Accountants, Strategists, Copywriters or Art Directors, we are all Communication people. And one of the first things you realise when you enter the industry is that you need to understand the context in which you’re doing communications campaigns for your clients. Sure, some people tend to forget to get the pulse of society anymore, but we at Minio Studio truly believe that the most important thing is understanding: understanding the consumer deeply, understanding the real business needs of clients, understanding the things that move people.

That’s why the Minio Studio team made the most of the 2023 conferences. Yes, we went to almost all of them. And now we invite you to read our impressions and highlights from our colleagues.

1. To which conference did you go and what was it about?

I went to GPec, the most important E-Commerce and Digital Marketing event in CEE. We had conference, expo, networking and very cool speakers, including quite a wide range of international ones.

2. What was the most interesting topic discussed there, from your point of view?

Personally, I really enjoyed the debate. It was attended by Cătălin Maftei (Founder C Solution), Adrian Mihai (CEO FAN Courier), Lucian Baltaru (CEO Sameday), Yannick Mooijman (CEO Cargus), and Andrei Radu (CEO & Founder GPeC) was the host. After the name analysis you already figured out what we are talking about, the Romanian E-Commerce market. They answered questions such as: Romanian online commerce stagnating? & What do customers want and how do you scale your e-commerce business in the current context?

We got answers to very frequently asked questions related to E-Commerce, learned the latest market figures for the first 5 months of this year, and couriers’ predictions for market development until the end of 2023 touched on sensitive topics such as sustainability. Indeed, information I didn’t know I needed, I didn’t expect the debate to captivate me so much, especially me being on the Social Media side.

3. Who was your favourite speaker and what drew your attention to them?

Definitely my favourite speaker was Els Aerts (User Testing & Usability Evangelist | AGConsult). Els told us at length about how to do user testing right. What I particularly liked about her was the passion with which she talked about user testing, she went into depth about her favorite user research methods. I learned from her, with examples, why user testing methods give you real insight into how consumers are actually using your webpage or app you have. The most important conclusion was: if you understand your users, if you find out what triggers them to buy, you’ll really see increases on the sales side.

4. Tell us one super-awesome thing you learned at the conference, something that changed the way you do things.

I can say that during Talia Wolf’s (Conversion Optimization Specialist | GetUplift) presentation I had the biggest revelation. It seemed to me that she said such obvious things, yet we choose to ignore them.

Talia talked about the power of emotion – the secret to more sales. When she said that all the tools in the world – analytics, automated tools, new technologies – will never help you create high-converting funnels if you don’t understand and leverage the thing that matters most in Marketing: emotion.

After this presentation I often try, first and foremost, to put myself in my consumer’s shoes when creating content. Me, a normal person, after a tiring 9-5 job from Monday to Friday, if I saw this asset in the subway, would it catch my attention? Would it have an impact on me? Would it make me smile if I saw it for the first time?

Indeed, it has changed my perception a lot in my day job. After all, that’s the truth, we work for people, to satisfy people – of course, without going outside the client’s guideline.

5. Tell us one thing that simply amazed you, something you first learned there.

I’ve found out a little insight: they say that in the next few years shipping companies will merge and form a large network under the same name.

It amazed me, because in my head I still can’t figure out how this is going to work. I’m looking forward to the moment, to see the real results and what impact it will have on the Romanian E-Commerce market.

6. Conclusion: closing thoughts on your experience at the Digital Marketing Forum or at conferences in general.

Conferences are events that no advertiser should miss. It seems to me that you come away with new and valuable information. It’s a day where top people in the industry give you their insights on a platter, very valuable insights that will help you move up the career ladder because you’ll automatically do your job much better.

Not to mention the little things that make us smile at every conference: you get to see a lot of colleagues from your industry and do a lot of networking, goodie bags with things that help you save a little money (seriously, I don’t think I’ll have to buy notebooks and pens a year from now), good food and an extra reason to wear that nice office jacket you have on your coat hanger.

What I really liked about GPeC, and I really didn’t expect, being an E-Commerce conference, were the international speakers who attended in large number. I liked hearing how people do business in other countries, I liked hearing the differences between Romania and other countries, I found it fascinating.

In my office it is known, if it is a conference… sign me in!