Strategic Guy

It was an important day for the Washington, DC region’s communications community.

More than 300 corporate marketers, social media practitioners, public relations reps and digital experts gathered at the USA Today/Gannett headquarters building for a one-day conference entitled the Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit.

Panelists debate B2B marketing trends.

Key note speakers and panelists covered a broad spectrum of timely topics, such as marketing automation technologies, brand building and credibility, social media, content marketing, and sales/lead generation management.

I participated as a speaker on a panel discussion about trends in business-to-government marketing.  It was a lively and engaged audience.  Allan Rubin, Gal Borenstein and I explored a number of critical issues that have influenced how companies are growing their business in the public sector:

–The impact of the current budgetary environment, as well as related ethical issues faced by government decision-makers.

–Market saturation and how it has recast where companies are investing their promotional dollars (i.e. advertising in trade publications, event sponsorships, social media participation, etc.).

–The move online and how to most effectively craft and deliver messaging in Web and mobile environments.

I attended a half dozen sessions throughout the day and have included below the power statements offered by presenters that resonated with me.

Many congrats need to go out to Paul Sherman of Potomac Techwire and Paul Duning of Capitol Communicator for organizing such a winning event.

————————————————

“It wasn’t until the tablet came that mobile truly changed.  And the tablet changed mobile because of the touch interface.  Call it ‘petting the cat.’  Swipe…swipe…swipe.”

David Payne, Chief Digital Officer, Gannett

“There is so much focus on engagement, rather than how you manage the relationship once (the person) becomes a customer.  It’s like when you get married.  How many people get sick of their engagement because they so look forward to how easy it’s going to be once you’re married?”

Johna Burke, Senior Vice President, BurrellesLuce

“Longevity as a CMO is related to the revenue of the business.  The head of sales has to be your partner or you will not survive.”

Brian Reed, Chief Marketing Officer, Boxtone

“Most business-to-business marketing is selling extremely complicated products into extremely complicated environments.”

“Marketing automation is an enabler and an amplifier.  Yet, it’s not for the faint of heart.  You can’t implement marketing automation and then turn your back on it.”

Debra Lavoy, Director of Product Marketing, OpenText

“Most companies have under-implemented functionality with their marketing automation systems.  There is so much you can do, yet hard to find time to do it all.”

Charles Gold, Chief Marketing Officer, Sonatype

“You can’t have thought leadership if you are unwilling to put your opinions out there.”

Erin Bush, Social Media Editor, Neustar

“One day soon the CMO is going to have more IT people on staff than the IT department.”

Matt Goddard, CEO, R2Integrated