As marketers we understand the power of community. The brands that survived the Great Recession did so because, over time they invested in building a community of fans and advocates who trusted their mission and promise. Over time these brands connected and interacted with their loyal customers, communicated with them in a genuine way, stood by them during the hard times, and became a part of them. And these brands were rewarded with positive word-of-mouth, loyalty/referral, and growth. In fact, the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Ranking showed companies with strong brands recovered quicker and subsequently grew faster than the S&P 500.

Surviving Covid in 2021/2022 will be no different. To be successful requires marketers to understand their audience and build a community around that audience. Brands must connect with that community in an authentic way.

Doing so increases satisfaction and loyalty, creates raving fans, and drives referral which ultimately reduces advertising investment and costly new customer acquisition campaigns/incentives. Raving fans will want to buy more and might pay more for what you have to offer. They may even buy other products and services tied to your brand. And they will be less likely to leave and need to be replaced.

A more committed community around your brand will share socially and be your best ambassadors. They will create content that resonates with those they influence on a greater scale than anything your brand can create. That is the power of community for your brand.

Join us live on Thursday, September 30 at noon for our half-day-long virtual conference! Our thoughtfully designed master classes, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities will provide the strategies and inspiration you need to use your brand community to grow revenue, retention, satisfaction and loyalty.

Cost:

$30 AMA Members | $70 Non-members

Conference Agenda:

12:00 PM - 12:10 PM: Opening Remarks

12:10 PM - 12:40 PM: Opening Keynote - Amazing Founders Building Community For Their Brands, by Allison Summers, Founder Disruptive CEO Nation Podcast, Author Connect To Influence, Author Building Your Brand: Make Business Happen in a Global Economy

12:40 PM - 1:25 PM: Master Class 1 - 5 Martech trends you need to know today to get ahead in the next decade, by Scott Brinker, VP Platform Ecosystem at Hubspot and founder of the Chief Martech blog.

1:40 PM - 2:25 PM: Master Class 2 - Panera Bread's Recipe for Personalization 2.0, by George Hanson, SVP Digital Marketing at Panera Bread.

2:40 PM - 3:20 PM: Breakouts

• 1-A: Leading in a Social World, by Aaron Templer, Founder & Marketer at Three Over Four.
• 1-B: Rethinking Your Marketing Strategy, by Sarah Hurley, Founder & President at Weber Marketing

3:25 PM - 4:05 PM: Breakouts

• 2-A: The Agile Brand: Creating authentic relationships between companies and their customers, Greg Kihlstrom, Principle of The Agile World.
• 2-B: Community Mythology, Geno Church, Director of Community Strategy and Design at We Must Be Bold.

4:10 PM - 4:50 PM: Closing Keynote - Life Powered By Connection, by Ginger Johnson, Chief Connecting Officer at Ginger Johnson LLC.

4:50 PM - 5:00 PM: Closing Remarks

5:00 PM - 6:15 PM: Optional Virtual Networking

Opening Keynote: Business, Brand, Marketing Magic and Communities

Great things are happening in business today. The collision of innovation, technology and omnichannel marketing strategies are helping organizations construct more deeply connected, brand-loyal communities than ever before. But the good news is authentic brands are not limited by only high-cost solutions because relevant customer experiences and converations can break through in the simplest of ways when done right.

Over the last three years, Allison K. Summers has been collecting remarkable business lessons through the Disruptive CEO Nation Podcast and she has recently featured these stories in her new book Building Your Brand: Make Business Happen in a Global Economy. So sit back and get ready to be introduced to brands and company CEO's who you may not heard of but who are making a difference in the world today.

Master Class 1: 5 Martech trends you need to know today to get ahead in the next decade

As challenging as the past eighteen months have been for marketers, we learned that people and organizations can adapt quickly when we must. Many companies implemented new ways of engaging with their customers through digital channels and new ways of operating internally with a remote workforce in a matter of weeks last spring. Previously, such significant changes would have been estimated to take years. The impact to marketers and the communities they serve was huge!

Last year taught us how disruption can come at us quickly, and not just from the usual suspects like start-ups or adjacent competitors. Disruption can happen instantaneously. The global pandemic shut down critical elements of marketing and sales, such as retail channels and in-person events, in a matter of days. While we hopefully won’t repeat 2020's challenges anytime soon, we can expect more and different kinds of disruptions ahead.

It can feel overwhelming to marketing professionals who must keep up with emerging martech trends. In this presentation, Scott Brinker will cover five major marketing technology trends poised to shape marketing strategy and operations at agencies and brands over the next 10 years. Instead of predicting the course of individual technologies — such as 5G or virtual reality interfaces — we’ll delve into second-order effects on marketing strategy and operations derived from them. Each of these trends is already emerging in practice today. But we believe each of them will grow exponentially in the years ahead. Collectively, they will reshape marketing disciplines in profound and wondrous ways, with huge impacts on the communities we serve.

• You will learn:

• Five key marketing technology trends that will shape marketing strategy and operations at agencies and brands.
• Learn how the incredibly diverse spectrum of "no code" tools make any marketer a "maker""
• Understand how platform patterns are shaping marketing technology software
• Prepare for the shift from "big data" to "big ops

Master Class 2: Panera Bread's Recipe for Personalization 2.0

Digital transformation has consumed the quick service and fast casual restaurant business in recent years, both in response to Covid-19 and consumer prefernce for on-demand services. The most advanced brands on the digital maturity continuum are not only gaining new revenue sources but also loyalty through personalization and the strength of their brand promise.

• You will learn:

• The building blocks for Personalization 2.0
• How Panera Bread transformed its customer journey to achieve personalization for all

Breakout 1-A: Leading in a Social World

Like never before our communities are physically distanced but socially connected: a new human reality that the pandemic has only amplified. We’re hard-wired to connect with one another, but have built distances into our professional and social lives that test that wiring like never before.

Leading in a Social World is an unexpected look at social media through the lens of leadership. Social capital—measurable, manageable value that’s accessed and shared through social networks—has become an undeniably valuable resource for people and their organizations. But contrary to what many of us marketing people will tell you, socially connected systems reject marketing. They are communities for nurturing, not audiences for conversions. Leading In A Social World encourages anyone who’s using the social web as a way to influence and move people that they need to ditch their social media marketing and build social capital—a leadership skill— instead.

James O'Toole, a Leadership Excellence Magazine Top 100 Thought Leader and author of The Enlightened Capitalists said this of Leading in a Social World: "This important—and timely—book demonstrates the potential of social media to become a powerful vehicle for creating social capital. It offers original and useful advice for the next generation of leaders in all fields whose platforms will increasingly be digital in the years to come."

• You will learn:

• Shed biases: When it comes to building committed communities around your brand, social media marketing data shows suspect results at best, brand-damaging results at worst.
• Learn a better way: Learn why some brands are successfully motivating others within social networks (and how they're doing it).
• Elevate your approach: Learn how to use leadership acumen to build communities who give back to you, your brand, and your cause.

Breakout 1-B: Low Cost Ideas For Marketing in Your Community

Are the premium marketing strategies -- radio, TV, digital campaigns -- causing heartache and headache? Then stop. Utilize the assets you have available in your community to your advantage. In this collaborative session we’ll explore ways you can market your brand with less traditional, and less expensive, strategies that are producing results for marketers in Madison, and everywhere.

• You will learn:

• Learn how business goals are they key starting point to defining your marketing strategy, mapping out a plan, and evaluating effectiveness.
• Learn about non-traditional (less expensive) ways to showcase your brand.
• Learn how you can collaborate with others to grow your brand.

Breakout 2-A: The Agile Brand: Creating authentic relationships between companies and their customers

Brands have evolved over several centuries from simple tools for recognition to something much more nuanced and sophisticated in the modern age. Being an agile brand means taking part in a relationship with your customers. While this means giving up some control over your brand, it rewards you with loyal long-term customers and builds a community that solves their key challenges.

Based on Greg Kihlström’s book, The Agile Brand, this presentation follows the evolution of branding from its beginnings to the authentic relationship with brands that modern consumers want, and gives practical examples of what you can do to create a more modern, agile brand while staying true to your core values.

• You will learn:

• What to do (and what not to do) when adapting to a changing consumer landscape
• How to balance the need for a brand to stay true to its mission and values while adapting and remaining nimble to changing trends and consumer behaviors

Breakout 2-B: Community Mythology

We’re at a crossroads of new beginnings. We need connectedness, we need community, now more than ever. There is a lot riding on us as we try to future proof our marketing communications efforts and dollars during these dynamic times. You don’t have to tackle this alone.

Geno Church will dig into brand community building and how community can power word of mouth.

• You will learn:

• How to create your own “human grid” through human connection, advocacy, and the science of word of mouth.

Closing Keynote: Life. Powered by Community

You and your team will do their best work when they feel connected. Name any outcome you want in marketing, business and life. And I'll show you have that outcomes is powered by Connection. Come learn the incredible fuel that is Human Connection, taught by by Chief Connecting Officer, Dinner Party host and business owner, Ginger Johnson.

• You will learn: Clarity, boost of energy that builds and buoys confidence, a clean windshield with which to see the future. It's not 'new normal' or 'back to business' - it's Current Reality every day. They'll gain truly useful insights, have fun learning & experience the power of connection, led by Ginger.

Thank you to our sponsors, Widen, an Acquia Company, TEC Marketing, The Creative Company and Spectrum Reach.

TEC Mailing Solutions is a provider of web-based Software as a Service (SaaS) tools to the address hygiene and mailing industry. TEC’s tools and services allow companies and end users to leverage technologies, traditionally only found as a desktop or server based solution, through the internet. Learn more about them here.

The Creative Company is an award-winning public relations, marketing, and web development firm. Our mission is to increase awareness, change the world around us for the better and help non-profits and companies connect with core customers and clients. Learn more about them here.

Spectrum Reach provides data-infused marketing and advertising solutions for businesses of all sizes. We help businesses find new customers and reach anyone, anywhere, on any screen. Spectrum Reach is your trusted neighbor and one stop shop. Grow your business with the best insights, content, products & people. Learn more about them here.

Widen, an Acquia Company helps brands deliver content with confidence. Their cloud-based DAM and PIM software, the Widen Collective®, empowers marketers to bring content together, send it anywhere, and automate in-between. Trusted by more than 700 companies and one million users, Widen boasts a 73-year track record of innovation and customer success. Customers include Dyson, New Balance, Crayola, and Hootsuite.Learn more about them here.