ASAE MM&C is right around the corner and we're very excited!  We're looking forward to joining you for this great event and we hope we'll see you there.  We at HighRoad have so much to talk about this year but here are just a few of them:

Recently Marketing Sherpa held their 2017 Sherpa Summit.  Marketing Sherpa Summits talk a great deal about customer-first or customer-centric marketing.  Customer-centric marketing is an approach that focuses on providing a positive customer experience throughout the buyer's journey.  This approach enhances the buyer's experience, promotes sales, and grows customer loyalty by promoting a positive customer-first environment.  Email marketing is a prime area where you can put the needs and concerns of the buyer first.  So at this year's summit, customer-centric email marketing was a big topic.

Onboarding is an important aspect of any successful business model, ensuring that employees and clients alike are familiarized and integrated with the business’s products and services. Ensuring that an onboarding plan is successful is not always an easy feat, and establishing one can be even trickier. Thanks to our friends at HubSpot, below are three of the most important steps to follow when creating a successful onboarding plan for the first 90 days and into the foreseeable future.

So, firstly, what is content marketing? Essentially, the basic definition is any marketing centered on the creation, publication, and distribution of online content for your ideal customer and targeted audience. This can include blogs, videos, photos, social media posts that your target will find valuable, informative, instructional, or entertaining. However, unlike other marketing, it is not explicit self-promotion. While the ultimate purpose is promoting your brand, or creating an interest in your product or service, this is accomplished by providing for the informational and entertainment needs of existing and prospective customers. 

Marketing automation platforms are primarily marketed to marketers.  There are, however, many benefits for your sales team as well. The infographic below highlights how marketing automation is beneficial to both sales and marketing and, in fact, helps align the two departments with common goals.

Long before the age of digital communications, associations were where like-minded individuals gathered together to share common interests.  Joining an association gave people the opportunity to engage with others in an exchange of information and the ability to become more knowledgeable about their shared subject matter.  Today information and the attainment of knowledge on any subject is easily available via the internet. It is therefore imperative that associations utilize the latest digital marketing strategies in order to retain current members and attract new ones.