Yesterday’s Modern Marketing Tour gathered marketers from around the globe for a day of insights shared around marketing execution and transformation. The event took place on the doorstep of the city center and just around the corner from the impressive Prudential Tower or “the Pru” as the locals call Boston’s signature building. Here are a couple of valuable snapshots from the day:

Oracle’s Jocelyn Brown described modern marketers, and happened to mention that MarketOne’s uniquely broad service range addresses so many of their needs in one place. She also commented that for the first time in many years, there is renewed interest in click to chat as a source of qualified marketing leads.

The day took off when Forrester’s Laura Ramos described how to make marketing thrive in the “age of the customer” by “obsessing” over customers. She also mentioned the benefit of outbound telemarketing’s role when integrated with other demand generation activities.

In the afternoon, MarketOne’s Co-Founder, John Strehle, presented a “pyramid” concept as the least painful way to transform marketing. Greg James, PTC’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing, then described lessons from his company’s transformation, which is progressing through the “midfield” stage.  Based on John’s informal poll taken during the presentation, those embarking on a transformation outnumbered those with a near-complete transformation by more than 20:1.

The session covered the stages needed to transform marketing: data governance, standards adoption, filling the top of the funnel, scaling, and measurement / optimization. Greg offered some considerations for those embarking on a transformation:

• Arrange for Marketing to make periodic pipeline forecasts, just as Sales does

• Expect the transformation to take years, and plan accordingly

• Lead quality trumps lead quantity

You can find John and Greg’s presentation here at Topliners. You are also welcome to contact us directly for questions or enquiries.