Last weekend (7 October 2023) I travelled to Sydney to attend the Digital Marketing Collective (DMC) Conference by DMC founder – Kate Toon. I had wanted to attend a CopyCon conference of Kate’s a few years back but cancelled due to corona (and not the beer variety) and uncertainty with flights at the time.
So, when this one popped up, along with a reminder that I had flight credits still remaining, I decided to jump at the chance of doing more face to face networking and travel down to the Sydney. And what a day it was – from starting with a very early flight, enjoying a sun filled view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge before catching a taxi across said bridge to Kirribilli Club to attend the conference.
There were so many presenters, some of whom were presenting for their very first time! Sharing their knowledge around a variety of topics including video, social media, courses, memberships and more.
And so, here is my wrap-up of my day attending the DMC Conference 2023.
Authentic Leadership
After the warm welcome by both Kate (and her team), the first presenter of the day was April Helene-Horton aka The Bodzilla. April spoke about how to be a leader and still be yourself. She was just so engaging and funny to listen to that I actually didn’t even take many notes but two things that stuck with me was “you may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them” and that authenticity is a daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are (I think we can all relate to this – how many times have people said to you “that’s not like you” but actually yeah it is).
What’s Missing on Your Sales Page?
Next up was Omar Zenhom who created Webinar Ninja and also has the podcast The MBA100. He spoke about why nobody cares about your course and how to sell more by being better. And boy did I get lots of gold nuggets out of this talk, not only for me but for my clients too.
The biggest takeaways for me were the biggest element that most sales pages are missing and 3 questions to ask to gather good feedback. I also loved his suggestions of ensuring you have live interaction as part of your course as this really does help sell your courses. This is because it has a higher perceived likelihood of achievement, it also provides you with free R&D to improve your course (who doesn’t like that!) and of course better results = better testimonials.
Selling your Products
This was then followed up by Anu Sawhney who was a first-time speaker and did so amazingly well (kudo’s to you Anu!) – I can imagine how nervous she must have been (I remember way back to my own nerves when I delivered my first training session – eek). She created Bidiliia – beautiful handcrafted unique jewellery. She shared 7 ways to sell your products and I loved her values and ethics that she instils into her business every day.
Simple Tips to Include Video
As someone who is wanting to add more video into my business, it was great to listen to Ben Amos (@engage_ben) who shared a simple 7 video framework.
He has reminded me of the on-hand video tools that I can easily use in my business (and you) and I even learnt about a new AI tool – HeyGen. It can create an avatar of you which is great for those of us who don’t like to be on video…although it did look a little weird – I think it was the almost no blinking that threw me!
I know that sometimes I tend to over complicate things, so this was a great reminder of what to use that is already at our disposal and how to utilise them effectively in my business.
Increasing Membership Using Micro Funnels
Next, we got to hear from Jessica Staines and Shannon Morrison who spoke about micro funnels and content strategy for their membership The Koori Curriculum Club.
I loved hearing the story behind the business and how they use micro funnels to help drive membership growth but that they are not all about being in your face when promoting the membership – they take a soft sell approach. They also suggested that the more freebies, the better (I’m off now to create more! Lol). I also thought it was really inspiring that she ‘stays in her lane’ but if something is not in her lane, she will try to connect people to those that are.
Crafting Your Pitch
The lovely Carrie Swan from Mums & Co spoke about crafting your pitch and provided a fantastic template using the Gaddie Pitch.
I’ve worked on my “elevator pitch” over the years, but with the changes over the past few years, I most certainly need to go back to take a look and refine it…after all, in that time my own offerings have even changed so a task for me to work on moving forward.
Get moving with ‘two-minute moves’
After lunch, Lizzie Williamson @energisewithlizzie helped get us all going and spoke about mindset and movement. Lizzie is on a mission to sprinkle a little movement magic. She shared her own personal journey about motherhood, post-natal depression and creating ‘two-minute moves’.
She has really inspired me to continue on my own journey of regaining my health and fitness with this quote “Turn all or Nothing into All or Something”. In other words, something is better than nothing, even if it is 30 seconds! I also loved her other quote “trust in the tiny steps…each one counts” as this can apply to not only working out but also business and your personal life.
Minimise the Social Media Burnout
During the afternoon sessions, we got to hear from Dante St James who spoke about being all over social media without the burnout. My biggest takeaway from Dante’s session was the stats he provided about the posts that are seen on Meta – the drop from 2012 to 2023 was super interesting to view – I mean we all know that our reach to even our friends and family isn’t where it ever use to be so was good to see this backed up. He also provided other gold nuggets on creating doable chunks of posts that you can repurpose. This is now making me relook at my content that I’ve created and simplying things.
Being Vulnerable
Second last to talk was the MC and host – Kate Toon – who opened up about how she has made her money over the years and even though she may have gotten to the 6/7 figures, through her talk I could see just how much hard work, sacrifices and more she has had to make – not only in her business but also her personal life.
This was refreshing to hear as talking about what people make is still considered taboo. I also think even for women especially, being proud about what they achieve can also still be frowned upon as this is looked at as ‘showing off’…but when males do this, it’s not. Double standards much?
What Really Works on Instagram
Last up to speak was Jade Warne #smallbusinessgrowthclub who shared what really works on Instagram such as being active on more surfaces ie: reels, posts, live, video’s etc and that people love to see transformation and how we could include that more for ourselves.
Instagram is not a platform I’m on for my business but can easily apply this to my clients and even other platforms.
Of course, coupled in amongst all of these amazing speakers, was morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. As well Kate Toon intros, providing giveaways from sponsors and tea towel dancing, there was the DMC Awards plus evening networking session! There was lots of fun and laughter throughout the day…and definitely not a traditional sit-down conference where after lots of sitting, I generally start to yawn (that did come but much later and I blame the 3am start to catch my flight!).
I’ve not attended many face to face events since prior to covid and honestly can say I’ve lost of a bit (ok a lot) of my confidence to do this. I only knew of one person attending – Korryn (thanks for settling my initial nerves too btw) but had heard of other attendees names online here and there. And whilst I wasn’t as confident to chat to lots of people, I made an effort to speak with a few people (#tinysteps).
Attending the DMC Conference has inspired me to take more action and continue to get out of my comfort zone and attend more events in 2024.
Jo
PS: If you are interested in learning more about the Digital Marketing Collective, you can find out more and join the waitlist here.
