Last month, tED magazine’s publisher, Scott Costa, interviewed Toni Sacrison, past NAED Adventure Committee chair and Marketing Specialist at Viking Electric about how marketing these days has had to adapt to current pandemic needs.
Costa also spoke with NAED’s Director of Learning and Program Content Kelly Jones about the upcoming 2020 NAED Adventure Workshop.
What are some of the new challenges when it comes to marketing? Have any old challenges disappeared? Did your old challenges grow larger?
“We’ve heard from our members that their marketing strategies need to shift in light of the pandemic to ensure that their messages are relevant and based on the needs of their customers to address the real problems their customers are facing. There’s a lot of “noise” in the information overloaded world today – cutting through that noise (through the right channels, and with the right messages) to connect with customers in meaningful ways is a challenge for marketers more now than ever before. To be successful, marketers must be highly tuned in to the unique wants and needs of their customers and create better experiences. When we align how we do business with what our ideal prospects prefer, we attract more ideal customers.”
NAED and the committee are trying to help marketing departments find their way through this jungle of pandemic lunacy. What will be some of the takeaways that attendees of the virtual event will have?
“Attendees will take away insight into current shifts in customer expectations, and strategies for eliminating barriers (making it easier for customers to do business with you), engaging prospects (making engaging connections and cutting through the noise), and creating customer-centric experiences. Attendees will participate in an exercise to identify the traits of their ideal customers and clients and learn how to ask the right questions to understand what they need, fear, dislike, and what they would actually like to see from marketing.”
There’s a new focus on how sales and marketing need to work together differently. What will this event focus on, and should salespeople also attend so they can embrace their new responsibilities?
“The new focus for sales and marketing to work together differently is based on their shared need to deeply understand their customers, and to understand how marketing and sales can work together to solve customers’ problems and create positive customer experiences. Salespeople should definitely attend this event so they can learn about new ways of thinking and strategies for more deeply understanding and responding to the voice of the customer and more proactively and effectively collaborate with their marketing partners.”
Give us your “inside the meeting room pitch” to attend this virtual event. You sat in on the planning, so what were some of the discussions that led the committee to this point in hiring a speaker for this topic? How would you write a few sentences if the question was “why should I attend this event?”
“Especially during the pandemic and recovery, understanding the voice of your customer is critical for business success. You should attend this event to learn from Customer Experience and Marketing expert David Avrin, and also to connect with your marketing and sales peers across the industry. This event is a cross-functional collaboration of marketing and sales to create positive customer experiences that will drive sales.”
What insight can you give us on David Arvin? I know he is a past speaker at an Adventure event, and he was well received. What can he teach our attendees and what is the benefit he provides?
“David will bring his expertise in Marketing and Sales along with his knowledge of virtual presentation, video engagement, and collaboration strategies. He understands the challenges our members are facing and is passionate about delivering both inspiration and actionable strategies. David views customer experience as the key competitive advantage available to businesses today, and he shares his ideas in a highly-energetic, funny, and memorable session while ensuring that attendees are able to take away and immediately apply strategies he has found to be effective. His website is https://www.visibilityinternational.com/ (video clips are posted there, too).”
For more information and to register for the 2020 NAED Adventure Workshop, click here. And watch this short video as Avrin tells us what to expect at the conference:
Tagged with Adventure Workshop, conference, marketing, NAED