The Results Are In: Must-Attend Digital Marketing Conferences
*This is a guest post by Angela Zhou, Engagement Marketing Intern at CPC Strategy
2019 Conferences for Digital Marketers
For digital marketers, industry conferences can be a valuable source of information and networking. But the world of conferences has so many options that it may be overwhelming to decide which ones to go to.
So we decided to survey our community and got 700 responses to the question, “Which conferences are you planning to attend in 2019?”
Here are the results.
Who took the survey?
The majority of survey takers are Owner/Operators, followed by Managers, VP/Directors, Practitioner/Specialists, and C-Level.
Additionally, we asked whether or not they sell on Amazon & almost 3/4th of survey takers said yes.
We also asked which channel(s) digital marketers use to advertise their products.
Below are the responses from most common to least common (left to right), with Facebook being the most common, followed by Amazon Seller Central, Google, Instagram, etc.
Next, we asked which category your product belongs to and found the most popular category is Home, Kitchen, & Bath, followed by CPG & Supplements, Beauty, Clothing & Shoes, Electronics, Health & Fitness, etc.
What do you want to gain from conferences?
We also asked digital marketers what aspects of conferences they find valuable, and found a consensus that Q&A with experts is the most valuable aspect of conferences.
This is followed by lectures from thought leaders, hands-on workshops, networking, finding new vendors/technology, organized small group discussion, celebrity guest speakers, and happy hour (most valuable to least valuable).
Some of our write-in answers for what digital marketers are looking for at conferences include:
- After-hours discussions with sellers, vendors and speakers
- Learning from industry experts (i.e. what has worked, what are best practices, what are the minor factors that make large impacts, etc.)
- Staying current with what is happening in eCommerce, particularly with Amazon since it is fast- changing
- Hearing others’ experiences and how to problem-solve in the eCommerce channel
- Actionable strategies for optimization, advertising, reviews, etc
- New perspective as well as practical strategies and demonstrations from presenters
- New innovations, technology, programs, and software
Next, we asked what digital marketers are looking forward to for conferences in 2019 and found the most popular subject is knowledge on specific channels such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon
This is followed by direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategies, global eCommerce trends, personal development, how to run a better company and/or team, reporting on our current efforts, and GDPR & compliance.
Which conferences are you planning to attend in 2019?
We then asked digital marketers which conferences do you plan to attend in 2019 and found out some surprising answers. 49% of digital marketers are undecided about their 2019 conference plans, and 10.7% do not attend conferences.
For the rest, the top 3 conferences are currently the eCommerce Innovation Summit, the Prosper Show, and IRCE.
This year has definitely seen a rise in popularity of newer shows such as the eCommerce Innovation Summit and the Prosper Show compared to last year, while more established conferences have gradually been losing popularity to these new events, such as Shop.org, NRF Retail’s Big Show, and Magento Imagine.
However, some established conferences remain a favorite and are still relatively popular this year, including IRCE, ShopTalk, and the Traffic and Conversion Summit.
Some write-in responses for 2019 conference plans include:
- ASGTG 2019
- Sellers Summit 2019
- CES
- AdDiego
Experts Chime in:
“Conferences have the ability to educate and connect participants in a way that their ‘day to day’ work lives can not. Often we are able to see how other companies are being successful and this can help inspires our own internal efforts.”
– Kestrel Lemen, Marketing Manager at CPC Strategy
“Personally, it’s always been the one-off conversations I have with peers at conferences that I find most valuable. This could be a new vendor recommendation, or a strategic tactic – It’s these little ‘nuggets of info’ that provide tremendous value.”
“On a more philosophical note, I think conferences allow you to get out of your comfort zone a bit, and this gives you new perspectives to bring back to the office.”
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