible | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources: Deck

Marketing Strategy: It’s Not Really OK To Fail (Unless You Do It Right)

The phrase “it’s OK to fail” has become the rallying cry of every organization that wants to encourage innovation. No matter how good a company’s intent, however, innovation can never flourish when employees are still constrained by systems designed to enforce the status quo: fear of rocking the boat—or worse, losing a job—quashes new ideas before they ever have a chance to succeed.

So how can organizations truly invest in new ideas, in a way that both creates a safe space for innovators and keeps fiscal responsibility front and center? Jesse Fowl coaches clients to help them build exactly these kinds of environments, and will share with attendees how they can:

Recognize “failure” as a vital part of the cycle of idea development

• Establish teams with clear roles that create a culture of innovation
• Set goals around the volume of ideas, not outcome
• Tie big ideas to business goals and plan for ROI that includes “failed” attempts

Date: Thursday 10/11
​Speaker: Jesse Fowl, Managing Director, Solomon Solutions | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources: Deck | Article 

Bringing Home the Bacon: Cultivating Thought Leaders to Break Down Trust Barriers with Prospects

​Bombarded by fake news and "alt-facts," people are, more than ever, questioning who and what they can put their faith in– and companies aren't immune to this skepticism. The fastest way to build trust and create conversation around your products and services is to put thought leaders out in the world: intelligent dot-connectors who are passionate about your customers' challenges. If you aren't flush with multiple six-figure hiring budgets, then cultivating the seeds of evangelism within your organization is the right choice.

In this session we'll talk about:

• Identifying thought leaders within your organization
• What foundational items you need to set your leaders up for success
• How organizations can give their thought leaders room to bring home the bacon

Date: Thursday 10/11
​Speaker: Maureen Jann, Founder and Managing Director, SuperDeluxe Marketing | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources: Deck | Article 

Why Startups Suck at Marketing

One of the biggest reasons startups fail is the inability to scale-ably attract customers at low cost. In this presentation, Rand covers 8 reasons startups miss out on marketing success, and tips for how to overcome these pitfalls.
Date: Friday 10/12
​Speaker: Rand Fishkin, Founder, SparkToro | LinkedIn | Twitter
Resources: Deck 

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Startup Lessons From the 5 Hottest Marketing Campaigns in 2018

Splashy marketing campaigns are a dime-a-dozen these days, but there are a few that stand out in 2018 because they were out of the box, interesting, and funny in a smart way. When it comes to smart and tongue-in-cheek marketing, a lot of startups can miss the mark.

In this session, I'll walk you through:

• The key successes and failures from some of the most memorable campaigns of 2018
• Tips to scale big name marketing campaigns for your startup without a huge budget
• Action items you can begin implementing the second you get back to business

Date: Monday 10/8
​Speaker: Berrak Sarikaya, Senior Social Media Manager at Yesler | LinkedIn | Twitter
Deck:  No deck available at this time. 

The Economy of Ideas: How Startups and Agencies Should Work Together

Smart. Nimble. Creative. Many of the same words used to describe leading startups also describe leading creative agencies. However, early stage cash-strapped companies can find it difficult to work with the $200 hourly bill rates top agencies tend to charge. And it's a shame, because the most impactful startups are those who combine disruptive innovations with attention-grabbing branding and advertising.

In this talk, we discuss the relative value of ideas on both sides of the relationship and the new models of agency-startup partnership that empower deeper, better collaboration without breaking the bank.

Date: Monday 10/8
​Speaker: Nathan Young, Managing Director at CROWN | LinkedIn | Twitter
Deck:  No deck available at this time. 

What's Next

If you're interested in speaking at next year's Seattle Startup Week or need an introduction to one of our outstanding speakers, let us know!