Best of LinkedIn: Field Marketing CW 34/ 35

00:00:00: provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frenis, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about field marketing in calendar weeks thirty-four and thirty five.

00:00:08: Frenes supports clients with identifying target attendees for events crafting outreach that cuts through noise driving qualified registrations thru strategic LinkedIn engagement.

00:00:19: you can find more info in description.

00:00:21: So you're a strategic B to be marketing professional, right?

00:00:24: You know the basics.

00:00:26: We are skipping The Fluff today

00:00:27: exactly.

00:00:28: no over explaining we were jumping straight into the top field Marketing trends that are just dominating LinkedIn right now.

00:00:34: write

00:00:34: from the internal politics of strategy.

00:00:37: Leave follow-up all the way to experience design and actual ROI measurement.

00:00:42: because

00:00:43: Honestly, what if I told you that the I don't know for a thousand dollars your company just dropped on a massive trade show footprint is basically dead money?

00:00:50: Oh

00:00:50: completely dead Unless and this is the crazy part unless.

00:00:53: You're willing to spend an extra seven hundred bucks before you even board your flight home.

00:00:57: Yeah That massive gap between the upfront spend and the actual follow-through?

00:01:02: That's where event ROI Just dies.

00:01:06: so let's start with the foundation here because there's this massive shift happening in how we plan.

00:01:10: We're moving away from what, like the physical booth to The Why?

00:01:14: Right.

00:01:15: The era of planning a six-figure event just because you know...the calendar said it was time for an occasion.

00:01:20: That's over

00:01:21: Thank goodness.

00:01:22: Yeah, I mean Venkatesh A pointed this out on LinkedIn perfectly.

00:01:25: he said corporate events they don't have an AV problem.

00:01:29: They have a clarity problems.

00:01:30: a clarity problem Yes like you can't fix a weak message with the fifty foot LED wall

00:01:36: Exactly You have to design The event backwards from the actual business outcome

00:01:40: right which totally changes how you view the guest list.

00:01:44: Matt Tufier brought this up.

00:01:45: You have to start with the outcome, not the occasion.

00:01:47: He says a room of seventy-five genuinely engaged people is vastly more valuable than six hundred People who just you know want the free catering?

00:01:55: Oh The catering grazers they do NOT drive revenue.

00:01:58: no They

00:01:58: don't.

00:01:59: and Rebecca Salinas actually asks This critical pre event question that everyone needs To hear.

00:02:05: she asks what should be different for the business because we were there.

00:02:09: That is such a good question.

00:02:11: Because

00:02:12: just being there, like having a presence that isn't a strategy anymore.

00:02:17: But wait let me push back playfully here for second because Isn't this basically like building a house without a blueprint?

00:02:23: Just because you had to kill or deal on expensive bricks Why do so many smart companies still start with the booth size rather than the goal.

00:02:32: Well, it's internal politics.

00:02:33: Honestly It is so much easier to get a committee To approve a line item for a twenty by twenty physical booth.

00:02:40: You know you can see that and touch it.

00:02:41: You

00:02:41: slap the logo on it

00:02:42: Exactly But getting them to agree how shift customer sentiment over six months way harder.

00:02:49: The real issue is underinvestment and pre-and post event strategy, not the booth spend

00:02:53: itself.".

00:02:54: Okay that makes sense.

00:02:55: so let's say you've got your strategy right?

00:02:56: You get those seventy five highly engaged people in the room.

00:02:59: yeah how do actually capitalize on them?

00:03:01: because there's a huge gap between scanning a badge and actually bicking a meeting.

00:03:06: oh...the

00:03:07: dreaded pump & dumps strategy?

00:03:09: Oh no

00:03:09: Ann don't give me started

00:03:10: it's everywhere.

00:03:11: marketers just pump these leads into a CRM and dump these terrible generic automated emails Into their inboxes three days later.

00:03:19: Yeah, and Nick Bennett actually did the math on this disconnect which is wild.

00:03:23: He says companies will spend forty grand to get in the room But then they completely balk at spending seven hundred dollars To make account.

00:03:30: yeah I saw that post And his solution is so simple

00:03:33: it is.

00:03:34: he said she sort contacts into hot warm cold and no shows.

00:03:37: but And this is the key.

00:03:39: You do it before leaving the venue right

00:03:41: while you're still on site.

00:03:43: and then what?

00:03:43: The hot leads get a personalized video.

00:03:46: yes

00:03:46: within forty eight hours They get a sixty second personalized video from the rep.

00:03:51: its raw It's real, and that seven hundred dollars system turns into like twelve to fifteen booked calls.

00:03:58: That is massive ROI right there.

00:04:01: Real quick though, if you're finding this deep dive useful uh take a second to hit subscribe so you don't miss our future editions.

00:04:08: but jumping back in speed is everything here totally.

00:04:11: Jeff Hoffman actually made this argument.

00:04:13: he says Speed beats the pitch.

00:04:16: The best reps.

00:04:17: they aren't waiting until Monday.

00:04:19: They follow up while the show is literally still happening.

00:04:23: While they're still wearing a lanyard!

00:04:24: Exactly, because by Tuesday those leads are functionally dead in their inboxes.

00:04:29: Oh one

00:04:29: hundred percent.

00:04:30: and you know what else kills Leeds?

00:04:32: Free merch!

00:04:33: DeLal Tomarook was talking about this.

00:04:35: She criticized handing out expensive free merch Because it just attracts entirely unqualified leads.

00:04:41: oh yeah The people who want the premium t-shirt

00:04:43: They scan their badge, take the shirt and unsubscribe.

00:04:46: the absolute second they get your email.

00:04:48: Which is just burning budget.

00:04:49: but let me ask you a sharp question here because Sean Eisman noted that those generic thanks for connecting emails actually ruin relationships?

00:04:57: Yeah!

00:04:57: They really do...they feel so automated.

00:04:59: So if speed is everything But generic e-mails ruin their relationship Is the traditional badge scan basically dead If we don't capture the actual context of conversation?

00:05:10: I mean i'd say yes The tech needs to capture intent not just contact info.

00:05:15: Yeah, the lead capture mechanism has to be way lighter but the qualification has to so much deeper.

00:05:21: you have to capture what they actually care about and route it for immediate follow-up.

00:05:25: Right But You can only capture that intent if people want talk with you in first place.

00:05:30: Which kind of brings us this whole idea of experience design.

00:05:34: Oh This

00:05:34: is huge right now.

00:05:36: Because think about it AI can summarize a forty five minute technical keynote.

00:05:42: Three seconds now.

00:05:43: Easily, bullet points boom done!

00:05:44: Exactly so.

00:05:45: information is definitely not scarce anymore Yeah But attention, attention is incredibly scarce.

00:05:50: So

00:05:50: how do you get it?

00:05:51: Well Garrett Putman shared this awesome example.

00:05:54: Instead of a boring presentation he put his CTO in hot ones style hot seed.

00:05:59: Oh wow like eating spicy wings on stage

00:06:03: Literally eating spicy wing while answering tough questions.

00:06:06: And wasn't just decoration.

00:06:08: You know It completely changed.

00:06:10: the content was consumed.

00:06:11: It earned real attention because it was vulnerable.

00:06:14: That is brilliant!

00:06:15: It creates this shared memory that AI just can't replicate.

00:06:19: Cape Lawn Lowery actually calls the Presence Premium The Presence

00:06:23: premium, I like that Great

00:06:24: Because AI content is so cheap and abundant.

00:06:27: now actual face-to-face unscripted human interaction Is becoming vastly more valuable.

00:06:32: Yeah

00:06:33: but it's not just the big stunts like spicy wings.

00:06:35: It's the micro details too.

00:06:38: Tina Morris brought this up on LinkedIn, she pointed out that something as tiny is a wrinkled tablecloth can ruin an exhibit.

00:06:44: Wait!

00:06:44: A Wrinkled Tablecloth?

00:06:45: Yeah She said... That

00:06:56: makes total sense.

00:06:57: If The Baseline Is Sloppy People Won't Trust The Brand

00:07:00: Exactly.

00:07:00: Yeah, but let me push back a bit or use an analogy here.

00:07:03: So AI can write the entire textbook for you in seconds right night.

00:07:07: But you go to the live event For the messy.

00:07:10: unpredictable lab experiment.

00:07:12: The human element

00:07:13: Right.

00:07:14: so how do brands balance this?

00:07:16: Desperate need for authentic Human connection with the pressure to be like highly polished and corporate.

00:07:24: well I think you have to look at what Joe Fontana said.

00:07:27: He argues that events don't earn pipeline immediately, they earned permission.

00:07:30: Earning

00:07:31: permission?

00:07:31: Okay say more about them.

00:07:32: The

00:07:32: polished booth the perfect tablecloth That's just a baseline...the true value is.

00:07:38: he calls the unprinted agenda

00:07:40: A hallway conversation.

00:07:41: Yes!

00:07:41: The conversations are still actively happening thirty days later because of initial human connection on the floor was genuine..that's the permission.

00:07:48: I love it!

00:07:49: Earning Permission instead hunting for Pipeline.

00:07:51: Okay, so we've designed this strategic highly experiential event.

00:07:55: We followed up perfectly with intent data.

00:07:57: Yeah...we did everything right

00:07:58: Right.

00:07:59: But now how do we actually prove to the CFO that this worked?

00:08:02: Oh!

00:08:03: The dreaded ROI conversation.

00:08:05: It is a harsh reality.

00:08:07: Roughly, eighty-six percent of companies cannot accurately attribute ROI to their events.

00:08:11: Eighty six percent?

00:08:12: That's basically everyone flying blind

00:08:14: Completely blind.

00:08:15: We are measuring the wrong things on the wrong timelines But Max and Puzera has shared a masterclass.

00:08:21: how fix this?

00:08:22: Oh I saw that one.

00:08:23: The numbers were insane

00:08:24: Insane.

00:08:25: His team used propensity modeling an external intent data To invite highly targeted Highly affluent cohort of prospects.

00:08:34: So not just blasting an invite to the whole CRM.

00:08:36: No,

00:08:37: super-targeted.

00:08:37: and the result over a thousand like one thousand four hundred fifty eight converted customers And three hundred eighty seven million dollars in new money over six months.

00:08:47: That is just staggering!

00:08:48: The point he made was that event didn't replace the CRM right?

00:08:51: It changed what sales team was armed.

00:08:54: next.

00:08:54: Exactly it acted as an accelerant.

00:08:56: But wait... A lot of companies are still measuring success by Surveys?

00:09:00: Yeah, which is deeply flawed.

00:09:01: Nicola Kastner posted about this.

00:09:03: she launched a campaign to free the eights

00:09:05: Free The Eights like the number eight.

00:09:07: yeah She points out this massive flaw in the net promoter score Understandard MPS and eight out of ten is mathematically considered neutral.

00:09:16: That's ridiculous.

00:09:17: if I give an event in eight out Of ten, i'm saying a great time right

00:09:20: but the corporate dashboard Shrugs it off as neutral.

00:09:23: so we're severely under counting our own genuinely positive Event feedback.

00:09:28: We are sabotaging our own metrics.

00:09:30: But let me ask you this If the biggest returns from an event like that three hundred eighty seven million dollars?

00:09:36: If they rarely show up immediately in the CRM How on earth does a field marketer justify next year's budget to skeptical finance team today?

00:09:47: It requires total shift.

00:09:48: Measurement has to move toward unified pipeline attribution, rather than just vanity metrics like attendance volume or booth traffic.

00:09:55: By getting out of the event silo?

00:09:56: Exactly!

00:09:57: It requires cross-team ownership with sales and unified data.

00:10:01: You have to educate the CFO that a real ROI for human connection is often delayed by month But it's vastly more lucrative when you track it properly.

00:10:10: It really is, and you know we've covered a lot today.

00:10:12: but I want to leave you with one final kind of provocative thought to mull over.

00:10:16: Okay get me.

00:10:17: Gartner predicts that digital fatigue is going to push seventy percent of marketing budgets to offline channels by twenty-twenty eight.

00:10:25: Seventy percent?

00:10:26: Yeah.

00:10:27: so think about that.

00:10:28: if every single brand in your sector suddenly pivots back to live events The trade show floor is going to get incredibly crowded.

00:10:39: It's gonna be absolute chaos!

00:10:41: So when face-to-face becomes the new normal again and everyone is out there spending money, what will you do actually standout?

00:10:50: If you enjoyed this episode New episodes drop every two weeks.

00:10:53: Also check our other editions on account based marketing channel and partner marketing AI in BDB MarTech Go To Market & Social Selling.

00:11:02: Thanks so much for hanging with us On This Deep Dive.

00:11:04: definitely hit subscribe And we'll catch ya next time.