14 Ideas and Reminders I Heard at the Marketing Technology Summit

By Larry Fleischman, Practice Director, Branding and Go-to-Market Strategies, Televerde

My local chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) recently partnered with the Arizona Technology Council to put on the Marketing Technology Summit in Phoenix. I attended along with several Televerde staffers from various departments to expose ourselves to some new business marketing perspectives and ideas. The event featured several panel presentations from subject matter experts on social media, mobile marketing and marketing automation. Here’s a list of the 14 insightful ideas and reminders I heard at the event:

1. There are 5.3 billion mobile devises in use worldwide and smart phones have recently outpaced the sale of feature phones. The world has gone mobile, there’s no turning back, and marketers need to adapt their practices to appeal to the masses of mobile users.
2. If there is still any doubt or confusion about the core purpose of marketing, let there be light: The objective of marketing is to create a customer!
3. Content is king but context is a more powerful king. Say what you need to say and spread the word through all relevant marketing channels, but make sure that what you say is contextual and easily understood by your audience. Companies are hiring “corporate reporters” to roam their halls and offices, capture the best stories, and shout them to the world.
4. The most valuable word in business these days is “No.” Not no for the sake of no, but no when the request or need isn’t clear, when the explanation of the outcome is more vague than you want it to be, or when the purpose behind the question or request doesn’t fit the strategy you’re pursuing. Saying “no” helps to eliminate distractions.
5. Others may be easily seduced by shiny objects so marketers need to use caution when asked by others to implement them just because they look cool and others are doing it. Not every shiny new marketing object will make sense for your particular business.  Any new thing that marketing does should be useful, sensible and add provable value. If not, then don’t do it.
6. With all due respect to B2C marketers, B2B marketing is tougher. It demands more long-term, ongoing 1:1 and small “purchasing committee” communication, relationship-building and relationship-maintenance.
7. Marketers need to avoid being trapped into submission by their company’s business processes. Be nimble, be experimental, work (and, when necessary, work around) the system to get done what you need to get done.
8. 70% of all B2B purchasing decisions begin on the web so findability is critical and therefore relevant content and a strong web presence are essential.
9. Marketing tells the story, Sales sells the story. Marketers need to prove how what they do makes the job of selling easier.
10. Video marketing is gaining on other types of content-based marketing. Buyers are spending far less time reading traditional printed-word collateral and far more time watching short videos because they’re easier to digest, more portable, more compelling, and puts a human face on an organization. Don’t be afraid to be a little edgy and creative with video – it shows your customers that you’re not boring. No one likes boring. (Bonus: Video ranks highly for SEO.)
11. Use QR (quick response) codes where appropriate. These are barcode-like symbols that can be scanned on a smart phone and that link the user directly to a specific landing page where more detailed information can be viewed.
12. Great marketers don’t just emails, even though their emails may be great. Marketing is a combination of many elements that reach customers in ways that they prefer to receive them and that convey great stories.
13. As the volume of business marketing email is increasing email response rates are decreasing. Marketing and sales need to supplement their e-marketing and e-communication efforts with other outreach methods. Yes, that means a good old-fashioned phone call!
14. In five years a marketer’s office will look like that of a stock trader. They will have multiple displays opened on their computer at all times revealing real-time performance metrics – even tickers – for all their active campaigns and they’ll have another set of screens that enables them to continually monitor and respond to their company’s reputation by watching mentions of their company name in all social media channels. No longer will be a marketer be allowed to say “I don’t know” when asked about the performance of anything they’re doing.

Kudos to BMA and the AZ Tech Council for creating a terrific forum for this exchange of ideas and thought leadership.