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The past year completely disrupted customers’ purchase behaviors, and the world we knew, both as people and as marketers, was flipped on its head. That is no different here in the Americas, where Cisco Partners are facing the same unpredictable economy.

While it may be hard to predict the future, it’s more important than ever that we and our partners start preparing to ensure our customers are ready for whatever comes. On May 11, we held our Marketing Velocity Digital event, filled with sessions, keynotes and new updates to our Marketing Velocity platform to help partners reach more customers, create more value, and drive a better customer experience.

In fact, you might have already seen the wrap up from Luxy Thuraisingam, our new Head of Global Partner Marketing. Also, if you didn’t have a chance to attend, you can watch the recordings and on demand content here, or simply check out the highlights below.

What it really means to be future ready

As we begin to emerge from the global pandemic and head into what is predicted as one of the biggest economic recoveries in history, there is no single “new normal” that will emerge as different markets recover at different speeds and in different capacities. What is certain, is that partners need to be prepared to meet the needs of customers, whatever they may be.

We caught up with Cisco’s Michelle Chiantera, Oliver Tuszik, and Luxy Thuraisingam to talk about what it really means to be a future ready marketer. Here are the key takeaways from their chat that you can start to implement in your marketing organization immediately:

  • Future-ready doesn’t mean having a crystal ball. It’s about ensuring your marketing team has the tools, processes and skills in place to be agile, stay relevant for customers and be profitable, so that no matter what the future throws at you – you’re ready for it.
  • Turn ambiguity into opportunity. Our most successful moments came when we were agile. That meant really listening to customers in their time of uncertainty and acting with speed to support them.
  • The future is hybrid. Yes, in person events will return eventually, but we still need to plan with a digital component in mind, whether that’s through real-time workshops or an on-demand library of sessions.
  • Exponential customer insights. As customer connections are becoming increasingly digital, we now have more insights into their behaviours, interests and careabouts than ever before. These insights and analytics have given us a new understanding on where customers are in their journey.
  • You have to get ahead to stay relevant. How? Sell a solution, not a product. Customers are also consuming products differently, so you need to be flexible and provide new options.
  • Differentiation is key to unlocking profitability. Create unique value across the lifecycle to ensure your profitability today and in the future.

You can watch the full fireside chat, and you can take deeper dive into how to make your organization relevant, agile and profitable by attending these on-demand sessions:

What’s new to Marketing Velocity

At Marketing Velocity, we shared some new and exciting features to the platform that will help you to differentiate, reach more customers, create more value, and drive a better customer experience:

  • Marketing Velocity Voice: Marketing Velocity Voice is reimagining the way partner marketers interact with each other and with us – every day. It is a digital partner marketing community where partners can network and connect, elevate their marketing practices, and accelerate demand generation, all while earning recognition and awards. If you haven’t already, be sure to join and check it out today.
  • Marketing Velocity Central: Using MVC digital marketing tactics, you will soon be able to seamlessly drive your customers to Cisco-led and on-demand webinars through invitations, landing pages, webinar syndication, registration management and post-event follow up, all in the same place.

We also announced that the submission window for our Marketing Innovator Award for 2021 is now open, until July 26! Learn more and submit here.

Better together

Cisco is investing in ways to help sales teams become future ready. With Marketing Velocity, we can ensure that we’re moving forward together, achieving new levels of relevance, agility and profitability.

Read more about Marketing Velocity and all the tools it has to offer!

 


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Authors

Daniel Sullivan

Director, Global Campaign & Audience Strategy

Global Marketing