Sit or Squat? – 6 Highlights from Marketo’s Boston Roadshow

The Marketo roadshow made its stop in Boston last Thursday at the Renaissance Waterfront Hotel in Boston’s recently revitalized Seaport District.

What did you miss? Check out below.

1) Sit or Squat? Mitch Joel Provides Some Great Insights…and Laughs

Dubbed the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing” by Marketing Magazine, the keynote was given by Mitch Joel of  Twist Image. He had a couple of funny and useful insights for the audience.

  • Be useful in your marketing. Forget about coupons—go create apps that are useful and in turn, build brand. For example, instead of Charmin creating a boring coupons app, it created a GPS bathroom ranking system for frequent travelers and moms looking for changing tables. That’s a pretty unique way to build your brand. The idea is that the next time you walk down the toilet paper aisle, you’ll think of Charmin. BTW, you can get the app here.
  • Direct relationships are key (AND BE ENGAGED). Do you know Bethany Mota?  Neither did 95% of the rest of the adult audience. However, in the 12-year old girl market, she is an absolute rockstar with her Youtube videos (6 million subscribers generating about $500K annually). Bethany has leveraged that fanbase into a YouTube and fashion empire with her own clothing line at retailer Aeropostale. Read about Bethany’s amazing Youtube-to-Fashion Queen story here–her key is audience engagement.

By the way, I just showed my 7-year old daughter this video and she wouldn’t let me turn it off. Through the course of writing this blog post, she has now watched about 10 Bethany videos and has already written down things she wants me to buy for her. Yes, the power of social marketing is at work.

  • Mobile is big and companies aren’t doing enough to reach that market. One piece of research showed that worldwide adoption of mobile devices is larger than the number of people who have electricity. Joel joked, “How do these people charge their devices?”

2) The Boston Area is Hungry for Marketing Automation

OK, maybe I am stating the obvious as Boston is one of the top technology hubs in the United States. Close to 400 prospects and Marketo customers attended the event reinforcing that there is a strong thirst for marketing automation in the area.

There was heavy action over at the Marketo User Group table. With over 500 active members, the Boston Marketo User Group is one of Marketo’s largest. If you are a Marketo customer and haven’t signed up, you can sign up for the LinkedIn user group here.

Paul Green, Zak Pines and Jody Spencer do a great job of putting together great monthly sessions (Next one is August 12th).

3) Got a Hot Date for Next Week? New Calendar

Marketo Sr. Director of Product Management Cheryl Chavez gave a deep dive into Marketo’s new user interface and calendar capabilities that will change the way marketers work by streamlining overall use. If your organization uses flat screens to display the latest Sales figures, it’s time to buy another one. Companies can now provide marketing activity visibility to team members.

Get more info on the release.

4) We Still Have a Ways to Go with Email Conversations (aka Nurturing)

Everyone talks about it but many companies still haven’t realized true personalized email conversations. A show of hands in the user session showed that only about a third of companies are leveraging Marketo’s engagement program capabilities. As Marketo’s Michael Berger presented, it’s important for companies to listen to behaviors that trigger more relevant messaging. Many companies are still using one way conversations. Berger showed that trigger based nurturing (listening) performs significantly better than standard nurturing.

For example, if a person is in Nikon’s database and new data arrives that the person is about to vacation on an island, it would be an ideal time to switch the email conversation to waterproof camera accessories.

5) The Next Big Thing is Here – RTP

To borrow a phase from Samsung, marketers frequently ask “what’s the next big thing?” Well, that’s already here and it’s called real-time personalization (RTP). Adoption is really picking up for this technology as companies are using firmographic and behavioral data to customize web and mobile experiences.

For example, if you are from the banking industry and visit a website for the first time, wouldn’t it be better to receive messaging about the solution that solves your industry’s problems rather than boilerplate messaging? RTP allows companies to start relevant conversation earlier in the customer experience.

Save the Date- Aug 12, 2014. The next Boston User Group session will focus on the benefits of RTP with a use case from Snowbound Software. Look for an email from Marketo shortly with more details. It will be held at Papa Razzi (2nd floor) in Burlington, MA from 4-6 PM.

6) What is Driving Your Traffic? NEW SEO Rolling Out

Marketo is also about to rollout SEO capabilities to marketers. A few screenshot photos are below. Look for these features in your Marketo instance soon.

Birdseye View of Your Traffic Sources

Check out how your performance compares vs competitors

7)  Bonus: Most Unique Shoe Attire

And that award would to Mr. Edward Masson who was sporting some Nike Marketo kicks he customized via the Nike site.

The post Sit or Squat? – 6 Highlights from Marketo’s Boston Roadshow appeared first on RevEngine Marketing.

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