Last week in the Windy City, members of the Chicago AMA gathered at Gleacher Center for Momentum 2015. The rockstar cast of presenters included:
- Matthew Tennant – Global Director of Social at McDonald’s
- Laura Squier – Director of Sales and Business Development for Advanced Analytics, QueBit
- Liisa Thomas – Chair, Privacy and Data Security Practice at Winston and Strawn LLP
- Patrick Reid – Area Vice President of Financial Services at Salesforce
- Mazen Ghalayini – Director, Customer Experience at West Monroe Partners
- Ben Foster – Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy at Ketchum
- Tim Handorf – Co-Founder & President at G2 Crowd
They spoke on a variety of topics including data-driven social media, improving your marketing results through predictive analytics, handling data breaches on social media, using the right technology to improve customer experience, and the future of the technology marketing stack. The last one was admittedly one of our favorites. 🙂
There were many memorable moments from #Momentum15. Here are our five favorites.
1. The B2B customer is demanding engagement on their terms.
#momentum15 is off to a great start! @matthewtennant from @McDonalds is sharing social media best practices for better customer engagement
— Casey Foss (@cfoss24) November 10, 2015
Customers have so many options when it comes to choosing who they want to do business with. Even in a B2B buying situation, decisions are made based largely on emotion and not just logic. The experience that key decision-makers have with your brand, even on social media, makes a difference in how your company is perceived and ultimately plays a role in whether they sign the contract.
2. Great customer experience turns best fit customers into advocates.
Drive brand advocacy: be authentic, go beyond expectations and build community. @matthewtennant #momentum15
— Alicia Johnston (@AliciaBJohnston) November 10, 2015
When you focus on providing a great customer experience, it’s much easier to get customers talking about your brand. Meeting their expectations is not enough. Try to challenge the status quo and wow your customers with an experience that they’ll never forget.
3. Technology makes it easier than ever to rock your customer’s world.
Using the right technology 2 improve customer experience #momentum15 @MazenGhalayini @benphoster @salesforce pic.twitter.com/ULFh763klk
— AMA Chicago (@ChicagoAMA) November 10, 2015
There are great tools on the market that will help you maximize customer engagement and turn clients into advocates. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Influitive
- Gainsight
- Customer.io
- Trustfuel (You know I have to give a shout-out to another ATL-based company!)
4. Data is the silver bullet of modern marketing.
Hanging out with the @chicagoama this afternoon for #momentum15. Learning how to incorporate data into strategy. YAS.
— Sarah Nagel (@thesarahnagel) November 10, 2015
A marketing team with the right data in hand is unstoppable. Great data, especially predictive, allows you to be proactive instead of reactive in your marketing strategy. There are so many tools on the market today that can tell you which accounts you should go after based on qualifying characteristics of closed-won opportunities in your CRM. Pretty incredible, huh?
5. Challenging the status quo often requires a culture shift within organizations.
Biggest challenge to implementing predictive #analytics is culture. @QueBIT_TM1 #momentum15
— Holly Hughes (@hollyjhughes) November 10, 2015
Whether we’re talking about predictive analytics or account-based marketing, it can be tough convincing B2B marketers who have gotten used to a certain mindset. The reality is that the world of marketing is ever-changing, and the smartest marketers do everything they can to keep pace with the latest advances and insights. That doesn’t mean following every marketing trend, but it does mean embracing new technology and paradigm shifts in the B2B world.
Want more awesome B2B marketing, sales, and customer experience insights?
Join us for the #FlipMyFunnel Roadshow in Chicago on December 8th. You can save 50% off your ticket with promo code Terminus50
