Whether you own your own business or work for someone else, finding customers and serving them is really the biggest challenge we all face – no matter how large or how small our businesses are. The world of marketing is and has been changing at a rapid pace and staying abreast of change is a challenge for marketers everywhere. The Integrated Marketing Summit – Atlanta is part of a multi-city tour that’s designed to provide marketers an opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business – including companies like IBM, Hallmark, Edison Research, Adobe, DuPont, Acton, Alight Analytics and more and it’s happening in Atlanta this next week, on March 7.
Why do you need to be there? It’s probably a good bet that you realize that consumers typically find products and services one of two ways: through search or by asking their friends. You probably also know that an integrated marketing strategy, connecting what you’re doing offline with what you’re doing online, is the key to success. But connecting the dots, marshalling the resources (internal and external) and fighting for budget dollars to make that integration a reality is a challenge – and one faced by pretty much all marketers, in some fashion or another.
What you need to be asking yourself
It’s a consumer-driven economy and savvy customers and prospects do their homework before they ever agree to talk with you or listen to your pitch. If you want to get a handle on how marketing is changing, who your customers are and what they need, and how you can serve them – and grow your business — here are some things you need to know:
- How are customers finding you now compared to a year ago?
- What was true about the industry and market a year ago that is no longer true?
- What are your competitors doing to attract potential customers?
- Who are your prospects? What do they need? How do they talk about the products or services you offer? What language do they use?
- Is your website working to attract prospective customers to you?
- How are you leveraging content and social media and connecting them to business initiatives?
- Are you designing your marketing initiatives with a mobile first approach, since consumers are now accessing the web more from their devices than they are from desktops?
- Once they get to your website, does your messaging convert them to business leads?
- Do you have a process in place to nurture leads?
- Are you using multi-channel attribution as part of your data analysis?
- Are you using data to drive your integrated marketing strategy?
- How do you stay connected to your customers after the sale?
Success means learning and adapting continually
Because the market and the way consumers find and use your product or service is constantly evolving, you need to be focused on learning and keeping up with new strategies and ideas. And you should probably know the answers to the questions posed above – or at least be working toward the answers as part of your marketing initiatives and strategy development. The best way I’ve found to get the inside scoop is to learn from respected industry professionals. If you’re in or near the Atlanta area, making a choice to attend the Integrated Marketing Summit will expose you to a group of super smart folks you can learn from, let you network with other marketing and sales professionals in an intimate, informal setting and you’ll walk away armed with so much great takeaway that you’ll be more excited about the future than you’ve been in a long time. I love these events for just that reason and even though I’m also a speaker, I sit in every session and learn from people who are truly some of the best in the business. And I love that!
At IMS, you’ll pick up powerful and proven techniques you can use right away:
- Integrate all your marketing efforts for maximum results.
- Reach your content marketing goals in 2014.
- Learn to turn a laser focus on CRM get your arms around your data
- Maximize ROI by automating your lead generation, qualification and nurturing efforts.
- Understand your customers’ decision journey.
- Understand how (and why) to reach the mobile consumer.
- Get the latest techniques on search and social marketing.
- Learn about mutli-channel attribution and how you could be using it.
The IMS event takes place on Friday, March 7th from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For those marketers looking for additional support and one-on-one advice and assistance, there are also three optional hands-on workshops on Thursday, March 6th from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Topics covered in the March 6th workshops include:
1. B2B Lead Generation, Nurturing, Qualification and Conversion
2. Content Marketing: How to Get it Right In 2014
3. A Deep Dive Into Google Analytics and How to Make it Work for You
The Atlanta event kicks off with a public networking event on Thursday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and it’s not too late to join us. In fact, we’d love nothing more than to see your face. I even have a discount code for the event, so if you want to come and join us, leave a comment here and I’ll give you my super-secret BFF 25% off code.
Register to attend
We hope to see you there!
Photo Credit: Keoni Cabral via Compfight cc
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
