The world is built on traditions passed on from generation to generation. This time of year is especially rich with them —Grandma’s shortbread recipe, Aunty Betty getting a little fluthered on holiday punch, and of course jolly ole’ Saint Nick… Speaking of Saint Nick, there are some troubling signs arising from the North Pole. Complications that only a Modern Marketing Makeover can help.
Here’s the back story – Events out of his control are conspiring against Santa. Climate change is threatening his homeland. The declining birth rate is causing him to restate revenue and earnings. Not to mention his elves are addicted to their screens, which has resulted in a massive drop in productivity.
So, Saint Nick took a good look in the mirror and decided a modern marketing makeover was needed to rekindle his story for young and old.
Naturally, he turned to Demand Spring for help.
Santa Goes Agile
Delivering presents to 6 billion people in 12 hours every year is all the training Santa needed to move from a waterfall process to agile in his marketing. Mrs. Claus agreed to be his Scrum Master. She runs a tight ship, keeping their back-log low despite their enormous total addressable market.
He used intent data to better determine which Hatchimal to give to whom. He invested in our custom storybuilding workshop to rekindle the age old story of Christmas magic among his existing and potential customers. And he deployed Marketing Automation (with Donner as his administrator and power user), placing a heavy emphasis on behavioral scoring.
He was even spotted wearing a Marketo as a Service t-shirt at Marketo Summit, but had to leave early (via the chimney of course at The Moscone Center). The California weather was just too much for his northern blood.
Santa’s Gifts to Modern Marketers
Lo and behold, Santa’s modern marketing makeover yielded strong results. Not a surprise really. His move to cloud-based technology was a pretty seamless transition for a guy who steers 8 tiny reindeer through the atmosphere. His “why” is pure. He used his leverage to attract some pretty amazing guests to his podcast. Keeping off the Naughty List: Santa’s Coals Notes is a must-listen episode.
As a result, Santa has decided to give back to the marketing community in a big way. Here are some of the marketing toys the elves are working on to meet Santa’s right-around-the-corner ship date:
Customer Journey Mapping: The missing foundation in many revenue marketing plans. There is a lot of great content development and lead nurturing work being done today. How much of it, though, is missing the mark without this strategic framework?
New Technologies: On to the beepy things. Here are three of the hottest technologies that Santa will be delivering this holiday season (batteries not included):
- Drift – Santa has specialized in conversational marketing for years.
- Marketo – The leader in Marketing Automation gets even stronger with its acquisition by Adobe.
- Uberflip – It’s all about the content experience and Uberflip delivers it exceptionally well.
Marketing and Sales Alignment: New data from Forrester identifies that 62% of B2B buyers finalize their decision-criteria completely through digital channels. It’s the reason behind Santa’s recent joint alliance with Amazon (we are worried that Jeff Bezos’ next acquisition might in fact be S. Claus Industries). The buyer is in control today. It’s an imperative that marketing and sales work together in an interdependent manner.
Stocking Stuffers
It’s not all big gifts under the tree that excite Modern Marketers. Here are the stocking stuffers Santa is working on for us:
Pajamas: With more and more organizations like Demand Spring fostering a virtual work environment, flannel PJs and fuzzy slippers will come in handy.
Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Marketing: From brand to demand and art to science, modern marketers are driving significant, measurable pipeline contributions. May 2019 bring peace, respect and goodwill from the CEO and Sales.
Professional Development passes: This is not a profession where one’s knowledge and skills can remain static. To that end, Santa will be filling stockings with passes to events like Marketo Summit, MarTech, and MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum.
Content: Like socks, having the right mix of content truly accents your style and shows off your personality. Make sure you’re sending the right messages.
Work/Life Balance: May the balance you hopefully enjoy over the holidays extend throughout 2019.
There you have it. A preview of what you may see under your tree on Christmas morning.
Happy holidays to you and yours from the team here at Demand Spring!
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