Digital transformation / Marketing transformation

Workshop B. An Anatomy of a Digital Audit

Tuesday, December, 1: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Marketing management has never been so exciting -- or daunting. The proliferation of digital tactics and lightweight technology has cleared the path for us to take genuine ownership of our operations, and be less reliant on other areas of the organization to do our jobs.

While this new reality is empowering, it also comes with challenges. Indeed, today's senior marketing manager is not only tasked with traditional responsibilities such as brand shepherding and lead generation, but also line items such as data analysis, technology portfolio optimization, and vendor relations.

To survive and thrive in this environment, it's become increasingly important for us to measure performance using a systems-oriented approach. In this workshop, attendees will learn how to assess their digital marketing operations in entirety, and identify opportunities for improvement and costs savings.

The session will explain a comprehensive 30-point methodology for conducting an assessment, with specific focus on the following four areas of the marketing operation:

• Advertising & Promotion: digital media (search, display / banners, classified, mobile, digital video, lead generation, sponsorships), organic search marketing, content marketing, social media, email marketing
• Websites: copy, images, video / animation, landing pages, microsites, search, live chat, blogs
• Technology: marketing automation, content management, analytics, and data management
• Vendors: even mid-sized digital marketing operations often have 10+ vendors involved in maintenance and optimization

While the core of this workshop will rely on referencing an actual case study, it will also be interactive, with attendee company assessments worked into the session.

C3. Holistic Customer Experiences Require Fundamental Change

Wednesday, December, 2: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

As we say in this year's conference description, "A modern customer experience must be holistic and seamless. Holistic in that customer communications be consistent within the company and across all touch points and channels, and seamless so that transitions between customer interactions are smooth and frictionless. This is a continuous process that requires an unprecedented amount of collaboration and integration between internal and external facing organizations and systems." In this session two industry analysts look deeper into the fundamental changes required in the supply chain and internal business systems.

P1. New Frontiers in Digital Content Distribution

Wednesday, December, 2: 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Publishers have been using social media as a means to extend their brands, drive traffic to web properties, and cultivate direct relationships with consumers. But the arrival of “off-site” digital media outlets—Facebook’s Instant Articles, Apple News, Snapchat, Twitter Lightning, and whatever Google might dream up next—has publishers asking: will social media platforms usurp publisher’s own brand sites or be a lucrative extension? What are the results from those who are early participants? What are the business and technology issues to consider when deciding whether to take part? How can you prepare your organization, infrastructure and content to be ready if your CEO/CMO decides to take the plunge?

A panel of media technologists will report on their experiences and share their insights as we explore the latest trend in the evolution of digital media.

C9. Reconfiguring Roles for Modern Marketing Organizations

Thursday, December, 3: 2:00 p.m. - 3:20 p.m.

Digital transformation forces all organizations to evaluate the skills and roles required and, inevitably, make some changes in personnel, processes, and perhaps even structure. For many, if not most companies, this is most obvious in marketing departments, but of course applies across functional areas. The three presentations in this session look in turn at three different roles: a "crossover" role of project manager, information architect, and user experience designer; the marketing technologist; and the Chief Digital Officer.

C11. How to Integrate the Content and Commerce Experience

Thursday, December, 3: 2:00 p.m. - 3:20 p.m.

Of all the different functions and systems that need to be integrated to provide a clean consistent customer experience, content management systems and commerce systems are the most obvious. Unfortunately, successful examples of an integrated content/commerce experience are still too rare. This is largely due to organizational / ownership issues which caused content management systems and commerce systems and vendors to evolve independently. This in turn fed the organization silos creating a vicious cycle. Something has to give. Based on experience and case studies, this session examines what companies are doing to create a more unified content and commerce experience.