INTERVIEW
THE FUTURE IS NOW Interview with Shéa Bennett, Head of Digital Marketing at Identity Group How does digital work with Identity’s traditional speciality of signage and event branding? It’s been a very organic process. Identity’s events division launched some 30 years ago, and exhibition-stand design and build remain the core focus of the Group. Identity Signage & Printing was initially created to support the events team before being launched as a standalone entity, which has been very successful. In 2015, Identity launched its digital division, which strengthened both the events and signage departments, allowing us to offer bespoke marketing services to our existing clients and to engage new business. Digital has proven to be very popular with our clients on the events side, as we can now offer a fully integrated marketing solution before, during and after a conference, both within the show as a whole or on a per-exhibitor basis.
Will digital replace print and physical marketing products - or do they need to work together? They absolutely need to work together. One concept we talk about at Identity is phygital – that is, how businesses of all sizes can optimise strategy and outcomes by blending physical (traditional) marketing with digital (modern) marketing. This can be as simple as ensuring that the livery on your company fleet includes your social media profiles (and that it’s always kept up-to-date!). More innovative examples would include in-store digital signage or a 3D-printed, digitally-branded company logo or product miniature to give away at exhibitions.
What does your role entail? In my role as Head of Digital Marketing at Identity I oversee all aspects of the Group’s digital marketing services, which include social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, pay-per-click (PPC), lead generation, website auditing and user experience (UX). We work on a local, national and international level, focusing on strategy and deliverables. We’re big believers in the value of education at Identity,
via fax and email, and part of my remit was experimenting with delivery times to optimise opening rates. I began working as a proprietary trader around the turn of the millennium, which, while exciting, is a job that affords a lot of downtime. I’m a voracious reader, and that’s how I filled the gaps. It was around then that Facebook and Twitter launched, and, notably
and a lot of my time involves client training and workshops on these
with the latter, I found that almost nobody was writing about these
topics. I speak about digital at events on a regular basis and find that
platforms from a business perspective. So that’s what I did. I launched
tremendously rewarding. I really enjoy the “lightbulb moment” – that is,
my own platform and wrote thousands of articles – which, pre Identity,
when someone suddenly sees the possibilities after you have delivered a
neatly segued me into a senior digital role for a boutique marketing
presentation. Especially if they were skeptical before!
agency – and published two books. As the digital marketing space has
You have two books published about Twitter and you chaired an international conference. How did you become an expert in that field? My background is actually in the City. My first career was as a technical
grown, so have I, both in terms of knowledge and practical expertise, and it’s been a very rewarding journey.
How important is social media to a business in 2016? It’s as simple as this: every business needs a social media strategy.
analyst for a small research firm – the nature of the work meant that
There are no exceptions, no industries that ‘don’t fit’ or can’t make it
I was soon tasked with other responsibilities, which involved teaching
work. In little more than a decade, social media has established itself
myself web development to maintain the company website (this was back
as the most efficient and inexpensive way to reach large groups of
when everything was hand-coded), and also learning the ins and outs of
people to raise awareness of a brand’s products and services. Social
small-business marketing. We would write and send out daily reports
media is fantastic for building trust and loyalty, delivering first-class
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