You see, I traveled to NYC with my partner, Savvas to attend Growth Marketing Conference East and also hold a workshop about virality.
During the days of the conference, I tried to keep as many notes as possible ( trust me, it’s really hard to concentrate on your tablet when you have so many interesting people around you), and now I’m presenting them to you.
Further down you’ll find some exceptional new tools we’ve seen, along with some info about interesting people we’ve watched or met.
Tools, Tools, Tools
Everybody that has the slightest idea about my deal, knows that I adore gadgets. A remote controlled BB8 might be my fun ride, but I’m also very fond of my “work” gadgets.
We always look up a great tool to use- and occasionally we create them, as they offer us the chance to be fast.
Although growth tools are not the important things- the growth mindset and the process behind it rule the field.
However, having and using the proper tools boost your productivity and efficiency. Spending time with the wrong tools is counter productive, and productivity is king.
Here are some new tools under my radar & some older friends:
Gpzweb – Free
This Linkedin marketing automation software is designed to be used by any type of people who are looking to attract prospects online.
It can be used by online marketers, startup business and entrepreneurs who are looking to build a large network of potential customers and build their email list.
CrowdTangle (Chrome extension) – FREE
It’s the easiest way to see how often a link has been shared, who shared it and what they said.
It’ll show you the aggregate share counts, as well as the specific Facebook Page posts, Tweets and Subreddits that shared any URL you want to check.
Then you can approach those people or groups or pages individually as part of an outreach campaign as it proves that they are somehow connected or interested in the topic.
Spike – PAID
It is well-suited to news sites with good functionality for both journalists and marketers.
Spike tracks all of the world’s content – and analyzes this ocean of data to predict what will drive engagement today.
Buzzsumo – PAID
You can analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor and then find the key influencers to promote your content.
Switcher Studio– PAID
Switcher Studio empowers creators to stream better on Facebook Live and YouTube—quicker, easier and cheaper.
With the equipment you already own and an easy-to-use interface, you can easily switch from your cameras to graphics and pre-recorded video.
Belive– FREE
You can engage with your audience on Facebook Live with an amazing live broadcast, like on TV
Additionally, you can show audience questions on the broadcast.
Your viewers will know what question you are answering, and will love to participate! You can also, host a live interview with a remote guest, and broadcast your face to face talk to the world.
Use split screen, picture in picture, or let your guest have the whole frame!
You don’t need to be in the same room to have an interview!
Sigstr– FREE
It’s about email signature marketing.
It could drive real marketing ROI by aligning your email signature to your brand while closing with a clickable call-to-action on every send.
Even if you will not manage to use it in your mac mail you can get nice insights. Check the article here on how to use this kind of tools.
Ruzzit– FREE
Ruzzit brings together the most popular and shared content (videos, images and articles) from thousands of sources across the web.
All this content is categorized and ordered by their “secret sauce” (aka. algorithm) to show you the best possible content.
Essentially, you could say that it’s a smart viral feed. You can see what’s famous and share it as well.
Charlie– FREE
Charlie briefs you on the people and companies you are about to meet with, minutes before every calendar appointment.
Know what you share in common, their professional background, their passions, company information, and more. Hilarious and witty copywriting and interesting insights.
Our Session
As I wrote in the beginning, this wasn’t just a trip to a conference. We were actually invited to hold a workshop on referral marketing and virality.
You can watch part of our presentation in the videos below:
In case you are interested, you can also give a look on the presentation itself:
And that moment with those guys 🙂
Interesting People
Josh Fechter
A young guy, full of energy and brilliant ideas. Growth hacker at heart and not only, he works around the clock to build communities and grow companies.
He also built and runs the amazing BAMF (Badass Marketers & Founders) Facebook group!
“Social media is the fastest way to develop your know, like, and trust factor. It’s a frictionless sales funnel”- Josh Fechter
[clickToTweet tweet=”“Social media is the fastest way to develop your trust factor.” @joshuafechter” quote=”“Social media is the fastest way to develop your know, like, and trust factor. It’s a frictionless sales funnel”- Josh Fechter”]
Steli Efti
The energy of that guy is unspeakable. A natural pitcher that could keep the audience engaged for hours (he would be drained afterward for sure).
He runs Close.io (a CRM system), he has one of the leanest startups in bay area and he moved from the agency he had to the product when he realized that a product they generated for not repeating themselves, was making more money than the agency!
He also hosts a series of podcasts named The Startup Chat with Hiten Shah. Don’t miss it. 20 minutes of condensed wisdom twice per week.
“Whoever understands the customer best will ultimately own them.”- Steli Efti
[clickToTweet tweet=”‘Whoever understands the customer best will ultimately own them.’ @steliefti” quote=”‘Whoever understands the customer best will ultimately own them.’- Steli Efti”]
Vin Clancy
If personal branding is your thing, then Vin is your solution. Always puzzling people with his outfits but they all enjoy the value he is sharing with everyone.
He speaks very fast and very condensed. This time specifically, he had to deliver an hour of presentation in 15 minutes. Imaging in the velocity of his show?
He runs the Traffic & Copy Facebook group, that I would suggest joining if you want to learn all latest tips on branding and more.
Brant Cooper
“What are you doing for living”, I asked?
“I’m teaching large organizations to think as startups”, he answered… respect!
Also, he’s the author of Lean Entrepreneur (NYTimes best seller).
“Your brand promise is b.s! Customers own half of your brand”- Brant Cooper
[clickToTweet tweet=”“Your brand promise is b.s! Customers own half of your brand” @brantcooper ” quote=”“Your brand promise is b.s! Customers own half of your brand”- Brant Cooper”]
Sujan Patel
A content guy behind half of the web. Working with multiple content strategies, Sujan nailed it. He can convince you that content marketing will work for you and the ROI will be tremendous.
“Create something significantly better than your best competitor”- Sujan Patel
[clickToTweet tweet=”‘Create something significantly better than your best competitor’ @sujanpatel” quote=”‘Create something significantly better than your best competitor’- Sujan Patel”]
Some Incredible Quotes My Ears Caught
Paul Klebanov
“How Do You Cut Down Your PPC Costs? You Pay More … To pay less…”- Paul Klebanov
[clickToTweet tweet=”‘How Do You Cut Down Your PPC Costs? You Pay More … To pay less…’ @paulklebanov” quote=”‘How Do You Cut Down Your PPC Costs? You Pay More … To pay less…’- Paul Klebanov”]
Dominic Coryell
“Map the skills needed to the best strategy to meet your growth goals”- Dominic Coryell
[clickToTweet tweet=”“Map the skills needed to the best strategy to meet your growth goals’ @distrodom” quote=”“Map the skills needed to the best strategy to meet your growth goals’ -Dominic Coryell”]
Joanna Lord
“Often the hardest, most complicated business decision is the exact one you need to make”- Joanna Lord
[clickToTweet tweet=”“Often the hardest, most complicated business decision is the exact one you need to make”@joannalord” quote=”“Often the hardest, most complicated business decision is the exact one you need to make”- Joanna Lord”]
“We spend too much time reporting on useless things”- Joanna Lord
[clickToTweet tweet=”“We spend too much time reporting on useless things” @joannalord” quote=”“We spend too much time reporting on useless things”- Joanna Lord”]
Ryan Kulp
“There’s no such thing as a free lead.”- Ryan Kulp
[clickToTweet tweet=”“There’s no such thing as a free lead.” @ryanckulp” quote=”“There’s no such thing as a free lead.”- Ryan Kulp “]
Zack Onisko
“Design-based thinking. Prototype faster and without a single line of code.”- Zack Onisko
[clickToTweet tweet=”“Design-based thinking. Prototype faster and without a single line of code.” @zack415″ quote=”“Design-based thinking. Prototype faster and without a single line of code.”- Zack Onisko “]
Savvas Zortikis
“Referral should be done on top of a valuable product. Don’t ask your friends to refer a shitty product.”- Savvas Zortikis
[clickToTweet tweet=”“Referral should be done on top of a valuable product, not a shitty one.’@savvaszortikis” quote=”“Referral should be done on top of a valuable product. Don’t ask your friends to refer a shitty product.”- Savvas Zortikis “]
Theo Moulos
“Just by selecting a referral marketing tool, it doesn’t mean you will not go viral”- Theo Moulos
[clickToTweet tweet=”“Just by selecting a referral marketing tool, it doesn’t mean you will not go viral” @tmoulos” quote=”“Just by selecting a referral marketing tool, it doesn’t mean you will not go viral”- Theo Moulos”]
Honorable Mentions
[clickToTweet tweet=”“However beautiful the strategy, occasionally you should look at results.”- Winston Churchill” quote=”“However beautiful the strategy, occasionally you should look at results.”- Winston Churchill”]
[clickToTweet tweet=”“The only reason to give a speech is to change the world”- John F. Kennedy” quote=”“The only reason to give a speech is to change the world”- John F. Kennedy”]
Conclusion
Although I’ve been traveling a lot, I’m certain that this trip was one of most fruitful and entertaining of my career.
We’ve met new faces, heard new ideas and re-evaluate things we’ve taken for granted.
I already feel excited about the next event 🙂
Theodore has 20 years of experience running successful and profitable software products. In his free time, he coaches and consults startups. His career includes managerial posts for companies in the UK and abroad, and he has significant skills in intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship.
