Analysis: Marketing Conferences are Better Than Ice Cream

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Analysis: Marketing Conferences are Better Than Ice Cream Posted: 18 Jan 2017 05:56 AM PST Some days instead of writing about marketing I want to write about ice cream. Today is one of those days. I’ve been sitting at my desk daydreaming about Mint Chocolate Chip. I’m not a purist, so I don’t care if it is green or white, but the combination of creamy mint and the crunch of the chocolate has always hit the spot since childhood. I don’t even mind that the chocolate gets stuck in my molars and i have to dig it out. The variety of flavor choices is just the beginning. Cup or cone. Hot fudge or sprinkles. Ooh, and you can’t forget Magic Shell. But as much as I want to write about ice cream, I still find myself having to write about marketing. And in today’s case, marketing conferences. Marketing conferences are a lot like ice cream. 1. Choices Galore While there are not as many ice cream shops as there are Starbucks, as you drive through your town, or any town in America, there are options. And once you get inside even the smallest shops, how many flavors do you get to choose from? These are good problems to have. There are a great variety of marketing conferences to choose from. And once you are there, you can choose from sessions, keynotes, parties, and a whole lot more. 2. Scoop Deeper If you are like me, you usually only get one scoop. But every once in a while, you just want more ice cream and nothing less than two scoops will do it. If you have been to a marketing conference lately, you will likely find sessions organized in tracks. These tracks will let you really dig into topics from the beginner level all the way to advanced. You have the ability to really pile up the information until you get a brain freeze. 3. Treat Yo Self Ice cream is a treat that you don’t eat every day. But when you have it, your whole world lights up. Go to a marketing conference. Learn. Have fun. Network. Improve your business. What a way to Treat Yo Self. 4. Helps You Get Social Another reason we love ice cream, besides how delicious it is, is because it brings us together. Ice cream with friends on a hot summer day in the backyard. A special trip to the ice cream shop. Marketing conferences feel like that too. They bring like-minded people together to enjoy a whole variety of flavors of marketing. And they create great memories of those fun times. If you don’t come away from a marketing conference with a warm hot fudge on ice cream kind of feeling, then you might be doing it wrong. 5. Look for Rock Stars Besides a couple of guys named Ben and Jerry, the ice cream world is not really full of rock stars. But marketing conferences? They are filled with rock stars. Not only are there celebrities giving keynotes, company subject matter experts, and award-winning customers, but literal rock stars performing exclusive concerts. Even though you may not score a backstage pass for the show, many of the non-musical rock stars are accessible. And not for autographs, but for conversations. Somehow, some way, I wrote myself to the point that marketing conferences are better than ice cream. I never thought I would get there. But if you’re looking for a great conference to check out, Modern Marketing Experience in Las Vegas in April should be on the list. And there’s no better time to register. The extra-special, ice cream level Super Early Bird price ends January 22. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The Time is Now for the Future of Modern Marketing Posted: 17 Jan 2017 10:00 AM PST We often think that the future is just over the next hill, but when we asked global marketing experts to predict 2017, it seems like the future is already here. We all know how important it is to collect and analyze the data—now being generated at a rate of 2.5 quintillion bytes daily—to improve the customer experience. Some of us are doing this now, and we expect to do it better in the future. There are many marketers who have heard this advice before, and for whatever reason, they still have not implemented it. Lack of budget, lack of organizational alignment, or just a lack of a clear strategy to get there are some of the reasons it has not happened. But the time to act is now or you may be looking at a future that is not so bright for your brand. Technology—including our understanding of it, our education of how to use it, and how it integrates into all of our marketing campaigns and activities—is what the future looks like. You know those doors that silently slide open in space movies as you approach them—well, ok, I guess that happens at the grocery store too—that is what much of marketing technology feels like when implemented correctly. It helps you know what to do and when to do it. And sometimes it can even do it by itself. This is what automation and programmatic done right bring to the marketing stack. But with all this technology comes great responsibility. Responsibility to the customer experience. Our experts remind us that customer obsession is more important than implementing the latest and greatest. We will ultimately beat our competition with a better customer experience, not just better technology. We will achieve marketing utopia by focusing on our customers and prospects as more than names in a database, but as individuals with preferences, opinions, and desires. Technology-focused marketing without the customer experience will lead to a dystopian future where The Terminator’s Skynet really has taken over. Artificial intelligence and chatbots are more pieces of the future of Modern Marketing puzzle, even though this was written without the help of either one. Well, except where I had to look something up with a search engine. That’s a perfect example of how we have been living in the future for years. We should not fear the future. We should embrace it. Customer experience first, supported by the right technology and data. Download the Future of Modern Marketing: 2017 to read more details about what the experts think is on the road ahead. Buckle up, because it could be a bumpy ride.   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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