Attending MeasureFest with Embryo at BrightonSEO 2023
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In September, I was lucky enough to be invited to this year’s BrightonSEO event along with a group of my Embryo colleagues. BrightonSEO is always an exciting time for people in the digital marketing space to get together and talk about our industry as a whole, especially when we take a look at the many changes that have happened over the past 12 months.
In this post, I’ll be providing a roundup of what I found useful from this year’s MeasureFest talks.
Kathryn Choi: The Art Of Data Storytelling
Kathryn addressed the art of interpreting data to tell a story, focusing on what techniques she uses to convey her message. Highlights include:
- All people interpret visuals differently, so add a narrative to these visuals to provide guidance.
- Add your own experience and knowledge to improve your narrative.
- Data reporting should fall into system one thinking for your audience and not system two. System two often causes people to give up. Instead, helping your audience follow the right story when presenting data to them is important for getting the message across.
- Consider who you are sending the data to, what language you should use, what the context of the data and the overall theme of your data.
As someone who regularly creates monthly reports for clients and uses data to showcase our recent activity, helping clients to understand the data is a vital component to a successful client relationship and campaign.
Helene Jelenc: Showing SEO Value Through Meaningful Reporting
Helene covers ways to demonstrate the value of SEO and how you can communicate your ideas to clients. Highlights include:
- Align your reports to show how they are working towards the client’s business goals. Know your client!
- Provide an executive summary and insights overview in your reports with insightful SEO commentary.
- Keep reports simple. Try to use data tables over complicated charts and graphs that could confuse your clients.
- Create separate reporting for important pages on your client’s site.
- Don’t just show increases in performance – always add value by linking it back to how your strategy contributed to that growth.
Provide meaning with your client reports, don’t just assume they know the value of your work.
Giulia Panozzo: The Ultimate Guide To Test and Learns
Giulia talks about testing and how to implement tests that you can draw conclusions from in an ever-changing digital landscape. Highlights include:
- The use of independent and dependent variables in the testing strategy questions.
- Understand the variables you are testing and what type of changes you want to make.
- Use pages of the same type that get enough traffic as part of your test group.
- Run SEO tests for 2-4 weeks with check-ins.
- Take note of external factors that could impact the results of your tests in that timeframe e.g. algorithm updates and internal events.
Understanding what you are testing and the learnings you take from it are imperative for drawing conclusions and influencing changes to a strategy.
Joe Johnston: Why All CROs Should Be Good Workshop Facilitators
Joe showcases the role of workshops for CROs and how to create one with a sense of play. Highlights include:
- Send an ‘introduction’ email to anyone who will be attending the workshop to set the agenda and explain what the workshop will cover.
- Set expectations early and plan accordingly. ‘Park’ ideas that come up which aren’t related to the workshop to avoid going off on a tangent.
- Read out the objectives at the start of the workshop and focus attention on the problem.
- Create a psychological safety to help get people talking. Encourage your team to be active listeners.
Despite this being for CROs, we regularly carry out internal organic workshops at Embryo so it’s useful to hear some insights that we can implement into our future workshops.
Anna Lewis: Improving Project Success Through Communication
Anna explains how to use communication wisely and how it can help us to achieve better results in the things we do. Highlights include:
- AI systems like ChatGPT have learnt to approach answers differently through who it’s talking to.
- A combination of content, delivery and visuals is at the heart of a good presentation.
- Tailor your communication to the individual’s personality. For example, do they prefer calls or emails?
- Focus on communicating your negatives into a positive.
Communicating is a very important skill in digital marketing – focusing on improving communication can help to take your relationships with clients, colleagues, family and friends to the next level.
Saksham Sharda: Effectively Using First-Party Data In Marketing
Saksham discusses the value of first-party data and how you can use it in your marketing efforts. Highlights include:
- Understanding what first-party data is and its importance.
- Tesla spends a lot more than other car manufacturing companies on R&D, but $0 on their marketing and advertising.
- How information allows users to explore their personalised needs, which cuts costs for both buyers and producers.
Utilising first-party data is a brilliant way to connect with your customers and provide the most personalised experience possible.
Conclusion
In summary, this year’s MeasureFest talks provided a range of useful information for all areas of digital marketing. It’s made me realise that whilst working in the digital sector is about getting good results, it is also very important to focus on your communication skills, your ability to show your value and the importance of regular SEO testing.
Not only this, all of the areas covered at MeasureFest are becoming increasingly significant in light of the rise of AI which is set to transform the industry over the coming years.
