Businesses that get data management right experience better customer relationships, create more effective sales and marketing campaigns, and uncover valuable insights that increase revenue and growth. In fact, companies that embrace a data-driven strategy are growing 30% year-over-year. This white paper will show you how to avoid the pitfalls of poor CRM data management and share a five-part plan to make sure your data is accurate and actionable.

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The pandemic has created a need for industrial B2B to become digitally mature at great speed. “It’s generational,” said Marge Murphy, founder of Acadia Lead Management Services. “Many times these are family-run businesses, but I find it uncanny that, even in 2011 or 2012 they weren’t starting to say, ‘we have to do something different.’ There has been an uptick in maturity, but I think COVID has really pushed them through the door. Manufacturers are starting to wake up. They have processes for how widgets go down the manufacturing line, but no process for how we lead customers through the buying cycle.”

The attitude has been, if it’s not broke don’t fix it, Murphy explained: but that’s no longer realistic. She spoke to us after a call with a client she was helping migrate from 45 different spreadsheets to marketing automation and CRM tools. “Things were dropping all the time,” said Murphy. She was able to show that the cost of the technology was justified when compared with the losses sustained from inefficient processes.

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Back in January if you told us virtual events would be one the hottest topics in martech in 2020 we would have told you to hold our booth swag, but what did any of us know about 2020 back then? These online gatherings are here to stay, and marketers are looking for creative ways to execute them. 

We had our own marketing chief Marc Sirkin and Growth Marketing Conference CEO Vasil Azarov talk about how they donned their citizen developer hats and built virtual experiences. Their takeaways are crucial if you are an organization that is looking to scale virtual events while trying to trim costs associated with all-in-one platforms.

Watch it here (registration is free).

Register now to access 45+ tactic-rich SEO and SEM sessions that can help you drive more awareness, traffic, and conversions… and join us at SMX online December 8-9!

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On Friday, Twitter outlined a number of measures ahead of the U.S. election. Among the changes, starting October 20 users will be encouraged to quote tweet instead of retweet and to add their own commentary. The company hopes this “will encourage everyone to not only consider why they are amplifying a Tweet, but also increase the likelihood that people add their own thoughts, reactions and perspectives to the conversation.”

It will also stop the algorithm that serves up “liked by” and “followed by” tweets from people that users follow. That system expands the content users see beyond their own networks, but the company says it doesn’t think there is enough friction in hitting the Like button to warrant that extra amplification. 

The changes also include new prompts when users start to retweet or quote tweet misleading information, and in the U.S. trends in the “For You” tab will all have added context.

Why we care. These changes — and those announced by Facebook last week — speak to the ongoing role of these platforms in the spread of election information and misinformation. Brand safety and suitability have been top-of-mind for marketers’ concerns about content on these platforms — cesspools of hate and misinformation are not great places for most brands to be. While these changes are aimed at protecting election health, for marketers, there is the added aim of making them safer brand environments. 

Twitter to block ‘misleading’ retweets from US candidates – Financial Times

Microsoft is letting some employees work from home permanently – The Verge 

Google (GOOG) Wants YouTube to Become a Shopping Destination – Bloomberg

Brands back World Mental Health Day: Asics, Dave, Snap & more unveil initiatives – The Drum

Coinbase’s response to Black Lives Matters reveals Silicon Valley’s reactionary streak – Washington Post