People respond to the bigger picture; they want to feel connected to the brand.  Focus on building the brand story rather than marketing specific events or products.  Take people on a journey and keep them updated; a Facebook post once a month, an email twice a year or no crowdfunding update is not going to have much of an effect.

A few years ago social media platforms, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, could easily be leveraged for marketing.  This is no longer the case. Social media is still a valid channel to build brand awareness but it has a low ROI so don’t allocate a significant number of resources to it.

Create content that can be leveraged by a third party, i.e. collaborate with other, complementary brands.  Keep collaborations / influencers authentic.  Audiences can spot a fraud and won’t respond well.

Email marketing has a long history of success and that is still true today.  Part of your strategy must be to build your email database, for example by requiring registrations even if an event is free.  Email marketing was mentioned a number of time by the speakers so it must be important.

Find out about your audience and take your message to them, you can’t expect them to come to you.  Broad demographics such as “women over 40” no longer cuts it as that group comprises individuals with significantly different interest and lifestyles.  The technology exists to offer very targeted marketing – use it.

Everyone is busy and sharing their attention between multiple marketing campaigns.  Make sure that your content is worthwhile.  People share, and get excited about, about things that validate their world view – do you research so you know what your audience cares about.