The RD Summit 2023 brought together in Brazil brilliant and innovative minds to share valuable experiences and knowledge. As a marketing professional, this event is not just encouraging but also validates hypotheses and inspires. As an events enthusiast, the feeling is one of excitement: I attended the first edition in 2013, gathering 300 people in Florianópolis, and now there are over 19,000 in São Paulo. Organizing such a large-scale event, considering participants' (high) expectations and the challenges of producing it in a new city, is admirable.

In this article, I will share some lessons learned and how these insights can be applied to boost your business.

1. New Marketing Doesn't Look Like Marketing

João Branco, former Marketing Director of McDonald's Brazil, asserts that there is no better marketing strategy than genuinely caring about your customers. Marketing is about serving. It's about easing pain rather than pushing offers. Authentic communication that sensitively offers the best solution to those in need is the path to creating lasting connections with your brand.

2. Branding Isn't (Just) Marketing

It encompasses a company's entire experience. It starts with the owner or CEO defending the brand, goes through HR as the guardian of the company's culture, and spans all internal areas until it reaches marketing, which should have branding at the center of its strategy and make the brand its primary acquisition channel.

One of the main mistakes in marketing, according to Samira Cardoso, CEO of Layer Up, is delaying investment in branding or investing solely in product or service offers, as this appeal alone tends to saturate the market. Building a brand or "Brand Mentality" efforts should be constant and consistent in all customer touchpoints. The result doesn't appear overnight, but it generates long-term demand and sustains offers. Book suggestion: "How Brands Grow" by Byron Sharp.

3. Common Mistakes in Marketing Leadership

• Not defining clear and measurable objectives: According to Martha Gabriel, Ph.D., Writer, Consultant, and Professor, there is nothing more dangerous than making a long-term decision with a short-term mindset. A tip is to use the SMART goal-setting method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
• Not understanding the context and not analyzing results correctly: The combination of Business Intelligence with Business Analytics greatly aids in this task.
• Lack of alignment with other areas of the company: Frequent communication and the creation of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) help align expectations and clearly define the responsibilities of each area in achieving results.
• Not building the right team: Having an excellent CRM is pointless if the operator is not adequately trained. Invest in training.
• Delaying investment in branding: To reinforce your company's value proposition and build a distinctive identity, start investing in your brand, even in a simplified way. Develop a strong and unique message (avoid clichés).
• Misallocating available financial resources: It's crucial to make decisions based on data and understand the difference between market size and consumer behavior (market size is one thing, willingness to buy is another).
• Not adapting to market demands and new technologies: Understand changes in consumer behavior and be open to new ideas.

4. Artificial Intelligence

Seen by many speakers as a path to operational improvement and faster decision-making, according to Fábio Ricotta, CEO of Agência Mestre, AI brings the benefit of delegating tasks more quickly and organizing market data better.

According to André Siqueira, Co-Founder of RD Station, AI does not replace human thinking and experience, but humans who use AI well can indeed replace those who do not.

AI in practice and some examples:

• You can request a complete SWOT matrix for your project.
• You can create an empathy map.
• You can ask for the pains and needs of your market (Do not be afraid to be redundant in the prompt).
• You can build the Voice Tone Manual for your communications.
• You can request ideas for ads and images, and much more.

Some additional resources shared by Wil Reynolds, VP of Innovation at Seer Interactive:

• Transcribe feedbacks/Automate meeting notes: www.otter.ai / www.fireflies.ai / www.loom.com / Zapier AI
• Ask thought-provoking questions: Voice Surveys / My best 100+ questions
• Get AI to prompt you: www.pi.ai
• Test many AI models (Meta, Google, Open AI, Anthropic): www.poe.com / Google Bard / Perplexity
• Track Brand Rankings in ChatGPT: Blog post + Tool / ChatGPT for Sheets
• How to use ChatGPT to code mini-apps (Videos): How to use notable to build mini apps / Get wikipedia traffic data / Using Link reader plugin
• Revolutionize your surveys with voice and video: Phonic.ai

And here is an interesting slide about AI from the perspective of content creation.

Source: Wil Reynolds, VP Innovation de Seer Interactive

However, it is worth remembering that before any Artificial Intelligence, it is necessary to master the main fundamentals of marketing. And what are these fundamentals? Any information extracted should aim to help educate, entertain, empower, and/or engage with your audience; otherwise, you will have access to a lot of data and little assertiveness in usage since no technology will effectively fulfill its role.

Educate your audience to build trust
Entertain your audience to build a connection
Engage your audience to build community
Empower your audience to build a tribe

The RD Summit 2023 provided a comprehensive view of trends and best practices that will shape the business landscape in the coming years. The insights highlighted here are just a small sample of what the event offered. Incorporating these lessons into your business strategy can be the differentiator for ongoing success. I hope you enjoyed it 😊

If you are interested in receiving an illustrated summary of some RD Summit 2023 presentations, Faster Agency  is offering this service for free through this link (only available in Portuguese) https://www.fstr.co/

RD Summit 2024 already has a scheduled date and is open for registration. If you want to secure your spot in the next edition, I suggest checking the details here: https://rdsummit.rdstation.com/