Best of LinkedIn: Field Marketing CW 50 - 01

00:00:00: This episode is provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennis based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about field marketing from calendar weeks, fifty to one.

00:00:09: Frennis is a B to B market research company helping enterprise field marketing teams with precise target list research and database driven segmentation as well as event attendee acquisition.

00:00:19: Welcome back to the deep dive.

00:00:21: If you're in B to B marketing, especially field marketing, you know this time of year and of one start of the next isn't really a break.

00:00:28: Not

00:00:28: at all.

00:00:29: It's intense.

00:00:30: Yeah.

00:00:30: It's when all the planning, the budgets for twenty twenty six, all that gets logged in.

00:00:34: Exactly.

00:00:34: So what we wanted to do today is really get into the top strategic insights we've been seeing all over LinkedIn during those critical weeks.

00:00:41: Right.

00:00:42: This is your shortcut.

00:00:43: to what the top minds in this space are focused on right now.

00:00:46: We're looking past the tactical checklist and digging into the big strategic shifts.

00:00:50: And as we sifted through all the sources, three big ideas really started to converge.

00:00:55: First, events are back, but as core go-to-market infrastructure, not just line items.

00:01:00: Second, there's this fierce, almost urgent demand for real, disciplined revenue impact.

00:01:08: Fixing the data lease is now a top priority.

00:01:10: And the third.

00:01:11: The third is, I think, the most interesting.

00:01:13: It's a real shift toward human-centric experiences.

00:01:17: Thinking about connection and community, not just logistics.

00:01:20: OK, let's unpack that.

00:01:21: Let's jump right into that first big theme.

00:01:23: Events reassert themselves as core revenue engines.

00:01:27: So we're saying this isn't just about filling calendar slots anymore.

00:01:30: Not at all.

00:01:31: The sources are so clear on this.

00:01:33: Events are now seen as core GTM levers, things that drive pipeline.

00:01:38: And what's really fascinating is how this applies to companies without a big name yet.

00:01:41: Yes.

00:01:42: Art Maslow had a fantastic insight on this.

00:01:45: He said, for early stage startups, the ones without a strong brand, offline events are actually their strongest lead engine.

00:01:51: Wait, stronger than digital ads or cold outreach?

00:01:54: That feels a little counterintuitive.

00:01:55: It

00:01:55: does, right.

00:01:56: But he breaks it down to attention scarcity.

00:01:59: Online, you might get fifteen seconds of a scroll.

00:02:01: At a well-read event, you can get ten minutes of real focused human attention.

00:02:06: Ten minutes.

00:02:07: That's an eternity in marketing.

00:02:08: It's everything.

00:02:09: That's the currency a startup needs to explain a complex idea and, you know, build that initial trust that a banner at just

00:02:17: can't.

00:02:18: That makes perfect sense.

00:02:20: And that gravity holds true for bigger companies too.

00:02:23: I saw Vincent Holland cite a huge stat that's seventy-two percent of B to B marketers credit half their closed deals back to events.

00:02:31: Half.

00:02:31: We're talking about fifty percent pipeline attribution.

00:02:34: I

00:02:34: mean, when you see numbers like that, you understand why the C-suite's finally paying attention.

00:02:39: Matt Kleinrock pointed this out.

00:02:40: Events have moved out of the basement, so to speak.

00:02:43: Right.

00:02:43: They're no longer just a cost center.

00:02:44: They're a revenue engine that demands executive visibility.

00:02:47: But that visibility creates a huge challenge, which Alan Newton wrote about.

00:02:51: So many corporate event programs are still just managed tactically.

00:02:55: Siloed.

00:02:55: The trade show team does their thing.

00:02:57: The webinar team does theirs.

00:02:59: Exactly.

00:03:00: There's no unified strategic framework.

00:03:03: And if you don't have aligned stakeholders and clear goals before you start, then trying to measure ROI afterwards is, well, it's basically meaningless.

00:03:11: And that's

00:03:12: the vulnerability.

00:03:13: That strategic disconnect is why event budgets get cut.

00:03:17: Liz Latham put it so perfectly.

00:03:19: She said, if your event strategy can't survive a significant budget cut, it was never strategic in the first place.

00:03:25: That's a tough pill to swallow, but it's true.

00:03:28: So what's her advice?

00:03:29: Her solution is really operational.

00:03:32: First, define the one non-negotiable outcome, the absolute must-have.

00:03:37: Then, design the program as if you only have seventy percent of the funding.

00:03:41: And that

00:03:41: forces you to protect what really matters.

00:03:43: The human moment.

00:03:45: You cut the flashy production, the extra swag, the stuff that doesn't build relationships, you protect the conversations.

00:03:50: If a small dinner drives the deals, the dinner survives over the big party.

00:03:54: I love that framework.

00:03:55: It forces discipline thinking right from the start.

00:03:57: Okay, so that brings us from strategic intent to execution.

00:04:02: Our second theme, ROI discipline, follow up.

00:04:05: and the CRM imperative.

00:04:06: Yes.

00:04:07: If theme one was about smart investment, this one is all about preventing leakage.

00:04:11: And the single biggest failure point over and over in the sources is weak or non-existent follow-up.

00:04:16: Imad-Eight El-Arabi had a great line for this.

00:04:19: He called it, actively sabotaging your own ROI.

00:04:23: Actively sabotaging it.

00:04:24: Think about that.

00:04:25: You spend thousands, you get the lead, they're interested, and then crickets.

00:04:30: You've lost the opportunity and you've eroded their trust in your brand.

00:04:33: And the numbers on this are Just brutal.

00:04:36: Vincent Holland again.

00:04:37: He cited that only eighteen percent of trade show leads ever get a meaningful follow-up.

00:04:42: Eighteen percent.

00:04:43: That means eighty two percent of the time, money and effort is just

00:04:47: gone.

00:04:48: Wasted.

00:04:49: Which explains what Conor Jeffers was talking about.

00:04:52: Teams know events drive revenue.

00:04:54: They feel it, but they can't prove it to leadership.

00:04:57: The data is a mess of spreadsheets uploaded weeks late.

00:05:00: The data integrity is just broken.

00:05:02: So what's the fix?

00:05:03: You can't just tell reps to try harder.

00:05:04: They're already overwhelmed.

00:05:05: Exactly.

00:05:06: It has to be a system, not a suggestion.

00:05:08: Christian Wetterer laid out what the successful companies are doing.

00:05:11: They show up with the system ready to go.

00:05:12: What does that look like in practice?

00:05:14: It's strict.

00:05:15: A badge scan has to hit the CRM.

00:05:18: instantly, not a day later, instantly.

00:05:21: It gets tagged with context, routed to the right rep, and this is the key.

00:05:26: It automatically triggers a follow-up sequence over the next ninety days.

00:05:30: So you're letting the tech handle the logistics of remembering.

00:05:33: You're turning it into a workflow problem, not an events

00:05:36: problem.

00:05:37: Jared Webb framed it this way.

00:05:39: He said, in real life creates signal in a world of online noise, but only if you capture that signal, that context.

00:05:46: right in the moment.

00:05:47: Otherwise, you just paid for the vibe, not the pipeline.

00:05:49: Precisely.

00:05:49: And to defend that spend, you need proof.

00:05:52: Mark Afori shared some really actionable tools for this, like the CER Foundation's event performance analyzer.

00:05:58: Why are public tools like that so important?

00:06:00: They give you benchmarks.

00:06:01: You're not just measuring against yourself, you're measuring your performance against industry averages.

00:06:05: So when the CFO asks why you spent six figures on a show, you have objective, verifiable numbers to defend it.

00:06:11: Okay, that makes sense.

00:06:13: Moving from the math to the matica, yes.

00:06:14: Our next theme.

00:06:15: experience design shifts to community and connection.

00:06:19: Yes.

00:06:20: This is a huge pivot.

00:06:22: The market is realizing people go to events to connect with other people.

00:06:26: It sounds obvious, but our execution hasn't always reflected that.

00:06:30: Right.

00:06:30: Shayna Harrison wrote about the hidden cost of leaving that connection up to chance.

00:06:36: And that hidden cost is energy.

00:06:38: Attendees are spending all this mental energy scanning the room, worrying if they should interrupt someone.

00:06:44: It turns connecting into work.

00:06:45: Which completely undermines the reason they traveled there the first place.

00:06:48: It does.

00:06:49: And Nicole Vasquez had a great strategy to combat this.

00:06:51: She said to focus on making two or three real meaningful relationships, not just collecting a hundred business cards.

00:06:59: So

00:06:59: quality over quantity, how do you do that?

00:07:01: You go in with a goal.

00:07:02: Listen for challenges people have, not just their job titles.

00:07:05: And her best tip, make one thoughtful introduction for someone else.

00:07:10: It shifts your whole mindset from what can I get to how can I help?

00:07:14: And the environment itself has to support that.

00:07:17: Merrick's Gustin suggested we stop asking what's on the agenda and start asking how will people feel throughout the day?

00:07:23: It's

00:07:24: a powerful shift from being content-centric to being emotion-centric.

00:07:28: How do you design for a feeling, though?

00:07:30: Well, DJ Reese added that low energy in a room is always a design problem, not an audience problem.

00:07:36: His advice was super practical.

00:07:38: Fix the first five minutes.

00:07:40: Make it active.

00:07:41: Use movement.

00:07:42: Shorten everything.

00:07:43: Movement creates momentum.

00:07:44: Exactly.

00:07:45: And that keeps the energy high.

00:07:47: But this all falls apart at the booth if the people aren't trained.

00:07:51: Lee, Ellie had this frustrating prediction for twenty twenty six.

00:07:55: Let me guess.

00:07:56: Companies will still spend a fortune on the physical booth.

00:08:00: and almost nothing on training the people in it.

00:08:02: You got it.

00:08:03: All the money goes to the metal and the lights, not the humans having the conversations.

00:08:07: The booths that actually perform are the ones where the staff is proactive and engagement is the actual strategy.

00:08:13: Katie

00:08:13: Kaiser Madison had the perfect line for this.

00:08:15: She called trade shows, speed dating with purchase orders.

00:08:18: It's perfect, isn't it?

00:08:20: You have to read the room instantly and match the buyer's energy and their immediate need.

00:08:24: That requires some serious conversational skill.

00:08:26: Okay, so that leads us to our final theme.

00:08:29: which is how tech is enabling all of this.

00:08:31: Technology and AI quietly reshape field execution.

00:08:36: It's definitely happening.

00:08:37: Ricky van Rensburg suggested AI is moving from being a flashy toy to just essential infrastructure.

00:08:44: It's removing friction where organizers are already feeling the pressure.

00:08:48: And the market is certainly betting on it.

00:08:49: We saw those huge back-to-back acquisitions.

00:08:52: She even buying Goldcast for nearly three hundred million.

00:08:54: And then Owen twenty four for another four hundred million right after that seven hundred million dollars.

00:09:00: That's a massive signal.

00:09:01: What does it mean?

00:09:02: Asaf Chuster and Randy Selman both interpreted this as Sevent wanting to own the post event moment.

00:09:08: They aren't just buying AI features, they're buying durable content engines.

00:09:12: Durable content engines.

00:09:13: Unpack that for me.

00:09:14: It means the value of an event now lives on long after it's over.

00:09:18: That live session has to be instantly converted into reusable assets.

00:09:22: Clips, summaries, sales notes, things that generate marketing signals for months.

00:09:26: If you're not doing that, you're already behind.

00:09:28: And this is creating entirely new roles.

00:09:30: Jonathan Kazarian talked to about the event engineer.

00:09:33: A systems architect, someone whose only job is to make sure the data flows cleanly between registration, the CRM, analytics, all of it.

00:09:41: Which

00:09:41: is so necessary.

00:09:42: Dali El-Ghazar argued for a language shift too.

00:09:45: From event tech, which sounds like a silo, to tech for events.

00:09:49: An

00:09:50: integrated ecosystem, not just another

00:09:52: tool.

00:09:52: So let's bring it down to the booth level.

00:09:54: How is AI changing that one-on-one interaction?

00:09:57: Sean Pickett detailed a great example with AI advisors.

00:10:00: This is about extending human capacity.

00:10:03: Instead of a rep handling every single person who walks by, an attendee can scan a QR code and talk to an AI.

00:10:10: And the AI does what?

00:10:11: Prequalifies them.

00:10:12: Exactly.

00:10:12: It asks the initial questions, captures their intent, and screens them.

00:10:16: So the human reps, they get to focus only on the high value pre-qualified live conversations.

00:10:22: The AI hands them a ready to go prospect with context.

00:10:25: That's a game changer.

00:10:27: It turns chaotic lead capture into an intelligent, scalable system.

00:10:30: It really is.

00:10:31: So when we put this all together, what does it mean for you, the listener, as you're finalizing those twenty-twenty-six plans?

00:10:37: The core lesson here seems crystal clear.

00:10:39: It is.

00:10:40: The future of field marketing is relational, it's measurable, and it has to be strategically orchestrated from start to finish.

00:10:47: We're moving past just counting leads and toward creating real, verifiable value.

00:10:52: And the mindset shift is maybe the most important part.

00:10:55: Absolutely.

00:10:56: I think Marisa Cole captured the whole thing perfectly.

00:10:59: She said the focus for twenty twenty six should be if you walk in asking how do I help our attendees and deliver real value, then you're on the right track.

00:11:07: That's it.

00:11:08: That's the lens that protects your budget, drives ROI and ultimately builds loyalty.

00:11:13: If you enjoyed this deep dive into the state of field marketing, new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:11:19: Also check out our other editions where we've explored account based marketing.

00:11:22: go-to-market, channel marketing, martech, social selling, and AI in B to B marketing.

00:11:28: Thank you so much for tuning in.

00:11:29: We really appreciate you letting us walk you through these insights from the front lines of B to B. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss the next one.