Top digital marketing trends, techniques and strategies are ever-evolving. New tools, networks, devices and technologies make the rapidly changing space competitive and dynamic. You master one (or five) techniques, and then a new one comes along.
Keeping up with those tools and getting the best out of them is the foundation of a new group,
Cincinnati Digital Xchange, which meets once a month to explore the ins and outs of the digital marketing space.
The Xchange was founded by a group of local digital marketing experts as an open place where people can learn and swap ideas. It began as a web analytics group but expanded to include other dimensions of digital marketing as well.
"We decided we wanted to bring in more people in the digital industry," says Xchange's co-founder Russ Shirley, a digital marketing consultant. "We'd focus on social, local, mobile—anything trending or coming up."
The group meets the last Tuesday of each month at
Cintrifuse, the region's newest corporate-backed startup investment fund and incubator.
The group has had some impressive, on-trend speakers, including inaugural speaker J.B. Kropp,
Brandery co-founder and
Twitter V.P. of Strategic Partnerships (and Cincinnatian), who spoke about engagement and how brands are leveraging the platform.
Other speakers include marketing pros from Cincinnati powerhouses like
dunnhumby,
Possible,
Empower MediaMarketing,
Rockfish Interactive and
Procter & Gamble.
The group has grown quickly—some months, meetings attract more than 100 people. The meetings are free, and Xchange receives major support from Cintrifuse, Empower MediaMarketing and
CincyTech.
"The main goal is kind of self-serving," Shirley says. "I wanted to get information that I want to learn, find out things that are not usually accessible to anyone who is outside of an agency."
The next meeting is set for July 30. Details are available on the group's
Meetup page.
Writer: Feoshia H. Davis