We recently held our second annual Marketing Week at the Sacramento, Calif., headquarters office. The marketing team hosted members from 25 different dealers across the country, and weeklong discussions were centered around innovative marketing trends and education.
This year’s agenda kicked off with a lively mixer of dealers and marketing experts at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento. Appliance, furniture, mattress and electronics retailers all mingled and shared updates with one another on business growth and opportunities. Brian Wattier, AVB’s VP of Marketing, welcomed dealers with an icebreaker and a preview of exciting things to expect from the event, which was followed by an informational session on Google advertising trends presented by the group’s Associate Director of Digital Strategy Robert Piñón. Night one was capped off with a laid-back dinner on the private patio of Cafeteria 15L in Midtown Sacramento.
Day two of Marketing Week saw the meat of the event. The day began promptly with a department introduction from each leader across avb marketing. Every team, from Client Services and Operations to Design and Development, presented a brief summary of how their department contributes to the success of the members and offered some teasers on changes to come.
Next, the energetic Erin Gargan King delivered the keynote speech, diving right into the art of digital persuasion. The author, lecturer and consultant showed how BrandSource members can use their social influence to grow their customer base and business. King gave attendees boosts of digital confidence with interactive exercises like taking selfies with their neighbor, and even offered up a cash prize to the team that could write the most effective social media post.
Following the morning sessions were the Sandbox Rotations, which allowed members to engage in one-on-one conversations with marketing experts from various fields like Content & Social Media, Google My Business, AVB’s LINQ platform and more. This gave dealers the opportunity to have open discussions and ask pointed marketing questions about issues they’ve been struggling with. There was also a Beta Bar where members could sign up for more information on running beta campaigns in partnership with Google.
The sessions continued through the afternoon with conversations about consumer personas, preparing for the shift to e-commerce and the consumer journey, which were presented by online interaction experts from Podium. AVB Chief Marketing Officer John White as well as many members of the team also addressed the Marketing Week group, providing a look into the Future of avb marketing. White hit hard on the importance of merchandising online, hyper-personalized marketing strategy, a shift in the way the agency will approach digital marketing campaigns, and the necessity of understanding consumer behavior.
After a night of fun and plenty of pizza at Drakes: The Barn in West Sacramento, the entire group assembled on the final morning of Marketing Week for a dynamic, two-hour discussion on best practices, millennial marketing, community engagement and online chat, among other topics of conversation.
Once the moderated session concluded, members said their goodbyes and headed home with a renewed sense of confidence, readied by the new set of tools in their marketing and digital toolbox.
Danielle Diaz, AVB’s Senior Director of Marketing, considered the three-day experience invaluable. “It’s a unique opportunity for marketing professionals in our space to have an immersive three days of training directly from the experts themselves,” she said. “I think the biggest benefit from the experience is the chance for networking and thought sharing.”
We plan to host a third annual Marketing Week in 2020 with even more experts from across the digital landscape on board.