Dreamforce 2018 was a whirlwind of technology, innovation, networking and fun! If the week taught us anything, it’s that now, more than ever, is an amazing time to be a B2B marketer.
On Thursday, September 27th, Pardot took the stage with Lyft Business and VMware to discuss what it means to be a B2B marketer in the Age of Intelligent Marketing. We explored challenges that B2B marketers are facing, debuted incredible product innovations across ABM, AI and analytics, and learned how to drive awareness and grow pipeline with Pardot through the eyes of our customer Trailblazers.
Here are the top 5 takeaways from the Pardot Product Keynote at #DF18:
1. Marketing is the “New Quarterback”
We kicked off the Keynote with a video featuring the marketing team from VMware, a global leader in cloud infrastructure and digital workspace technology. Nick King, Caitlyn Potter, and Chris Grillone showed us how their team used Pardot to launch 14 new product services in just 90 days.
Nick and his team also told us that their success with Pardot has made marketing the “New Quarterback” at VMware. Their team launched a movement within the company to take the skills and technologies they developed from this launch and apply it to all parts of the business.
Talk about Trailblazers!
2. The Customer Success Platform: A 360° View of the Customer
Mike Kostow, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Pardot, introduced the challenges facing many B2B marketers today: a lack of alignment across sales and marketing.
For many teams, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has led to an increase in the number of sales and marketing channels used to reach customers. But because of siloed data, disconnected apps, and differing KPIs, these teams are working independently without a complete view of their customer.
Enter: The Customer Success Platform. With Salesforce, our customers can get a complete 360° view of their buyer — a single source of truth across sales, marketing and service. This level of alignment is crucial for teams looking to achieve success in the Age of Intelligent Marketing.
3. Pardot in Lightning: Sales and Marketing on a single platform
Maureen Maggioni, Senior Manager of Product Marketing at Pardot, talked with Samantha Goldman, Head of Marketing at Lyft Business. Samantha shared how Lyft Business partners with companies to design transportation solutions that create amazing experiences for customers. To do this at scale, they needed a marketing solution that was fast and easy to use.
Samantha’s team uses Pardot to drive awareness, engagement and adoption across all of their different customer segments, industries and personas. With Pardot, they now have a complete view of their customers and can align with their sales team to approach the right customers with the right message at the right time.
Kyle Skibbe, Director of Product Management at Pardot, walked us through how the Lyft team will be able to build on their sales and marketing alignment with our newest product announcement: Pardot in Lighting! Pardot in Lightning is the next step towards efficiency and ease of use for Salesforce customers as marketing and sales teams are united across a single platform experience.
4. Increase productivity with Einstein for B2B marketers
Maureen also spoke with Nick King, VP of Cloud Marketing at VMware. His team needed a way to target the right accounts and boost marketing productivity — after all, they only had 90 days to launch 14 new product lines!
With Salesforce and Pardot, the VMware team saw a 641% ROI after just 3 months! They were able to understand how to engage the right accounts and understand how to successfully introduce these new services to grow pipeline and close deals faster.
Productivity was obviously very important to Nick and his team. And thankfully at Salesforce, we have our own productivity partner, Salesforce Einstein. At Dreamforce, Pardot announced that Einstein is now available for B2B marketers!
Meredith Brown, VP of Product Management at Pardot, showed us how B2B marketers can take their data to new heights with Einstein Lead Scoring, Einstein Campaign Insights and Einstein Voice.
With Einstein Lead Scoring, Einstein surfaces top insights that highlight which leads have a higher propensity to buy. Einstein Campaign Insights helps identify top performing campaigns as well as new target audiences that have been overlooked. And with Einstein Voice, B2B marketers can actually ask Einstein how campaigns are performing and have real-time conversations with their data.
5. Business is a Platform for Change
For us at Salesforce, it’s not just about doing well — it’s about doing good. We believe that business is the platform for change, which is why we invest in our 1:1:1 model and encourage other companies to do the same.
The Trailblazers at Lyft also give back by partnering with the American Cancer Society. They use their business as a platform for change by providing free rides to help cancer patients get to and from treatment. To date, Lyft has given over 30,000 free rides across 13 cities.
During our Keynote, we were thrilled to partner with Lyft to give back to the American Cancer Society, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people who face cancer. If you would also like to give back to this amazing organization, visit cancer.org/lyft.
Watch to the full Pardot Product Keynote to see our latest product innovations in action. And make sure to register for our upcoming webinar, Trailblazer Takeaways: B2B Marketing Inspiration from Dreamforce 2018!
