Lessons from 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit

In late March, I was excited to speak on a panel at the 2016 Marketing & Tech Innovation Summit & Awards focusing on aligning customer-facing processes with technology. The event is all about how marketing teams are using conventional and cutting-edge technologies to innovate their marketing and improve business performance. It was a great opportunity to hear from award-winning marketers, and add to the discussion with years of experience in technology and the CRM industry. There were many great takeaways from the Summit. Here are a few lessons published in Direct Marketing News special event coverage:

One Plus One Forever
One to one is yesterday, according to direct marketing legend Stan Rapp, who holds that engagement is but the first step to the ultimate goal: entanglement. “What marketers can do with technology today is absolutely amazing, but it’s easy to get sidetracked. Everybody is focused on customer engagement, but we need to move beyond engagement and look at how much more is possible,” he counseled. Read why customer entanglement will be the dominant force in marketing: dmnews.com/summit/one-plus-one

Cultural Nuances Make Content Personal
Western Union’s head of global social strategy Michael Fenech explains how tapping into customers’ distinct cultures and needs creates engaging, relatable stories that prompt action. Tapping into its customers’ individual stories allows the company to build trust, affinity, and loyalty with customers across the globe, in more than 120 currencies, via more than 500,000 agent locations, and with more than 100,000 ATMs across more than 200 countries. Read more: dmnews.com/summit/cultural-nuances

On Martech: Forget the Questfor the Best and Buy the Really Good
It’s time that’s of the essence in the hunt for marketing tech solu- tions, not perfection, counsels Jay Wilson, a marketing technol- ogy veteran of several agencies and currently the VP of marketing technology and omnichannel platforms at Healthgrades, an online healthcare advisory. Here’s why: dmnews.com/summit/martech

Today, All Politics Is Digital
Data is king among the nation’s kingmakers, says Rocket Fuel’s J.C. Medici, who sees TV finally ceding ground to digital in the 2016 presidential race. Find out more: dmnews.com/summit/politics-is-digital

Hyperpersonalization: Creepy or Crucial?
Keeping up with cutting-edge marketing trends such as “hyperper- sonalization” is an imperative for successful companies. The reasons why may be clear, but the path to implementation, not so much. These and other challenges were on the minds of participants at the Domo-sponsored Lunch and Learn session, “Hyperpersonalization: Creepy or Crucial?” at the 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit. For the full report: dmnews.com/summit/hypersonalization

4 Recommendations for Upping Your Marketing Game
Marketers from AccuWeather and The New York Times discuss how to rethink staffing and processes to get the most from marketing technology. Learn the four takeaways from the discussion, hosted by Stephanie Miller, VP of digital strategy for food business magazine New Food Economy: dmnews.com/summit/recommendations

5 Sports Marketer Success Secrets
In baseball, it’s one, two, three strikes and you’re out. But when it comes to the customer experience, patrons don’t always give brands that many chances. A panel of sports marketers took the stage at DMN’s 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit and shared their best practices for driving engagement, loyalty, and sales. Learn how to hit a home run: dmnews.com/summit/sports-marketer-secrets

It’s All About the Strategy
The overarching theme of day one at our Marketing&Tech Innova- tion Summit? Strategy first. Here, some other attention-grabbing comments from the day: dmnews.com/summit/strategy

Never Stop Learning
Day two of DMN’s 2016 Marketing &Tech Innovation Summit brims over with captivating content — covering everything from how data is changing marketing, to selecting the “ideal” marketing technol- ogy, to moving beyond engagement to entangled marketing. Read the full story: dmnews.com/summit/learning

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