As a virtual agency, face-to-face get togethers don’t happen all that often. So they’re something we all look forward to, and are always lots of fun.  

Technology changes at a rapid pace – as does the volume of data, and the tools, available to us as marketers. Yet while techniques may evolve, the goal of any activity is typically the same: generate and convert more profitable leads.  

2020 has been a pretty stressful and tumultuous year. For many, the pressure of the pandemic, home schooling and maintaining employment has taken its toll. It’s why, a few months ago, Splendid introduced a regular and free virtual yoga session – hosted by our wonderful, in-house Anasura yoga teacher, Kylie Anderson. As well as a great way to get together as a team outside of ‘work’, the session has been incredible in instilling a sense of calm and a more mindful approach to day-to-day life.

Here, Kylie shares her thoughts on yoga and her side-hustle as a yoga teacher.

Splendid’s recent survey to B2B tech marketing leaders in Australia (report coming out soon) showed that over 50% believe the use of marketing assets by sellers in their organisation is selective and inconsistent at best. It’s safe to say that if your sales team is in sync with your marketing efforts and are effectively using the content you’ve painstakingly sourced or created, you’re the exception. 

Most Australian B2B technology vendors we work with have access to a steady stream of high quality ‘corp’ content—but with so much, it can be hard to know just how best to use it.

Some scenarios that may feel familiar are:

1. We need to get something in market fast, but budgets are tight. Should we just roll out the global campaign?
2. There’s so much great content, but what is going to be most valuable for our market?
3. How do we leverage the ‘corp’ content, without looking like a ‘corp’ campaign? 

It goes without saying that coming from the land ‘down under’ means we see ourselves as a bit unique to the rest of the world. Although many global themes are highly topical and interesting, making them relevant for our market invariably requires a level of tailoring. Plus there’s little subtleties that we may need to consider before we just reuse ‘corp’ content and experiences such as accents, spelling, tone, imagery, and our customers’ comfort with sharing their data to get something of perceived value.

All in a year, a pandemic hit, Chiara completed her final university semester virtually and stepped out of virtual learning into a virtual agency.

Chiara shares her experiences in this Q & A on how she landed on her feet amongst so much change and uncertainty.

 

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The last few months have been chaos for event planners and marketers all over the globe. For many, it’s been a thoroughly frustrating time and a never-ending spiral of cancellations and postponements. 

Gartner is now advising companies to prepare contingency plans for cancelled events, including online delivery for hosts and for exhibitors to shift event budgets to digital channels. Microsoft has just announced that all its conferences will be 100% virtual until the middle of next year. And, in fact, the majority (65%) of the B2B marketing industry plans to reallocate some or most of their live event budgets to online events, such as webinars.  

Yet if there’s one silver lining to be found in this scenario, it’s the growing realisation that virtual events can offer an incredibly easy, cost-effective and powerful way to bring people together. And in many instances, virtual events can actually be a more powerful and succinct way to engage people, particularly in the tech B2B space. Here are five reasons why:  

1. Lower costs and less overheads
2. Larger attendee numbers 
3. Stronger post-event engagement 
4. Higher value speakers 
5. Greater geographic reach 

As Splendid’s strategic offering goes from strength-to-strength, we asked Mel Johnstone, our Strategy Director, about the road to here, and what the future looks like. 

Right in the middle of Australia’s COVID-19 lockdown, Bella Baird joined Splendid Suggestions as an account executive, working across both our strategy and client services teams. According to Bella, the remote ‘onboarding’ experience has actually been very positive and surprisingly easy.   

Right before the world descended into pandemic-induced lockdown, Splendid welcomed Jen Greatrex to our team as our new head of Client Service. Now that the dust is settling a little, we thought it time we gave her a proper introduction.