Have you heard about
our newly launched
annual State of
Marketing report?
Well, we surveyed nearly
5,000 marketers worldwide
to discover how
marketers are evaluating
and implementing AI,
approaching their data
strategies, and
ensuring customer trust
If you'd like
to check it out,
go to the link
on the screen,
Now to talk about how
this report can transform
your marketing
playbook, I'm
joined by marketing
trailblazers.
We have Trovon Williams,
SVP of marketing
and communications
at the NAACP;
Abby Bell, vice
president at Symantec;
and Wes Bell,
vice president
of marketing at Idaho
Central Credit Union.
Thank you for
being with us.
I am really excited about
this because you all
have all the information
our audience wants,
One of the insights
in this year's State
of Marketing is we're
entering the evolving AI
I don't know if
you've heard.
And we're leveraging
AI as marketers.
It is the
number-one priority,
but it's also the
number-one challenge.
So, Abby, I want
to start with you.
How are you using
AI in your work?
Very carefully,
I would say.
So I also moonlight as
our DPO, our Data Privacy
So my motto is
less is more.
Like, let's just
use what little
bit we can and
kind of baby step
into the AI world and make
sure that we document,
document everything,
including our privacy
policy, what data
is coming in,
what's coming out of
AI, and just be careful.
That's our
guiding principle.
And, I mean, what
a combination.
You've got a privacy
officer and a marketer.
And so when
you're thinking
about how you do that,
it sounds like those baby
steps, it's probably
deploy and test,
measure, deploy and
test, and measure.
Are there things you've
learned along the way
that you can share
with the audience?
Yeah, I would say
100% that's it.
And what we've learned
is, let's throw some stuff
in just for
ideation, right?
Our writers, our
designers love
to throw things
in and be like,
ooh, that triggered
something.
It's almost like
having another person
in a popcorn brainstorm
where it's just like this,
and you kind of feed
off of each other
versus one person that's
writing everything
So almost like a team
member, not someone
Yeah, and I love
that because we
talk a lot about how
experts in the AI
field-- how can
you be an expert?
You're like,
hey, you know?
But you're doing it right.
You're incorporating a
lot of different opinions,
individuals, experiences,
and that's what
And so one of the
other insights
in the State of
Marketing report
is marketers are
shoring up their data
Our research uncovered
half of marketers
can get real-time
data, but they
need technical assistance
to activate it.
So they've got it, but
what do they do with it?
So, Wes, how
are you thinking
about improving the
timeliness and customer
connections of data
at your organization?
Yeah, I think
as marketers,
what you have to have
is like a very effective
You've got to have a
blueprint to kind of lead
those collaborative
conversations with your IT
department and
your C-suites
to make sure that
everybody is like, OK,
here's what we're
trying to achieve.
But at the same
time, OK, what steps
What are our
milestones that
are going to lead
that progression?
rather than just
try and dive in
and not be overwhelmed
all at the same time.
Yeah, and at
the end of it,
you've got that outcome
you're looking for,
but every customer
we've talked to today
has all talked--
everybody's talked about,
it's those progressive
experiences
and learning from
that and then
incorporating as much as
you can into each step
so that the final outcome
can be replicated, right?
I think that scalability
is something that we've
And so personalization,
I love it.
I am the ultimate
consumer.
I like when
people tell me,
you should buy
this because it
So the data has a
lot to do with it.
So let's talk a little
bit about personalized
There's a stark
difference between
high-performing and
underperforming teams'
approaches to
personalization.
So how are you seeing
those approaches
to personalization
evolve in the industries
I think what we're
learning very quickly
is that from a
personalization
standpoint, we have
a great opportunity
to segment our
audience itself
and be creative in how
we're communicating
While the
information itself
is incredibly
sometimes daunting,
the reality is that if
you're able to segment
and utilize the
information appropriately,
message
appropriately, you can
get personalized
messaging that
is more formidable
to the audience
From the NAACP's
standpoint,
we have very
different audiences
who have very
different interests
from the organizational
standpoint.
And so how we
engage with them,
utilizing personalized
messaging itself
And it changes
over time, too.
And so every interaction
is a chance for them
to change preferences,
and preferences drive
So, Wes, when you look
at personalization,
what are you
doing to deploy
Well, in regards
to personalization,
you can hyperpersonalize
everything.
But what you
want to do is--
what we've tried to
accomplish is like, OK,
what are our key
areas that we
need to personalize
first to drive
But if you're
personalizing
towards a
conversion, you've
got to have the metrics
and the measurements
in place too because
all of that work,
the extra creative,
all the things that
is behind the scenes
of personalization only
are going to be
effective if you're
measuring it and
seeing the results.
If you don't have those
proper metrics in place,
sometimes it might
be wasted effort.
Yeah, so it sounds
like there's
a potential for
overpersonalizing, right?
And so if you
go too narrow,
then you're not
giving your audience
or your consumer
any choice.
Abby, how do you
approach personalization?
So I said in our
session earlier
at the beginning of
marketing automation,
you could just throw
somebody's first name
in a subject line, and it
was like magical, right?
And now our consumers or
contributors or students
have gotten so classy in
what they expect, right?
And someone even
after the session
was like, how do I
do personalization
And I think a lot of it
is really timing, right?
You want the
abandoned-cart email,
but you don't maybe
want the paid ad right
after you get
off the site.
And so I would just
encourage marketers
to look at the
whole journey
and figure out which
moments matter.
And to your
point, Wes, where
is that
personalization going
Yeah, and so our
customers love
hearing from
our customers,
so I want to wrap up
with some final thoughts
about all of the
marketers watching.
If they're going
to start tomorrow,
what are some of
the tips and tricks
What advice would
you give them
on how to start
this journey?
As creators, it's
important for us
I think that's the
easiest way to do it,
and I think you'll get to
where you're ultimately
trying to go by
being curious.
Yeah, because we're all
learning together, right?
We've all started
at the same time.
The experts in this
field are us, right?
Everybody is an expert,
so it's wonderful.
Thank you so much
for joining us today.
Thank you for
your insights.
For more marketing
insights,
check out Salesforce's new
State of Marketing report.
Freshly launched
this week,
we surveyed nearly 5,000
marketers worldwide
to discover how
marketers are evaluating
and implementing AI,
approaching their data
strategies, and
ensuring customer trust
To learn more, visit
the link on the screen,
sfdc.co/marketing2024,
and stick around for more
right here on Salesforce+.
