Five takewaways from Marketo's Revenue Rockstar Unplugged

Some thoughts on today's Marketo Revenue Rockstar event in the not-so-rockstar surroundings of a serviced office in Reading. Well, I guess all acts have to start touring somewhere :-)

1. Its still early days for MA. Watching the (two) bright young things of marketo play out their vision to a room of fortysomething CRM consultants brought it home to me that this Marketing Automation (MA) stuff is still new to most. Having been a beta customer of marketo and an MA implementor since 2007, I forget that this is most people's first BBQ.

2. Hype cycle tiring? With very few end clients and less buzz than what i understand from last year's event, vendors like Marketo have to be careful about stretching out the hype. Especially in markets like the UK. There were less than 25 at today's event - perhaps failing to attract the late adopters/early majority? We need more case studies, (sadly just one today, even if it was an able presentation by NewVoiceMedia), proof points & anecdotes and reassure people you've done this before. Many times.

3. MA is the flipside of content. Great to see Kieran from marketo spending some time on content marketing. Often neglected by many in the MA journey, its the elephant in the room. Great that you can converse, drip & nurture prospects without human intervention. But what are you going to say?? So time and effort in thinking about personas, content topics & and an editorial calendar is critical. (Also great to see content supremo Doug Kessler of Velocity Partners namechecked. Hire him. I did!)

4. Complete the equation: Success = Technology + Blank + Blankety Blank. Missing from today was any mention of process & people. 99% of the challenge in MA is cultural. And of that the real challenge is sales & marketing alignment. My worry is MA is being bought as a toy for the marketing team to automate their activities, when the real value is using it to integrate sales & marketing.

5. Insight trumps execution. Since business process automation software was invented in the 70s, the real value in any automated process (be that finance, logistics and now demand generation) is the insight you gain from the data collected. Its not about scheduling that follow-up email or distributing that social media whitepaper. Its about what you learn from the customer interactions with it. This is where you get the real advantage. marketo are making some early inroads with their (costed) additional analytics modules, but there's a long way to go here.

So, all in all a good day. Thanks to marketo for laying it on, and for saving me a few $$$ with a free copy of Revenue Disruption !

My Digital Life Manifesto

Don't get me wrong. I love technology and I love social media. But sometimes I feel I/you/society have/has lost the plot. So in response, i've tried to adopt a 5 point plan to coping. My Digital Life Manifesto, if you will. 

1. Less weak connections, more strong connections. I’m spending far too much time reading the musings of people I hardly know (and probably would never like if I ever met them) and not enough time with my “true” friends and family. Distractedly reading the tweets of a social media consultant in Ohio should not trump playing with my kids. Time to step away from the digital device (for example, I physically put my phones/tablets/laptops as far away as I can at home) and actually meet people i know and love. Oh, and when I do meet up, remember to not be checking my iPhone all the time rather than engaging in good old conversation.
2. More dumb devices.  There’s a reason why in the “olden days” (i.e. pre-2006) I used to go off to a quiet spot or room to get stuff done. ITS CALLED FOCUS. The same applies to our digital lives. Smartphones and tablets only serve to distract you from what needs to be done. So I’m going to be ruthless and kill the alt-tab culture and go back to using more dedicated (or I guess, dumb) devices. So when I listen to music I’m using my iPod CLASSIC and taking the time to enjoy my tunes (it also handles my 12,000+ library too). And if I want to read an eBook, I use my Kindle and actually read (not flick to twitter, check the footie or reload facebook). I even have a separate personal phone for (certain) evenings and (most) weekends that doesn’t contain my work calendar or work email. My good friend Roger Warner has gone one step further – using one that can only text and make calls. Read his DumbPhone Manifesto for further inspiration. DUMB DEVICE BONUS POINT! Battery life on dumb devices is awesome.
3. Turn off the twitter firehose and end FOMO. I’ve been tweeting for over 3 years but I still have only the one stream in my twitter clients. I’ve gradually come addicted to continually checking for updates (boy does facebook feel so sloooow compared to twitter), fiddling with my iPhone every 10 minutes even late into the night (and annoying my wife when at home and my friends when out and about). Some call it the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). But you know what, having taken a break over Xmas (I deleted twitter from my iPhone), I didn’t feel any less informed or less connected. So it’s time to (finally) use those lists and focus. So a careful bit of curating and I’ll hand pick the accounts I love and build mini-firehoses in Tweetdeck.
4. Twitter egotists – your time is over (part 1). OK, so if you’re Ashton Kutcher or Stephen Fry you deserve a bit of a latitude in the broadcast vs conversation debate. Fair enough, you can’t possibly follow back and engage all your followers (although Mr. Fry tries admirably, following 50,000 or so). But if you’re a white collar worker in the marketing or advertising industry – shame on you. You are not a celebrity nor are you a person of importance. Stop the broadcasting, you have nothing special to say anyway. 10,000 followers & 800 following? In 2012 - UNFOLLOW.
5. Twitter egotists – your time is over (part 2). I follow you. You don’t follow me? In 2012 – UNFOLLOW. (And yes, I know I have to get my house in order in reverse :-))  

So there you have it. That’s my 5 point Digital Life Manifesto. Anyone with any more?

Entering a new geographical market

I was delighted to be interviewed by marketo for their latest marketing guide "The Definitive Guide to International Market Entry & Expansion".

Over the course of last 10 years I've helped several businesses expand into new markets (be that North American companies coming to Europe or European businesses expanding Internationally) and its something I feel passionate about.

In particular, the ability of even the smallest business to build an emotional connection with their audiences through a wealth of cost effective technology options never dreamt of 10 years ago. Here I not only refer to social media and social sharing tools, but also marketing automation platforms such as marketo (which is why I guess I was asked to comment), eloqua and silverpop. For a few thousand dollars or so, companies can now curate content and share it with customers & prospects at the right time in their buying cycle, personalised to their particular requirements. Sprinkle on a comms personality that is distinctive, human and compelling and you have something that stands  out from the crowd. Even if you're the smallest of businesses! 

​Anyway, I recommend anyone in B2B Marketing with multi-segment responsibility to take a peek at the guide.