This past April, 6,500 marketers at every level of expertise gathered from all over the world to attend the Marketo Summit in San Francisco, CA. We heard from industry experts from brands including, but not limited to: GE, Facebook, Visa, Zappos, Amazon, and Google. And while the Summit had many characteristics of a traditional marketing conference, this year’s focus, The Engagement Economy, was refreshingly different. With less marketing jargon and buzzwords (of course whispers of MQL’s were overheard throughout) we dove deep into the heart and soul of marketing and addressed the powerful shift that is turning the marketing landscape on its head— and in a really exciting way!
Steve Lucas, CEO, Marketo, explained his idea behind the Engagement Economy as a simple, but profound concept anchored in the shifting of relationships not only between the brand and customer, but across entire organizations. In today’s digital world, marketers must be able to reach their customers across every channel and engage in meaningful ways at every touch point.
“Brands must demonstrate at every step of the customer journey that they understand what consumers need and want”, according to Jamie Gutfreund, CMO, Wunderman.
It’s no longer about buyers listening to brands, it’s now about brands listening to buyers and forging real and lasting relationships.
At LiveIntent, the importance of connecting brands to people isn’t foreign to us. It’s at the core of who we are. And while it was empowering to listen to Steve Lucas and many other industry experts and influencers speak about the Engagement Economy, it also ignited a sense of urgency to quickly embrace this change now if we want to succeed in this new era of marketing, not just survive.
Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Marketo Summit to help every marketer start winning in this new Engagement Economy.
1. Listen to your audience.
Sounds simple, right? But the truth is that marketers struggle with really listening to their customers. It’s critical to pay attention to what our customers want beyond their interest in a certain offer or product.
Customers expect brands to know who they are, not just their name! Do they prefer video over email? How often do they want to be communicated with? What content are they interested in?
Actively listening to our customers is the first step in forging a meaningful relationship. The next step is translating your listening into insight in order to engage and act on what you’ve learned. This process will demonstrate to customers that you value them, resulting in stronger bonds, customer advocacy, and, ultimately, greater revenue.
2. Adaptation is the key to thriving
It’s no secret that one of the biggest challenges marketers face is breaking through the chaos and fighting for relevance. Marketers need to be able to pivot and adapt to a new environment at any given moment. Gone are the days of sending email blasts and hoping it ends up in the right inbox. Today we need to not only know who we are talking to, but make sure the message we are sending is relevant to the reader.
More importantly, marketers today need to “act” on the entire customer journey. It’s not enough just to talk about it. In Engage to Win, Steve Lucas states that only 13% of marketers are spending money across the entire lifecycle. To adapt, marketers must invest in the entire lifecycle and grow with the customer to create a bond for life.
3. Win the heart of your customers
In today’s digital world, it can be easy to forget that our goal as marketers is to reach real people and tell our story in an authentic way. People want to inspired, surprised, delighted, and brands play an important role in fulfilling those expectations. And while we know the mind is a powerful tool, we cannot overlook the impact of building that emotional connection with our customers. In order to forge lasting relationships with customers, brands must win the battle of the heart.
Want to learn more about the future of Marketing? Watch this short video highlighting conversations with industry thought leaders and influencers on people-based marketing. If you’re ready to speak to a real LiveIntenter you can contact us here!
