In 2024, Sercante and Salesforce community experts hosted the 5th MarDreamin’, the virtual community conference for marketers on the Salesforce platform that brings together the brightest minds in marketing to share knowledge, network, and transform strategies for growth. For the first time, MarDreamin’ is being taken to a whole new level with the first-ever in-person event: MarDreamin’ Summit.

Save the Date for May 7-8, 2025, to join an exclusive group of marketers in the community with a balanced mix of all experience levels, plus Marketing Champions, and Salesforce MVPs to gather in Atlanta, Georgia, for a peer-led, curated experience, to have deeper conversations, build lasting relationships, and learn from one another in a way that the virtual world can’t replicate.

What is MarDreamin’ Summit?

MarDreamin’ Summit isn’t just a conference—it’s a curated, no-fluff gathering for marketers redefining what’s possible with Salesforce. This day-and-a-half conference will feature expert-led, interactive workshops, peer-led, insightful sessions and panels, and exclusive networking opportunities where the conversations you have and the people you meet, are purposed to genuinely elevate your marketing game.

Every attendee will get to contribute, have their voice be heard, and will leave with actionable strategies, practical insights, and lasting connections to elevate their careers and drive real business impact.

This is an experience built by marketers for marketers. Expect the real-talk, you’ve come to love at MarDreamin’, in a learning-centric environment, where real marketers share real stories and solutions using the technology you can access right now.

Tell me about the agenda

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store at MarDreamin’ Summit:

Day 1: Workshop Day – May 7 (Half Day)

Engage in interactive, hands-on training sessions led by Salesforce-certified instructors. These workshops are designed to equip you with practical skills and strategies to:

• Maximize the Salesforce platform
• Create personalized, seamless customer experiences
• Drive measurable growth in your organization
• Thrive in your role and propel your career forward

Day 2: MarDreamin’ Summit – May 8 (Full Day)

Day 2 is the main event! Look forward to an exhilarating summit of keynotes, panels, and insightful sessions across multiple floors. Highlights include:

• Exclusive, in-person only content
• Intimate networking experiences with peers and industry leaders
• Insightful conversations to spark inspiration and build deeper relationships
• Practical solutions to tackle the latest industry challenges
• Live demos of the top solutions focused on learning what’s possible
• Curated experiences where every unique voice contributes to community impact

Why MarDreamin’ Summit is a must-attend event

There are so many stellar community conferences out there, why should MarDreamin’ Summit be added to your calendar? Here are the top five:

1. Build deeper community connections: Step into a room full of marketers ready to engage and share their experiences, a space where everyone brings unique insights to the table to foster meaningful conversations, elevated learning, and lasting relationships.
2. Advance your skills with hands-on learning: Participate in interactive workshops tailored for all experience levels to be more efficient in your role, reach goals faster, and create even better customer experiences that drive real impact for your business.
3. Be inspired by peer-led content: Hear from your peers that have been in the trenches and engage in audience-led discussions to learn from each other in a way that fuels creativity and sparks your best ideas.
4. Maximize impact with real-world value: Every workshop, keynote, panel, networking experience, and session will be dedicated toward empowering attendees with practical strategies and solutions that they can apply to their customer experiences, role, and careers with the resources and technology they have available today.
5. Thrive in a curated, impact-driven environment: All demos and solutions shared will be focused on learning what’s possible to empower attendees with methods to solve real marketing challenges with effective tools—without the pitch.

What makes MarDreamin’ Summit different from other Dreamin’ events?

MarDreamin’ has been known in the ecosystem as being the must-attend, virtual conference for marketers on Salesforce. It has connected marketers from across the globe with attendees from 55+ countries sharing their challenges, experiences, best practices, and proven solutions to learn and grow together. MarDreamin’ has been the blend of powerful technology meeting the human connection that drives growth in careers, business, and fuels attendees’ most innovative ideas to create un-matched customer experiences. 

Now we’re bringing this energy, in person for the community to connect like never before. MarDreamin’ Summit, is where marketers can gather with their peers on a deeper level, have their voice be heard, and feel supported by others who have been there and get it, and grow their skills to drive meaningful impact.

MarDreamin’ will still be held virtually in the fall.

For those unable to attend in May, MarDreamin’ 2025 will return virtually this fall with incredible content and community engagement. Stay tuned for details!

Want to Be a Part of the Action?

• Pre-register: Seats are limited for MarDreamin’ Summit and the content will be carefully crafted and selected to support maximum learning for every attendee. Pre-register here to express your interest and share more about your goals for attending.
• Be a Speaker: Have a great session idea? Start thinking about your proposal and visit the Call for Speakers page to learn more about speaking at MarDreamin’ Summit. Then stay tuned for when the call for speakers opens!

Don’t miss out on MarDreamin’ Summit!

Spaces are limited for this exclusive, in-person curated experience, so be sure to pre-register to request your seat. Whether you’re looking to advance your skills, build transformative connections, or gain fresh insights to drive growth, MarDreamin’ Summit is the place to be.

Visit mardreamin.com to pre-register and learn more.

Join the community in Atlanta this May for the curated in-person experience of the year for marketers on Salesforce!

About MarDreamin’ Summit

MarDreamin’ Summit is a curated gathering for marketers redefining what’s possible with Salesforce. With peer-led sessions, hands-on learning, and intimate networking experiences, where every unique voice is heard, in an impact-driven environment, attendees have the opportunity to connect and learn from each other on a deeper level—in a way the virtual world can’t replicate. Pioneered by Sercante and Salesforce community leaders who get it, the MarDreamin’ Summit experience cuts through the noise and inspires creativity, from real marketers, real insights, and real connections. 

Original article: Announcing MarDreamin’ Summit: The MarDreamin’ You Love, Live In Person!

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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You may have heard Salesforce’s announcement of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, their new marketing automation platform built on the Einstein 1 platform (also known as “Core”), intended for SMB marketers to help them more efficiently engage their audience at scale. This thrilling new announcement came with a lot of questions, one of them being, what is the campaign asset creation process like with Marketing Cloud Growth Edition? Well, here’s how it works.

Campaign Asset Creation with Marketing Cloud Growth Edition

When it comes to building your campaign in Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, you will be presented with five options:

• Single Email with Einstein
• Single Email Template
• Message Template Series
• Signup Form Template
• Blank Email Campaign

Single Email with Einstein

When you use Single Email with Einstein, this starts your team off with using Einstein Co-create. The type of campaign you are planning will determine which option you choose from above, but when you use Einstein Co-create it expedites the campaign brief process. 

Einstein Co-create campaign brief

Your campaign brief is essentially the written plan for your campaign strategy. When you use Einstein Co-create, you provide the prompt to Einstein, sharing what your campaign is about the general goal you are looking to achieve, and your target segment and it will then generate a campaign brief with the below elements:

• Campaign Objective
• Target Segment
• Goals/KPIs
• Key Message

In addition, because the original selection here was Single Email with Einstein, the platform will also automatically generate a Campaign Asset with an Email Subject Line, Preheader, and Body Copy.

You can upvote, downvote, or refresh the content to help the AI improve. Select Looks Good to generate your Campaign Assets.

It’s the same campaign strategy principles, new platform, and a more efficient way to generate campaign briefs along with the email for your campaign. If you select Single Email Template from the campaign asset creation options, it is the same interface as the previous selection, just without automatic content generation.

Message Template Series

The Message Template Series selection allows you to create two emails customized to your campaign set up from a flow sequence with a Wait 1 Day step between email sends that can be edited to wait minutes, hours, days, months, or resume at a specific time of day. 

Sticking with the Marketing Cloud Growth Edition webinar example from the previous campaign brief generated with Einstein Co-create, the first email could serve as the invitation to our recipient list of marketers and the two emails in this series could serve as the reminder email and the last chance to register email, while suppressing the people who have already registered. 

We could also create a second message template series to start engaging with our prospects who have already registered for the webinar. Maybe for the first email we send them a piece of content that shares an introduction about Marketing Cloud Growth Edition providing initial tips and tricks for how they could get started with the platform and then the second email could be sent on the day of the webinar, reminding registrants it will start in an hour.

There is a lot that your team can do with this option, it just depends on what your plan is for how you will achieve your campaign goal. You already defined the goal, measurement, and audience, with your strategy, but you also need to determine the how.

• How are you going to promote this campaign to increase registrants?
• How will you compel your audience to attend the webinar to reach the goal of increasing attendance by XX%?
• How do you plan on following up with registrants and attendees after the webinar to maximize the results from this webinar three months after, six months after, twelve months after? (This is also where a collaboration with sales comes in.)
• What has worked well in the past?
• What has not worked well that should either be nixed for the future or improved upon?

All of this should be defined after you frame your initial campaign strategy and before you and your team start creating the campaign assets, so that when the team starts going down the path of execution, everyone is aligned and focused on the campaign initiatives that will make the greatest impact.

Single Form Template

The Single Form Template option is what you would use to create the registration form and landing page for the webinar. The platform starts you out with creating a landing page that includes a form. The Landing Page includes a form, but the form can be switched out for another form that exists in your org. This campaign also includes a flow to create new Leads when the form is completed. 

The landing page builder comes with the following features:

• Title, Description, and Public Page Title can be customized
• URL Content Slug can be edited for a custom landing page URL
• Favicons can be added
• Landing Pages can be hidden from Search Engine indexing 

Building the landing page content is similar to the Lightning Builder experience for Account Engagement. Each component on the Landing page also includes a Custom CSS field. 

As you build the landing page for the webinar, you can then move to the registration form. The form features for Marketing Cloud Growth Edition can show a Thank You message or redirect to another URL, such as a thank you page.

When adding the fields to your form, you can use the Configure Data Source feature to pull in Lead, Contact, or Account fields into your form. If you do not want to use this feature to pull in the fields, you can simply add the fields to your form and then map them accordingly in the flow.

By default, the flow will create new Leads upon form submission. If you have existing leads and contacts that are expected to be registering for the webinar, you will need to customize the flow to update existing records.

Keep in mind that editing the fields on the form does not update the flow. Make sure you edit the flow to include the final fields selected for the form.

As you continue moving through building your registration form, there are quite a few form options to choose from such as adding dividers, text, and new sections as well as adding images to forms. If your team has not tried any of these options before, it could be worth a test to see if this increases registrations. The main thing to keep in mind here though is user experience. Will the registration form you are creating provide the best experience for your audience? Delighting and connecting with them is the focus.

Blank Email Campaign

The last option you can choose from for the campaign asset creation process is the Blank Email Campaign. This selection only contains a Flow to send an email message. For this you will need to:

• Create or select a segment
• Create an email or use an email that already exists in the org
• Currently, you can only add one email to this campaign type. There is no option to add a Landing page or form to these campaigns.
• Customize and activate your flow

The process with this option is a little more manual, but it is an option in case your team wants this type of experience.

No matter the platform, campaign creation comes back to the strategy.

We are all smiles about the announcement of Marketing Cloud Growth Edition and are looking forward to having SMB marketing teams dive into the platform and experience all that can be accomplished with it. The new technology may seem overwhelming, but remember your foundational approach to marketing campaign strategy remains the same, which guides you through the campaign asset creation process. 
It is just a matter of getting used to where to click and pull in the different features that you want to use to get the best results. And if at any point it seems scary and you want an expert guide, we’ll be here to help you.

Original article: How to Create Campaign Assets with Marketing Cloud Growth Edition

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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The 2023 MarDreamies Awards inspired the marketing community and wowed the judges as they announced this year’s winners at the fourth MarDreamin’ conference that took place from October 31 to November 3. 

The MarDreamies presented five award winners in addition to some honorable mentions across the award categories as each team was featured for their innovative solution implemented with Salesforce marketing tools.

MarDreamies Award Categories: A quick recap

If you remember from previous years, the MarDreamies categories include Personalization Perfection, Social Impact, Grassroots Innovation, Extending Salesforce, and Best in Show. 

• Personalization Perfection: Right-time, right-message marketing
• Social Impact: Creating positive change through Salesforce
• Grassroots Innovation: Scaling small business with Salesforce
• Extending Salesforce: API and AI-driven solutions
• Best in Show: Best all-around solution

Marketing teams submitted their entries selecting which category they wanted to be recognized for and shared the goal they worked to achieve, the details of the solution, and the results post implementation. There were many great submissions this year which made the selection process for the judges very challenging, but after much consideration, they were able to narrow it down to one winner per category.

And the MarDreamies 2023 Award Winners Are…

On November 2, 2023, the MarDreamies presenters who included Marcos Duran, Chris Zullo, Bill Fetter, Julie Rasco, and Jen Kazin announced the award winners.

• Personalization Perfection: Grupo Xcaret
• Social Impact: Veterans Guardian
• Grassroots Innovation: TSI Incorporated
• Extending Salesforce: Cypress Learning Solutions
• Best in Show: Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing

Watch the session on demand to relive the MarDreamies experience and get all the details!

2023 MarDreamies Award Personalization Perfection Category Winner: Grupo Xcaret

Grupo Xcaret submitted the solution, Personalized Shopping Cart Coupon at the Last Step of the Purchase, to win the MarDreamies 2023 award for the Personalization Perfection category, which celebrates teams for delivering right-time, right message marketing. 

The Grupo Xcaret team shared more about their solution in the below video that was featured during the MarDreamies session.

What does Grupo Xcaret do?

In the travel and hospitality industry, Grupo Xcaret is on a mission to make the planet happier by sharing their love of Mexico. Putting on amazing shows and breathtaking attractions across their parks, tours, and hotels, they aim to create “unique, magical, and memorable experiences” for their guests and visitors. 

How does Grupo Xcaret use Salesforce tools to create personalized experiences?

The team noticed that customers would start the purchase process for their parks and tours, but would get to the last step of the purchase, see the final price, and then abandon their cart.

To encourage more customers to complete their purchase, Grupo Xcaret used Salesforce Marketing Cloud Personalization to create trackable and customized coupons for each of their products in English and Spanish. They configured this solution with the website so it would display the correct coupon for the purchase after time has passed and the purchase has not been completed.

The solution required the cooperation of their web team, marketing automation team, and a third-party team to create the configurations necessary for successful execution. Their hard work paid off as the solution contributed to increasing their revenue by 77% and improved the conversion rate on the last step of the purchase process by 55%.

Grupo Xcaret’s solution is a great example to the marketing community of what can be achieved when we use Salesforce marketing tools to deliver personalized experiences. If you have been inspired by their solution, be sure to give Grupo Xcaret a shout-out on social media!

2023 MarDreamies Award Grassroots Innovation Category Winner: TSI Incorporated

TSI Incorporated submitted the solution, Optimizing The Lead Management Process to Better Serve Prospects & Customers, to win the MarDreamies 2023 award for the Grassroots Innovation category, which recognizes teams for using Salesforce marketing tools to scale their businesses. 

What does TSI Incorporated do?

Serving a global market, TSI Incorporated engineers and manufactures measurement instruments to help make the job easier for aerosol science, and evaluating air flow, indoor air quality, fluid dynamics, and biohazard detection.

Founded in 1961 with headquarters based in the U.S. and field offices across Europe and Asia, TSI has grown as a large organization and established a worldwide presence in the markets they serve.

How does TSI Incorporated use Salesforce tools to scale their business?

The TSI team wanted to make sure that their lead handover process was streamlined so qualified leads could be routed to the right salesperson quickly for a timely response to prospects and to prevent deals from falling through the cracks.

They set out to build a completely new sales user experience. Their custom ‘Sales Inquiries’ object, which is what sales was using to take action on product inquiries, was reconfigured to provide a single interface to track the next step when interest is expressed in one of their products. The team used Salesforce Flows to execute the automations needed to handle inquiries and processing, which are all triggered from a Marketing Cloud Account Engagement form submission. 

TSI’s SAP system contained their territory assignment and routing rules. They designed and refactored all the automations that were happening between their SAP system and Salesforce that handled the sales inquiry creation and processing.

As a result of refactoring and redesigning the automation between the SAP system and Salesforce and creating a streamlined sales user interface with the Sales Inquiry object, sales’ ability to act on the right leads at the right time increased by 35%! 

TSI’s solution is a great example to the community of what’s possible when we leverage the foundational functionality of the Salesforce platform. If you have been inspired by their solution, be sure to give TSI Incorporated a shout-out on social media!

2023 MarDreamies Award Extending Salesforce Category Winner: Cypress Learning Solutions

Cypress Learning Solutions submitted the solution, Reply Intelligence, to win the MarDreamies 2023 award for the Extending Salesforce category which highlights teams for creating API and AI-driven solutions. Brandon Walton, the president, owner & principal consultant of Cypress Learning Solutions, shared more about Reply Intelligence in the below video that was featured during the MarDreamies session.

What does Cypress Learning Solutions do?

Cypress Learning Solutions is a Salesforce implementation and training solutions provider, designing customized workshops and implementation services for organizations transitioning to Salesforce and Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

Tell me more about Reply Intelligence…

Reply Intelligence is an AI & algorithmic solution that gives marketers greater insight into the replies to marketing and inbound emails and allows them to trigger automations from them. 

It has become increasingly more difficult for marketers to rely on clicks and open rates to track engagement, and at the same time, their “reply-to” inboxes become filled with the marketing email Out of Office replies and other autoresponders.

Reply Intelligence is an email integration solution that helps marketers to better manage the reply-to inboxes and trigger Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Completion Actions from inbound emails and email replies. The solution was developed from integrating several technical components including ESPs, Salesforce, the development of Cypress Learning Solutions’ internal Large Language Model (LLM), and connections into AI platforms.

Brandon Walton added, “We have processed > 1mm email replies and are continuously evolving our LLM to detect intent from emails, including purchasing intent and requests to be removed/unsubscribed from databases.”

Cypress Learning Solutions’ Reply Intelligence is a great example of innovation from an API and AI-driven solution. If you have been inspired by their story, be sure to give Cypress Learning Solutions a shout-out on social media!

2023 MarDreamies Award Social Impact Category Winner: Veterans Guardian

Veterans Guardian submitted the solution, Successfully Segmenting an Audience, to win the MarDreamies 2023 award for the Social Impact category, which honors teams for creating positive change with Salesforce tools. Avery McKenzie, marketing coordinator at Veterans Guardian, shared more about the solution in the below video that was featured during the MarDreamies session.

What does Veterans Guardian do?

Veterans Guardian, is a private consulting company partnering with veterans to help them attain the VA benefits they have earned from their honorable service to the nation. The veterans disability claim process can be complicated and overwhelming, which is where Veterans Guardian comes in. They support veterans through the claims process helping them build their claim strategy and providing education and information needed to help them get the benefits they are entitled to.

How does Veterans Guardian use Salesforce for social impact?

As Veterans Guardian supports veterans through the disability claims process, it is critical that their communication is delivered to the right person at the right time. Their team wanted to advance how they engage veterans with personalized communication to provide them with the best experience possible.

The Veterans Guardian team evaluated their audience segmentation in conjunction with their customer experience process and came up with 74 Marketing Cloud journeys. Using features such as Einstein Send Time Optimization, decision splits, and Salesforce Flows to trigger the journeys, Veterans Guardian was able to create customized communication for each veteran based on where they were in their process. As a result, Veterans Guardian experienced improved engagement results and client satisfaction.

Through Veterans Guardian’s dedication to delivering the best client experience for veterans with personalized communication through Salesforce marketing tools, they have been able to create positive change. If you have been inspired by their solution, be sure to give Veterans Guardian a shout-out on social media!

2023 MarDreamies Award Best in Show Category Winner: Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing

Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing submitted the solution, Salesforce Digital Customer Cycle, to win the MarDreamies 2023 award for the Best in Show category, which recognizes teams for building the best all-around solution. Jonathan Dytor, Head of Digital Marketing at Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing, shared more about the solution in the below video that was featured during the MarDreamies session.

What does Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing do?

A member of the Close Brothers Group, Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing is a UK-based company founded in 1987 that provides finance for businesses offering practical solutions that empower them for success.

Tell me more about the Salesforce Digital Customer Cycle solution…

The Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing team constructed a complete digital customer journey within their Salesforce Org. To execute this, they rebuilt their seven websites and portal using Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, Sales Cloud, and Analytics Studio. 

The breakdown of the solution from their submission is included below:

• Experience Builder – Used to rebuild the websites and the Portal
• Account Engagement – Captures UTM parameters for all Leads
• Sales Cloud – Auto-manages Lead assignment rules and tracks Opportunities
• Analytics Studio – Tracks real-time ROI

Their team was using a third party for website development and was not getting the functionality and insights they desired from their websites. They wanted to have full autonomy over their digital platforms and researched what they could do if they were to rebuild them with Experience Builder. They also evaluated how they could use Marketing Cloud Account Engagement to trigger automated communications to customers at critical points throughout their journey.

They decided to move forward, and in just one month they launched three of the seven sites and built the other four and their customer portal, all completed in house. Their team now has full control over their websites and their customer portal. Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing can get the insights they need from their digital platforms without any reliance on third parties and they can build new sites all in house with extreme speed!

Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing creating the Salesforce Digital Customer Cycle is a great example of the creative solutions that can be built on the Salesforce platform to achieve business goals. If you have been inspired by their story, be sure to give Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing a shout-out on social media!

2023 MarDreamies Award Honorable Mentions

There were so many outstanding solutions submitted for the 2023 MarDreamies Awards that it made the selection process very challenging. As the award presenters expressed during the session, they did not want to conclude it without giving a few honorable mentions to the following teams that shared some incredible solutions!

• The Brain Tumour Charity: Inspires Optimized Donations, Customer Journeys with DESelect Engage
• AdventHealth: Leveraging Real-time Data to Power Next Best Actions
• Cezium: Tik Tok Adz for Marketing Cloud
• California Association of Realtors: Localized Housing Market Data
• J.R. Simplot Company: Welcome Series to Engaged Audience
• Hilton Supply Management: Making the Connection

Get more ideas to bring back to your team

The MarDreamies 2023 awards are a great way to be in the know about the latest innovations that are being developed in the marketing community. If any of these award winner stories have sparked an idea, we encourage you to share it with your team to see what new advancement you can create next to achieve your goals.

In addition to the MarDreamies, there were so many amazing creative solutions presented at the MarDreamin conference this year. To learn and get more ideas to bring back to your team, watch the sessions on demand!

Original article: MarDreamin’ Recap: MarDreamies 2023 Award Winners

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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Today’s trailblazers in the higher education industry are facing trends and challenges that they have not had to before. Navigating a recent global pandemic, the rise of artificial intelligence, marketing to Gen Z, and shifting enrollment levels. 

Dreamforce 2023 – Out of the Home for Marketers Vault

To help trailblazers gain insights into how to deal with these modern-day higher education trends and challenges in the digital age, we held an event at the Home for Marketers during Dreamforce with industry thought leaders. The top takeaways from their panel discussion are below.

Panel: Modern Day Trends in Higher Education

Moderator: Adam Berry, Senior Account Director, Sercante

Panelists (from left to right in photo):

• Clark Burk, Chief Client Officer, Red Van Workshop
• Jordyn Jaffer, Senior Salesforce Solution Engineer, Serante
• Michelle Bates, Assistant Vice President for IT, CRM and Data Analytics, Purdue for Life Foundation
• Brent Wege, VP Sales, Engagement Solutions, Salesforce

Data Silos Are Still a Major Challenge for Higher Education Institutions

Across universities there are different owners of separate subsets of data making it difficult for teams to collaborate, share insights about their constituents, and have an overall view of the organization’s performance. 

Each panelist emphasized that if universities are going to provide that personalized 1:1 experience that so many of their diversified audience, in particular Gen Z, is desiring then they are going to have to make breaking down their data siloes a priority.

Centers of Excellence Are Being Leveraged to Increase Adoption

As more higher education teams are acquiring systems to their tech stack for a digital transformation many roles and responsibilities are changing. Team members are having to learn new platforms and think through their data in a different manner and getting them to adjust to the change can be difficult.

The panel shared how they have seen teams use Centers of Excellence where education and training on the technology systems are provided to empower users to be more efficient on the platforms. 

Assigning champions such as administrators or power users in each department can be helpful as they support and help team members in their day-to-day to navigate and leverage the technology to achieve their goals.

It was noted that some teams may not be able to form an organized Center of Excellence in their institution, but making sure training is provided and identifying the champions in each department can be a huge first step towards increasing adoption.

Personalization is a Must in Higher Education

As people are experiencing personalized engagements across their retail, entertainment and content consumption journeys, they expect the same out of their alma mater or the university they are attending or applying for. 

Now more than ever it is critical for higher education teams to have access to all the data touchpoints that happen throughout the prospect, student, and alumni journey. Without accurate data, personalizations will not seem as relevant or authentic. 

As digital natives, Gen Z can easily spot inauthentic marketing, and, according to 2021 Forrester Technographics data, “nearly a third of Gen Z say that they unfollow, hide, or block brands on social media — at least weekly.” This means that universities need to make sure the customized communication and engagements they are crafting accurately align to each stage of the individual’s journey to provide an authentic experience.

For example, if you are starting a fundraising campaign and want to target alumni, using the clubs and organizations they were a part of during their time as a student to share where they are now and where they hope to be is a great way to make your communication to that individual relevant. Having access to this data and managing it in a way that makes it easy to execute personalizations like this is key.

University Teams Are Navigating Their Journey With Artificial Intelligence

Some higher education organizations are already using AI in their day-to-day with chatbots and smart searching in their IT knowledgebase. The biggest concern here is trust and security. Like many, trailblazers in higher education want to ensure that constituent data is secure when leveraging AI-powered tools to ensure a high level of trust.

There are so many exciting new developments happening such as conversations around how AI could track student performance and predict when they are trending towards an at-risk status to alert advisors, so they can better guide students and be more proactive to battle against dropout rates. 

However, these developments will only truly be able to be taken advantage of if all departments are accurately capturing data and have it architected in a way to be centralized and easily accessible across the organization.

A Word of Advice for Your Digital Strategy

A lasting piece of advice from our panelists was don’t just throw technology at your challenges. Consider how you are going to use it to truly deepen relationships with your audience, how it will better help you to manage your data, and who will be the champion for that system. 

There may already be solutions that you have access to that can provide a solution, so have a strategy in place for how it will be used and managed before purchasing new technology.

Reach out to the team at Sercante for help making the right decisions when you’re ready to shake things up with your digital marketing strategy.

Original article: Top Takeaways from the Panel: Modern-Day Trends in Higher Education

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

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Event marketers face unique challenges. They need to create memorable, unique, and meaningful experiences that align with their brand and connect with their audience all the while staying within budget, building relationships, and generating leads. It is not an easy task. At Dreamforce 2023, The Home for Marketers hosted a panel of marketing leaders to share their recommended event marketing best practices to ensure success!

Dreamforce 2023 Event Marketers Panel – Out of The Home for Marketers Vault

On this panel was Belinda Joseph, Head of Events & Community at Goldcast, Porter Sproul, Campaign Strategist at PFL, and Sarah Kloth, VP of Marketing at Sercante.

Here are the event marketing best practices they shared.

Best Practice #1 – Align Your Event to The Appropriate Stages of the Funnel

When you create an event, Belinda Joseph advised to think about where your event best aligns with the funnel. If you are creating an event that reaches prospects and customers at different stages of their journey, then think through what you will do at your event to meet them where they’re at and make the experience relevant to them. 

For example, an executive dinner could be considered to align with a late stage in the funnel after prospects already know who you are and the solutions you provide. They may have already spoken to someone from sales and the event could be a way to engage prospects at accounts that are in early opportunity stages.

Best Practice #2 – Define What Success Looks Like Across Departments

As you create your next event campaign don’t just think of the goals that the marketing team is working to accomplish, shared Porter Sproul, but consider how you can align with sales, service, and leadership. How can your event serve their business goals? What does each department need for your event campaign to be considered as a win for the business as a whole?

Best Practice #3 – Think About How Your Brand Will Be Represented At Your Event

Sarah Kloth emphasized that your brand is one of the most important focuses of event marketing. “Know who are you, what you do, and the environment that you create.” People will attend your event and will walk away with a certain feeling. That feeling will either bring them closer to your brand or repulse them. How do you want your brand to be remembered? 

“Reputation is everything.” added Porter Sproul. You need to have your event and the environment you create align with your brand, but you also need to be different. The panel shared that nowadays people are more selective with how they are spending their time and they will most likely always engage in what’s most convenient. How will you create an experience that will want to make your audience go out of their way to attend?

Creating an Executive Experience

Porter shared how he once experienced that creating an event that was very exclusive gained great traction. His team was planning an executive dinner adjacent to a conference that was going on, but they wanted to be different. Several other companies attending the conference were also hosting executive dinners. How could they create an experience that would make their audience want to choose theirs over the others?

They elected to do an evening dinner cruise on a boat that would only fit a small number of people. His team targeted their top prospects and soon after promotion started, all the spots for the dinner were filled. After the event, they received feedback from other prospects that missed it saying how the event sounded amazing and how they would love to be a part of it next year. Many times people want what they can’t have. The more you make an experience feel special, one-of-kind, and exclusive, the more people will be curious about it and want to seek it out.

Remembering your Personas

When planning your event and how it aligns to your brand, remember to take into account your personas. Belinda Joseph describes that for every event that Goldcast puts on, she and her team map out, “what do we want each persona to think, feel, and do from this event?” How can your event evoke action and progress your audience further down the funnel?

Best Practice #4 – Tap Into The Network Around You For Promotion

It takes a village to promote an event. Your company and your marketing team will be doing their own promotional plan, but when you have the speaker of the event, your customers, or your followers also promoting the event then you will expand your reach and the invitation will hold more weight.

Which is why our fourth event marketing best practice revolves around tapping into the network around you for promotion.

People are more likely to make a purchase when it was recommended to them by a friend. How much more likely do you think they’ll want to attend your event if your audience sees a peer of theirs sharing about it? 

Getting Help from the Community

To help build awareness about The Home for Marketers, we put together a video series interviewing different Marketing Champions and asking them to share about their previous Dreamforce experiences, including how they would describe The Home for Marketers and advice for first-time Dreamforce attendees.

The Road to the Home for Marketers series not only highlighted different champions in the space that give so much to the community, but it also provided valuable and helpful content for marketers that would be going to the conference for the first-time. In turn, they also got to hear about the Home for Marketers and listen to a peer of theirs describe it to them and hear about their positive experience there.

If you are putting on an event that happens every year, consider how you can highlight people that attended in previous years and have them share their positive experience with your intended audience. 

Ask Speakers to Promote

If your event includes a speaking session, collaborate with your speakers on promotion. Belinda Joseph shared how her team will provide a promotional kit to their speakers, making it easy to post about the event on social media and get the word out about the campaign to their networks. What can you do to help make it as seamless as possible for your speakers to promote the event?

• Is it pre-written social posts that they can copy and paste?
• Is there imagery that you can provide to enhance their posts?
• Is it a video that you record with them?
• Is it examples of previous promotions that other speakers have done in the past?

Remember, your speakers and even your sponsors for your event all want to drive registration and attendance, so for this campaign, you are all on the same team. How can you enable your team to promote this event successfully?

Best Practice #5 – Create an event that is special, creative, and gives!

This may seem challenging for brands that are in a more serious industry, but as Sarah Kloth reminded us on the panel, “We all want to be taken seriously in business, but at the end of the day we all go home and watch the same shows.” Meaning that your business executives are still people too just like you. How can you tap into the more personal side of your brand to build connections with your audience that are special?

Using Tangible Marketing

During Dreamforce Porter Sproul and the rest of the PFL team had a pink mailbox with a light-up sign that said “Send a Smile.” They had postcards and stamps that event attendees could use to send to their friends and family from the conference. Event attendees filled out the postcard and then placed them in the pink mailbox for the PFL team to send out.

One, when was the last time you sent a note with a pen and paper to someone and snail mailed it to them that was not a wedding invitation? Two, when was the last time you received a hand-written note in your mailbox that was sent “just because”?

Boom.

PFL created an experience that EVERYONE could relate to. They prompted attendees to think of their loved ones and connect with them in a less common form of communication that is tangible and memorable. 

Building Meaningful Experiences

As another example, Belinda Joseph shared about an internal event that the Goldcast team put on. It was their Sales Kick-off and it was during the time when team members were still isolated because of COVID. Prior to the event, they reached out to employees and asked them to record a video of themselves answering a few questions about what challenges they had been dealing with this past year and what they are thinking about and looking forward to in the year to come.

Their team took these responses and produced it into a 10-minute video that the team all watched together during their sales kick-off. “It was emotional.” Belinda recalled.

“We realized we were not alone in the struggles we were facing because our team members were facing similar challenges.” It created empathy among the team as they all got to hear where each person was coming from, strengthening their culture and bringing them closer together as a team just as they were about to kick-off their new fiscal year. Talk about a memorable experience that evoked an action.

When creating an event, consider how you can build a meaningful experience that will connect with your audience on a deeper level. 

Event Marketing Best Practices to Remember

Think about where your event aligns to your funnel, is it an early-, mid-, or late-stage engagement? If you will have multiple stages represented how will you interact with attendees meeting your brand for the first time versus people who have already engaged several times with you?

Align your event goals to what the other departments will consider a win. Sarah Kloth often challenges the Sercante marketing team to “define what success looks like first.”

Last, but certainly not least, remember that how your brand is represented and the feeling and environment you create for your attendees is everything. Brainstorm with your team about how you can create an experience that is special, giving, and unique.

For more event marketing best practices, connect with Belinda, Porter, and Sarah on LinkedIn!

Original article: 5 Event Marketing Best Practices To Implement For Your Next Campaign

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post 5 Event Marketing Best Practices To Implement For Your Next Campaign appeared first on The Spot.

We are less than a month away from the tech conference unlike any other where trailblazers will “experience the magic of AI + Data + CRM!” There will be 1500+ sessions to choose from for Dreamforce 2023 and 75+ AI thought leaders jam packed into 3 days. 

Whether you are attending virtually or in person, it can be overwhelming to sort through all the options as you make your schedule. To help make it a little easier, we have highlighted a few sessions and events where you can find Sercante at Dreamforce to build the ultimate Dreamforce 2023 agenda!

Join us in person at any of the events listed in this blog post. Or sign up here for any of the Sercante-hosted Dreamforce events listed in this post. Also, keep watching this space when we announce details for our virtual Dreamforce networking party, which we’re hosting along with community friends during Dreamforce (Sept. 12-14).

Dreamforce ‘23 Sessions Featuring Sercante Experts

As you create your agenda this year, Salesforce MVP, Marketing Champion, and Golden Hoodie recipient, Ben LaMothe, encourages marketers to consider sessions that are outside of their typical concentration. 

An example of that this year is all of the AI and Data Cloud sessions there will be. With all the features coming out, marketers should continue to explore new ways they can leverage them for their daily operations to make processes more efficient, solve challenges, and reach new heights.

With this in mind, here are the sessions to have on your radar to find Sercante at Dreamforce ‘23.

Leverage AI Across the Salesforce Platform

Bookmark
Tuesday, Sep 12 l 12:30 – 12:50 PM PDT

This session is relevant for all trailblazers across all levels and product focus. From core to marketing, the experts are going to share how AI can help make all users more impactful in their day-to-day roles.

Role: All trailblazers
Industry: All
Product: All
Session Type: Campfire
Room Location Details: Einstein Community Campfire

Speakers

Marcos Duran
Marketing Operations Manager, Sercante

Marketing Cloud Release Highlights

Bookmark
Tuesday, Sep 12 l 1:00 pm PDT
Thursday, Sep 14 l 9:00 am PDT

Salesforce announced Marketing GPT earlier this year at Connections. Now, you can attend this session to understand how the latest features can help you and your team save time with AI, understand your data, and leverage it in your customer journeys.

Role: Marketing, Sales
Product: Marketing Cloud
Session Type: Theater
Session Level: Intermediate
Room Location Details: Moscone West, Level 2

Speakers

Heather Rinke
Salesforce Product Director, Sercante

Whitni Freeman
Lead Solution Engineer, Salesforce

Ruth Bolster
Product Marketing Manager, Salesforce

How Marketers Can Create Their Own Tribe at Dreamforce (And Beyond!)

Tuesday, Sep 12 l 4:30 – 5:00 pm PDT

Role: Marketing
Room Location Details: Community Networking Area

This is a session for ALL marketers! Attendees will get to share insights with their fellow marketing trailblazers, exchange war stories, and build deeper connections within the community that will lead to success.

Speaker

Marcos Duran, Marketing Operations Manager, Sercante

5 Tips for Getting Started with Data Cloud

Bookmark

Wednesday, Sep 13 l 12:30 – 12:50 pm PDT
Thursday, Sep 14 l 12:00 – 12:20 pm PDT

Role: Marketing, Sales
Product: Marketing Cloud
Session Type: Theater
Session Level: Intermediate
Room Location Details: Data Cloud Theater (Moscone West, Level 2)

Are you wondering if Data Cloud is right for you or has your team discussed implementing Data Cloud and you are searching for the best path forward? Then this session is perfect for you. Experts will discuss five realistic tips and takeaways that you and your team can use for implementing Data Cloud successfully. Covering the use cases, data ingestion, modeling, harmonization, and more, this session will help you kickstart your Data Cloud journey and advance with some best practices.

Speakers

Adam Erstelle 
VP of Technology, Sercante

Joyce Avila
Program Lead, Data Cloud, Sercante

Arvind Raman
Director, Partner Delivery Success (Data Cloud)

Dreamforce Agenda Building – Words of Wisdom from Marketing Champions 

As you are building the ultimate Dreamforce 2023 agenda, a piece of advice to keep in mind as you plan your schedule is to not overload yourself. Marketing Champions on the Road to the Home for Marketers series shared:

“Don’t overdo your schedule. Give yourself time in between sessions to absorb all the information.” – Shonica Mitchell, Global Marketing Automation & Community Manager at BrightDrop

“Don’t pack your schedule with 30 things. Pick your top sessions and leave room for the magic to happen.” – Jaime López

“Plan for the transition time in between sessions. It could take you almost 20 minutes to get from one session to the next. Also plan backups just in case.” – Pato Sapir

Therefore, make sure you have your goals set, so you know what you want to accomplish at Dreamforce this year and then prioritize the sessions you want to attend based on your goals, but still leave room for transition periods and spontaneous connections.

Sercante Dreamforce ‘23 Events (Just outside of the conference)

On Ben LaMothe’s Road to the Home for Marketers Interview he shared that he wished he would have attended more off-site events at a previous Dreamforce conference. He exclaimed, “There is so much going on outside of Dreamforce proper.” 

While the unforgettable tech conference is THE MAIN focus, the streets surrounding the Moscone Center will be filled with events, meetups, panels, roundtables, and festivities where trailblazers can enjoy more intimate spaces to network, form deeper connections, refuel, recharge, and advance their skills.

Here are just a few of the many events happening where you can find Sercante at Dreamforce ‘23:

Sercante Presents: The Home for Marketers

Where: Pink Elephant Alibi l 142 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
When: Sep 12 – 14
Register Here

In collaboration with Stensul, Print For Less, Gridmate, Appinium, Goldcast, and The Spot, Sercante hosts The Home for Marketers, where marketers meet at Dreamforce. Located just around the corner from the Moscone Center, it’s the spot to create deeper connections away from the crowd, network and meet someone new or see a familiar face and reunite with friends. The team is hosting electric events and meetups all week designed specifically for marketers and all trailblazers alike!

As Kelli Meador, Senior Manager Marketing Operations at Grammarly said in her Road to the Home for Marketers interview, “It was the in-person connections with the other marketers that really made it be The Home for Marketers. All marketers are welcome.”

The Home for Marketers also has you covered with learning opportunities and solutioning sessions. You can sign up for a time slot at the Genius Bar and receive recommendations and best practices from Sercante experts. Located in the Learning Lodge, attendees can also discover the latest in marketing technology solutions to advance their operations and achieve their goals.

In addition to the invaluable connections and great learning opportunities, the Home for Marketers will also have complimentary food and beverages to keep you fueled and a lounge where you can recharge and either rest or have some fun!

Marketer’s Welcome Bash

Where: Pink Elephant Alibi l 142 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
When: Monday Sep 11 | 6:00 – 9:00 pm PDT
Register Here

This is THE EVENT for marketers to kick off their Dreamforce experience. The ultimate Welcome Bash blowout, attendees will get to meet and be reunited with Salesforce MVPs, Marketing Champions, User Group Leaders, and hundreds of marketing trailblazers from around the world! Accompanied with your favorite beverages and delectable food stations, be sure to sign up and add this one to your calendar!

An Intergalactic Night

Where: 715 Harrison (formerly City Nights) 715 Harrison St, San Francisco, CA 94107
When: Tuesday Sep 12 | 7:00 pm – 12:00 am PDT
Register Here

The celestial soriée like no other, this cosmic celebration will take trailblazers on an exciting journey through the galaxy with stellar beats from a live band and spectacular DJ. Attendees will be dazzled by jaw dropping entertainment and sparkling decor as they indulge in out-of-this-world specialty cocktails and mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres. 

Dreamfest Pump Up Party

Where: Pink Elephant Alibi l 142 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
When: Wednesday, Sep 13 l 4:30 – 6:30 pm PDT
Register Here

There is only one concert that will have trailblazers talking for decades… it’s Dreamfest! Join the ultimate pregame event and get hyped for all the excitement. Enjoy upbeat tunes from the DJ, make a toast with your favorite beverage, and fuel up with delicious snacks. Make one more cheers and meet up with your fellow marketing trailblazers before everyone heads in to experience the tech conference entertainment of the season!

Marketer’s Afterglow Party

Where: Pink Elephant Alibi l 142 Minna Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
When: Thursday, Sep 14 l 4:00 – 6:00 pm PDT
Register Here

It’s the Dreamforce wrap up networking event designed exclusively for marketers. Get to see your fellow marketing trailblazers one last time as we prepare to say farewell to all the meaningful connections that we made. Enjoy complimentary food and drinks and raise a glass to an incredible conference and the trailblazer community until we all gather again next year.

See You At Dreamforce ‘23

The Sercante team is counting the days until Dreamforce! We cannot wait to connect with our fellow trailblazers and this amazing marketing community. 

We’ll have several members from our team there in person including Andrea Tarrell, Erin Duncan, Marcos Duran, Adam Erstelle, Joyce Avila, Adam Berry, Heather Rinke, and Jordyn Jaffer just to name a few. 
You now know our sessions, about the Home for Marketers, and where we’ll be. Come find Sercante at Dreamforce ‘23!

Original article: Find Sercante at These Dreamforce ‘23 Sessions and Events

©2025 The Spot. All Rights Reserved.

The post Find Sercante at These Dreamforce ‘23 Sessions and Events appeared first on The Spot.