The Buzz 1: “Social media allows big companies to act small again.” (Jay Baer @convince Marketing) The Buzz 2: “If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” (Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO) The Buzz 3: “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.” (Erik Qualman, author, The Focus Project @equalman) Social media has dramatically affected how we navigate every aspect of life. Its impact on marketing is no exception, as in how it catalyzed the transition from push- to pull-centric marketing. According to MIT Sloan Professor Sinan Aral, “Social media is rewiring the central nervous system of humanity in real time. We’re now at a crossroads between its promise and its peril.” This crossroads is forcing marketers to sail a boat they’re still building while battling the stormy seas of short attention spans, political correctness, new social channels and other powerful waves. Argh! What impact will all of this have on the future of social media marketing? We’ll ask social media agency owner Janet E Johnson, Mike Grehan at SEMPO and Anna Millman at SAP for tips to help your social media marketing stand out amid the high seas noise and find friendly trade winds. Tune in for Social Media Marketing aka Building Your Boat While Sailing.

Changing the Game with Digital, Presented by SAP

Social Media Marketing aka Building Your Boat While Sailing

The Buzz 1: “Automated emails, triggered emails, drip email marketing…phrases often used by people considering a marketing automation system…where there’s email, unfortunately there’s spam… plenty of marketers are willing to cross the line to try to generate more leads … They rent lists full of bad addresses and unqualified prospects…too aggressive with frequency and offers…a desire for a quick and easy return. Acting on that desire however can bite you squarely in the arse.” [www.net-results.com/blog] Today there's a solution to over-complicated processes, underqualified leads, too little use of customer data and personalization – Marketing Automation. What is it? Marketing automation utilizes technology to streamline and improve the efficacy of marketing efforts (Salesforce). It allows you to target audiences better and provide them with relevant content, all at the exact right time of their buyer’s journey. But some people say Marketing Automation is almost too good at its job because as soon as a customer or prospect shows a bit of interest in your product or service, a slew of uninvited spammy promotional content begins appearing. Do they get annoyed, click off and abandon their journey with you? Question on the table: Has Marketing Automation transformed the industry in the right ways? Does automated marketing do its job too well? How will the inevitable cookies-less web impact the benefits of Marketing Automation? We’ll ask Neal Schaffer at PDCA Social, Kirill Kniazev at Motili, and Alisha Seegmiller at SAP for their take on Out with the Old and In with Marketing Automation – Beneficial or Spammy?

Out with the Old, In with Marketing Automation: Benefit or Spammy

The Buzz 1: “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is -- it is what consumers tell each other it is.” (Scott Cook, Intuit co-founder) The Buzz 2: “Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.” (Steve Forbes, Forbes magazine editor-in-chief) The Buzz 3: “A great brand is a story that is never completely told.” (Scott Bedbury, Brandstream CEO) The Buzz 4: “Whether B2B or B2C…We all are emotional beings looking for relevance, context and connection.” (Beth Comstock, Imagine It Forward author) The American Marketing Association [www.ama.org] describes “brand” as “...a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” More than a year into the Covid-19 pandemic where volatility, complexity, and uncertainty have been at an all-time high, a brand’s ability to get attention, be remembered, and be an educational resource has become more imperative than ever. That, in conjunction with consumers wanting their buying power to reflect their personal values, has placed extreme pressure on brands to get it right. Given all of this, what role does branding play in the buyer’s journey and has that changed since the pandemic began? What could or should companies do to be better at reflecting the social climate or should they not engage in that conversation? What other impacts will the pandemic have on the future of branding? We’ll ask Alicia Tillman, Mike Grehan and Dennis Thomas for their take on Brand Marketing in a Post-Pandemic World.

Brand Marketing in a Post-Pandemic World

The Buzz 1: “Today it's not about 'get the traffic' — it's about 'get the targeted and relevant traffic.” (Adam Audette, Chief Knowledge Officer, RKG) The Buzz 2: “Optimizing your website for real people helps you gain your visitors’ trust, starts building a relationship, and lets you sell products without having to jump on a sales call.” (vwo.com/website-optimization) A bit of history (Wikipedia.org): Webmasters and content providers began optimizing websites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, webmasters only needed to submit the address or URL of a page to the engines, which would send a web crawler to crawl that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed.” Are you a marketer who still assumes web optimization and search engine optimization (SEO) are the same? Reality check: Not! Web optimization is much more than SEO. It’s the critical first step for an effective digital marketing program, incorporating both on-page and off-page enhancements to ensure your pages are found and visitors to your website take the actions you desire. We’ll ask Aaron Zitzer at Aventi Group, Tom Shapiro at Stratabeat and Diego Pineda at Vengreso for their expert insights on Web Optimization: Make Your Customers’ Digital Journey Suck Less!

Web Optimization: Make Your Customers’ Digital Journey Suck Less!

The Buzz: “’That thing out there…that is no dinosaur,' says Owen in the 2015 action/sci-fi film Jurassic World. Can the same be said about your email marketing strategy?” (mashable.com) Fifty years ago, in 1971, pioneering American computer programmer Ray Tomlinson implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet. It was the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to ARPANET. The first business marketing email blast was sent in 1978 – and companies are still using this method of communication with customers and prospects today. Given the digital transformation every business is undergoing now as a result of the global pandemic, we’re wondering if this form of communication is antiquated or truly the backbone of how we entice, engage, and convert customers. Or is it something in between? Does email fit into the modern buyer's journey? What’s working and what’s not? What might the future of email marketing look like? We’ll ask Neal Schaffer at PDCA Social, Lindsay Miles at Emory University and Ashley Melendez at SAP for their take on eMail Marketing: Digital Dinosaur or Business Backbone?

eMail Marketing: Digital Dinosaur or Business Backbone?

The buzz 1: “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” (Tom Fishburne, Founder, Marketoonist). The buzz 2: “Marketers need to build digital relationships and reputation before closing a sale.” (Chris Brogan, CEO, Owner Media Group) The buzz 3: “Companies that speak in the language of the pitch are no longer speaking to anyone.” (The Cluetrain Manifesto, 95 business theses, 1999 – 2000) For years, sales organizations have understood the need for a new way to engage prospects and customers – particularly since traditional rolodex-dependent cold-calling was producing dismal results. Why? Buyers are demanding a personalized, customized, and integrated experience along the total customer journey. Yet at the same time, Marketers have been reluctant to embrace a new way of engaging customers – always throwing out the “volume” argument. Who is right? If sales teams are having real success with the “digital engagement” model, why are Marketers so resistant? What information / data / knowledge will help Marketers embrace this new paradigm? How can Marketers support their sales team counterparts for their collective success? We’ll ask Steve Watt at Seismic, Sarah Goodall at Tribal Impact and Charrele Robinson-Brown at SAP for their insights on what it will take for Marketers to change their mindset, skillset and potentially, their toolset, on Marketers’ Reality Check: Your Digital Presence Quotient *DPQ*.

Marketers’ Reality Check: Your Digital Presence Quotient *DPQ*

The buzz 1: “Once a niche aspect of the event industry, virtual events have become an integral part of daily life in the time of COVID-19 — and it looks like these events are here to stay.” www.eventbrite.com/blog/11-virtual-event-ideas The buzz 2: “Audience engagement is absolutely key to virtual events…it’s very easy for your audience to get distracted when attending your events online.…provide interactive elements so that your audience feels incredibly involved.” www.markletic.com/blog/virtual-event-engagement Over the past year of the global pandemic, our world has shifted to be almost completely digital. This phenomenon isn’t limited to your day-to-day interactions with peers and colleagues. It has also impacted the way you engage with customers, particularly when it comes to events. Is the transition from in-person to digital events as simple as just putting an on-site meeting agenda online? Not! Delivering an engaging customer experience in a digital event requires a different set of skills, ways of engaging your target audience’s attention, and most importantly, strategies for creating a memorable experience. Which platform/s and visual tools are best for engagement and an immersive experience? How to ensure quality content? How to promote your event on social media and position your call to action? We’ll ask experts Kathy Lopez at SAP, Lauren Stefano at Seismic, and Mark Della Valle at Encore Global / Canada, to share insights and insider tips on building engagement into their own and their customer’s events, what’s working, what’s not, and the biggest pitfalls to avoid. Join us for How to Build Engaging Virtual Events: Insider Success Tips.

How to Build Engaging Virtual Events: Insider Success Tips

The buzz: “If there was one winner in 2020, it was probably video. With everyone online all the time, video became more crucial than ever for marketing and communication.” [biteable.com/blog/video-marketing-statistics] According to Biteable’s video stats for 2021, 60 percent of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 14 precent of Marketers create videos every day. That’s a lot of video! Indeed, video has been the “king” of media types over the last 12 months. Its popularity brings up important questions about how customers engage with video, the psychology behind its success, and key features today’s marketers should build into their videos to ensure engagement success. We’ll ask Karl Yeh at Benevity, Mischa McInerney at Digital Marketing Institute and Ryan Sonnenberg at SAP about the most engaging video content they’ve experienced and how technology needs to evolve to increase customer interaction in video. Join us for The Psychology of Video Engagement: New King of Marketing Tactics!

The Psychology of Video Engagement: New King of Marketing Tactics

The buzz: “Great customer experience is a major competitive advantage that drives new sales—and it’s predicted to overtake price and product as the primary brand differentiator for B2B sales by 2020… 33% of customers will consider switching brands after just one poor experience.” (getfeedback.com) The customer journey – mostly online without a salesperson – has become a major puzzle for marketers to analyze. From brand awareness to customer advocacy, each customer’s experience is unique, compounding the challenges. You need to build each step of your touchpoints – whatever the route – toward the goal of a sale. The big questions: Who is responsible for the customer experience – Marketing, Sales or Customer Success – or all? In 2021, how is the customer journey map evolving and impacting customer experience? We’ll ask Tribal Impact’s Vanessa Baker, eConsultancy’s Stefan Tornquist, SAP’s Nicky Elsner for their take on Era of Your Customer: Who’s Minding Their Journey and Experience?

Era of Your Customer: Who’s Minding Their Journey and Experience?

The buzz: “Today, data is hidden all around us, and this begs the question: Is storytelling still important during a time when analytics reign supreme? Great analytics inform your storytelling; they point it in the right direction. But the data won’t do the storytelling for you.” (medium.com/the-mission/the-power-of-storytelling-in-sales-7ac8877475fa) Storytelling has been around since the start of civilization. It is how people shared experiences, informed family and friends, entertained each other. Good storytelling hooks us in from the beginning, and stimulates an emotional response to the characters, situation and outcome. Is storytelling critical to sales and marketing tactics today? If yes, how does it fit into the buyer’s journey? If no, why not? And what are the elements of a good story? We’ll ask SAP’s Kirsten Boileau, Citrix’s Lindsey Boggs and The Zahnd Team’s Georgia Huntley for their take on Storytelling for Marketing and Sales Success: Fact or Fiction?

Storytelling for Marketing & Sales Success: Fact or Fiction

The buzz: “Artificial intelligence is making waves…When marketers use AI with marketing automation, they create a superpower…drawing on everything they know about their consumers to tailor experiences with speed and precision…on a massive scale.” [blog.marketo.com] Marketers are constantly on the lookout for the next big thing when it comes to the future of the marketing industry. Many are focusing on buzzwords 'Automation' and 'AI', which have the potential to dramatically change how the industry works. It has to do with enhancing the effectiveness of critical components of a business such as the target clients your sales team has to concentrate on, the use of personnel time and required repetitive assignments. How will the future marketer work with AI? Will it be a battle between humans and machines? We’ll ask Alan McLaren at Infinitycomm, Rajat Kapur at &Marketing and Sylvia Lachkar at SAP for their insights on Rise of the Machines: How AI Is Disrupting Modern Marketing.

Encore: Rise of the Machines: How AI Is Disrupting Marketing

Rise of the Machines: How AI Is Disrupting Marketing

The buzz: “B2B sellers have tremendous success when integrating social into their process…Modern buyers are digital-first buyers…B2B social sellers outperform peers who don’t use social by 72%.” go.forrester.com How can your sales team drive brand awareness and accelerate your account-based marketing (ABM) strategy to convert top prospects into customers? Leverage their social presence. Digital selling has become increasingly important in building long-term customer relationships and repeat business. If your sales team isn't including it in ABM, they’re missing out. We’ll ask Steve Watt at Grapevine6, Kristina Jaramillo at Personal ABM, and Paroma Sen at SAP for their insights on how to get your marketing and sales teams to collaborate on ABM strategy, identify target accounts and key influencers, reach the right decision-makers with targeted content, and measure the impact of your ABM campaign. Join us for Accelerating Account-Based Marketing: Integrate Digital Selling.

Accelerating Account-Based Marketing: Integrate Digital Selling

The buzz: “Sales representatives spend less than a third of their working time actually selling…bogged down by administrative and other ‘non-sales’ tasks.” (HubSpot, business2community.com ) Digital Selling is inefficient and time-consuming when you have to manually research different prospect profiles to fill your lead pipeline, then craft unique messages specially targeted for each. How to reduce the busy-work? Consider Digital Sales Automation with tools to help you compile concise, detailed reports and generate new pipeline-happy leads. But while automation can provide an elegant solution for streamlining and executing your internal marketing and sales processes, it also can create a disconnect for B2B buyers who still value and demand meaningful relationships, credibility and trust with human B2B sellers. We'll ask Melissa Jeyaraj at LinkedIn, Walter Pollard at Brand Fuzion and Phil Lurie at SAP for their insights on Can We Leverage Digital Sales Automation in B2B Sales?

Can We Leverage Digital Sales Automation in B2B Sales?

The buzz: “When I got started in sales, I would create scripts based on what I heard from the best sales reps around me…but… every sales rep I tried to copy was doing something different…I couldn’t close a deal for the first 18 months…then something clicked…I learned how to read a conversation, understand tone and intonation…to build genuine relationships with my prospects. I stopped trying to automate what needs to be personal.” (S.M. Lowisz, Jan. 2020, forbes.com ) Reality check! Many sales leaders are getting lazy and resorting back to scripts. How bad it is? HubSpot reports that the computer software industry converts only 22% of opportunities to deals. Do the math. Is 78% of your sales team’s time a financial waste? The cure: non-stop coaching, optimized content, real insight, no scripts! We’ll ask Juliana Stancampiano at Oxygen, Julio Viskovich at NexLevel Sales, and Mike Orr at Grapevine6 for their insights on Lazy Leaders Use Scripts: Strategies to Better Sales Enablement.

Lazy Leaders Use Scripts: Strategies to Better Sales Enablement

Game-changing technology strategies are transformational, exciting and disruptive for a reason. They shake up your status quo. They get you thinking about new ways to scale, compete and grow. They move you in amazing new directions. Join host Bonnie D. Graham as she invites you to take an additional Coffee Break with Game-Changers for our special series on Digital Selling. We’ll explore the fundamental changes that Digital Selling is having on the sales and marketing profession, the implications on the buyer journey, how Digital Selling impacts an organization in terms of alignment and accountability, and how Digital Selling changes the dynamic between buyer and seller. Learn how you can become the savvy leader who takes your company across the finish line as you look ahead to the next wave of business innovation. Changing the Game with Digital Selling, presented by SAP, broadcasts live on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel.

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Changing the Game with Digital, Presented by SAP

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