Highlights from Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit
On May 9-12, BLUE’s Marketing Coordinator Mahira Buljina and Content Writer Matt Gordon journeyed to the glitzy bustle of Las Vegas, Nevada to attend Marketo’s 2016 Marketing Nation Summit. Per the theme of this year’s event: “Tomorrow’s Marketer,” BLUE was there to observe the marketing trends of the present and future, interact with other industry professionals and for Mahira to meeting famed actor, musician and keynote speaker, Will Smith.
Accomplished Speakers
The first full day of the Summit kicked off with mountaineer Alison Levine, who led the first all-female team to summit Mt. Everest. Her story of a failed trip to Everest drove home the point that “backing up is not backing down.” In other words, sometimes when you hit a roadblock (or a massive storm that threatens to trap you on Mt. Everest’s Summit), backing up is not only a good way to survive, but a good way to plot a new way forward. Marketo Chairman and CEO Phil Fernandez, meanwhile, placed a strong emphasis on how Marketo has played a huge role in the world of enterprise marketing. The crowd, however, was itching to hear Will Smith talk and came to its feet as he came out to perform “Getting Jiggy Wit It,” much to Mahira’s excitement. Rather than a typical keynote speech, he performed an expansive and entertaining interview with Marketo Marketing Officer, Sanjay Dholakia.
Hitting the Convention Floor
Then it was off to attend the conference and some live sessions, demos from and good old fashioned networking. What came next was a blur of marketing automation solutions, knowledge sharing, and intros to both fledgling and flourishing companies. We absorbed demos from Curata, Kapost, LeadMD, Everstring, Uberflip (thanks for the flip flops!), taking notes on what they do, how they market themselves and who they’re marketing to. What was immediately clear was that these companies were focusing less on customer acquisition and more on the customer journey. Another key theme on the lips of speakers and attendees alike was account based marketing.
Takeways from the Live Sessions
The most enlightening part of the Marketo Summit, without a doubt, were the live sessions. Presenters who were able to engage the audiences with humor seemed to grab the attention of attendees. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institutepresented “5 Key Essentials to Epic Content Marketing,” and used this tactic with his Yay/Boo Scale for Effective Marketing, illustrating which marketing tactics are indicators of success, like email subscribers, and which ones don’t mean much, like accumulating Facebook Fans.
Another standout presentation was from Ann Handley, who presented “Good Content vs. Good Enough Content: A Fight for Sore Eyes,” and emphasized the importance of not only WHAT you say, but HOW you say it. For example, she pointed out that there was a notable difference between “Give me the mustard” and “Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?” However, it’s easy to fall into the trap thinking that more content is the answer, when the real answer is BETTER content. As she described, it starts with a strong brand voice that you refine and focus on the minute details in order to make sure you’re attracting like-minded people.
Assessing the State of Marketing Post-Marketo
The takeaway from Marketo is that all great marketing relies on awesome, accurate content and there are a lot of companies who are striving to provide that content in new, innovative ways. A key component of exceptional marketing is product content. Companies who use BLUE know this and are aware of the profound benefits that come from having ready access to their product content, such as easier participation in digital initiatives like SmartLabel. This is because in the process of producing their product packaging using BLUE’s workflow and online proofing modules, BLUE collects product content so that you’ll have it at your fingertips.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, our Marketing Professional Mahira was extremely persuasive and somehow managed to get a kiss on the cheek from Will Smith, a truly magical moment. Inspired by her bravery, Matt went and put a $100 bet on the Cubs winning the 2016 World Series.
