Events

Digital Strategy Bootcamp

by Kelly Kubrick on February 20, 2020

On March 10th,2020, join myself and IABC Ottawa (the International Association of Business Communicators Ottawa chapter) members at the University of Ottawa for their digital strategy bootcamp.

Learn how to take control of your digital platforms and develop targeted, accessible campaigns that help you achieve your organization’s goals. Kelly will explain:

  1. Why you need a mix of paid, owned, and earned media,
  2. How to integrate digital advertising into your media mix and determine your cost to click/conversion rate, and
  3. Ways to measure success.

At the end of the bootcamp you’ll be given a case study to put your knowledge to practice and walk away with a one-pager highlighting the key takeaways.

Event details:

  • When: Wednesday, March 10th, 2020 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm
  • Where: Unversity of Ottawa, Social Sciences Building, 120 University Private, 15th Floor, Room FSS-4004, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
  • Cost: $30.00-$45.00 and includes an assortment of appetizers

Register here

This event is brought to you by IABC Ottawa: “The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) provides a professional network of over 15,500 business communications and marketing professionals in over 80 countries. Members of IABC Ottawa can tap into a wealth of resources and opportunities that will help increase your value as a communicator. IABC Ottawa brings communications, marketing and creative professionals together to grow in their career and succeed in their jobs.”

See you there!

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Kelly KubrickDigital Strategy Bootcamp

Networking in the New Year

by Kelly Kubrick on January 27, 2020

On January 29th, 2020, join myself and IABC Ottawa (the International Association of Business Communicators Ottawa chapter) community for a “speed-dating style event to learn…topics such as measurement, internal and crisis communications, climate change and ethics.”

You will have time to meet with each expert, ask your questions, and of course network with entire group! At the end of the night you will be able to walk away with new ideas and a clear understanding of how to grow your communications toolbox.

The event is called “Networking in the New Year: Level Up Your Communications Toolbox!” and it will be held at Charlotte, 340b Elgin Street, Second Floor in Ottawa, Ontario. Look for the door to Charlotte in the lobby of Pure Kitchen.

Event details:

  • When: Wednesday, January 29th, 2020 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm
  • Where: Charlotte, 340b Elgin Street, Second Floor in Ottawa, Ontario
  • Cost: $20.00-$35.00 and includes an assortment of appetizers

Register here

This event is brought to you by IABC Ottawa: “The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) provides a professional network of over 15,500 business communications and marketing professionals in over 80 countries. Members of IABC Ottawa can tap into a wealth of resources and opportunities that will help increase your value as a communicator. IABC Ottawa brings communications, marketing and creative professionals together to grow in their career and succeed in their jobs.”

See you there!

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Kelly KubrickNetworking in the New Year

Webinar: Which Type of Google Ad is Right for Your Tourism Business?

by Kelly Kubrick on October 23, 2019

Upcoming Webinar: November 7th, 2019 at 2PM EST

Please join me, Kelly Kubrick, online at eLearningU.com for a one-hour webinar:

Webinar title: Which Type of Google Ad is Right for Your Tourism Business?

Search vs Shopping vs Display & Video/YouTube?

In this session Kelly Kubrick will talk about the different types of Google Ads and help you determine which ones are right for your tourism business. She will give tips, techniques, tactics that will improve your performance in each. During this session, Kelly will ensure attendees

  • Understand the differences between the various types of Google Ads;
  • Compare the characteristics of each to determine how best your business can leverage them;
  • Learn how to plan budgets, typical costs, typical returns and expected results to determine which Google Ad is right for your business; and
  • Ensure you know how best to succeed at this challenging, but proven advertising network.

If you are interested in learning more about Google advertising, contact Online Authority today.

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Kelly KubrickWebinar: Which Type of Google Ad is Right for Your Tourism Business?

Webinar: Spur Tourism Event Registrations using Facebook Advertising

by Kelly Kubrick on September 17, 2019

Upcoming Webinar: October 3rd, 2019 at 2PM EST

Please join me, Kelly Kubrick, online at eLearningU.com for a one-hour webinar:

Webinar title: Spur Tourism Event Registrations using Facebook Advertising

In this fast paced session Kelly Kubrick will show you, with real life examples, how to enhance the experience of attendees at live events by pairing it with a digital equivalent. Your advertising campaign objectives should include securing attendees to either or both events. In this real life case study, learn:

  • The inventory and necessary interplay of digital marketing assets – web, Facebook & email – you’ll need prior to your Facebook advertising campaign launch;
  • 3 critical audience segment you should organize your Facebook media spend by;
  • Key advance actions needed to coordinate the IRL (‘in-real-life’) and digital teams; and
  • How to put content to work to anticipate campaign impact prior to, during and post launch.

Creative for organic Facebook posts for the RCMP Horse Auction 2018

Learn more about this amazing event here:

If you are interested in learning more about Facebook advertising, contact Online Authority today.

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Kelly KubrickWebinar: Spur Tourism Event Registrations using Facebook Advertising

Webinar: DAA Thought Leader Conversation with June Li

by Kelly Kubrick on December 21, 2018

Webinar: January 23, 2019 at 12:00 pm ET

Please join me, Kelly Kubrick, online as I have a great time moderating the “ABCs of Establishing Credibility”, a Digital Analytics Association‘s (DAA) Thought Leader Conversation with June Li, brought to you by WiA (Women in Analytics).

Digital Analytics Association logo

Webinar title: DAA Thought Leader Conversation with June Li brought to you by WiA: ABCs of Establishing Credibility

Join June Li, Founder & Managing Director of ClickInsight, for her thought leader conversation, ABCs of Establishing Credibility, facilitated by Kelly Kubrick, owner of Online Authority, open to all DAA members. A frequent frustration voiced by analysts and consultants is that their recommendations are ignored. Action is not taken. Although communication is part of the equation, even if you are crystal clear, if you do not have credibility, nothing will happen.

During this event, you will:

  1. See why credibility is more than credentials and experience.
  2. Understand how to establish credibility as an analyst, a leader and a consultant.
  3. Learn the simple rules for establishing, maintaining and growing credibility.

June-Li HeadshotJune Li is Founder and Managing Director of ClickInsight, a digital analytics specialist consultancy. A recognized expert in Digital Analytics and Certified Web Analyst, June has spoken at eMetrics, clickZ and Canadian Marketing Association conferences. An instructor at the University of Toronto, she has worked with DAA for over 10 years, helping create the online Digital Analytics Course Program with the University of British Columbia, and teaching DAA Essentials workshops. She has co-chaired the DAA’s Certification Board and helped found the DAA Toronto Local Chapter. In 2018, June was a finalist in the Difference Maker category for DAA’s Quantie Awards.

DAA Experience Level: All levels
Certified Web Analyst (CWA) Professional Development Units: 1

This event was made possible by the WiA sponsors Blast Analytics & Marketing and Tealium.

Previous DAA Thought Leader Conversations

Updated: This event is now available as a recording; register here to view it on GoToWebinar.

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Kelly KubrickWebinar: DAA Thought Leader Conversation with June Li

Communicators: take note of changes in digital analytics

by Kelly Kubrick on January 14, 2016

How have analytics changed?

Four years ago I participated in IABC Ottawa’s “Networking in the New Year” event, where communications professionals can speak informally with specialists in different fields. In 2012, I spoke about web analytics. I’m returning this year, and I will do the same. Which begs the question, has anything changed? Most definitely.

The bar is higher on what can (and should) be tracked

By January 2012, our community was

  1. Articulating more complex tracking requirements – instead of merely tracking website visits, there was increasing demand to measure the impact of social media / earned media efforts; while
  2. On the paid media side, measurement of remarketing (or retargeting) campaigns were at the bleeding edge of reporting requirements; and
  3. Google Tag Manager didn’t exist.

Website tag management emerges

This last item is critical, and links directly to item 1 and 2. “Tags”, in the context of tag management systems are used on your website to help you measure traffic and optimize your online marcom efforts. Examples of these website tags include:

  • Your website’s digital analytics tracking code i.e. your Google Analytics or your Adobe Analytics tracking code;
  • Conversion tracking tags (Google AdWords conversion code or the Facebook pixel); or
  • Remarketing (or behavioural retargeting) tags to target previous visitors.

Website tags are different from campaign tracking tags

For those of you familiar with campaign tracking tags such as Google Analytics’ “utm” codes or Adobe Analytics campaign tracking codes, note that they are different from the website tags above. It’s unfortunate that the terms overlap, but each accomplishes different things.

Prior to website tag management solutions, inserting website tags was a messy, inefficient coding effort requiring information technology resources. Then the inevitable would occur – organizations lost track of which tags were where, whether they were up to date or not, and who actually ‘owned them’. Not good. Thus, tag management solutions proliferated, including solutions like Google Tag Manager, Adobe’s Dynamic Tag Manager, Ensighten, and Tealium.

Website tag management: imagine never losing your keys again

bowl-for-keys
Today, tag management solutions are much better known – they have gone from an outlier technology concept to a critical tool in organizations’ digital toolkit. It’s exactly what we all need – a better way to facilitate the business discussion around determining what should be measured, while reducing the need for technical involvement for implementation.

How? By storing all those tags in one container in your website code instead of scattering different tags all over the place. Imagine that glorious moment when you successfully organize scattered key sets into one bowl at the front door. No more frantic searching as you try and get out the door.

Now, the business owner(s) can manage their tags centrally, outside of your HTML using a friendly interface. Other benefits include simplified tracking of video, social buttons or other interactive elements on your website. If your organization hasn’t looked at tag management solutions, I’d add it to your 2016 measurement plans.

Vanquish referral spam

The second big change since 2012 is the acceleration of referral spam clogging all our analytics reports. Consider this the second item on your organization’s analytics to do list in 2016: tackling the deeply frustrating problem of referral spam or ghost spam. What is referral spam? It’s garbage traffic that’s inflating your website traffic reports.

Example of referral spam - notice the 100% bounce rate with zero session duration time?

Click to enlarge example of referral spam: notice the 100% bounce rate with zero session duration time?

To give you some sense of how bad the problem has gotten, I was involved in a website launch in late November 2015. Not quite two months later 32% of the visits are is spam – fake traffic that could inflate our numbers and impact our marcom decisions. How can do we know that?

Fortunately, we followed best practices and set our digital analytics up with multiple data views. We use our primary decision-making data view to measure net visitor traffic (excluding ourselves and referral spam) and we can contrast it to our unfiltered data view capturing gross visitor traffic. This gives us a much cleaner – and more reassuring – view of our real audience numbers and their activities on our site.

Be sure you’ve got the same set up at your organization so that you can better measure the real impact of your communications efforts. Speak with your digital analyst or analytics team to ask them if and how the issue is being addressed internally. Like you, they’ll want to ensure ongoing trust in your organization’s data.

Web analytics broadens to digital analytics

One last important analytics change occurred only two months after the 2012 Networking in the New Year event. To acknowledge the proliferation of digital data sources, the Web Analytics Association (WAA) formally changed its name to the Digital Analytics Association (DAA):

“As more digital data streams became available, the responsibilities of the analyst broadened and the term “web analytics” became known as the study of data collected exclusively on websites…account[ing] for the analyst’s changing role of weaving together data from multiple sources and channels.”

As a long-time member, I heartily agreed with the change. To truly leverage the opportunities of digital, we in marcom need to take advantage of all of the data on offer. Data is a critical output of your digital initiatives and is what differentiates them from their offline equivalent. Knowing that, have you got a handle on your data strategy for 2016?

What’s on your 2016 analytics list?

I look forward to seeing the IABC Ottawa crew on January 28th and to discussing analytics. Bring your questions and concerns or feel free to ask any advance questions in the comments below. See you soon!

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Kelly KubrickCommunicators: take note of changes in digital analytics

Digital Strategy Conference: Our Journey Comes to a Close

by Kelly Kubrick on August 31, 2015

Thank you for participating in Digital Strategy Conference

Although Digital Strategy Conferences are no longer being produced, we invite you to continue learning how to increase your organizations’ level of digital maturity using the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model.

In 2013, the journey began with a model and framework for understanding the six key dimensions of digital maturity.

The goal of Digital Strategy Conference was to provide inspiring examples of digital strategy; while the goal of our Mapping Digital Maturity workshop was to provide a process for establishing your organizations’ level of digital maturity by giving you benchmarks from industry.

We met those goals and so did you.

Since then, hundreds of organizations and over 1,000 attendees from across sector and industry have helped their organizations increase competitive advantage and/or succeed in delivering on its mission.

Who Attended:

Senior directors and managers from across the organization responsible for planning, managing or integrating digital initiatives, along with their digital team.

Successful digital initiatives are due to the effort of high functioning teams, therefore, we encourage a team approach to your conference education.

Today’s opportunities for business improvement using digital processes and technologies extend across the organization. In addition to sales, marketing and communications, Digital Strategy Conference informs and educates those responsible for internal communications, social business and workforce management.

What you learned:

  • Digital strategy definition and models
  • How to assess digital maturity
  • Data strategy fundamentals
  • Performance measurement and digital analytics essentials
  • Content Strategy – content, technology and experience
  • Paid, Owned and Earned Media – the pillars of digital marketing
  • Case studies and applied learning from peers and colleagues

Thank you all

Today, our journey comes to a close. We thank to the entire #dstrategy community for its contribution, enthusiasm and support since we first proposed Digital Strategy Conference.

We wish you all the best and much success on your future initiatives.

Andrea Hadley and Kelly Kubrick, Co-founders, Digital Strategy Conference and Workshops

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Kelly KubrickDigital Strategy Conference: Our Journey Comes to a Close

Welcome to Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2015!

by Kelly Kubrick on April 3, 2015

First published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog on April 2, 2015.

Ready for round 5?

Wow – five? It’s our fifth Digital Strategy Conference already. So glad you could join us! Get ready to learn from over 40 top marketers and digital experts from across North America in Vancouver’s UBC Robson Square,  here to share their organizations’ experiences in tackling the ever-evolving challenges of digital. From May 11-14, we’ll explore topics including digital fluency, the intersection of social and community, content strategy versus content marketing, and digital’s potential for filling the sales or lead generation pipeline.

No hype. Real world case studies

Be prepared to take lots of notes as we hear real-world case studies on specific ways that organizations are taking advantage of data to improve business results. Not hype. Real-world.

Our agenda aligns with the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity, the foundation of the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model, a framework and business planning tool designed to help you assess your organization’s current level of digital maturity.

New this year: Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop

Interested in learning how to assess your organization’s digital processes and their state (ranging from ad hoc to optimized)? For the first time in Vancouver, we’ll be offering our “Mapping Your Digital Maturity” workshop. Join us for a very practical, hands on workshop to dive into the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model on May 11, 2015 – the day before Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2015 kicks off.

We continue to believe that digital impacts horizontally across function, and that its lessons can be leveraged across sector and industry. Please take advantage of the experience and insights shared by the conference speakers. This is your chance to hear lessons learned, recommended approaches and landmines to avoid.

Shared perspectives increase insight

Share those insights when you get back to the office – the more perspective our collective community can bring to digital, the better.

You’re among friends, so ask questions, lots of questions. Tweet your thoughts, introduce yourself and network like no one is watching. I look forward to meeting you!

Kelly Kubrick
Co-Founder and Chair, Digital Strategy Conference

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Kelly KubrickWelcome to Digital Strategy Conference Vancouver 2015!

Ottawa Digital Strategy Conference 2014 – Welcome back!

by Kelly Kubrick on September 5, 2014
First published on Digital Strategy Conference blog September 5th, 2014. Reprinted with permission from dStrategy Media

 

Exuberant? Yes. Eager? Yes. Counting down the days? YES! I can’t wait to welcome you all to Digital Strategy Conference & Workshops Ottawa, September 30 – October 2, 2014.

As Chair, I have the great pleasure of introducing our great line up of keynotes and speakers. We’ll hear from brands such as Canada’s FGL Sports (parent of SportChek), Blackberry, BRP, CanadaHelps, CBC, and from our neighbours to the south with speakers from AT&T and IFT. As we first articulated when co-founding this conference, we believe that digital impacts horizontally across function, and that its lessons can be leveraged across sector and industry.

As ever, Digital Strategy Conference is intended to help you achieve perspective while planning and implementing your organization’s digital strategy. Our speakers provide the best of professional education – practical, relevant and applicable – and are experts with knowledge to share.

In the spirit of back to school and all that it represents, I’m excited to announce:

New this year at Ottawa 2014:

1. Thirteen fantastic speakers you didn’t meet last year: digital practitioners from across North America with in-depth experience tackling this year’s key areas of learning: Content Strategy, Social Business, Data & Analytics and Channel Strategy;

2. Two new workshops on October 2, 2014 – The Nuts & Bolts of Content Strategy taught by Joe Gollner and Establishing Your Road Map to Digital Maturity, taught by yours truly;

3. Our new location – Carleton University’s new River Building with its lovely views, and its fantastic patio overlooking the Rideau River rapids. Can there be a better way to escape Ottawa’s construction and traffic gridlock while problem solving with peers? I think think not.

Back by popular demand – the tried and true!

1. Joe Gollner and Isabelle Perrault return, respectively tackling content strategy in government and digital transformation. Co-presenting with Isabelle is Erin Crowe, EVP and CFO of Ottawa’s very own Senators Sports & Entertainment;

2. We’re very excited to introduce you to three of our top rated speakers from our Vancouver 2014 event: Scott Abel from the Content Wrangler, Stephane Hamel from Cardinal Path and Bryan Robertson from Open Road. Thank you all for crossing the continent for our Ottawa 2014 audience!

3. Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity – not only the pillars that form the Digital Strategy Conference agenda, but a business planning tool which you, our community, received with great enthusiasm. So much so, that when we first introduced the dStrategy Maturity Model, you demanded “What’s next?” Thanks to your input, we’ve got new a new video to explain how the model is being used by organizations, new data to share and that new workshop to announce!

As we begin our final countdown, our thanks for the renewed commitment of sponsors Adobe, the Ottawa Business Journal, the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and IABC Ottawa. Speaking of commitment, a big ‘welcome back’ to multi-city sponsors FreshGigs.ca and Women in Communications and Technology (WCT). Thank you all for your continued support.

I would also like to welcome our enthusiastic new sponsors: many, many thanks to eMarketer, Reachology and the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) Ottawa-Gatineau and Vancouver chapters. We’re so pleased to have you join the #dstrategy crew!

I hope you will join us for our next deep dive into digital strategy, and I look forward to seeing you all on September 30th, 2014!

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Kelly KubrickOttawa Digital Strategy Conference 2014 – Welcome back!

Announcing two new workshops: Digital Maturity and Content Strategy

by Kelly Kubrick on June 24, 2014

Originally published on the Digital Strategy Conference blog; republished with permission from dStrategy Media.

For this year’s Digital Strategy Conference Ottawa, September 30-October 2, 2014 at Carleton University, we are pleased to announce the launch of two new workshops. Both will be held on Day 3, Friday Oct 2nd, 2014 – which means you may have a tough choice in front of you!

Mapping Digital Maturity Workshop

In my dual role as Conference Chair and instructor of the workshop I will teach workshop attendees about digital maturity – what it is and how it applies to the development of digital strategy.Mapping Digital Maturity workshop, I look forward to showing workshop attendees how to assess their organization's digital maturity. Our first step will be rate your organization’s capabilities and level of readiness across the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity Workshop

We’ll use a business planning tool – the dStrategy Digital Maturity Model – to show you how to assess your organization’s digital maturity or your organization’s digital capabilities and level of readiness for implementation.

In May 2013, I was fortunate to have the chance to outline the concept of digital maturity during a podcast with The Voice from IABC Ottawa. You’ll get the rundown in a mere 15 minutes by listening to the episode on Player FM.

During the workshop, I will share detailed findings from our dStrategy Digital Maturity Benchmark Survey. If you have not participated, we welcome your insights – this year’s Digital Maturity Benchmark survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.

Additional details about the Digital Maturity Workshop are available at the Digital Strategy Conference website.

The Nuts & Bolts of Digital Content Strategy

If your organization is grappling with content strategy, have we got a treat for you! Joe Gollner is one of the world’s leading Content Strategists who just happens to call Ottawa (truth be told, he’s a Manotick man) home. In addition to leading workshops and educating managers and directors about the essentials of content strategy, Joe is the Managing Director of Gnostyx Research, an Ottawa-based consultancy and integrator specializing in content strategy and solutions.

Joe Gollner, Content Strategy Workshop Instructor

Join Joe’s workshop on October 2nd as he shows you how to define and execute a content strategy for your organization. At the end of the day, you will not only understand how content fits within the framework for your digital strategy, you’ll leave with several tools including a content strategy evaluation and planning framework that you can tailor to use within your organization.

Attend the conference and you’ll have two opportunities to learn from Joe. First on Sept 30th where he’ll share details of a Federal Government case study, or on Oct 2nd for his full-day workshop.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in September!

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Kelly KubrickAnnouncing two new workshops: Digital Maturity and Content Strategy