The AV Marketers meetup at ISE 2024, unraveled many different aspects of what B2B marketers focusing on and the various subsets that contribute to becoming an adept technical B2B marketer. The session was chaired by Dan Goldstein, Chief Marketing Officer, AVIXA. He shared insights from a survey conducted by Association of National Advertisers (ANA), that recently surveyed a working group comprising approximately 2025 individuals, including representatives from Microsoft, X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Lego, MasterCard, and other notable brands. These inputs have been gathered from diverse and experienced professionals in the marketing field.
The skill sets are divided into four categories: Brand Creativity and Media, Data Technology and Measurement, Talent Marketing Organization, and Society and Sustainability. Under each category, there are specific skills and considerations, such as communications, PR, reputation management, diversity, equity, and inclusion under Society, and agent and vendor management, consultant management, partner marketing, and finance under Talent.
In addition, AVIXA recently conducted a poll on LinkedIn, with around 90 votes from a mix of in-house marketing teams and agencies. The results revealed that 40% considered Brand Creativity and Media the most important, closely followed by Data Technology and Measurement at 41%. Talent Marketing Organization received 13%, and Society and Sustainability garnered 6%.
Dan opened the floor for discussion on these results and explored explore how these findings align with the respondents’ overall perspectives and experience.
What followed was a discussion among diverse group of Marketers who attended the session at the AVIXA Xchange Live session held during ISE 2024. Learn more about what the participants picked from each of the categories and shared their insights on what is a priority according to them.
- While some of us strongly felt that brand building, creativity and content is still at the core of everything we do in terms of our overall business goals and the reason 'why' we exist. At the same time, we agreed that without the right talent, we don't have the brand. Brands don’t create themselves in vacuum. Marketing ultimately is ‘people’ business!
In this context, Goldstein highlighted a quote from a presentation at the Integrate show in Australia in 2023, which he found intriguing: "AV is essentially a people business disguised as technology and solutions."
- The group found it interesting that the poll results with 41% favouring Data technology and measurement, aligned closely with their sentiments on key priorities and the skill sets marketers should develop. It's crucial to ensure that the metrics we track are in harmony with our overarching business objectives. At times, marketers may become fixated on vanity metrics that appear impressive superficially but do not necessarily translate to tangible gains for the business.
- Digitization of marketing with sophisticated CRMs and automation activity is not just driving marketing objectives, but it's also time to acknowledge its contribution to business results.
- When it comes to making data driver decisions, the quality of data is crucial. Making decisions based on unreliable or incomplete data can lead to poor outcomes. It's a delicate balance between being data-driven and using human intuition and experience to interpret and validate the data.
- The group also reached a consensus that Society and Sustainability metrics and skill sets will become increasingly significant in the years ahead. Although it might not seem like an immediate priority on their to-do lists, the essence of embracing sustainable practices, aligning marketing strategies with the organization's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, and defining the brand's socially conscious initiatives are all integral components of the marketing department's core responsibilities.
Ultimately, the goal is to have a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey and how marketing efforts contribute to business success. This involves not just looking at isolated metrics but connecting the dots between various touchpoints and understanding the holistic impact of marketing initiatives.
As someone from the group rightly pointed out – ‘marketing in today’s context is not just about showering confetti.’ We are in an era where we can prove why marketing matters and how!
What do you think about these skill sets? What do you think is a priority in achieving business goals? Do share your thoughts in comments.
@Peter Schädel - AVIXA @Franciele Mesadri - AVIXA @Nicole Verardi - feel free to chime in with your insights and takeaways from the session! :-)
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Great insights @Monisha Devaiah
Overall, the key takeaway for me was the need for a holistic marketing approach that integrates creativity, data, talent, and societal responsibility. By understanding the interconnectedness of these elements and their impact on the customer journey, marketers can better align their efforts with business objectives and drive meaningful results.
Adding @Camila Chavarri @María Eugenia Friedlmeier since I believe the topic might be interesting to them as well :)
Thanks Fran for adding me in here! unfortunately i couldn´t attend ISE24 but all this information is very interesting.
I believe that a strong marketing team shoulg have a balance between all these skills. If everyone understands where the brand or company goes, the quantitative and qualitative objectives, and what is needed to achieve the proposed goals, it´s necessary to have each of them in a greater or lesser percentage according to the role to be occupied within the team.
However, as far as the customer journey is concerned, we should not be carried away by new techologies that often overwhelm us and make us join efforts that divert attention from what is really necessary. That´s why when we mention digitalization, IA, measurement, tools, etc, we must be cautious and understand if everything that comes out it´s really necessary, optimizes our processes and times, adds value to the team, beeing able to adjust and improve compaigns to be able to efficiently reach our consumers, who in fact are our target in everything we do.