Can face-to-face events build your digital authority? – MIKE RUSSELL | DMR #106

[ NOTE: Please note that my isn't perfect in this episode due to a recent studio move, so apologies about that! It will get better again for future episodes :) ] Mike Russell is founder of Music Radio Creative – an audio-on-demand service based on the Isle of Wight. He’s also putting together a brand new event called New Media Europe, to be held in Manchester in September of this year. Today on Digital Marketing Radio we discuss  whether or not going to face-to-face events can build your digital authority, with topics including: To build your digital authority fast, do you think that you have to attend face-to-face industry events? What’s your main reasoning behind hosting live events? Over the past year or so, you moved from producing a UK Podcasters event to a New Media event. What was your thought process being the brand shift? What are some of the main challenges you've faced in organising your own events? You've got some top speakers at New Media Europe. I've had some top interviewees on Digital Marketing Radio. But it’s one thing for me to get half an hour of someone’s time, compared with asking for a few days of someone’s time and flying then half-way around the world. How do you persuade people to speak at your event? If someone’s listening to this, and they want to put on their own event, what are a few of the essential steps that they need to go through? [Tweet ""Blogging sets up a tone but podcasting helps get people to know, like and trust you." @imikerussell"] Software I couldn't live without What software do you currently use in your business that if someone took away from you, it would significantly impact your marketing success? Adobe Edition [Audio editing software] Adobe Creative Cloud [Adobe software suite] What software don't you use, but you've heard good things about, and you've intended to try at some point in the near future? Analytics SEO [SEO software platform] My number 1 takeaway What's the single most important step from our discussion that our listeners need to take away and implement in their businesses? Start a podcast. If you're not, get on Google Hangouts. Get closer to your audience. Make a connection. The topic about this episode is all about 1-to-1 connections and meeting in person and that magic that happens when you actually meet someone - so get as close as you can to your audience. Blogging sets up a tone but podcasting helps get people to know, like and trust you. And if you can do video - I've already steered away from video for so long - and even my Adobe Edition tutorials that I have, for ages, if you watch the initial ones you will see that they are just Screenflow - there's none of me on it. And it was actually Ray Ortega who gave me this tip - he's a fantastic audio and video podcaster in the United States - he just said to me one day, "Mike, why don't you just flick on your web cam and have your face up there while you're going an Adobe tutorial." And I did. And that was the turning point for me, connecting with my audience. Because they were like - "Oh, that's Mike!"