The new world of marketing is about relationships. Unfortunately, many marketers don’t seem to know exactly what that means. For too long we have been trained to keep our customers at arms length, regarding them as a demographic, lines on a chart, pieces of a pie. The new world of marketing is much more personal. It’s not about technology platforms or social media doodads—it’s about real relationships with real people.

In a world of compressed budgets, tight staffing and doing more with less every team member is being called upon to roll up their sleeves and get hands on. In this session, you will learn best practices for building a successful marketing plan. What should go into its development? How should you frame it up? How do you know what to include – what to leave out? What kinds of tools lead to more successful management of your plan?

In a multimedia presentation, John will share how BBVA Compass used data from both the BBVA Compass and the NBA to effectively develop and leverage the partnership. The products that resulted from the partnership made possible the first-ever totally online banking account and expanded the bank's coverage across the U.S..

People give a person’s soft skills a bad name – soft skills. People typically don’t underperform because of their lack of technical skills, they underperform because of their lack of soft skills. With that in mind, we are bringing together three of Houston's top marketing officers to discuss what soft skills really do matter and which ones are most important today. CMO Panelists: John Arcidiacono, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Stewart Title David Brady, Chief Marketing Officer/Vice President of Development, Houston Zoo

During lunch, you will have an opportunity to network, discuss the day's presentations and share ideas about the many challenges marketers face. Table topic leaders will lead lively discussions on the following:
1. Marketing on a shoestring budget
2. Proving your value to the C-suite
3. Cross-cultural marketing
Social media and mobile marketing
5. Managing the design process
The strategic and tactical balancing act
6. Content and inbound marketing
7. Successful product launches
Tradeshow 101
8. Tradeshow ROI
9. Experiential events
10. Marketing automation

As Haiku Deck’s Chief Inspiration Officer, Catherine Carr believes that practically anything can be turned into a great story, and this hands-on session will show you how. Whether you’re presenting an idea, promoting a product, or building a brand, grounding your work in story is key to engaging attention and inspiring action. We’ll explore a framework for crafting winning stories, cover practical tips and techniques, and unlock inspiration for infusing your marketing with the power of storytelling.

As marketers, we spend most of our time thinking about influence. Who has influence in our industry? How can we get more for our organizations? Which avenues carry the most and how can we tap into it? However, we rarely reflect on our own influence. And yet, the influence we wield – internally within our organization or externally to our clients – is the single most important factor in our ability to produce great programs and help organizations make sound decisions. Named a “Woman of Influence” by the Austin Business Journal in 2011, Stacy Armijo provides her perspective about how to increase your personal influence and, in turn, elevate the role of the marketing function in your organization.

View this brief video to hear a description of this session and why you should attend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr4m7z6pIt8

No good marketing program is complete until you've included the social media element. Learn from one of the nation’s leading B2B social media experts about what’s working, who’s creating influence and winning sales.

The more the marketing role is structured around deliverables and tactics, the less value the rest of the company (and the people who manage the budgets) will ascribe to the marketing function. In contrast, the greater the ability of marketing to influence the business – whether that be strategy, value creation, new product development, or growth initiatives, the more value and importance a company will derive out of their marketing organizations. In this session, Maggie Seeliger, director of marketing for Valerus, will share her experiences and tips on building a strategic and effective marketing function within your own organization that garners respect from the top down and delivers results.

Mohammad Anwar, president and owner of Softway Solutions, has helped grow Softway from a 4 person start-up 10 years ago to a 200 person web design and development firm operating in India and the US. Anwar is big fan of mentorship. As both a mentor and a mentee, he will share his personal stories and lessons learned of times when a business mentor has helped him overcome a challenge or capitalize on an opportunity with Softway. Also, as a mentor Anwar has been able to help young entrepreneurs move the ball forward with new ideas.

This Marketing Spin-Up will consist of 3 fast-paced, 20-minute presentations.

See Stein IAS duo, Reuben Webb and Mike Ruby deliver a dynamic presentation on avoiding the plague of clichés currently spreading through B2B marketing. Pulling on examples from the critically acclaimed 101 Cliches, Reuben and Mike will provide delegates with the cliché antidote so they can deliver innovative and inspiring communication’s.

Skinny ties aren’t the only thing on Mad Men that’s gone out of fashion: the way we’ve been approaching marketing has also gone the way of the beehive hairstyle. Today’s consumers are onto our game — the interruption-based vehicles, the “best thing since sliced bread” messaging, the high-pressure tactics — and quite frankly, they’re over it. But there is a better way, and Rachel Parker is here to tell you about it. By giving up the practice of talking at customers and beginning to talk with them — engaging in a conversation based on their needs, their interests, and their hopes for the future — we can win them back. We can place our brands in front of our target audience on a daily basis … and we can do it in such a way that they actually look forward to hearing from us.

Registration: http://amamarketingedge.com/registration/

Speakers: http://amamarketingedge.com/speakers/

Follow the speakers on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaikuDeck/me2013-speakers/members

Schedule: http://amamarketingedge.com/schedule-2/

Location: http://amamarketingedge.com/location/