Utah’s Fit Marketing Holds Inbound Marketing Event in Salt Lake City

We’re excited to hold events like this to be able to network with fellow Utah marketers, and to learn from those who are making things happen in the world of inbound marketing.

Fit Marketing, a Lehi-based company founded in 2009 by Owen Fuller, held an inbound marketing event for Utah entrepreneurs at Salt Lake Community College Thursday morning.

Fuller opened the event by saying, “We’re excited to hold events like this to be able to network with fellow Utah marketers, and to learn from those who are making things happen in the world of inbound marketing.”

The event was held at 9:00 in the morning, which, let’s face it, is usually when a lot of Utah entrepreneurs are just falling asleep after staying up all night working on their latest product or venture, stressing out over each paltry detail. That said, Fit Marketing had to be pleased with the turnout. The hashtag for the event, #imslc, was trending in the Salt Lake City area just as the presentations were coming to an end.

The first speaker of the day was Garrett Gee, founder of Scan, and member of the BYU soccer team. Garrett told those in attendance to, “Create something so valuable it will market itself.”

Garrett also talked about his experience on the popular ABC show “Shark Tank,” and how he and his team handled the increase in traffic and downloads Scan experienced as a result of his appearance on the show.

Garrett claims to have achieved over 50 million users using growth hacking techniques. He believes growth hacking allows you to seize opportunities your competitors will likely miss. According to Garrett, Scan is growing at a rate of 100,000 downloads per day.

Ricky Ray Butler, founder of Plaid Social Labs, was the second speaker at the event. He said his company, “likes marketing in a way that doesn’t piss people off.”

Plaid Social Labs is an ad agency that helps brands grow sales and create brand advocates through video strategy on YouTube.

According to Butler, there are three rules to consider when working with YouTube celebrities: 1) Give simple, clear instructions. 2) Allow creative control. 3) Have one purpose.

YouTube is a unique way of marketing. “Brands want to take their TV commericals and put them on YouTube,” said Butler. “And that just doesn’t fit.”

Butler explained to attendees how some YouTube celebrities create videos many consider to be low-quality, yet they manage to have a massive following because they’ve created a unique relationship with their viewers.

Plaid Social Labs works with some of the top brands and names in the world. They were responsible for the YouTube promotion of this video for Turkish Airlines, featuring Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi, which has been viewed more than 20 million times in less than 36 hours.

The third speaker of the day was heartthrob Brooks Forester, former contestant on ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” and Inbound Marketing Consultant at Fit Marketing. His presentation revolved around his time on “The Bachelorette” and how his own personal marketing helped increase traffic to Fit Marketing’s website.

“My take on Marketing is simple,” said Forester. “I treat people the way I want to be treated.”

I’m sure Forester said a lot of other really great stuff about inbound marketing, but, honestly, I couldn’t stop staring into those deep, dark, beautiful eyes. Let me show you what I’m talking about, ladies.

I mean, come on: brains and beauty! How is this guy still single? He wasn’t just a contestant on “The Bachelorette,” he was also a contestant on “The Marketerette,” which is a much better show, in my opinion.

After Forester’s presentation was reluctantly over, and attendees could no longer gawk at him because he was sitting down, Chris Kilbourn closed the event with a presentation on how to dominate Google in 2014 and beyond.

Kilbourn talked a lot about creating world-class content, and made the argument for quality over quantity. “One quality post is better than 10 mediocre posts,” said Kilbourn.

Kilbourn also talked about repairing past mistakes by removing and disavowing broken links, and making sure your website is capable of handling mobile traffic.

“If your website isn’t optimized for mobile,” said Kilbourn, “you’re going to have a hard time getting people to actually buy your product.”

Fit Marketing will be hosting a similar event in February, so if you weren’t able to attend this event, be sure to make it to the next one. If you’re an inbound marketer in Utah looking to network with like-minded individuals and learn new marketing techniques, this is pretty much a must-attend event.

Published 12/4/2013