Digital Adelaide 2024 Takeaways

DA10, Adelaide’s biggest digital marketing conference, with MCs Rubina Carlson and Ed Garner, is over for another year. Last week, DA10 was at the amazing Adelaide Oval for the first time after two years at the National Wine Centre. 

Digital marketing wasn’t the only thing on the lips of our attendees with everyone raving about the incredible food on offer, the staff’s hospitality and of course the iconic backdrop of the Oval. 

DA10 was the first time attendees could choose from two different streams, B2B or B2C, meaning more speakers, more presentations and more ways to learn. 

Our very own CEO Ryan presented a must-see spot on Google Ads, with the event also including sessions from Miriam Lawley at Zoos SA and Alisha Rout from Neon Treehouse on “Making millions with peanuts” to “Marketing and the law” from Paul Gordon of Wallmans Lawyers.

Lessons learned

We learned from the industry’s best over the two-day event that covered everything from Performance Max and re-engagement to creativity and the customer experience … and we also found out Ryan has lots of lousy t-shirts! 

Some of our key takeaways included:

• Nisha Amanulla from the ABC sharing the art and science of re-engagement.
• • Re-engagement is a science, one that needs clear frameworks and processes in place. It is, however, also an art based around the process of building trust.

• Dom Legg from Motion by Design discussing the art of visual communication for effective teams and leaders. 
  • Dom shared that 50% of people are visual learners so when developing communications and materials we can’t rely only on text for effective and accessible communication. We have to think about visual communication too. What do the images, graphics, photos and videos we use to communicate say about us.

• Conversion King Matthew Pezzimenti, sharing the psychology of conversion and the secrets behind what makes users click. 
  • We learned that there is so much more to a conversion than a click of a button. When looking to optimise conversions, ask yourself:
    • What is the user’s motivation?
    • What is my value proposition?
    • What incentive do I provide?
    • What are the points of friction?
• It’s also important to keep in mind that a user may have anxiety over entering in their information or making a purchase online, so think about ways that you can limit that anxiety for them. 

Ryan shared his learnings on Google Ads after spending $100 million dollars since 2009. Google Ads are a forever changing landscape and will constantly keep you on your toes. First step though is to look at it from the point of view of, what are you trying to achieve. Are you after leads, calls, orders? You want to set up solid SMART goals and be prepared to change your KPIs based on feedback you receive from your Google Ads. 

Ryan also talked us through:

1. Google Support still sucks… but there is a reason they suck and ways you can work with them:
   • Listen to their recommendations, action them if they make sense and ask questions if they don’t
   • Don’t turn on auto apply recommendations unless you 100% understand what it will do
   • Don’t action anything related to adding/converting Broad keywords
2. Conversion tracking
   • Understand what’s converting and what isn’t
   • Know what you need to track and have the right conversion actions set
   • Use Google Enhanced Conversion Tracking and link Google Analytics 4
3. Broad match keywords aren’t the enemy 
   • Establish negative keywords early
   • Check your Search Terms report weekly
   • Use all three match types: Broad, Exact and Phrase 
4. Performance Max, the AI driven ad format
   • Exclude your brand terms
   • Monitor the insights tab
   • Run multiple campaigns with specific targeting
5. Running brand campaigns profitably
   • Run a solid set of negative keywords
   • Set reasonable KPIs
   • Run a brand negative keyword list
   • Use first party data to exclude existing customers and refine

We’re all about creativity at Refuel, so we couldn’t wait to hear from Ana Coelho and Rory Kennit-Lister at Showpony on harnessing creativity for results. 

In the ad space, how do we know if we are being creative when creativity is subjective? Often it comes down to, “do I like it or not?”. There is also a science around answering that question, with dull ads being those that were rational or just full of information. An interesting ad? One that generates an emotional response. It’s important to remember that in  all we do, there is a human being at the end of that business decision. We have to reach that human. 

When it comes to creative work, ask yourself these 5 questions to see if it’s actually creative:

1. Is this something people care about?
2. Is it surprising?
3. Is it out of category?
4. Is it emotional?
5. Would I notice it in the real world?

Thinking of these questions will help get the results you’re after from your creative.

It was a jam-packed two days and we loved every minute of it. We can't wait for 2025 already.