#BMA14 – Tell Your Story

July 1, 2014

At the end of May, the Tell Your Story team attended the three-day BMA14 Conference in Chicago, the largest B2B marketing conference in the world. We joined over 1,000 B2B marketers from over 400 firms to learn the latest trends, thinking, best practices and more about a wide variety of B2B marketing topics. Our team was on-site for the duration of the conference, working to share the most valuable takeaways with our audience through a series of blog posts and live-tweets. Check out our dispatches from BMA14 below! You Should be Proud of your BMA Chapter Leaders By: George Rafeedie Tell Your Story Wins Business Marketing Association B2 Award of Excellence By: Ellen DePodesta #BMA14 From Afar By: Angi Day Mobile Marketing Lessons from Facebook at #BMA14 By: Amanda Pollard Business-to-Business is not Boring-to-Boring By: Erin Neal The Art of Social Selling #BMA14 By: Erin Neal Taking Marketing from a Cost Center to a Revenue Center By: Ellen DePodesta Tripling Down at #BMA14 By: George Rafeedie Watch...

May 30, 2014

in Blog, Events, Business Marketing Association

by Erin Neal

Healthy Habits at #BMA14

Dispatches from BMA14: Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago When I sat down and reviewed the schedule for #BMA14, I saw that there was a morning run each day of the conference. I admire those who were able to get up and run at 5:30 each morning after the evening events of the conference. Walking in to day number two of BMA14, I was pleasantly surprised to listen to several corporate discussions on healthy lives and the impact on your work quality and productivity. I love fitness. I love healthy eating. I also love my fair share of fast food and pizza. I knew I needed to pay attention. I have been just talking about health and not doing much about it. Tell Your Story is definitely a supporter of healthy active lives for team members, which I am very grateful for and just need to become...

May 30, 2014

in Blog, Events, Business Marketing Association

by Ellen DePodesta

Joe McCormack on Profound Brevity

Dispatches from BMA14: a Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago [caption id="attachment_2049" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Joe McCormack presents at #BMA14[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2050" align="alignleft" width="122"] Joe McCormack[/caption] Profound brevity. A crucial skill in business communications, a beautiful concept, one that I personally applaud, one that I hope more of us can attain. One of my favorite sessions at #BMA14 was led by Joe McCormack, Managing Director, Sheffield Marketing Partners, and author of Brief. His point? Go deep, but keep it simple. We're all too busy for long-winded, blustery talk. No one's going to listen if you go on too long. People will tune out. Your email will be deleted. There's a difference between superficial brevity, when you just don't know that much and therefore you have to keep it short; and profound brevity, when you know your subject so well, you're able to distill it down to the essential facts and talk...

May 30, 2014

in Blog, Events, Business Marketing Association

by Amanda Pollard

Marketing So Good Your Customers Would Pay For It

Dispatches from BMA14: a Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago Jay Baer, author of the best selling book Youtility, kicked off the last day of BMA14 with a rousing discussion about useful marketing. He defined “Youtility” as marketing that is so good, your customers would pay for it. Pretty aspirational right? Jay gave three great examples of “Youtility” in action: 1) Columbia came out with a knot-tying app. They don’t sell rope. They could have come out with an app that helps you choose a jacket. But how useful would that be? 2) In Montreal, leases all end on the same day of the year, creating a massive moving day. Ikea tapped into this by giving out free boxes around the town. Guess what? Their sales increased by 25%. 3) Jay said his favorite example of Youtility is the app RunPee. The app tells you when the best time...

May 30, 2014

in Blog, Events, Business Marketing Association

by Amanda Pollard

#IamGenC

Dispatches from BMA14: Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago Yesterday, twelve young b2b pros capped off Day 2 of BMA14 with a fantastic presentation on Gen C. If you think Gen C is just another term for Millennials, think again. Gen C, also referred to as the YouTube generation, is not defined by your birthdate, but rather your mindset (yes Baby Boomers you can be a Gen C'er too!). The C stands for connection, creation, community and curation. The YP presenters painted a vivid picture of who Gen C is and how you can reach them. Here are a few highlights: They create 100x more content than you can. So hand over the microphone and listen up! They know more about you than you think. So be found! They check reviews and with their peers before making a buying decision. What will they find...

May 29, 2014

in Blog, Events, Business Marketing Association, Career Thoughts

by George Rafeedie

Tripling Down at #BMA14

Dispatches from BMA14: Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago [caption id="attachment_1998" align="alignright" width="168"] Gary Vaynerchuk[/caption] Gary Vaynerchuk is a crazy F@&K. But he speaks the truth. If you’ve seen him speak, you know what I mean. I love one of his messages about tripling down on your strengths. Don’t waste time doing things you are not good at or not passionate about. If you concentrate on your strengths and passions, you will be fulfilled and probably be successful. I guess I’ve tripled down on a few things, but listening to Gary made me think that I could do a whole lot more and will be. In between all of his insults and F-Bombs, Gary’s message really hit home with me. Thanks. I will be tripling down more often now, starting tonight at our #bma14 happy hour. ...

May 29, 2014

in Blog, Events, Business Marketing Association

by Ellen DePodesta

Taking Marketing From a Cost Center to a Revenue Center

Dispatches from BMA14: a Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago More and more marketers are being asked to prove the impact marketing has on both the top and bottom lines. At BMA14 today, one of the 15-minute “Firestarter” sessions addressed the challenge of transforming marketing from a cost center to a revenue center. [caption id="attachment_1987" align="alignleft" width="162"] Debbie Qaqish[/caption] Debbie Qaqish is principal and chief strategy officer of the Pedowitz Group and author of “The Rise of the Revenue Marketer.” She told the audience of 900+ b2b marketers what it takes to lead this kind of transformation. There are specific behaviors to address in order to affect this change, said Debbie, and she likened the transition to her own personal transformation through her passion for Crossfit and health and fitness habits. The behaviors to transform marketing from a cost to a revenue center fall into five areas: 1) Change management: Debbie...

May 29, 2014

in Blog, Events, Business Marketing Association

by Erin Neal

The Art of Social Selling #BMA14

[caption id="attachment_1976" align="alignleft" width="233"] #SocialSelling expert Jill Rowley[/caption] Dispatches from BMA14: Series of Short Reports from the Tell Your Story Team at #BMA14 in Chicago Social selling expert Jill Rowley rocked the #BMA14 crowd this morning and discussed how we can do a better job communicating with prospects using social media. Her presentation was excellent as she kept emphasizing, “It isn’t always about closing, it is about always being connected.” The biggest change in the market is using social media channels to engage with your audience. Stop trying to be a “quota crusher,” she implored sales professionals. Rather, connect with your audience in a meaningful way. She supported this with a great stat: 78 percent of sales professionals who use social media to build connections outsell their peers. She also reviewed a bit of research that shows that it takes approximately 8 cold calls to reach a prospect, and of those people reached, only 2%...

Healthy Habits at #BMA14

Joe McCormack on Profound Brevity

Marketing So Good Your Customers Would Pay For It

Tripling Down at #BMA14

Taking Marketing From a Cost Center to a Revenue Center

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