Marketo Summit 2012: Be a ‘Leader’ in Today’s Brave New World

Sometimes in life – and in history – everything just converges to create a remarkable moment in time. It’s the kind of moment that you know truly matters, and that you won’t soon forget.

This feeling of being part of an important moment was almost palpable during our recent Marketo Summit here in San Francisco (which was celebrating its own big moment with the 75^th Anniversary of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge). More than 1,400 people descended on our city to be a part of the Marketo Summit 2012.  It was a ground-breaking event on so many different levels, not the least of which was the incredible energy, passion, experience and knowledge that the B2C and B2B Marketing and Sales attendees brought and shared.

Based on the many discussions I had during the event, it was clear to me that they wanted to be a part of a movement that is literally transformative, to drive profound change for business, especially in sales and marketing.

Social Media Driving Brave New World

Of all the change agents that are driving that Brave New World of sales and marketing, none loom larger than social media. Summit attendees learned that of all the time spent online these days, 25% is spent on social media (according to a recent Nielsen report). As I have written many times before, the buying process no longer starts with a sales call. Today, the process begins with buyers doing research online (especially social media) as they seek out trusted information, reviews and referrals from friends, colleagues and industry experts.

And that is why Marketo announced its vision that, in this Brave New World, Marketing Automation is now Social Marketing Automation. Guided by that vision, we introduced the first and only truly integrated application for Social Marketing Automation – Marketo Social Marketing. This breakthrough solution enables companies to harness the growing power of peer-to-peer conversations and amplify these messages throughout the social web – all in a completely integrated and automated fashion.

Marketo Social Marketing is about making ALL campaigns social, to create a more impactful and productive presence within social networks by encouraging word-of-mouth sharing in an easy, intuitive way.

Time to Seize the Moment — Be a Leader!

Following the Summit, there was a flurry of blog posts by attendees.  One particularly excellent piece included this powerful quote from Jay Baer’s keynote, “Don’t Do Social. Be Social.”— a mandate for us all. I would add this to his great advice: “Be a change agent for your company.” Becoming a true change agent today requires an enthusiastic embrace of social in everything we do.

In this Brave New World, the classic “sales versus marketing” battle is no longer just counterproductive; it can be deadly to your company. That’s why, now more than ever, companies need strong leaders who can create alignment between sales and marketing to achieve the revenue growth that we all seek: more win-ready leads, more opportunities, and ultimately more closed deals.

The many hundreds of big thinkers who attended our recent Summit were signaling their desire and commitment to be those leaders and capitalize on the changes that are creating huge revenue opportunities in the Brave New World of Social Marketing Automation. With new Social Marketing Automation solutions, the tools are now available to make the vision a reality.

It is indeed a Brave New World for marketing and sales. It’s your time to seize the moment and be the change agent your company needs.