Base Creative’s takeaways from BrightonSEO

Last week was BrightonSEO, and for the first time the entire Base Creative team was able to attend.

Here’s what each team member took away from the conference, including insights from particular talks, the importance of team wellbeing, the value of content marketing, and more.

Iain Scott, founder & CEO

Although I had the honour of MCing the Paid Social Show, the rockstars were the people who put themselves in the spotlight (Rebecca has twice this year, and Anna did back in April). 

I was reminded why our team repeatedly takes to the stage:

1. Stage presence is the best way to kickstart networking. It gives delegates an “in” – a reason to say “hello”. The ice is broken and conversation can flow right off the bat.
2. It’s uncomfortable – and that’s a good thing! Personal development doesn’t happen when you’re sleeping, it happens when adrenalin peaks and new interactions, events and feelings are experienced. It’s deep-end stuff, and fast tracks professional development.
3. You have more authority and credibility. This can be leveraged in pitch decks, future presentations, meetings, or with a new contact at the next event. You’ll be invited to speak at more conferences, improving your reputation as an authority. 
4. It’s fun! It is, really!

Anna Corbett, director of client success

I spent most of my time at Brighton seeking out talks about making Base Creative (and the world of marketing) a better place. The talk that resonated with me the most was by @ichbinGisele.

The top takeaways from @ichbinGisele at #BrightonSEO

1. Make sure your team does what they love. Happiness and productivity go hand in hand.
2. Involve your team in identifying issues and solve them together. Empower your team to solve their problems.
3. Given intentional and regular feedback. Don’t collect a list and wait. Give feedback as things happen. It will be much easier to have pertinent conversations if you’re on the journey together.
4. Ensure your team members have the right role for them. If they are misaligned with their role it will affect the entire team.
5. Assume the best of the team. Don’t project onto them. Let them explain their situation. Encourage them to do the same. We are all different after all.

The entire diversity track (@bdigital_uk, @Mo_Kanjilal, @FabioVG7, @RejiYates, and @willz_PB on Twitter) was inspiring and others like @areej_abuali also spoke about the value of diversity. 

Greg Mileham, managing director

My main highlight of the conference was hanging out with the Base Creative team and spending some non-work time enjoying each other’s company.

One talk by @CreativeBloomUK’s Stuart Davies raised excellent points about how we can make our websites – and our industry – greener and more environmentally sustainable.

It was great to be in a more creative space with the team to discuss the business in general. I’d forgotten what it was like to be in such a big group of people!

Rebecca Holloway, senior social media consultant

This autumn’s BrightonSEO was my favourite – I think ever! Not only was I able to get up on stage and share my talk about thought leadership, but the entire Base Creative team was able to visit.

Two standout talks for me were:

1. Amy Hopper – Triumph over adversity: growing my agency with a broken spine
2. Kathryn Monkcom – Stress is contagious: don’t catch it from your clients

These two stood out from a wellbeing perspective, which is an important part of my role.

Amy discussed the “accumulative effect”, explaining that while it can feel like you might be making slow progress, all progress is progress! I really liked the idea of breaking down goals into manageable pieces depending on your energy and emotional capacity.

With Kathryn’s talk, I liked the reminder that emotions are contagious. That works both ways! There’s a lot I would like to do based on Kathryn’s talk at Base Creative to help make sure we all feel supported when times are busy, trying especially hard to notice when a team member might be feeling stressed. Making an action plan before things start spiralling can massively help a team’s wellbeing.

Abby Webb, senior search & content consultant

Another fantastic conference! Aside from the Paid Social Show, where I watched Becca share her expertise on thought leadership, I spent much of my time watching the content-focused talks. And the speakers did not disappoint! 

My overall takeaway was how important good content writing is to achieving “good SEO” – it isn’t all backlinks and technical activities. I knew this anyway, but it’s great to have the validation of the industry! 

Talks from Anna Gregory-Hall, Araminta Robertson and Chima Mmeje were inspirational, focusing on content hubs and the importance of auditing existing content as well as creating new content. They also focused on the importance of having a strategy in place before you begin writing.

Paige Steel-Thomas, digital project manager

My first Brighton SEO was a great experience! It was such a welcoming inclusive environment for those in the SEO and wider marketing community. I got the opportunity to learn quite a few new things about SEO and analytics which has helped with my own personal development.

I particularly enjoyed and found some useful talks around soft skills and how to deal with stress and burnout in your team. In my role as digital project manager, these were so insightful and valuable for me to complete projects on time but ensure team wellbeing is not compromised.  

Charlie Stewart, content consultant

I found BrightonSEO fascinating from a content perspective on two levels. On the one hand, the content-focused talks were very insightful this year, particularly in the light of Google’s helpful content update.

On the other, there was the effectiveness of the talks themselves as a piece of content – individuals and businesses pitching themselves. What do people want when they’re in a venue that can seat 3000? What hooks people in that format? While BrightonSEO explores the world of marketing, it is in itself a brilliantly devised piece of marketing when taken advantage of.

The talks I saw which the best received tended to, as speaker @SaraSal9 would say, pick fights. They made the case for an ambitious, actionable pivot in the audience’s marketing strategies and backed it up with data. It was those people who got the most attention after their talks were finished, with people approaching for conversation whether they agreed or disagreed. If BrightonSEO is an opportunity to network, taking risks on stage and inciting debate seemed like the best way for speakers to market themselves.

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