Some fond SIPA memories
I remember vividly my first SIPA (then NEPA) conference. It was 6 years ago and I had only just joined the world of B2B media, having spent the formative years of my career in academic book publishing. The energy at the conference, people’s willingness to share what worked and what didn’t work, plus wine at lunchtime (trust me, they do not have wine at academic book publishing events) cemented my belief that I had made the right decision to switch to newsletter and magazine publishing.
Some less fond ones
I remember my second conference even better. But not for the same warm fuzzy reasons. My then boss Rory Brown used it to start a campaign which became a daily part of my life for the next 3 years. The campaign was apparently to “take me out of my comfort zone” (his version) and to “ruin my life and make me panic” (my version).
Having raved so much how motivating it was to work in an industry where people were prepared to stand up and tell their peers their best marketing tips I opened the following year’s conference brochure with anticipation. This turned to disbelief, shock and finally what people watching tell me looked like rage when I saw my name on the brochure, apparently speaking about guerrilla marketing. I think they call it management by making your staff want to kill you.
SIPA today
Well I suppose it must have worked, because 6 years later I find myself still as evangelical as ever about SIPA’s role in sharing best practice. About a year ago I had a few drinks with the SIPA committee members to talk about how we could extend SIPA’s reach in a less formal environment than the conferences and workshops. I vaguely recall going off on a small rant about creating a networking group who could meet to talk about the marketing challenges that keep us awake at night. The next day I was told it was set up and I was chairing it. Clearly have issues with learning to keep my mouth shut.
In the age of twitter, facebook and linkedin it feels rather old fashioned to have an actual networking club. But I say let’s go crazy and so the SIPA networking club is one where you actually meet and dare I say it, touch real, live people.
The group has met up about 5 times now, covering topics including renewals, converting trials and growing lists. The group really reflects what’s great about SIPA, with three people doing short presentations about the best campaign that they have done in the last few months, sharing results and war stories. I have made a career out of nicking other people’s ideas and Electric Word’s case study about blanket renewals inspired the Incisive team to do the same –and we made £100k from the campaign. A pretty good ROI for a free event!
We meet again this Thursday –details below. I’ll write up the best tips from the evening and post them in a few days…it’s a great warm up to the main event, the SIPA conference and pre-conference discussion forums on 8th and 8th July.
SIPA marketing networking group: Top tips and case studies for email marketers
Thursday 12 June (that's this Thursday!), 6.00 pm, Incisive Media, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4RX
Do you ever wonder how your open rates compare with other publishing companies – should you be celebrating or weeping?
What’s the best day to send out a renewal email?
Do event or subscriptions emails get the best click throughs?
What’s the best email campaign Electric Word did this year?
Come along and find out (free of charge) with fast, concise tips that will make you better email marketers – and then join us for some summer beers!
Our three speakers are: Sean Hayes– Data Manager at Incisive Media; Sara Baugh – Online Manager at Electric Word; and Paul Crabtree, Marketing Director at Adestra. They will be sharing the best things they have done this year, and also some lessons they learned from things that didn't go quite to plan. The evening will be chaired by Louise White, Group Marketing Director of Incisive Media.
The evening will start promptly at 6pm, and at around 7 we'll adjourn to a nearby bar to continue the chat and networking.
Sign up now or let us know if you want to attend or speak at future meetings by sending an email to Karen Hindle at uksipa@btconnect.com – please reply asap so we can get an idea of numbers and we I look forward to seeing you there.
Louise
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