CIMC 2015: Three Key Themes

On April 14 and 15 I attended the inaugural Canadian Internet Marketing Conference (CIMC) in Squamish – an hour drive from home in Vancouver, Canada. The focus of the conference, as the name suggests, was marketing in the online and digital world.

While there was some branding and design discussion, my main takeaways were from areas outside of my specialty – such as search engine optimisation (SEO) and business networking.

Here are my three key themes:

1. The Power of Story-Telling

The theme I found that ran through the first day was about the power of a story. Randall Peg Peters took us on an gut-wrenching and heartwarming journey to demonstrate how storytelling connects with our emotions and human being. Providing compelling or useful stories to your audience will foster a lasting connection. In his own words: “There is no form of communication more powerful than story telling.”

2. Content is King

The second theme I picked up on reminded us that in this digital age, content is the key. As was the case in the past (with print) and it will be into the future on the web, content is still, and will always be king.

3. Genuine connections

Genuine connections offline will enhance and back-up online connections beyond anything a tweet or Facebook post can. While we were at an internet marketing conference, there is no denying that real human connection is still the most powerful – for both brands and interpersonal relationships.

This is an area that I aim to improve – far too many times I have sent LinkedIn requests without reaching out for a meeting or coffee chat. So hey, if you are reading this and want to grab a coffee – you know where my contact details are (psst, they are on my contact page).

Top 2 Moments (in Tweets)

I shared two of my top moments from #CIMC2015 on Twitter. Here they are incase you missed them:

And to wrap things up, a fun one from the after party:

RT “@forgeandsmith: #cimc2015 pic.twitter.com/N8U8h478U1”

— Damian Jolley (@damianjo) March 29, 2015