Every time March rolls around the city of Austin feels electric, like an impending thunderstorm, when you can sense lighting on your skin even from miles away.

Weeks before the festival the whole city starts to transform, and so begins the great migration of music lovers, tech nerds, and cinephiles to the music & media Mecca that is South By Southwest.

SXSW is the single most epic event of the year, bringing over 51,000 attendees barreling down on Texas’s relatively small capital, with more than 2,000 showcasing artists and 300+ panels, workshops and sessions across the entire city, in over 100 venues and stages.

Image Source: KUT Austin

But this was not always the case…

SXSW wasn’t recognized as an industry juggernaut at the start. This brand was brought to life with a vision of a handful of inspired Texans who loved music and community, with a desire to bring the world to Austin, and bring Austin to the world.

The festival is now going on 31 years. It’s list of influential industry leaders who have spoken, international and local musicians who have performed, and once-in-a-lifetime events that have occurred over the last three decades is far too expansive to adequately convey in one blog.

But these individual elements are all wrapped up in one thing – the SXSW brand itself.

So, in order to understand the mission, growth and future of South By Southwest, let’s dive-in and take a look at how the brand has evolved over the last thirty years.

SXSW Early Years: A Simpler Time

“The first event, held in March of 1987, saw an expected 150 registrants swell to 700 on the opening day. As hoped for, Austin’s charm won over the visitors, and SXSW took on a life of its own.” 

-Roland Swenson, SXSW Managing Director

When observing the early SXSW branding, you wonder if the founders had any idea how big the festival would get. It all started in 1987, behind the closed doors of the Austin Chronicle, where like-minded creatives brainstormed what would become the most lucrative source of culture and economy for Austin, TX.

During the first years, the branding was simple but direct. The main objective of the festival was music and entertainment, surrounded by an heir of intellectualism, bolstered by discourse about the future of media. They wanted to give the appearance of a symposium mixed with a rock concert.

Image Source: SXSW.com

They chose the name “South By Southwest” so as not to be restrictive. The name literally is a wide, general direction. The festival was never meant to be just one thing, confined to one space or idea. It was everywhere and for everyone.

The design was simple, with a straightforward font. All the collateral was designed to get people to their desired events and nothing more.

The earliest logo was a basic arrow pointing down towards the Southwest direction. This clever and understated icon symbolized the founder’s intentions to be a leading entity in the industry, pointing out current culture and where it was leading. The arrow has been used throughout the entire lifespan of SXSW and is a familiar icon today.

The simple branding allowed for Austin’s charm to shine and not distract from the diversity of the festival. This branding foundation helped SXSW grow into something totally unique and genuine, rather than being forced into some restrictive mold.

Image Source: SXSW.com

3 For 1 Design: Music, Interactive & Film

“For the first time, the Internet was a major presence at the festival, promising to bridge geographical and temporal distances with easy, instant access to information, music and concert broadcasts from around the world.”

-New York Times, on SXSW 1996

Though founded with the intention to focus on Music and Media, the first 7 years of SXSW primarily revolved around the music industry. And, by 1994 the festival had grown with steady success, with Johnny Cash headlining that year.

But, as was intended at its conception, SXSW was never meant to be about one idea or medium. So, in 1994 the Film and Multimedia component was added to the festival. Echoing the format of the SXSW Music Event, the first Film Event offered panels, speakers and 2 world premieres, under the title of SXSW Film and Media Conference (SFMC).

It was always intended that the festival constantly morph into something new, but the addition of two more separate aspects created new branding challenges. Anytime you add new elements to a brand, especially in the overall format and title, it can get confusing to the audience.

Perhaps that’s why in 1997, only 2 years later, the name changed from SXSW Music + Media Conference, to SXSW: Music, Film, Interactive. Whatever the reason, SXSW was marketing itself as a forward thinking, all-encompassing event.

The graphics over the next decade were more random, featuring unique designs each year. The challenge was distinguishing between the 3 events. Most of the time the iconography was rather didactic, with a guitar representing music, a movie reel for film and CD-Rom for interactive.

As the years progressed, the designs became more subtle with similar themes running across the entire SXSW gambit. The festival never ceased to grow. Interactive and Film came to be just as popular as the Music aspect, and every year the event took a new shape.

SXSW Brand: The Beast We Know Today

“In its 22 years, SXSW has grown from a tiny music festival in the Texas capital into a massive, unavoidable media beast that reflects, discusses and showcases trends in culture and media but also often creates them.”

-National Post, 2008

The early years of SXSW featured up-and-coming music acts, and speakers who were well versed in the industry, but lesser known. The first SXSW headliner was Reverend Horton Heat (Dallas TX), and the keynote speaker was Huey Meaux. In 2016, Barack and Michelle Obama both gave a keynote speeches.

Film week has expanded to last both weeks of the festival, and primers the most notable films of the year. 2018 marks the 25th year of the Film Festival and includes 44 films from first-time filmmakers, 86 World Premieres, 11 North American Premieres, and 5 U.S. Premieres. That’s a whole lot of red carpet.

Interactive now has its own full week of events with the most influential minds speaking round the clock at symposiums and conferences. The largest tech launches in history have gone down at SXSW, including Squarespace, AirBnB, and Uber.

Image Source: SXSW.com

For the entire two weeks of SXSW, all around the city the world’s most recognizable brands set up pop-up venues, like the Spotify House and the Fader Fort.

Energy drinks, every new kind of vape cigarette, startup apps and more have volunteers troll the streets with flyers, swag, and free samples. While HBO plasters the sides of buildings, billboards and even the pedicabs with advertisements (usually for the new season of Game of Thrones, but, alas, not this year).

Brands will stop at nothing to grab the attention of the crowds at SXSW. Last year Hulu even sent a large group of silent, choreographed Handmaidens from the Emmy Award winning series Handmaid’s Tale marching to the capitol building, in an immersive marketing stunt.

With all that noise, SXSW branding needed to make sense of the chaos and act as a beacon for attendees to follow. For a few years they used 3 colors to signify each aspect of the festival.

The iconography for each year was used on every form of print and digital medium, from 8 story banners to online schedules. It’s photographed behind celebrities on the red carpet, backdrops during keynote addresses and even spray painted on the sidewalks.

Image Source: SXSW.com

The Future of SXSW Branding

“For the last 4-5 years SXSW has become a global powerhouse event and it makes sense to establish a consistent, recognizable logo, instead of a visual moving target.”

-Brand New

SXSW is now collaborating with a design firm to create a basic standard to be used every year, at least for the next 7 years. This brand standard allows for full flexibility as the event expands. The basis for the branding is a return to simpler roots, focused around a basic san-serif font and the original Southwest-pointing arrow.

It also unifies the three separate aspects and accentuates the original founders’ vision that SXSW is all-encompassing. It reiterates that fact that Music, Media and Film all go hand-in-hand.

Image Source: FoxTrot

Image Source: SXSW.com

Welcome to the big,
bad world of Digital Marketing!

The future is now, ladies and gentleman, and the marketing game has changed dramatically.

The days of running traditional commercials and print campaigns are gone. Though romanticized in shows like Mad Men, the Don Draper approach to advertising hardly works in this day and age. Traditional forms of media marketing are broad, costly and the results are nearly impossible to gauge.

It almost seems clumsy compared to what you can accomplish using Digital Marketing.

via GIPHY

With Digital Marketing the possibilities are endless. The internet is vast, with billions of users surfing daily for products, information, and relationships. If you’re a business owner, it’s utter folly not to utilize the digital realm to your advantage.

Here are some staggering statistics (in case you’re still living in the digital dark age):

• Over 3.5 billion Google searches happen every day. (source: Internet Live Stats)
• Digital leads have a 14.6% close rate. Where print leads only has 1.7%.
• 70-80% of consumers do online research before going into business with a company or making a purchase.

So, we all can agree, Digital Marketing is here to stay. But, with it’s boundless possibilities, how do you know what strategy works best for your business?

Digital Marketing is a personalized game. It’s a “Choose Your Own Adventure” for both the company and the clientele. Identifying target audiences, results-driven strategies, & up-to-the-minute trend monitoring allows any online marketing effort to single-out its exact purpose and ultimately increase online sales.

So, here’s our handy guide to navigating the Digital Marketing waters, as deep as the Mariana Trench itself. Take a deep breath, cause here we go…

#1 Don’t Ignore SEO

In the Digital Marketing “Choose Your Own Adventure” story, Google is like the omnipotent narrator. If you choose the wrong path the story can end abruptly. Making good decisions, and following the guidelines takes you further in the story, or in the Digital Marketing relm, higher up on the search engine results.

Google works for its users. It’s only a functional search engine if the results are deemed accurate by the users. So, Google is constantly ranking millions of websites by how relevant they are to specific keywords. Though some try to beat the system by relying on Black Hat SEO tactics, Google is constantly developing ways to see through such unscrupulous methods.

Creating an SEO strategy that works within Google Guidelines is the only way to go. Executing on-page SEO according to SEO best practices, creating quality content, targeting the proper keywords that directly relate to your specific business, as well as link building, lets Google know you’re an important and unique asset to whatever industry you operate within. Thus, when SEO is executed properly, it can grow your traffic gradually, and increase sales revenue.

And Search Engine Optimization is a long-term process, that takes constant vigilance and up-to-the minute awareness of digital trends. It requires a technical knowledge and is often best when outsourced to professionals. Just make sure whatever SEO company or Digital Marketing agency you decide to use is focused on an integrity driven approach.

#2 Pay For What Matters

It’s not all organic out there. Paid Advertisement, or Search Engine Marketing, is another way to grow a business online by directing funds to strategic paid campaigns. Running a Google Adwords campaign can be extremely beneficial if the keywords are intelligently researched and relevant to your industry, all directly targeted in the right direction.

The beauty of paid Digital Marketing is that you can determine the ROI (Return On Investment) down to the cost of each individual click. Running paid ads online allows you to monitor the performance in real time, gain a better understanding of your target audience’s behaviors, and tweek the details of the ad as you go.

Whether you are a small company or large conglomerate, working with outside professionals to create a Search Engine Marketing strategy relevant to your individual needs and goals is the best approach. Find a legitimate agency that specializes in ROI forecasting, Keyword research, CPC optimization, and Campaign Management.

#3 Always Think About Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion Rate Optimization is the calculation of the rate at which your online customers complete conversions, by closely monitoring the types of interactions they have with your emails, pages or ads. CRO is all about finding the best way to achieve your goals, through running tests and changing aspects of the sales journey, to see which process yields the most profitable results.

Disciplined research and constantly redefining better ways to reach and engage with customers is a vital element to Digital Marketing. Professional Digital Marketing Agencies are well versed in the CRO game. And, while you work on making your brand the best it can be, a good Digital Marketing agency will look for more ways to expand and optimize your brand’s revenue stream online.

#4 Write The Right Content

Any “Choose Your Own Adventure” book is trash if the story isn’t written well. Engaging content is what keeps the reader’s attention. And it’s the same with Digital Marketing. To connect with users, and retain them as clients, you have to have engaging, relevant content.

Today’s buyers have the entire internet at their fingertips, and before making a purchase, you can be sure they will do their research. Be the orchestrator of your own destiny by controlling the narrative. You get to decide how you come across, so make sure you are releasing the right content, in the right places, at the right time. Inundate the internet with valuable information, and direct conversions to your website.

A smart Digital Marketing agency not only delivers quality content, they can aim it, like a laser, to reach more users. From blogs to PR & Advertising Material, it’s important that all content be at the peak of optimization.

#5 Utilize Social Media & Email Marketing To Your Advantage

I guess you could say social media is the ultimate “Choose Your Own Adventure”. From what we choose to post, to what we choose to allow on our feeds, social media interactions are a highly tailored experience.

Reaching your target audience on Social Media can seem like a daunting task. Making an impact on these oversaturated, individualized platforms requires a specialized strategy. When executed properly, Digital Marketing on Social Media can be one of the most effective methods of driving sales.

An intimate knowledge of your target audience’s Social Media habits should dictate what platforms you decide to use, and how/when you post. If entrusting your Social Media Strategy to an outside agency, be sure they have a thorough understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each major Social Media outlet, and how your brand works within those parameters.

Social Media is a living organism that’s always changing, trending, and growing. It can be difficult to grasp, and even harder to monetize. Approaching any social media endeavor with a genuine desire to reach and connect with users is the best place to start. Utilize Social Media Digital Marketing as a way to reach your customers on a personal basis.

The same could be said for Email Marketing. When done properly, newsletters and welcome emails can add a personal touch to your Digital Marketing strategy. But it’s a slippery slope. We all know too well the fineline between Email and Spam. Many consumers have little patience for junk emails or overzealous marketing ploys sent directly to their inbox.

You want to first make sure your email campaigns are optimized to avoid being sent directly to the spam folder, as well as send them out at the appropriate time. Using creative promotions, ads, and giveaways is a smart way to cultivate a genuine list of interested subscribers. And you always want to create quality content that encourages customers, not only to open the email, but to actively participate in whatever you’re trying to accomplish through the email.

So What Digital Marketing Services Work For Your Business?

The variations and nuances of each brand’s Digital Marketing strategy are completely dependant on their ultimate goals and vision for the growth of their business.

Lifestyle, Influencer, & Blog Based Website

These kinds of websites don’t directly rely on individual conversions as their main source of revenue. The general goal of many of these sites is to gain status as an authority on whatever industry they’re in. Thus, the Digital Marketing strategy would rely mostly on SEO, Social Media and Email marketing.

The lifeblood of a blog site is it’s presence online so a considered approach to Digital Marketing is vital. Putting out useful, well written content is paramount ,as well a cultivating a brand voice that is unique.

But, the best content is rendered useless if you don’t target the right demographic. If you want to make a splash online, you have to correctly utilize Digital Marketing so you don’t get lost amongst the millions of others out there.

Ecommerce B2C

The only way to stand out as an eCommerce website is through Digital Marketing.

All the services listed above are crucial to the expansion of your brand online. Any eCommerce website needs a well-rounded Digital Marketing Strategy in place. It’s an ongoing process that takes diligence, ingenuity and creative tactics.

White Hat SEO strategies expose your business to the correct group of users. Paid advertising drives instant traffic to your pages with promotions and products. Optimizing the Conversion Rate is a necessary process if you want to maximize the revenue that your website is generating. Creating quality content legitimizes your brand and allows users to engage on a deeper, more meaningful level. Social Media and Email Campaigns meets your users where they’re at.

So, as an eCommerce company, could you afford not to be present on one of these? Take a look at what your competition is doing, and let us know.

Local Businesses

Digital Marketing goals for Local businesses looks different than general eCommerce sites.

They require Local SEO efforts that connect people searching in their immediate surroundings. They may have online sales to consider, but they also want to encourage in-store sales as well. Their search engine ranking directly affects foot traffic and face-to-face interactions.

Digital Marketing for local businesses is targeted at the local community. Engaging Email and Social Media strategies that interact with the community helps draw in new customers and perpetuate their brand. Conversion Rate Optimization focused around in store and online transactions helps a small company grow from a simple storefront to a cohesive digital and physical presence for customers to engage with.

B2B industries

With B2B and B2B eCommerce, typically there is no physical storefront to draw in customers. It’s all up to Digital Marketing to gain attention online.

Generic Digital Marketing techniques aren’t exactly applicable to many B2B websites, as their target audience is much more specific. So, a highly-tailored Digital Marketing strategy is required, that moves the B2B website in front of the right buyers. This means utilizing Paid Advertising, SEO, and in some industries even heavy Link Building, but also direct email tactics, marketing automation and defining the right client profile is what’s needed for maximizing ROI.

Your B2B eCommerce website has to act as a resource and authority in whatever industry you hope to dominate, positioning you as the leader.

In Conclusion

For many companies, Digital Marketing isn’t at the top of their priorities, and it sadly takes a back seat to more essential aspects of the business.

Not optimizing your brand’s presence online is a more than a missed opportunity. The internet is a massive and integral part of billions of people’s lives, why not take advantage of all it has to offer…

Living Proof Creative wants to help you start your Digital Marketing Adventure!

Nowadays anyone can start a business online. The internet allows anyone, anywhere to set up shop and conduct transactions. With the abundance of individual businesses in 2017, being in the “business of businesses” has become far more lucrative.

In fact, it’s estimated by 2021 the B2B eCommerce market is estimated to hit $1.18 trillion in sales. With that amount, you could buy 100% of Apple, the entire NFL and still have $200 billion left.

So, obviously local markets are destined to become oversaturated. Among other challenges, this also means you can expect far more competition. Right now, there are more than 110,000 eCommerce websites online, and all of them are fighting to gain the audience of online users (well, with the humble exception of our clients).

If you are running an online eCommerce B2B business, we’ve outlined some of the most important strategies that Living Proof Creative has implemented over the course of the last 12 months.

2017 B2B eCommerce Trends You Might Have Missed

via GIPHY

Ironically, we’re going to start this list with a “trend” that you hopefully didn’t miss. Mobile optimization is something all websites owners, no matter the niche or the industry, have to utilize in order to make connections.

Back in 2015 Google announced that mobile searches surpassed desktop, and in 2017 the numbers have only grown. As the millennial generation gains more substantial positions in the workforce, you can expect that 9 out of 10 B2B prospects are going to access your business through a mobile device this year.

If your website doesn’t function properly on mobile or is the least bit outdated, it’s very likely users will immediately write you off. And still, a large percentage of B2B eCommerce websites isn’t optimized for mobile. Make sure your sight isn’t one of them.

Unleash Your Onsite Search Functionality

Precision is key to the successful conversion of a simple lead to an actual client. The necessity for precision spans all aspects of B2B, from targeting the right demographics and accounts, down to the Onsite Search Function. After all, the search function is the user’s main tool for accessing information about products.

Usually, B2B eCommerce platforms work with countless options for products, like a furniture manufacturer that sells products in a variety of colors, fabrics, and styles. Users want to access every variation before putting down their orders. It is fair to say, this type of a platform is far more demanding than a typical retail system – like a website that sells clothing, for example.

This is why it is very important to foresee your users behavior, learn from their frequently asked questions, and develop a system that will suit all of their needs.

Make Your Customer Service Omnipresent

With B2B, even if you are working with individuals on large accounts, it’s still not the same as retail. You have to be prepared, knowing your clients will expect a level of customer service like that of Amazon.

To put it down simple – they need you to be omnipresent.

On every step of your clients journey, they have to feel safe and able to contact you in any way they desire. Naturally, you don’t want or need to invest in all possible social media platforms, but a live chat has become almost a standard nowdays.

Determine which platforms your target audience uses, and focus your efforts on building a presence on those networks.

Pricing & Inventory Simplified in Real Time

Dynamic pricing and real time inventory updates are another standards you can’t afford to miss out on. Modern content management systems are easy to use, and fully capable of making every change you need, presented in the front end at the exact moment those changes are made.

This is a challenge that concerns both your clients, and your employees. If your client is unable to obtain information about a product because you haven’t updated your website, that is a hurdle that directly affects conversions.

And imagine an order coming through only to find out the item is out of stock. You want to make sure your employees are fully capable of accessing and changing product info at hand, in the shortest timeframe possible.

That’s a problem clients don’t tolerate anymore in 2017.