Sorry Dave Liloia I used a bad word. But sometimes it has to be said. Email Blast. Ha – said it again! Is there some kind of swear jar I should be putting a quarter in to?
In my journey to roll out Eloqua to more of the business units that I serve I have found myself embarking on a journey I am sure many of you have traveled before – the journey to change the mindset of one-and-done email marketing evangelists.
I had the good fortune of having some fabulous Eloquans on site for a one day workshop with some of my vertical marcom managers. Thank you Lee DavisVanessa Shayan and Ray Erickson for making me a very happy customer.
Here are some details about how the workshop was structured and why it was successful at transforming some non-believers into modern marketers.
Workshop Agenda:
- Theory, best practices and case studies
- How to white board a campaign
- Campaign white boarding exercise
- Report out to key stakeholders
Keys to Success
- Tell them what you going to say. Tell them. Tell them what you said. Having a one day workshop to map out campaigns will never be successful if the proper foundation is not laid in advance. Prior to entering the workshop I held three pre-workshop meetings. one focused on educating the participants about what they were going to learn, another focused on the expectations for the workshop and a third on how they can prepare to ensure they get the most of the day.
- Make sure everyone in the room feels like they are the only one you are talking to – also known as respecting the differences of your audience. Lee Davis did a fabulous job of getting all of the attendees to actively participate. The four marcom managers who participated in this workshop all represent different vertical markets and in some cases different product lines. Treating everyone the same or using one as an example would certainly alienate the other participants and lead to people tuning out. By working with Lee in advance of the workshop day, she was prepared to manage this type of diversity. No one was spared from actively participating during the morning portion of the workshop which focused mainly on theory and case studies. In the afternoon, we started off by white boarding a campaign together and once everyone understood the concept, we broke off in to four groups so each marcom manager had the benefit of one-on-one counseling. This enabled each person to walk out of the session with a campaign they could implement and advice specific to their unique challenges. Imagine if one person got to white board a campaign and the others were told to go back to their desks and do something similar after hours of just being a member of the audience.
- Keep is small. We spent the majority of the day working with just four people in my organization and then we brought in their bosses and business partners for a one-hour report out at the end of the day. This helped us to stay focused during the white boarding session and also enabled us to socialize the concept with the wider organization. Ever hear the expression too many cooks in the kitchen? This time around I believe we had just the right number.
What we created:
Six campaign flows – in two hours!
- Welcome
- Education
- New Product Introduction
- Awareness
- New market entry
- Customer Appreciation Event
Why I am a #veryhappycustomer
- Following the workshop I got positive feedback from the participants. Always a good thing to know that the nine hours you took from someone’s day was worth it.
- The person who I thought would be the toughest customer ended up being the one who was most engaged in the discussion and the first person to follow up with me after the workshop!
- The campaign flows we developed are already being shared with other parts of my division and I already have a request to run a similar education/white boarding session for my team in Australia. (Too bad it will have to be via a web meeting!)
How you can do this too:
- Recognize the differences in your organization. One-size-fits all approaches will rarely be successful.
- Socialize the concepts over time. Give your business partners an opportunity to digest the concepts and reflect on how it applies to their area of focus.
- Provide your business partners with planning tools and guidance.
- Ensure expectations are clear.
- Make yourself available for future planning support.
I am very happy for the success of the efforts so far. The true test comes now - keeping the excitement and getting these campaigns built and executed. I will be sure to keep you all posted on our progress!