It’s easy in our jobs as marketers to get caught in the day-to-day marketing march. We know everything there is to know about email deliverability…or search campaign optimization…or responsive design. When events hit our calendar we get a chance to lift our heads, look around, eat massive amounts of salty snack food, wear our comfortable shoes, practice staying alert in the dark, and see where our efforts fit in the bigger story.
Last week, Connections 2014 attendees got their fill of cracker jacks and cheese popcorn, along with a good dose of marketing mojo. Marc Benioff took the stage for last Tuesday’s keynote and, speaking to a group that thought they were attending a Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud conference, he reminded us that he was hardly content with inspiring better email. Marc and his Salesforce.com team look at the marketing cloud as the beginning of a movement. What begins as a conversation about marketing journeys quickly translates to the journey of life. You’re not running a social media program; you’re part of a system of connections that are transforming business…relationships…the world. Forget the internet of things – todays’ marketers shouldn’t speak of “things,” or “users” – we should talk about people and the Internet of the Consumer!
When you break it down, this message isn’t entirely different from what you’ve heard before. I was a marketer in the CRM bubble of the late 90’s and early 2000s, and so this all sounds a little familiar: think not of the technology you manage, but how you manage it to connect with people! Even today, this strategy has near neighbors. Oracle…Adobe…IBM…others…they all speak to technologies that begin with the hands of the marketer, and end in something short of world domination.
And so attendees left last week realizing that they have a role not only in managing their next upgrade, but building bridges to the future. Siloed marketing technologies are still largely procured one to two levels removed from the individuals holding vision conversations in the organization. What vendors know is that every day, choices will be made that will make or break your (and their) ability to bring vision to life. The executive team will certainly have the role in guiding and approving these decisions, but what leaders in the space know is that the folks on the convention hall floor are the ones who will turn conference demo material into reality.
And so the marketing revolution is bound to rest in the hands of its citizens. But isn’t that how it usually goes?
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