Eric Siu likes to say he was never successful athletically. And while he might have struggled between the lines, there was one arena in which he thrived: the digital one. Eric always found comfort when it came to video games, where for years,  he dominated as a successful esports player. For Eric, success in gaming was rooted in the mindset that failure was his and his alone, but that regardless of the struggle, the next level was always within reach..That mantra is something he still follows today.“I think marketers have to understand that there are levels to everything, and there are levels of your career, there are levels to when you're working out, and there are levels of games. If you can reframe life into a game, if you can reframe business into a game, it just becomes a lot easier and a lot more fun.”Eric is an investor, founder and advisor to companies. He is also the Chairman of the digital marketing agency, Single Grain. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Eric dives into what it means to have a leveling-up mindset and some of the steps that marketers can take to move up in their careers.  Plus, Eric details the two key areas marketers should be honing in on when it comes to optimizing their website.Main Takeaways:Built for Speed: When you’re trying to optimize your website for search, you have to be thinking about the things that matter most, which are content and links. Part of having good content is having a great user experience, and that means having a fast website. Always be thinking about how you can make your website faster and easier to consume.The Right Mix: It’s important when you are sourcing talent to find the right mix of employees who can excel in multiple areas. It might sound simple, but it’s not. Most marketers are not great product people and the same can be said for product personnel. Look for people who can manage both sides of the coin.The Long Game: At the end of the day, you have to always be thinking about long-term success and not what is happening in the short-term. Constantly be thinking about where you can get the most untapped potential and then leverage that into something that will benefit you in the long-term.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

If you’ve ever flipped on an NBA game in the last few years, you’ve probably noticed one small little detail embroidered on the left shoulder of your favorite NBA superstar. A logo. Sponsorship opportunities are plentiful in professional sports, and the relationship between a team and the community in which it plays is a critical aspect to take into account when it comes to their jersey patches and what brand gets that prime real estate. The Orlando Magic partner with Disney, the Milwaukee Bucks stay true to their roots and have a relationship with Harley Davidson. For the Charlotte Hornets, which are owned and operated by basketball’s biggest star, Michael Jordan, the partnership it has with LendingTree is rooted in the brand’s history in the community. “Sponsorships are more of an investment in the greater good of the community and the long-term relationship with your consumers…. You make the investment with the understanding that you're going to get unaided awareness and aided awareness. Aided awareness is seeing the logo on your chest. You see the benefit and aided awareness from that logo being on their chest, and when they're on television. When you see those jerseys in there, it's spread across the country. The unaided awareness, that's a bit slower. And we've just determined that the value of those points over time, coupled with the things that we're going to do offline is where the value lies.”Cornell McGee is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for LendingTree, an online loan marketplace based in Charlotte, North Carolina. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Cornell opens up about the company's long-standing relationship with the Charlotte Hornets and the value that brings to the brand and its customers. Plus, he explains how marketers need to be thinking about partnerships more generally, and how every marketer can deliver high-value content to their consumers.Main TakeawaysAir Jordan: Some partnerships are meant to simply drive brand awareness, while others serve multiple purposes. When thinking about partnerships, make sure you are investing with the understanding that you are going to get both unaided and aided awareness from your partnerships. Your aided awareness will consist of your visibility and you will see immediate benefits. Your unaided awareness will build at a slower pace but will help over a longer period of time.Are We Exclusive: The lifetime value of any particular customer should be a fundamental baseline to your customer success strategy. Once you think about their long-term journey, you move past simply reaching a customer at the point-of-sale, and you create a more long-term problem-solving relationship with them.Just Give the People What They Want: It’s a simple notion, but can never be overstated: Feed your customers the content that they crave. Make sure you are constantly listening and understanding what their needs are and then act appropriately. Don’t act based on your own intelligence or desires. Produce your content based on what the consumer is asking for in order to meet their needs, delight, and serve them.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Here’s the deal, customer service gets a bad rap, but the truth is that when done well, solving customers’ needs is awesome, and when you can actually give them a good experience and make their day, that’s just icing on the cake. Reaching that outcome takes work, though, and the market for how customer service outsourcing is conducted has been changing over the last few years.  Companies such as Alorica are emerging in this industry thanks to its ability to adapt to the changing landscape of our world and deliver a service that takes some of the hard work out of the customer service process. “The market for customer service outsourcing is changing dramatically. What has been a fairly well-established model — where we could operate call centers on behalf of our clients and manage that customer experience more effectively — is getting disrupted. And a big part of that is the way that technology is supporting more personalization, new channels for customers to engage with brands, and thinking through how to bring together a value proposition that takes a massive distributed labor force and enables them with technology that then delivers an outcome, utilizing proven processes and techniques.”Those are the words of Colson Hillier, the CMO of Alorica, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, he discusses the radical shift in how large scale customer service departments — such as call centers — are being forced to alter their format and where Alorica comes into play. Plus, Colson details how personalization efforts continue to put the customer experience at the forefront of every decision.Main Takeaways:The Good ‘Ole Days: The market for customer service outsourcing is changing significantly. The well-established model of operating call centers on behalf of clients has been disrupted due to new personalization methods and how consumers can easily interact and engage with brands at a quicker pace.Bring the Value: The overall value proposition that brands are bringing to their clients is no longer rooted in products, but rather the overall experience and how the customer is able to utilize the service.The Big Chair: The role of the CMO is no longer about nit-picking products and campaigns, but rather a broader scope of responsibility and not just thinking about the overall product portfolio, but rather product development, marketing, and how the company tells the overall story of the organization.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

More than likely you’ve come across your favorite YouTuber dropping their favorite line, “this episode is sponsored by [Insert brand name here].” And while that tag might be an annoying sidetrack to the content you came for, there is something bigger at play with that message than what you see and hear on the surface, especially to the marketers who set up that sponsorship. “The feel of your brand coming out of the mouth of somebody who has a respected audience is valuable. It's better than just appearing on a no-name editorial or piece of content. It's better if it touches them more. So that's the foundation. That's the underlying principle of why that potential reward is dramatically outsized. ... when you have a hit, you hit big.”Those are the words of Daniel Conn, the CRO and Co-Founder of ThoughtLeaders. Daniel joined this episode of Marketing Trends to discuss why marketers are suddenly starting to look at sponsorship opportunities as a separate and valuable channel, and he breaks down why the right-partnership, paired with the proper voice, can have endless opportunities for your brand.Main Takeaways:A Whole New Channel: Marketers and strategic planners are now beginning to look at sponsorships as a legitimate channel that is an important part of their media mix. No longer are sponsorships viewed as single tags at the end of a bowl game. Instead, they are fully-integrated partnerships paired with strategic partners who connect with a target audience better than other kinds of advertising.Authenticity Matters: Any brand and content creator can partner with each other. But when you are partnering with podcast hosts and YouTubers that already have built-in audiences, make sure their message and audience are authentic and connected to your brand. The power of influencers speaking for your brand on a daily basis is that they capitalize on the opportunity to connect with users in a way traditional advertising does not.It Sounds Simple, But It’s Not: Success rate is the metric brands have to rely on when measuring the value of a sponsorship. It seems obvious, but it’s true that you cannot put too high a value on the success rate, and what it means in terms of ROI.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Jonathan Yaffe is not joking when he says our economy is changing. No, he isn’t talking about the rise and fall of the stock market or the way consumers distribute their money. What he is talking about is a culture shift, from a things economy to one focused on experiences. Jonathan knows this because he saw it shift first-hand during his days with Red Bull, where he learned the power of experiences, but also the deficiencies within the experience industry — especially when it came to ROI.“We were spending billions of dollars a year on experiences and it clearly worked. But what drove me absolutely crazy is that we had no data. We had no ROI. We believed that we were changing people's behavior by creating these massive large-scale experiences all over the world. But we had no idea how they were actually working real-time.”On this episode of Marketing Trends, Jonathan, who is now the Co-Founder and CEO of AnyRoad, discusses why it's time for marketers to stop focusing on their products, and instead think about r how to turn their brand into an experience that will drive lasting lifetime value. Jonathan also details wheat makes for successful experiential marketing strategies and which companies are doing it best.Main Takeaways:It’s a Lifestyle: Most companies will need to shift their focus toward marketing experiences and away from actual products. As more and more consumers begin participating in experiences, their brand loyalty is more likely to grow, which will lead to more sales from that consumer over time.Are You Making Money Though?: One of the biggest issues currently facing experiential marketing is that most brands do not have a comprehensive strategy behind how to understand the ROI their experiences are bringing in. In order to successfully understand experiential marketing, you need to have a 360-degree view of who your customer is, what drives their buying behavior, and how you can build loyalty with that customer over time.Changed Behavior: Experiential marketing is not about pushing products but rather it’s about changing a consumer’s behavior so their buying habits naturally increase over time. If a consumer only visits a yoga class once a month, marketers need to begin to figure out ways they can alter that same consumer’s buying behavior so that they will visit that same class multiple times a month.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Matt Epstein was three years removed from his days at UCF when he decided he’d finally had enough of the job-hunting process. Endlessly sending out resumes without as much as a response had worn him down and he had to take a hard look at why, as a marketer, he couldn’t make himself stand out. marketer,  So he changed his strategy and instead of doing what everyone wanted him to do, he pivoted and took a risk.“If whatever you're doing, you're not feeling a little uncomfortable, then that means you're not taking risks. And the worst thing you could do as a marketer is not take risks. If you're not zigging while everyone else is zagging, well then guess what? You're not going to stand out. And the worst thing you could do as a marketer is not stand out.”The risk Matt was about to take meant he’d use his entire life savings on one specific campaign: to market himself to tech giants such as Google by using a clever website, GooglePleaseHire.me, which was complete with a video resume designed to make him stand out. Believe it or not, Matt didn’t actually get that job at Google, but the risk still paid off and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Matt explains how.  Plus, Matt details how the early marketing strategies he used helped lay the groundwork for his future campaigns, and how marketers should be taking risks these days.Main Takeaways:Be the Bigger Company: When it comes to competitive advertising, the only instance in which you can go directly at a competitor is if they have significantly more market share. You need to think about the optics of the situation. Companies that are perceived as leaders within their market could be perceived as petty or bullying if they go at a competitor. So a good rule of thumb when it comes to competitive advertising is to punch up, not down.Messaging That Works: One of the first things marketers should be doing when they join a new company is to identify a message that not only sticks out, but also cuts through all the noise. If your message is getting lost in the crowd, whatever you do beyond that point will not be successful, regardless of the ad spend you put behind it.Are you a Risk-Taker?: Whatever strategy you are pursuing, should make you feel uncomfortable. If you are comfortable as a marketer and as a department, it means you are not taking a risk, which means you are not going to stand out from the crowd. Constantly be challenging yourself and your team to be thinking of new ways that deviate from what everyone else is doing.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Ushering a company through a rebrand is a daunting enough task. Now try walking that tight-rope when your company is pivoting from a non-profit impact-driven organization to a for-profit company focused on making sure its clients receive accurate data to power their A.I. Sounds challenging, right? A.I. has become something of a buzzword in marketing circles, the technology has merits if you understand what it needs to make it successful. “There is an idea that without that data artificial intelligence wouldn't exist. There's synthetic data creation, and there's now models that can train off of very little data. But at the highest level, A.I. just doesn't exist without training data. And quite honestly, trading data at this point, doesn't exist without a massive human workforce. And that workforce is often overlooked.”Those are the words of Heather Gadonniex, the VP of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Sama. She is a marketing and data expert with a mission to deliver actionable data to power marketers’ ambitious A.I. goals. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Heather discusses why marketers need to know where their data is coming from in order to know how to properly use their datasets. She also shares stories on how she helped Sama pivot from a non-profit organization into the world of for-profit business, the challenges of their rebrand and the importance of impact.Main Takeaways:What Matters: There are a few core things that really matter in any business: personnel, culture, revenue and impact. Those four pillars all require different departments being in alignment with each other. Without any kind of alignment between your product teams, marketing teams, or sales stakeholders, you don’t have the ability to grow, scale or make the most impact that an organization can have in the marketplace because you’re not all focused on the same goals.Data 101: A.I. will continue to be one of the most important tools moving forward, but marketers must understand not just how to enable those insights to power your business, but where that third party data is coming from. Is the data set that the company is providing trained on your data or is it coming from another data set? The answer to those questions will impact the predictions you receive from your tech stack.How to Train Your Data: There’s this notion that A.I. and machine learning are going to replace marketing jobs in the future. However, that is simply not the case. What is often overlooked with new marketing technologies is the training data that goes into these tech stacks. At the highest levels, A.I. doesn’t exist without training data, which does not exist without a physical workforce behind it.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

In her years of experience as a marketing analyst and advisor to the C-Suite, Erna Alfred Liousas has worked with businesses of all sizes. From small SMBs to large enterprises, she’s seen it all. And it’s through these interactions with marketing departments of all sizes that she found clarity on all the areas where marketers are struggling most, including where a marketing team is most-frequently struggling in designing the customer experience.  “Marketers are recognizing that customer experience consists of numerous touchpoints, including all of the ones that marketing owns. The true definition of customer experience is the perception that customers have of an organization. And that perception is formed by the interactions across all of the brand’s touchpoints. So it's not just marketing. It's not just a product. It's not just service. It's everything.”Erna is the founder and CEO of U*Realized, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, she discusses why marketers need to start placing a greater emphasis on customer service and the feedback loops those interactions provide. She also discusses how messaging specificity can make all the difference when trying to reach your target audience, and why playing in three channels as opposed to one, might pay huge dividends.Main Takeaways:There’s Gold in There: Customer services are  a way to directly capture thoughts and insights from the customer, and smart marketers should be using those insights as a peek behind the curtain at some of the unspoken or indirect feedback customers are thinking about. Marketers should view customer service as another channel that can supplement some of the information that you would be getting elsewhere.Be Intentional: Make sure you are doing your due process before you commit to any one channel. Now is the time for marketers to review all of the channels that they’ve been leaning on and calling successful and ask themselves tough questions, such as: are customers actually engaging with us or are they just liking the content? Your social channels must accomplish a goal, so make sure you are setting KPIs in order to reach that goal.Make it Sing: When it comes to messaging, specificity and relevance are what will have the most impact. Make sure you understand what the message is you’re trying to convey, the importance of it in relation to the customer, and which of their channels they would prefer to see that message or content.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

2020 proved to be one of the most unprecedented and unpredictable years in history. Forevermore, marketing students will study the way brands altered campaigns at moments notice, embraced new technology, and dealt with social challenges as they surfaced. And they will also study the fallout and response to all of those activities in the years that followed, especially as it relates to marketing in the digital world to meet a new kind of audience. “2021, aside from all of this exciting brand new technology, and all of the demographic shifts that are happening that are going to allow brands to do new things for the first time, it's going to be a year of huge risk because a lot of consumers and employees that are at home with a lot of extra time, a lot of millennials and genZ that are going to be spending more time than normal on social media and on digital, which means a lot of the things that brands are doing right now is going to be scrutinized.”Kai Wright is an author, advisor, and lecturer at Columbia University, as well as the Founder & Curator of blacklist100, so he sits at an interesting intersection in the marketing universe: both as a scholar and a practitioner. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Kai dives into the intricacies of 2020 and the ripple effect it continues to have on the marketing industry. Kai also dives into the social movements brands have had to respond to and what that response means to consumers.Main Takeaways:All About the Ecosystem: Companies that took the time to invest in their digital ecosystems prior to the pandemic are now ahead of the game. Investing in that digital infrastructure allowed those brands to move quickly as the world shifted even more toward online activities, and gave them the opportunity to build trust with consumers and a sense of strong brand loyalty.The Next Big Shift: The next huge growth opportunity for marketers is not going to be commerce or digital, but rather it will be how they start shifting their messages to target minority communities and meet their needs more specifically. The U.S. Census estimates that over the next 40 years, 90% of the country's population will be made up of three groups: African Americas, LatinX. and Asian Americans. Marketers who can pivot their messaging and target these audiences will see more growth than those who stick to their old ways.The Power of the SMB: Marketers need to have an understanding of the audience or community that they are targeting. The SMB market is integral from an economic perspective, especially the communities that operate around them. Ignoring or misunderstanding SMBs will eventually lead to withering away of that market and the surrounding communities.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

There’s nothing more frustrating than putting hours of time and money into a project only to watch it lay dormant. And yet, we see this happening constantly with brand landing pages and websites — the online face of the company — left neglected and forgotten for long stretches. So how can marketers break the mold and turn their websites into a long-lasting and user-friendly experience? That’s a question that Anne Stefanyk says her clients come to her with daily.“The website has become a marketing decision more so than an IT decision. 80% of our clients tend to be Director of Marketing or CMOs. And what happens is they come to us and they say, ‘We need a real specialist to make sure that our website works. We need to be making sure that not only are we getting leads, but we're getting qualified leads, and we're moving them through the sales funnel as fast as possible.’”Anne is the CEO and Founder of Kanopi Studios, a web agency designed around helping marketers create beautiful websites through adaptive execution and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Anne discusses specific growth strategies for how marketers can turn their websites into ROI machines. Plus she explains why search engines and search functions continue to be an undervalued asset and she details common mistakes she sees on most websites the marketers listening might want to check for.Main Takeaways:Continuous Improvement: You will never find a savvy marketer who will tell you that you can build a website and simply leave it static. Instead, they are continuously monitoring and maintaining their overall website experiences to make sure that it is meeting user expectations, which change more frequently than ever before.The Three Cs: A successful website growth strategy starts with deploying the following strategy: Connect, Communicate, and then convert. One of the most common components of a failed website’s growth strategy is missing dialogue. Institute a conversational chat function that can learn and adapt to your users, but most importantly one that opens the experience up to more personalization efforts down the road.Through the Side Door: Marketers need to think of their website as a guided tour of their brand. Guests want to be shown around and they want you to make that process easy for them. Most times, guests won’t find your site through your homepage, but rather through search. SEO should be doing the work for you. Users that access your site through search are 200% more likely to convert on sales. Make sure you deploy a successful search strategy, but also you empower your site to have a search function as well.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

The saying, “cash is king,” might have finally met its match in 2020. As more and more businesses and banks push their business toward eCommerce and digital transactions, the result is the further shunning of physical cash., One CMO is hoping to cash in on that trend, if you will, by capitalizing on every single swipe of the credit card thanks to a little help from A.I.“We thought, what if we use AI technology embedded on our cards? So when you scan [the card], you'll get personalized offerings and content? That will help customers to get offers faster and in one offline innovative space, as well as on our side, we'll optimize our marketing spend.”Those are the words of Levan Gomshiashvili, the CMO of Bank of Georgia, and his example of card-linked marketing is a look at how his marketing team hopes to stay ahead of the curve in 2021. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Levan details what else is on the table this year, including how his team works with the product development and sales teams to create winning products and strategies in order to meet the customers where they need them most. Plus, Levan discusses how marketers can stay ahead of the curve, even when their budget might be cut.Main Takeaways:Card-Linked Marketing: Marketers are constantly trying to find new and innovative ways to create a more personalized experience for their clients. A developing avenue that Bank of Georgia is pursuing card-linked marketing. By using demographic data from purchases, bank marketers can now create a clearer overall picture of each individual customer, while pushing messaging and promotions that are more effective to what the customer needs and wantsSo You Want to Be a TikTok Star: It’s more important than ever that your messaging reaches your target audience. When it comes to your digital messaging efforts, work to make sure you are reaching them on the channels that they are already engaging with. If your audience is on TikTok, shift your digital strategy to meet them on that platform, but don’t get too comfortable. You have to constantly be exploring new platforms and environments in order to keep your content and messaging timely, while appealing to your base audience.Don’t Overthink It: As marketing budgets shrink due to the fallout from 2020, marketers need to double down on the tactics and strategies that worked for them in 2020. If digital channels were a huge success for your brand, focus on those channels and products that the customers have already told you they need and want.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Let's get into some marketing 101: Every marketer has some kind of base they market their products to. For example, if you’re in the market for a tire, Goodyear is probably on your radar. At Adobe, the marketing team attempts to appeal to customers who want to tap into their inner creative side. But what happens when you don’t have a defined customer base? What if your customer base is literally any business and every industry? “[We’re] dealing with every single industry out there. You're getting to see customers who are going through some of the biggest challenges from going global, and that drives activity and questions in the marketplace that we try to jump on and have better answers for. They're getting into new products and services, new markets, and they need to rely on us for our expertise about how to handle customs in any marketplace.”Meet Chris O’Brien, the Chief Commercial Officer for C.H. Robinson. Through his 25-plus years at C.H. Robinson, Chris has seen it all. From dealing with customers at both a regional and national level, to working on supply chain management around the globe. On this episode of Marketing Trends, he details how and why the supply chain industry has seen increased visibility over the last few years, and he explains the importance of building a customer experience that puts the user at the forefront and the implications that doing so will have on your company’s culture.Main Takeaways:Increased Visibility: The stress the pandemic has placed on global supply chains is a brand new challenge in the industry. As a result, there is increased visibility and the relevancy of companies like C.H. Robinson.Level Up: Your customer experience should not only touch consumers at multiple levels, but it needs to be more proactive and less reactionary. By being proactive, you can create a better overall customer journey from start to finish and serve your customer in multiple ways.Brand Over Everything: In the current climate, the power and stability of your brand is more important than ever. Maintaining a strong, stable, and meaningful stance among customers is a top priority for marketers.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Joel Windels, the CMO of NetMotion, says if you’re working on building the ultimate customer experience, you should shift your mindset and instead look at it as an overall consumer experience. The difference is subtle, but the applications and implication of that mental move are necessary in a world where buying something goes far beyond just the basic transaction.   “The quickest way to describe why it's important is unboxing videos on YouTube,” he said. “You don't just buy a gadget or a phone anymore. You're buying the presentation of the box that it comes in and how it slides out and how it sets up. It's much more than the utility of the product itself. From the moment you first hear about us, to the moment you finally login, it's all of those micro touchpoints. How do you make sure every single interaction you have with us as a business is just really good.”On this episode of Marketing Trends, Joel takes us further down the consumer experience rabbit hole. Here he provides some key marketing strategies to help curate a positive 360-customer experience, including tactics that not only drive customer engagement, but then turn those customers into champions for your brand.Main Takeaways:Surprise and Delight: Every time you have an engagement with a customer, you have to be thinking about how to turn that customer into an advocate for your brand. This is especially important when a customer has had a poor experience with your brand. Find all the points in the customer journey where you can go above and beyond what is expected in order to mend that relationship and earn a loyal customer for life.And Now, Something Completely Different: There is no doubt that marketing in 2020 was vastly different than ever before — but that just meant that marketers had to find innovative ways to engage with customers.,  To get and stay ahead, continually find ways to turn routine, potentially rote events such as webinars into something new that a customer would want to take part in. In fact, studies show that webinars and virtual events that featured unique twists often receive higher engagement and longer participation.To Infinity and Beyond: The customer experience is more than just the overall journey from product identification to checkout. The journey also includes all the other touchpoints as well. From presentation, to unboxing, and feel, marketers must always be thinking about how you can turn every single interaction into a positive experience.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Never before have consumer expectations shifted at such a rapid pace. As brands and marketers try to keep up with an always-evolving consumer landscape, what they are quickly discovering is that just because you operate in one sector, doesn’t mean you are just being judged amongst your peers. As the  Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing, Product and Digital Officer at City National Bank, what Linda Duncombe has discovered is that while the customer always comes first, the way customers interact with other brands and platforms across multiple sectors greatly alters the expectations they have for yours.“They're not comparing me to banks. They compare me to the experiences that they're having in their lives. When we think competition and innovation, it's really easy for us to say this bank is doing this and this bank is doing that, but that's a big mistake because that is not what we are being benchmarked against. Innovation now has to start thinking very differently about how we meet the client experience. It's evolving.”On this episode of Marketing Trends, Linda discusses why City National Bank has widened its scope of technology services in an effort to make the customer experience a more streamlined experience. And she discusses why the customer’s voice is larger and more important to marketers today than it has ever been before.Main Takeaways:Can You Hear Me Now?: Never before have clients played such an integral role in the development and launch of products. As clients’ voices rise in importance, marketers need to develop a workflow that now incorporates the client more in order to ensure that their needs are being met. Co-creation helps develop a working and personable relationship with the customer while making sure they have a seat at the tableThink Outside the Box: When you are hiring a marketing team, think outside the typical personnel you are comfortable with. Don’t lock yourself into hiring individuals with only banking experience, or only content expertise. When you confine yourself to those boxes, you often find the same types of candidates and a lack of diversity in skill. Instead, go outside of your organization and industry in order to create a diverse team filled with passionate marketers who can help innovate your space.Expectations Rising: Banks and companies are no longer being measured solely based upon their products. Instead, customers are measuring a company's value based upon a variety of factors, including the social good they contribute to their community. Incorporating some sort of social mission or community initiative will help the upcoming civic-minded generation feel comfortable working with and remaining loyal to your brand.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

It’s no secret that the power of a brand can make all the difference in the world of marketing. When people think of Apple, they think of clean, sleek and innovative designs. When you think of Wendy’s, its smart and clever Twitter account has become the high water mark for how brands should interact with their base. But what happens when you’re a smaller brand still building your message? How do you go about finding your base and voice?“We can talk about the quality of the food and the antibiotic-free chicken. We can talk about our made-from-scratch Southern sides. We can talk about that hospitality experience. We want you to feel like a guest when you're [at Joella’s]. And we thought that was just the bigger play to help educate people around hot chicken and also have a little bit more of that broader appeal. So we're not just that destination to come try hot chicken once we get the hottest thing. We want to develop customers that love our flavor and love our experience and want to continue to come back to us for more.”Those are the words of Katie Wollrich, the CMO of Joella’s Hot Chicken, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, she dives into the importance of messaging and understanding where your brands live within the marketplace and in the minds of consumers. Plus, Katie provides insights on how marketers who are accepting their first CMO position, can hit the ground running.Main Takeaways:Be Our Guest: When your brand is regional and not national, it’s important to recognize the impact of being a community partner. This means putting more of a focus on understanding the impact local public relations can have on your brand. Being able to partner with local organizations and then using those partnerships as opportunities are important when it comes to brand awareness.Building Up Your Brand: When it comes to developing your brand’s message, finding your voice doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, you need to be methodical and opportunistic with your approach. Keep your message simple and consistent. Start with gathering strong strategic insights and then reiterate that same message over and over again.Rewarding Loyalty: One of the best ways to get to know your customers and to understand them is through loyalty programs. Not only are you consistently rewarding your guests when they come into the store, but the data you are gathering from those visits is far more valuable. When you have a better understanding of your customer, who they are, and what drives their purchases, it provides a better chance to reach them in the moments that matter most.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. 

Tim Glomb has never been one for doing things the “traditional way.” From his days producing reality television shows, to his current gig as the Vice President of Content and Data for Cheetah Digital, Tim has consistently operated under one founding principle: To create content that makes people say, “‘That was awesome.”“You want to know if your content is resonating. Yeah, jumping out of a plane and having Tommy Lee FaceTime you and all these things sounds crazy, but we had CMOs and CEOs and some of our clients writing our CEO notes and emails going, ‘Did I just watch your team jump out of a plane to kick this off? That’s [awesome]. That's different. You got my attention.’ You have to experiment, you have to jump-off ledges, but they’ve got to be calculated risks. You have to be doing things that people are going to look at and go, ‘Why the heck did they do that?’ Some will fall flat — so, fail quickly, and move on, but you've got to take those risks and you go to have fun. If you're not having fun, why are you doing it?”Fun is the keyword, but in the B2B industry, it can sometimes get lost in the day-to-day marketing tactics being used. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Tim discusses how B2B marketers can think differently and start injecting a little more adventure into what they do, and he talks about the power of creating meaningful and engaging content, even in a space that’s not known for it.Main Takeaways:Viva La Content!: In a world driven by content, you need to constantly be thinking to yourself, ‘Is this content something that I would want to consume?’ If the answer is no, you need to rethink what you are producing for your clients. Put your client first and don’t just produce content that improves their metrics. Produce content that inspires and energizes your clients and makes them excited to work with you.Through their Eyes:  One of the biggest mistakes marketers often make is not letting their clients tell their own story. Don’t tell the story for your clients — let them convey their message and then it’s the marketers job to find a unique way to make the audience engage with that.Data Know-How: When you’re looking at your data, ask questions, and really listen to what the market is telling you. The goal of any content should be engagement, but make sure that you are listening to the people on what they want, even down to the medium and the format.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Perhaps the Cookie Monster said it best when he uttered the phrase, “Cookie not diet, because Cookie is Lifestyle.” For Tom Carusona, the CMO of Insomnia Cookies, that mantra has never been more true. But after more than two years as the head marketer for Insomnia Cookies, he’s learned one key lesson…“From a content perspective, authentic cookie shots are what people want. They want to see a warm, delicious, melty, cookie that you can practically smell through your phone. I remember when I started, I was [saying], ‘I don't want to just see a string of a zillion photos of cookies,’ but it turns out that actually, that's exactly what people want.”As a marketer, it can be hard to go against your creative intuition, but on this episode of Marketing Trends, Tom goes into detail about how Insomnia Cookies has built such a loyal following, the importance of using marketing tools that resonate with your brand, and why sometimes it’s best to just give your audience what they want.Main Takeaways:Insomniacs: When you are working with influencers, it's of the utmost importance you are working with individuals that represent your brand in an authentic way and believe in your product. The influencers you work with should have an audience that is in line with the core demographics of your own business.Nom, Nom, Nom: Make sure the content you are producing resonates with your audience. If your followers want to see warm, melt-in-your-mouth cookies, give them pictures of those same cookies. Don’t try to force content down their throats that they are not asking for. Keep it simple and stay true to your brand.Evolution of the Field Marketer: Field marketing is now more about having a pulse on what is happening within your stores and then providing your brick and mortar locations with a toolkit that their sales teams can utilize to reach their goals. The trick is creating a toolkit that stores across the country can utilize successfully.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

When we’re wandering around the internet, the hard truth is that we are constantly at risk. There are bad actors constantly attempting to perpetrate cyberattacks on unsuspecting web surfers. And, more and more often, those bad actors are utilizing some pretty sophisticated marketing tactics and we don’t even realize it. Matt Gillis, the CEO of Clean.io, says it’s time to change that mindset.“Most of the CMOs and marketing leaders that would be listening to this podcast, you're buying ads at a dollar CPM, and you're hoping that you get a half a percent click-through rate. These bad actors have figured out how to buy those same ads for that $1 CPM and inject JavaScript and create a 100% click-through rate.”On this episode of Marketing Trends, Matt explains those tactics in-depth, and he discusses the role bad actors are playing in the end-user’s overall experience. Matt explains why the No. 1 goal of this nefarious activity is not necessarily compensation, but more so engagement and, he identifies why popular extensions are not acting in the user’s best interest.Main Takeaways:Customer Experience is No. 1: The mission to make ad experiences better on publishers is rooted in the idea that customer experience is the No.1 priority. If someone comes to a publisher’s website and has a bad experience due to ads or bad actors, more than likely, they won’t return to that site.The Best Performance Marketers in the World: Marketers and publishers need to stop thinking of bad actors as just cyber attackers. Instead, they need to begin to understand that these same bad actors think just like marketers, but are not bound to the same rules and regulations that marketers abide by.It’s All About Engagement: The No. 1 goal of any bad actor is to draw engagement. Bad actors want the end-user to get to a certain landing page by enticing them with a discount code, gift card, etc.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

When your company is 113 years old, internationally known, and well respected, you would think by now everything has been figured out. Turns out, though, that even the biggest legacy companies in the world have room to grow and lessons to learn.“We found that at UPS, we had tons of data. We were swimming in data. [Shipping] traditionally has been an industrial, engineering, and operating company. So data was everywhere, but synthesizing that data and distilling it and transferring that data into knowledge, and information into insights we were lacking.”That’s what Kevin Warren, the CMO of UPS, had to say about some of the challenges they have faced recently. Kevin joined Marketing Trends for a deep dive on why it’s important for even the most established companies to take an honest look at their marketing approach and not be afraid to make changes. Plus he discusses why SMBs are becoming more of a focus, and how to put your purpose and mission at the forefront of every campaign and business activity.Main Takeaways:Make it Stick: When you’re thinking about hosting events, make sure the experience is worthwhile to the customer. Think to yourself, “Is this something that would be memorable?” Make your events memorable, useful, and accessible so that they become something  your clients will move their schedules to attend.That’s Logistics… Or Data: When you have massive amounts of data, the noise can be difficult to sift through. But when you harness all your data, synthesize it and really dive into what the numbers are telling you, it provides you with the tools to improve your approach and reach your customers in a more impactful way.One-Stop-Shop: Customers want the ability to have everything exist in an integrated and streamlined format. For UPS, that means customers need to have the ability to conduct checkouts, fulfillment and delivery all within one simple system. If customers have to go through multiple avenues to get to the end product, your customer experience will lag.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

The core goals for any marketing department revolves around the customer experience. But when you think about the customer journey, what is the difference between the marketing of a product and the experience of the product itself, and how should each of those blend together? “When you think about the customer experience, it's hard to tell whether it's part of the marketing experience or the actual product experience itself. As a result, the more consistency that you can deliver  for the end-user, between all of the different touchpoints that they have with the company, the better that experience will be.”Those are the words of Erin Hintz, the CMO of Barracuda Networks, a leader in security — protecting email, networks, data, and applications for businesses of all sizes. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Erin discusses how marketing departments can prevent the confusion that might happen between the marketing and product experiences in order to create a more cohesive overall customer experience. Plus, Erin discusses the importance of having a strong digital marketing program in place for inbound demand and the (messaging and content) shifts Barracuda made as companies went into the pandemic lockdowns.Main Takeaways:Let’s Get Virtual: Marketers need to come prepared with an idea of how they can convert in-person events into educational and entertaining online events. When events move to a virtual format, you need to be thinking about unique ways that you are making that webinar more impactful for the audience so that they are inclined to take part.Five Star Experience: Marketers need to take a hard look at the customer experience they are creating. Often, it’s hard to tell where the marketing experience and product experience differ. The more consistency that marketers can deliver for the end-user between all the different touchpoints along their journey, the better the user experience will be.Pivot on a Dime: Sometimes it’s necessary to alter your strategy, especially when unforeseen events occur. As marketers, your campaigns must be agile with the ability to alter your messaging to meet the moment. When your campaigns are flexible, it allows you to portray a more timely and impactful message to your audience.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

In a world driven by content, the B2B space is no exception. That fact, according to  Farnaz Maters, the Executive Director and CMO for Principal Global Investors, means that grabbing someone's attention is more difficult now than ever before, and it’s a marketer's job to create things that rise to the top in the sea of content.“Where we are in B2B, it’s basically a content war. It's about having differentiated content that our clients actually care about. People have gotten closer to the brands that they know and the asset managers that they've got long-standing relationships with. But at the same time, as people are hunkering down and being selective in who they're engaging with, it's made it more difficult to be able to expand our reach to people who don't necessarily know us.”So the natural question becomes, how can B2B companies create content that not only grabs the attention of its clients, but goes one step further and gets them to engage as well? On this episode of Marketing Trends, Farnaz dives into how B2B marketers should be thinking about the content they create. She challenges them to ask themselves a simple question: What is the purpose of this piece? Plus, she discusses why the hardest aspect of working with data is sometimes just deploying it correctly. Main Takeaways:Make Content That Drives Conversions: Your content always needs to have a purpose. When you are ideating new creative ideas, don’t just create content to have for your channels. Instead, strategize around the direct purpose of that content and what outcome you hope it leads to.Are You Using Your Data?: When you make the investment in being data-driven, make sure you are actually utilizing your data to its fullest potential. Make sure that data is being used to inform your marketing strategy and activation efforts, and that it’s being used within other departments, such as sales.What’s the Value in This?: Everybody wants access to your data. But it’s important to constantly be thinking about what the roadmap is, where you’re going to deliver business value, and making sure that the value you are bringing is iterative. When you take on big strategic projects you have two options: You can work toward the perfect state, or you can take on a mindset of iterating and delivering business value while strategically thinking about what your endpoint is.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Every marketer is looking for that magic channel. The one space where it feels like everything resonates perfectly with your audience and your message cuts through the noise. More often than not, though, finding a hybrid, thought-out, multichannel approach is the true secret formula for success.“I won't say that there's an individual channel that works really well. What I will tell you is that we have found multi-channel communications [to be] incredibly effective if you're sequencing them in a thoughtful way. I think the answer is we're not finding a single channel on its own is going to be, make or break.”That’s the opinion of Rahul Kak, the Executive Director of Behavior Change Marketing at CVS Health. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Rahul discusses exactly why a cohesive multi-channel approach is better than being dependent on one avenue and gives marketers reasons to explore that option. Plus, he touches on how marketers can make the biggest impact when it comes to personalization.Main Takeaways:It’s Not Magic: There is no magic channel. Every marketer wants to say email or SMS channels are great, but the reality is that non one channel should be your main driver. Instead, marketers need to focus on a cohesive multi-channel approach. If marketers sequence their messages across all channels in a thoughtful way, you won’t be too reliant on one area.I’m Not Here to Get Personal: Marketers want the ability to reach every customer on a personal level, but the reality is that you simply cannot have a one-to-one relationship with all your customers. Instead, what markets should be doing is clustering similar archetypes, and then channeling your efforts into those pods to create a more personalized experience for those distinct groupsBuilt To Fail: Do not go into a project with the mindset that it is going to succeed right out of the gate. Instead, go into each campaign with the mentality that most projects will fail, or most projects are going to require testing and tweaking.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.  

When it comes to marketing in 2020, Marty Kihn, the Senior Vice President of Strategy for Salesforce Marketing Cloud said it best:“This was both a cultural shift and a consumer behavior shift, then also an economic shift. Advertisers had to react to all those changes in consumer behavior, the channels that people were consuming ads on, and then the economic pain behind the scenes, which affects advertising. Advertising is very much driven and tied to GDP in general. So I think that you saw tons of stuff that Ph.D. thesis will be about written for years to come happened in 2020 and how advertisers reacted.”While 2020 threw society a major curveball, and we’re all still working our way through certain things, the business world carried on, and it adapted at a pace unseen before. We welcomed Marty back to Marketing Trends to dissect some of what happened in 2020, including the ways marketers were forced to pivot. Plus, Marty also explains why digital channels have altered the marketing landscape for good and how influencers rose in importance.The March to May: From March to May, not only were consumers trying to grapple with their new reality, but brands were trying to figure out the best ways to reach consumers. Overnight, digital advertising and social engagement saw major upticks. Brands needed to figure out how to react to their new normal and it really took between March and May for brands to settle in.The Rise of Digital Transformations: Companies realized they needed to digitize fast, regardless of if things went back to how they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means companies that had gone digital needed to scale their technologies. But companies that didn’t have a robust digital strategy were forced to accelerate their digital agendas at an accelerated pace.Influence This: Influencer marketing saw a dramatic rise in 2020. As more and more consumers engaged with digital channels over the course of the year, influencers became more important. With brands trying to send less messaging to their consumers, the ability for influencers to mix products and services into their daily lives became a valuable strategy for marketers.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

When you’re selling something to someone online, the name of the game is ease of sale. You never want to make the transaction hard, just like you never want to make it tough for a customer or potential customer to find you. So how do you create a frictionless experience from search to final sale? The answer is to use data as your guiding light. “We like to see what is being searched and then we prioritize and change things [on our website] so that we can make it easier for our members to find those things. Because we all know from personal experience that when you have to click, click, click to try to get to some information, by that time you're probably saying, ‘I'll just find it somewhere else.’”That’s Deidre Davis, CMO of MSUFCU and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Deidre discusses how MSUFCU uses its data to continually optimize the customer experience. Plus, Deidre talks about why personalized customer experiences are a driving force for her company and the perceived challenges credit unions face as an industry, especially from a marketing perspective.Main Takeaways:Click, Click, Boom!: When you’re analyzing and digesting your data, make sure you are looking at what the customers are telling you they want to see. When MSUFCU noticed that one of their most-searched items was about routing and account numbers, they made that more easily accessible for what their customers wanted.MythBusters: Credit Unions are often not perceived to have the same advantages that major banks possess when it comes to personalization, data collection, and customer privacy. However, this is one of the biggest myths credit unions face when educating their customers on their products and overall benefits.Five-Star Experience: Whether you’re selling products or services, the one thing that remains a must is the customer’s experience must remain at the top of the priority list. Make sure you are constantly evaluating your customer and member’s perspective and remain in constant communication with them.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

There are certain holiday traditions that just hit differently. From the old-schoolMacy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to the new-school release of the Starbucks holiday cups, these time-honored rituals have become synonymous with the holiday season. But what happens when one of those customary activities is forced to undergo a swift change? That’s what happened when UNICEF’s annual Halloween boxes went from the hands of kids to the laptops of corporations.  “One of the byproducts of being forced into a virtual trick-or-treat experience, we were able to actually personalize it for some of our corporate partners. They could brand it, they could put their names on it, they could raise money for the thing that they were most passionate about. [Virtual events] really give us a chance to extend beyond just the youth audience and get into a bit of an older audience. So it did also give us an opportunity to get a glimpse into what this could be if it was expanded beyond just schools.”Those are the words of Shelley Diamond, the CMO of UNICEF USA, and for decades, trick-or-treating was one of the main ways that the non-profit connected with individuals. Shelley joined Marketing Trends to discuss how UNICEF spun its popular trick-or-treating event into something new and memorable for both adults and children. Plus, she explains the lens through which her team views digital advertising, and why UNICEF’s mission is rooted in the brand.Main Takeaways:Rooted in Brand: Your brand should always reflect your mission. Every touchpoint — from advertising to social content to storytelling — has to lead back to the overall mission of your company or non-profit, and reflect the goals it is striving to achieve.Take it Virtual, but Make it Count: If an event has to shift to virtual, look at it as an opportunity to reach a broader audience. When UNICEF moved its trick-or-treating campaign online, it saw a greater opportunity to reach a broader audience.It’s a Digital World, We’re Just Living in it: Digital media should be viewed as an avenue to gain valuable insights about your customers. From email marketing to search, to online video content, marketers need to constantly be looking at what the data is telling them. If the results are positive in one place, lean into that medium. If something isn’t working, analyze where the issue is and address it.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

For years, your favorite cup of coffee and your daily newspaper have been synonymous with each other. But it turns out that that morning routine is just another thing being disrupted by the digital age. Kerel Cooper, the Senior Vice President of LiveIntent, explains it like this:“More people are waking up in the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee and opening up their inbox. So gone are the days of opening up your door and there's the newspaper on the front step. It's, it's now your inbox. And I think publishers and brands recognize that.”So how can brands take control of a consumer’s inbox? And where should they be focusing those efforts to win open rates? Kerel joined Marketing Trends to discuss why email marketing continues to thrive, why content is more important than ever, and the need for marketers to understand why the death of third-party cookies might be a good thing.Main Takeaways:Time to Level-Up: Content marketing has never been more important. With more and more people at home, every chance you get to reach a customer must be more creative, and it should center around how you are retaining customers, how you are selling products, and how you are educating the marketplace on your products.Inbox is the Hot New Thing: Email inboxes have steadily replaced newspapers as consumers’ go-to source for early morning information. Marketers who think email marketing is a thing of the past need to shift their focus to how they are connecting with consumers via newsletters.Gimme that Cookie: As third-party cookies begin to fade away, marketers must start understanding where they are getting their data and how they are utilizing that data. If you have been heavily reliant on third-party data, you need to shift your focus to gathering your own data. The larger your dataset is from a first-party data perspective, the more in control marketers will be of their own destiny.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

There are many lessons we’ve learned in 2020, including many in the world of marketing. When traditional means of advertising are flipped on their head, finding another method that works is paramount. Many different strategies were attempted, but one has risen above the rest: influencer marketing.“In 2020 people are online so much, we're seeing the performance of our influencer campaigns continuing to accelerate and increase in value. The concept of an influencer has really transitioned into the mainstream where you open the front page of the New York Times and you're like, there's going to be two or three articles that mentioned influencers or TikTok or Instagram. it's so pervasive in a way that I think was sneaky for most people, but it's now so huge.”That’s Mae Karwowski, the founder and CEO of Obviously, which provides quality influencer marketing for the world’s iconic brands. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Mae discusses some of the latest trends in influencer marketing. She talks about why it’s key to understand the value a potential influencer can have on your brand, and she stresses that the number of followers a so-called influencer has does not correlate to purchases.Main Takeaways:Know Your Voice: When deciding to enter the realm of influencer marketing, it’s important to work with people who not only understand your brand, but make sense for your brand as well. If a particular influencer's followers are used to them reviewing cameras and you’re a beauty brand, it doesn’t make sense to work with that person. Instead, work with influencers who are authentic matches for your brand.Follow the Leader: CMO and marketing departments need to start thinking about influencers as a distinct channel and not just someone you write a check to. In order to have success when utilizing influencers, you need to strategize a campaign around them just like you would any other channel.Bigger Isn’t Always Better: As the price of influencers rises, think about the cost of who you’re working with. Is it more important for your brand to go after one large influencer? Or are you better off working with smaller influencers in order to reach the same audience? If you work with a larger number of micro-influencers, you can reach your audience at the same scale and may find a more loyal audience. ---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

With so many media channels and platforms in use today, it can be tough to decide which channel is right for you and your brand’s message. But why choose? There are more opportunities than ever before, and as we’re learning every day, diversifying your portfolio has never been more important.“We are very big into sponsored content and moving. Although we look at all the traditional channels and we still invest there, we're also looking at nontraditional channels — areas where PWC may have not showed up historically. There's been an onslaught of a number of new high-rated business newsletters that are not owned by the traditional publications, but a lot of our business executives are reading those daily. So that is a new place where we increasingly put our media dollars.”That’s the voice of Matthew Lieberman, the CMO of  PwC U.S. and Mexico. On this episode of  Marketing Trends, Matthew breaks down the reasoning for why PwC has started to explore all of its options across platforms and channels, and he details where the company is spending its media dollars. He also dives into the evolution of sponsorships and why shifting to a remote workforce is no longer a luxury, but a need.Main Takeaways:Not Quite Ready: Empowering your employees with the ability to work remotely is no longer a luxury but a must-have. One of the surprising things for PwC was the vast amount of clients it dealt with that didn’t possess the ability for their employees to work remotely, which meant a lot of changes that needed to be made quickly.Switch it Up: Just because you’ve had success with a certain channel, doesn’t mean you can only advertise within that channel. Instead, diversify which channels you spend in so you show up in areas where consumers won’t expect you to and you’re constantly growing your potential audience.The Future of Sponsorships: As more and more events shift to digital experiences the fundamental way partnership and sponsorships is changing. Marketers will need to look for new sources of revenue as the amount of sponsorship dollars decreases in the future.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

One of the biggest misconceptions of influencer marketing that using an influencer is just like buying an ad. Pierre-Loic Assayag, is the founder and CEO of Traackr, and he knows there is much more to it than that. “When social commerce is front and center for so many, where a lot of decisions around purchase are taking place online, the notion of being able to not just create that initial spike of awareness, but being able to get people to influence their audience It gives you an ability to move down the funnel towards nano influencers.”As influencers continue to rise in popularity and the authenticity of the products they're promoting becomes more and more important, aligning brand and promoter is at the forefront of best practices when it comes to influencer marketing. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Pierre-Loic discusses why aligning your brand with the proper influencer can pay huge dividends. Plus he explains why there is a good chance you’re not using influencer marketing to the most of its potential. Main Takeaways:Flavor of the Week: Don’t limit yourself to large-scale influencers. Instead, when you’re identifying influencers that work for you, make sure their values and brand align with what the company stands for. Just because an influencer has hundreds of thousands of followers doesn’t mean those followers align with your brand. An influencer with less followers could have a greater impact on pushing your product because their followers resonate more with your brand.Building Loyalty: When aligning with influencers, don’t think about the immediate purchases that could occur. Instead, think of influencers as a way to build lifelong advocates for the brand. Data suggests that when influencers and brands align on values and products, consumers are less sensitive to overall pricing.Not Like Your Other Channels: In order for influencer marketing to work, you can’t treat it like every other channel. When you stop thinking of influencer marketing as a new channel, you stop thinking about the complexity and richness of the practice. Take the time to learn about the influencers you are investing with and don’t overthink the content.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Like, follow, comment and subscribe. Those are four popular words among social media users today, brands included. And when you are a company looking to engage with your customers on a personal level or speak to them broadly, social media has become the No. 1 place to achieve those goals. “Social media is really, you know, today's broadcast channel. So brands are sharing information. They're ultimately doing an aspect of advertising they're promoting, and these sorts of things are valuable. And, you know, traditionally have been the place that marketers have focused and social media is just today's channel for doing that."That’s Terry Sydoryk, the CEO of Chaordix, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Terry discusses why something as simple as a double tap on a product’s Instagram page says more about how your brand is relating to customers than many other metrics. Plus, Terry discusses the difference between social and community and how an online branded community can actually fill some of the voids that social leaves open. And he dives into online communities and how they are helping brands better understand how to build meaningful relationships with their consumers.Main TakeawaysIt’s all about Community: The challenge for marketers from day one has been the ability to build one-to-one relationships with their consumers. Online communities, or social networks, allow marketers to build relationships with their loyal customers, while also experimenting with new strategies.Social Media is the New Cable TV: As brands continue to advertise and promote themselves across social networks, what has slowly happened is social media has become more powerful to brands than televisions. Now, brands are able to actively engage with their consumers while getting a better understanding of what media leaves a lasting impression in real-time.Why Do You Assume You’re the Smartest in the Room?: Consumer intelligence continues to grow. Today’s consumers are extremely knowledgeable and they can see through the typical smoke and mirrors of marketing that has worked in the past. When communicating with buyers, be direct in what the intent is and don’t try to fool them.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

When Hyland was founded, its initial purpose was to help optimize workflows and processes by eliminating filing cabinets. More than 25 years later, as businesses have gone through digital transformations, the filing cabinet mission no longer applies. So Hyland did what any good business does, it adapted by following the data.”The trick is you have to go where the data's telling you to go. And if you've run certain types of tactics and certain verticals and they haven't worked very well, you have to be able to then take those learnings and help set expectations.”Those are the words of Hyland CMO, Drew Chapin, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, he dives deep into the power of data and why marketers need to let it fuel their decision making. Plus, Drew discusses the advantages of virtual conferences and why one particular partnership is leveling up Hyland’s game.Main Takeaways:Data-Driven: It’s not enough to say that you are data-driven. You need to have an understanding of what the data is telling you and then be able to act on it. Don’t continue to pursue verticals that are not successful. Be confident in what your insights are telling you.Team Building: When you are building out your team, don’t focus as much on the competence and technical skillset of the candidate. Instead, focus on areas like empathy, curiosity, and if that person is a deep thinker. Those soft skills are growing in importance and provide Hyland with insights on whether potential employees will stick around.Virtual Experience: Shifting events online provides you with the opportunity to not only engage your customers in a new environment, but it’s allowing those same customers to continually engage with the conference multiple ways. By hosting conferences online as opposed to in-person, event hosts have the opportunity to let the data tell them what sessions are driving engagement, how long participants are watching, and if they are coming back multiple times, which will lead to better, more engaging events and conferences in the future.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Over the course of more than 230 episodes of Marketing Trends, we have heard from industry leaders about their strategies and tactics, learned from their wins and their failures, and we’ve looked at the future of the industry and made predictions about what’s to come. But no one could have predicted the twists and turns of 2020. In our episode with David Marine, the CMO of Coldwell Banker, he might have said it best:"Everyone has a plan to get punched in the face. And I think on a global scale, everybody's been punched in the face in some way, shape or form over the last couple of months….but I give my team a ton of credit and the ability to pivot. ...if there's a marketing term of the year, that would be it. Because we had to look at what we had, let's not abandoned ship with it, but how does it make sense for today's environment where we can, where we find ourselves?"As David said, everyone and everything changed, and so businesses needed to adapt and make decisions on a daily basis that ultimately would impact their bottom lines. Ultimately, campaigns had to end, messaging had to shift, and the way brands interacted with their customers was different than ever before. Empathy led the way, which Mary Hines, the Chief Marketing Officer, US Consumer at Citi, mentioned when she dropped by the show.“We got together as a leadership team and created a task force to ensure that across everything we do, that we were having the right, appropriate language, tone, and visual imagery in light of this unprecedented time, and to ensure that our offers were relevant. So instead of marketing three times on dining out, which would have really toned us as irrelevant, we shifted to things like restaurant takeout and streaming services — things that were much more relevant to the time. And then recognizing that we were also going into a recessionary event, given the economic impacts, ensuring that we had the right assistance for our customers.”While we are all still living through unprecedented times, one thing remains true: business carries on. Every marketing leader we speak to understands that fact, and they also know that if they want to continue to succeed, regardless of the changing times, they need a plan. They need to know where the market stands, what their customers need, and how expectations are shifting. Basically, they need data. Or, as Dani Cushion, the CMO of Cardlytics said:“If you're not using data to figure out how to make sure that you're reaching people who are receptive to, or have some kind of higher propensity to buy your advertising, you're just still spraying and praying.”There are countless ways that marketing leaders gather and analyze data. One is through the Salesforce State of Marketing and Customer Insights Research Reports. On this episode of Marketing Trends, we invited Chris Jacob, a Product Marketing Leader at Salesforce, to give us insights into those reports, including a deep dive into some of the data that leaders like the ones we bring on this show are using to make decisions about the future of their marketing efforts.Main Takeaways:Taking Your Pulse: In 2020, every person and every industry had to make adjustments. But those adjustments didn’t happen once and then life kept rolling forward. Every day saw different challenges, which meant that consumers and businesses were forced to constantly adapt. In order to stay on top of everything that was happening in the world of marketing, Salesforce was constantly checking in with and surveying leaders in the industry.Zoom Out: When there are so many insights in a report, it’s easy to get fixated on one data point or audience segment, but it’s important to look at the entire picture. If you only focus on, for example, a big shift in how millennials are consuming content, the other segments of your audience may get ignored, which ultimately will impact your bottom line. Take in the whole picture and make decisions based on everything you know.Consistency is Key: Consumers reward brands that maintain a consistent set of values. When the world changes or the needs of the consumer base shift, brands should stay true to the key tenets that they set up for themselves, show empathy, and be transparent with the decisions they are making. Those are the only ways to build lasting trust with consumers.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Whether it’s the latest Jordan’s, the classic Nike Killshot sneakers, or your standard run-of-the-mill Vans, sneaker culture continues to dominate urban culture. But how much are those classic Air Force Ones worth? Are you overpaying for those limited run Lebron’s?“StockX is about balancing the needs and the wants of buyers and sellers. We are working to cater to both sides of the market, being data-driven, and changing the dynamic in the space. Rather than letting brands determine how something should be priced, or when something should be available or be out of stock, we're really flipping that paradigm and allowing the market to determine how much something is worth and really leveling the playing field.”StockX is attempting to walk that line between being a safe-haven for buyers looking for a fair deal, and an online marketplace for collectors trying to unload their merchandise. Deena Bahri  is the CMO of StockX and on this episode of Marketing Trends, she discusses the work StockX is doing to be a valued online merchant, and she dives into the dynamics of appealing to a sneaker audience, and much more.Key TakeawaysCustomerX: One of the key challenges with being an eCommerce platform that deals with third party buyers and sellers is building trust with your audience. They need to know that the products they are purchasing are indeed what they intended to buy. But you have to balance the needs of both your buyers and sellers so both sides are having a good experience. StockX has a team of authenticators to ensure the seller gets a fair price and the buyer receives the proper product.Have Empathy: Now more than ever brands need to value their customers. This means having empathy for those customers when situations arise. Make sure your brand is providing a voice that encourages your customers to reach out to you and then when they do reach out about disagreements, be transparent and confident in your process while trying to provide as much context as possible.Tech, Data, and Shoes Oh My!: Growing a business, especially when that business is in eCommerce, means you have to be well-versed in your technology stack, the data and analytics you are collecting. You must understand and utilize the insights that you can gather from that data collection.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing.

For years, the relationship between brand and consumer has been one factor that has separated companies from their peers. But what do those same relationships mean when it comes to B2B companies? Is there the same customer satisfaction when it comes to businesses on a customer journey? “At the end of the day, businesses don't sell to businesses. Human beings sell to other human beings, and the ability to understand your customer, understand the pains that they're facing, how they make decisions and what part you can play, make their job’s and their lives easier is paramount to the success of a CMO.”That’s, Gina Hortatsos, the CMO of LogicGate, and on this episode of Marketing trends, she discusses why the customer journey for B2B companies needs to evolve. Plus, Gina dives into the best hiring practices and why a small, but mighty team is the way to go.Main TakeawaysFeeling Risky: Risk management is harder than it has ever been. With more and more employees working remotely, the number of potential employees exposed to security and privacy risks has increased as well. Companies can no longer rely on the structures they had in place before. In order to manage risk, you have to have a system in place.Selling To A Person, Not a Business: B2B companies are drastically behind their B2C counterparts when it comes to personalizing the customer journey for their clients. At the end of the day, companies have to remember they are selling to other humans and must have a better understanding of the pain points those customers are facing and how they make decisions, then create an experience that addresses those things.You Need An Attitude Adjustment: When looking at your hiring process, identify core pillars. For LogicGate, three key elements they look at when analyzing potential employees are intellectual curiosity, willingness to learn, and, most importantly, a candidate’s attitude.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Kate Huyett is the CMO of Bombas, which she says has two main identifiers:“The two main pillars that we've been focused on, you know, really steadily over the last six years, our comfort and mission…When someone puts our socks on their feet and they say, wow, these really are the most comfortable socks I’ve ever put on and I can feel great about wearing them because an item has been donated to someone in need." That second pillar of being mission-driven is rooted in the idea that brands can make a difference through the products they sell, especially if the products are of high quality. tOn this episode of Marketing Trends, Kate discusses what it means to be mission-driven, and why your products need to be your guiding light. Plus, Kate touches on the importance of your overall portfolio succeeding and why podcast marketing was right for Bombas.Main TakeawaysPortfolio over Channel: The overall performance of your portfolio is far more important that the individual success of different channels. When analyzing your channels, even if every channel appears to be succeeding, if the overall return is poor, something is wrong. Make sure to look at the overall health of your portfolio and let that dictate your direction.Know your Mission: Your mission and product need to be your guiding light. At Bombas, there are two main pillars they follow that lead their marketing efforts, comfort and mission. If you’re a brand-first product, let that product speak for itself.Influencing the Masses: One of the more unique ways Bombas has chosen to spend its ad dollars is through podcast marketing. Podcasts tend to have loyal listenership, which in return boasts authentic trust between the host and the audience. If an audience trusts the influencer, they are more likely to purchase your product.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

They say two is better than one, so it stands to reason that three is better than two, right? Well, you can ask Jason Clark that question because he has not one, not two, but three roles at Netskope. Officially, Jason is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, and what that means is that he is responsible for the marketing, security and strategy teams. Luckily, Jason has incredible people working with him to lighten the load, but that doesn’t make the work he does simple. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Jason takes us behind the scenes of life at Netskope and what it means to market and provide security transformations to companies around the world. Main Takeaways:I Was You: When what you’re trying to sell is security, it’s hard to not fall into the trap of being alarmist. You don’t want to scare potential customers, instead you want to empathize with them. One way to do that is by bringing in former CIOs to sell to CIOs, because someone who is sitting in that leadership position is much more likely to listen to someone who was once in his or her shoes than a typical salesperson.Howdy, Partner: In terms of security, for the most part everyone is fighting the same enemy. That makes it prudent to find and work with best-in-class partners to provide even more protection to the customers you are working with. And when you work with good partners, everyone in the partnership — including the customer — wins in the end.The Link Between CSOs and CMOs: While the head of security and head of marketing might not seem like two people who have a lot in common, the truth is that both of those roles boil down to one idea: trust. CSOs need to build trust in the security and the team they have built and CMOs need to build trust among customers. As such, the two roles should be much more connected and rely on each other more.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. 

Mark Timm says one of the best days of his life filled with mixed emotions. Riding the high of a successful day at the office was compounded by the realization that his work life and personal life were out of sync. Something had to change. So, it did. Today, Mark is a serial entrepreneur and the co-author of the book, Mentor to Millions, and he joined Marketing Trends for a vibrant discussion on how that moment led him down a pathway to his current endeavor. Plus, Mark dives into how marketers can stand out in a crowded eCommerce space. Main Takeaways Think Differently: As a marketer, your promotional materials have to stand out. If most companies are sending digital marketing materials, shift to the other end of the spectrum and send physical mailers. If your marketing doesn’t make the consumer stop and think about it, you aren’t doing effective marketing. Know Your Numbers: When doing digital advertising, have a full understanding of the cost of your product and what your cost-per-customer ad spend can be. Businesses and marketers get in trouble when they don’t have a full understanding of those two numbers and when you don’t have an understanding of those numbers, that’s when overspending occurs. Find a Mentor: In business, having a mentor is the best way to set yourself up for success. Some of the most successful and important business people had mentors when they were growing their businesses. Mentors help you learn the fundamental aspects of success and how to manage success. --- Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing.  To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

No two generations are ever the same, but there has never been a generation that has demanded so much of a marketing department’s attention quite like Generation Z. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Kamal Bhandal, the Vice President of Global Marketing and Consumer Marketing for Align Technology, discusses how marketing teams are shifting their attention to connect with a younger generation and meet their needs. Plus she talks about why authenticity and storytelling are at the heart of their efforts to connect with that group. Main TakeawaysDemanding Attention: Generation Z is demanding the attention of marketers everywhere and forcing marketing departments to up their game when it comes to creativity. In order to appeal to a younger audience, marketers need to improve their creativity levels by telling authentic and different stories. If you can’t connect with Generation Z from an authenticity standpoint, you won’t be able to speak to them effectively.Experimentation Breeds Success: Focus your efforts on trying new things. If your data is telling you your messaging isn’t working, it’s time to invest your resources into something new. Feel free to expand your horizons to understand what works for your brand and what doesn't.Consuming That Content: Media consumption has changed and as a result, content production strategies need to be adjusted as well. As consumers are spending more time with their devices, you should be experimenting with new ways to reach them where they are.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

When Martin Kihn was a disgruntled marketing consultant, he wrote a book called House of Lies.  Millions of copies sold, a television offer, nearly five seasons and 58 episodes later, that tale has been heard in one form or another by the masses.. But, Marty’s marketing story didn’t end there.  Today Marty is the SVP of Strategy for Marketing Cloud at Salesforce and he joined Marketing Trends for an in-depth conversation on what he sees happening in the industry today. Plus, he discusses his new book and why data continues to push marketers forward.Main TakeawaysShift Happens: The fundamental aspects of marketing have changed. It’s now less about being creative and more about understanding what your data is telling you. As a marketer, you need to understand what your data is telling you and how it relates to your consumer. Then you need to inject that data into their experiences and influence them in the proper moments.Just Out Here Browsing: Browsing companies are taking a more prominent role in the marketing landscape. The level of connection between the consumer and the device is growing. Any businesses currently competing against companies that own major browsers are struggling to keep up with the level of data those companies collect.Fall Guys: As a competitor, you must organize your customer data. If you continue to stand still, and don’t empower your data, you will fall behind as a marketer. And those companies that stand still completely and do nothing with their data, will likely be out of business within five years.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

How many drinks does it take to get to .08? That single question lingers in the minds of consumers everywhere after a few drinks. What if the answer was just a few breaths away? What if you never again had to guess about your ability to safely drive home? That’s the world Shawn Casey is trying to create with BACtrack. Shawn is the VP of Marketing at BACtrack, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, he discusses how he is working to build brand awareness and how to capitalize on content your audience is connecting with.Main TakeawaysTailored to You: When you’re an eCommerce store, you have an opportunity to personalize the experience to your customers. Look at what pages they are viewing, what content they are looking for, and then tailor the experience to them.Make Content that Resonates with the Audience: Sometimes content you least expect to work is your biggest driving force. Make sure your content has a purpose that fits your audience. If it’s impactful and meaningful, your audience will find it and engage.Building Awareness: One of the biggest hurdles for BACtrack has been finding ways to build awareness around consumer breathalyzers. The best way to overcome that? Go straight to the consumer and test products in real-life situations with real-life people.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

When Jared Drinkwater first joined BSN Sports, the company was still sending out physical catalogs to schools in an attempt to sell its products. As a veteran marketer with experience at PepsiCo and Pizza Hut, Jared knew it was time for BSN to go through a digital transformation. As the CMO of BSN Sports, Jared has been able to lead that transformation and it’s making an impact at the heart of the sports world:  at the high school level. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Jared shares how BSN Sports is making waves at the amateur level thanks to the evolution of its email marketing efforts. Puls he explains why telling the right story in the right place makes all the difference. Main TakeawaysEmail Marketing is Not Dead: For BSN, having a digital-first mindset means being proactive and making sure that its products are being delivered to coaches and schools at the appropriate time. To accomplish this, BSN built a highly sophisticated and robust national selling calendar that has become an integral piece of its email marketing strategyContent is King, but It’s Not Everything: Your job as a marketer is to not only make sure you are delivering the appropriate content, but that you are also giving your sales staff and fellow employees the proper tools to feel confident and comfortable in their jobs. This means developing strategies that allow them to execute sales and be empowered in meetings.Find Your Fit: Knowing your brand and your space will benefit your overall message. Use your advertising spend wisely and make sure your products are being seen in the appropriate channels. For BSN Sports, advertising dollars spent on national TV campaigns are not what move the needle, but social media and various digital channels offer more ROI.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

But first, Coffee. Maybe you’ve seen the phrase hanging above a picture in a coffee shop or cafe, or maybe you first saw the phrase on Instagram. Regardless of where you noticed it, those three words resonate with coffee drinkers around the globe — but it’s also the mantra that drives Josh Zad. Josh is the founder and CEO of Alfred Coffee, a coffee shop less focused on the actual coffee and more on the customer experience. Josh joined Marketing Trends to discuss everything from building and marketing the Alfred brand, to his new adventure with Calidad beer. Plus he talks about how to approach advertising investment and connecting with customers.Main TakeawaysMake it Pop!: Your brand is your image and it’s how your consumer connects with the product. Work hard to create something iconic and something that stands out on the shelf so that when the consumer sees the product, it’ll instantly resonate with them.Invest Like the Best: Invest in advertising that fits your distribution needs and find channels that make sense for your brand. When it came to marketing Calidad beer, digital and social advertising didn’t make sense for the industry because there was no way to push consumers to an eCommerce store. Instead, the Calidad team bought physical billboards near locations where people could purchase the products.Change Isn’t Always Good: When Josh was building Alfred coffee, he was constantly tinkering with the brand’s image, its colors, font, and website. When you change your imagery for the sake of change, you make it hard for your consumer to keep up. Find something that is powerful and resonates with your consumer and build off that.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

The backbone of digital marketing is data. But how marketers use that data is what separates those who have success versus those who struggle. Richard Jones is the CMO of Cheetah Digital, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Richard discusses why data is the fuel that keeps pushing the needle forward. Plus he touches on the importance of digital marketing and how brands can build meaningful relationships with their customers.Main TakeawaysRespect My Privacy!: Companies need to be aware that the relationship between brand and consumer is a fragile one. Understand that consumers will give you information when they feel there is a return for it and when they know that what they provide will be protected. If that trust is broken, the relationship with the brand is strained.Staying Loyal: Rewards and loyalty programs have always been built on data. Loyalty programs need to be used to establish a direct relationship between a brand and the consumer to form a better understanding of its customer.Data, Data and More Data: Grow your databases and invest in those databases. When you invest in growing your databases, you commit to expanding consumer relationships and building better customer journeys.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

While it may seem like we are further apart than we’ve ever been before, we have actually never been more connected than we are today. That’s a lesson that Heather Craft and her team at Hotwire Global have learned first-hand. With offices around the world, Craft and her team have had to rely on internal communication strategies to keep their clients satisfied. How have they done that? On this episode of Marketing Trends, Heather breaks down exactly how her team stays connected, and why those strategies are important. Plus, she explains why the relationship between employee and brand has never been more important.Main TakeawaysInter-Communication Rises in Need: In order to be the best in this department, you need to have a fundamental understanding of the information that the client needs, but you also need to grasp that you won’t have all those answers. Understand your strengths, then rely on your internal team to fill-in the gaps where you don’t have the answers.Let Me Tell You a Story: The ability to tell a compelling and engaging story has always been at the intersection of where PR and marketing meet. As the two become more interwoven, you need to make sure the stories you are telling are consistent across all channels, not just one.Employee Meet Brand, Brand Meet Employee: The relationship between the employee and the brand they work for is more important than ever. Oftentimes, this relationship has been at the lower part of the pecking order, but as employees seek to work for companies they can align their values with and respect, the significance of this relationship has grown in need.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

In Andrew Nester’s own words, communication is what drives people. It motivates them. So why do we spend so little time creating and delivering new and better ways for us to communicate with other people? Andrew is the CMO of SocialChorus and on this episode of Marketing Trends, he discusses the increased need for communication platforms, why your marketing teams shouldn’t always be personalized and why you need to be both data and experience-driven in order to succeed.Main TakeawaysCommunication is key: There’s no doubt that communication drives business. In order to drive people to do tasks, you have to communicate with them, but the amount of time that goes into creating communication and delivering it is shockingly low and that needs to change.Personalization is Not Always the Answer: Not all your marketing efforts need to be focused on highly- personalized and individualized content. When you create these segmented materials for individuals, it creates silos amongst stakeholders. This becomes a detriment because they only see their perspective on the platform.Data Moves the Needle: You need to always be thinking about what the data says and allow those insights to drive your decision- making process. Allow the data to tell you what you need to be testing and then cross-check that with your experience.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

There are many parts of the driving experience that we all would love to change. One of them is a challenge most of us have faced — a long commute followed by a hunt for a parking spot.  But what if you could streamline that process? Well, luckily there’s an app for that. Jonathan Sadow is the co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Scoop, and he’s on a mission to give that time wasted in the car back. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Jonathan discusses why Scoop is the right tool for those looking to get back some time, and he also talks about the importance of trusting what the data tells you as you start to market in a new category.3 Takeaways Stop wasting my time:  Employees no longer want to waste parts of their day commuting to and from the office. When they are commuting, they want to streamline the process because employee frustration is not about the commute itself, it’s about how the time is wasted.Data Chief: Big numbers and data are your best assets. Use those tools to drive your decision-making process instead of focusing on creating nicely designed websites or other marketing assets.Retain Your Talent: Organizations need to place an emphasis on recruiting and retaining their employees. If you aren’t building a culture that entices employees to come and stay, ask yourself what kind of culture you are building and why.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Latane Conant always says it is her job to create a movement, and if you aren’t focusing on that movement, you really are not doing your job. Latane is the Chief Market Officer at 6sense. And yes, you read that right...Market officer. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Latane details why she felt it was time to drop the i-n-g from her title, the importance of the subtle change, and why it matters. Plus, she explains why it’s time to throw MQLs out the window and what the deal is with demand generation.Main TakeawaysTime to Throw those MQLs Out the Window: Instead of going down the usual path of using MQLs to measure your business, focus on the customer experience and prioritizing your current accounts.Taking the I-N-G out of Marketing: When you think about the word marketing, the root word is market. Focus on what is going on in your market and start thinking first how you can improve your in-market numbers.Demand Generating..what?: Once you shift to the notion that MQLs are not worth the time, you are no longer demand generating. Instead, what you begin to notice is you’re capturing demand and then you are engaging with your customers on a more regular basis.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Every day we wake up to scores of emails in our inboxes, but how many of those emails do we actually read versus the amount that end up in our trash folder? How can marketers better differentiate their emails to avoid being lost in the cluttered inbox? Melissa Sargeant is the CMO of Litmus and on this episode of Marketing Trends, she discusses all things email, including strategies to prevent your messages from ending up in those garbage cans and what the best email construction looks like.3 TakeawaysEmail marketing has become an integral part of every marketing department’s overall strategyBe strategic in how you’re pushing your content. Make sure you understand the customers that are engaging with your posts and the ones who are reading your content. If you don’t understand your base, your content will not resonateExperimentation amongst marketing departments is paramount to learning what works and what might work. If you don’t experiment, your department can’t learn---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.