Setup® Presents - Show + Tell
Besides nap time, unlimited snacks, and the freedom to eat glue (that’s a perk, right?), elementary schools’ main perk was Show and Tell.
Flash forward a couple years - or 30 - and those kids have grown up and are full-fledged marketing professionals. They still have unique things to share and their peers still want to learn, only, instead of a grade, it’s the company’s marketing strategy at stake.
Setup’s #MarketersBreakfast events focus on connecting and educating marketing leaders in the community. Each breakfast has a different theme, Marketing is an ever-changing landscape, however, so the Setup #MarketersBreakfast covers an array of themes ranging from Speed-Dating, to Finding Marketing Talent, to Show + Tell.
For our most recent Show + Tell breakfast, we invited six marketing leaders from different industries - The Coca-Cola Company, Salesforce, Atlanta Braves, ParkMobile, High Museum of Art, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber - to show + tell about a recent successful marketing initiative.
“I love attending these events where I can meet other members of the Atlanta marketing community and share best practices.”
Here are the key takeaways from the marketing projects presented that you can use in your marketing campaigns:
Takeaway #1 - Think Outside of the Box
I was one of the first 50 people there, so I got a one of these beautiful mugs. Also the program was designed by a very talented intern, isn’t it cute?#MarketersBreakfast pic.twitter.com/1AqiIWX94v
— Denell A. Davis (@DenellDavis) August 29, 2019
Sometimes the best ideas come from outside of the box - or rather, outside of the industry.
Kristie Benson, the Director of Communications at the High Museum of Art, spoke about how her team evaluated their audience and brought the art to life with its marketing initiative, “heartmatch.” Similar to Tinder’s swipe feature, “heartmatch” leveraged an app to generate a custom map of the museum for users based on consumer preferences and swiping behavior.
Takeaway #2 - Know Your Values
Jeff Perkins, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of ParkMobile, started his talk by asking the room if they could recite all of their company’s values. When ParkMobile first began, there was such a strong focus on “the grind” and little focus on the “why.” This significantly impacted his team’s culture, and ultimately, the company’s brand.
“When ParkMobile first began, there was such a strong focus on ‘the grind’ and such little focus on the mission, values, or vision. In order to get where you’re going, you need to know who you are, what you’re doing, and why. ”
Jeff emphasized that just having the core values is not enough - values need to come to life throughout the business. Leaders need to reinforce the values daily to notice a real change - let the values bleed through during events, in work, the office space, and even while hiring new team members.
Takeaway #3 - Leverage Unexpected Partnerships
How effective are your current partnerships? Are you squeezing every last bit of juice out of the orange?
It was great to have a chance to meet some great marketers and speak about some of the work I have been leading this year in eCommerce. #MarketersBreakfast https://t.co/DLQgNrwsYX
— Todd Skidmore (@toddskid) August 29, 2019
Todd Skidmore, the Senior Manager of eCommerce at The Coca-Cola Company, presented the temporary, eCommerce-only re-launch of New Coke during the release of Netflix’s Stranger Things. Despite the flop of New Coke’s debut in the 80’s, the nostalgia marketing in 2019 to a generation who never experienced the beverage led to a mutually beneficial campaign for both brands.
Not every brand can partner with companies like Coca-Cola, but Todd emphasized for people to “seize the moment” and “think of ways to bring their partnerships to life.” After all, sometimes two minds are better than one.
Related - Harness the Hype: Stranger Things 3
Takeaway #4 - Find the Appropriate Marketing Channel to Reach your Audience
When it comes to streamlining a marketing strategy, sometimes it’s hard for marketers to see the forest through the trees. That isn’t the case for Greg Mize, the Senior Director of Marketing and Innovation for the Atlanta Braves, however.
Greg drove major ROI by taking one, seemingly small step in the Brave’s CRM strategy: Tying social media handles to an email address. By associating social media handles with people’s emails, the Atlanta Braves noticed a 150% increase in revenue for email.
This was due to the Brave’s hyper-focused email segmentation strategy, which was made possible by combining insights from social media, like engagement with specific posts or topics.
“Our biggest bridge was the ability to associate CRM record to a social media handle. The best way to get that info is to simply ask.”
Takeaway #5 - Team Work Makes the Dream Work
Whether it is working with partners or collaborating with consumers, generally, working together creates a better output. Simeon Spearman, the Senior Director of Channels and Analytics at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, discussed the value of leveraging user-generated content.
Simeon spoke about the Chamber’s “brand box” initiative that is a library asset for brands and organizations to collaborate, contribute, and use in order to tell Atlanta’s story. This initiative connects all people in Atlanta, including competitors, to one initiative - showcasing Atlanta.
Salesforce used podcasts and storytelling to connect with their B2B consumers.
Maureen Maggioni, Director of Product Marketing at Salesforce, spoke about her unique position in a B2B space and how Salesforce started leveraging its own customers’ stories via their Trailblazer initiative.
In this initiative, Salesforce had one of their most prosperous social media campaigns by reaching out to their client base and asking how consumers used the product. Users engaging and creating on behalf of the brand is an easy, personalized, and effective tool to reach more people and garner more attention. They also created a successful podcast, called “Marketing Trends” to further educate their B2B customers.
Takeaway #6 Continuously Educate Yourself
Just by coming to the #MarketersBreakfast, guests expand their network while investing in their continued marketing education. So many attendees emphasized the value of meeting local marketers and listening to marketing solutions to complex and common challenges.
This was overall our most successful #MarketersBreakfast yet! Over 50 client-side marketing leaders from brands like Cox Automotive, UPS, Carrier, RaceTrac, IHG, and countless others attended. Guests expressed immense appreciation for the brand stories, valuable insights, and networking - some attendees even took away ideas to implement in their own marketing efforts. The event itself scored a 9.4 out of 10 and 97% of attendees said they’d recommend the #MarketersBreakfast to a friend.
“Setup™ has their finger on the pulse of marketing and what today’s marketers need.”
Attendees also took with them a limited edition Setup mug with the phrase “Dare Mighty Things” - a saying so integral to Setup’s foundation and day-to-day operations. Each #MarketersBreakfast will have a specially designed mug for the first 50 attendees - don’t miss your chance to have one! If you are a marketing leader and would like to attend the next #MarketersBreakfast, please contact us.
To see the rest of the photos taken at the event, visit our Facebook page.
In the five-minute TV segment about The Connector’s Compass: Navigate Your Way to Meaningful Relationships, I had the chance to explain something that has shaped my career for more than 30 years. Real connection is not about working a room. It is about caring about the person in front of you.
That message did not start with the book. It started with Setup.