Skip to main content

This month, we launched the very first Overtime- Cardiff’s late night Marketing Event. Overtime differs from other Spindogs events as it’s open to everyone in the marketing bizz. It’s a chance to mingle, chat and most importantly, learn with like-minded professionals.

We kicked off the event in Cardiff Bay’s new(ish), super cool hang out, Academy @ Platform, which also happens to be a stone’s throw away from the Spindogs HQ… handy, right?! The atmosphere was great, the Prosecco was flowing and we think it’s safe to say everyone who attended had a good time!

The tickets were snapped up overnight so we wanted to share what we learned from our speakers for those who didn’t manage to get a space.

Read on for top tips from our speakers, Spindogs Digital Director, Dan Lewis and RSPCA Cymru’s Campaigns Manager, Shelley Phillips.

While these tips are mega useful, we know they’re not quite as fun as coming to the real deal! So, drop us an email to sign up to our Overtime mailing list to ensure you never miss another one: [email protected]

Top tips from Dan Lewis

Consider how data impacts different roles in your business

Marketers, marketing strategists, creatives and decision makers. Data will be important to each of these roles within your business however consider how you can make it work for them, how they can all work together and how you can use data to drive results for each area.

Context is king

Ultimately data is just data. It doesn’t have opinions, it doesn’t come up with the creative, it doesn’t deliver ROI. Data is only as valuable as the insights you can generate from it. Give your data context to enable you to create more context meaning more valuable targeting with your campaigns.

Back to basics

As with most things, a back to basics approach never hurts as your first step. Simplify your data (and then expand). Once you’ve established some top-level themes (e.g. age, gender) challenge yourself to find the meaning and truth behind a reduced set of data fields, or limit tour set of data sources. 

Focus on your outcomes

By understanding and focusing on what your objectives are, it immediately brings clarity of thinking and enables you to develop your campaigns further.

Remember data is human

Behind every 0 and 1, there is a human behaviour.  Whether it’s individually, as a collective, as a competitor or a customer, regardless of what data source you are using there’s a human behind it all. Try and dig down to the ‘why’ rather than settling for the ‘what’.

Top tips from Shelley Phillips

Pay your bills first

With your budget, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Plan for the essentials first and always try to deliver your campaign slightly under budget. Use the leftovers for extra social media spend and spare merch.

Don’t be a robot

It can be easy to perform a ritual of creating content that is just professional enough, just friendly enough, but ever so slightly detached. Read it back, does it even sound real? Campaigns are highly curated, human beings aren’t.

Be brave, not bored

The stories we tell are different each time, but the way we tell them shouldn’t be textbook. Tried and tested tools work, of course, but don’t be afraid to ditch the predictable and take a well calculated creative risk.

Timing matters but deadlines aren’t everything, agility is.

Moving your launch date isn’t a disaster, and sometimes it’s smarter. Don’t force a date if it’s not feasible, and don’t be controlled by clocks.

Hiccups happen

As much as you can try to plan for everything, something will go wrong and it’s okay. Hold your breath for 10 seconds, the hiccups will pass.

If you want to know how we can help take your campaigns to the next level get in touch below!

How can we help?