Career Development Archives - Page 2 of 11

Career Development, Community, Events, Strategy
February 14, 2024

5 Ways to Adopt a Salesforce Architect Mindset Today

Brian Roff

You don’t have to be a technical person to start thinking like a Salesforce architect. In this article, I will share 5 concepts to bring a little architect-thinking magic to your everyday work.

Salesforce architect reflections from Northeast Dreamin’

In October 2023, I attended the premier Salesforce community event in the Northeast, Northeast Dreamin’. There were plenty of informative sessions about AI, non-profit success, and others. I chose to focus my time on the sessions run by Salesforce Architects.

Architect Like a Pro: Using the Five Ws from Primary School – this session was led by Roger Mitchell from Dodge Labs. He shared a compelling approach to uncovering the real needs of clients during requirements-gathering sessions. The simple rubric of who/what/where/when/why can be an inspirational way to unlock deeper understanding. Because after all…
A Salesforce Admin’s Guide to Data Modeling for Scalability and Performance – Here Brian Shea, a Fractional Salesforce Architect, shared principles for designing a data model utilizing the Salesforce Well-Architected framework. A big takeaway is the importance of sketching out your data model using Salesforce Data Model notation before you start building. This process makes our work more easily approachable and structured which makes it easier to understand for yourself and when shared with others.

But wait, just for Salesforce architects?

I was struck during these sessions, that the concepts are important to have in mind even if you are not a technical person or someone preparing to head down an architect career path. The reality is that everyone, in every position, can use the basic tenets of a Salesforce architect mindset to improve their everyday work and provide enormous value to our companies.

5 switches to activate your Salesforce architect mindset

When setting the stage for architectural thinking, it is important to zoom out and think about the big picture. Sure there are tactical details that need to be considered, but starting at a higher level will enable you to imagine beyond what is in front of you today.

An architect’s mindset is not reactive. It takes in various viewpoints and inputs that can help anticipate what your next move could or should be. No matter your role, the concepts below can help you elevate your thinking.

#1: Get curious

Think about your work in terms of the broader company and even industry trends. Think through a growth mindset lens and expand on what the questions are. With the growth mindset, the possibilities are limitless as we break away from a fixed mindset.

#2: Zoom out

Next time you are in a meeting, think about your mindset in terms of your camera. Your mind is like an aperture, when you open it you let more light in. How does this change your relationship with what is being discussed? When asked to make a change or perform a task, let more light in, zoom out, and ask broader questions to get to the heart of the why behind the ask.

#3: Get creative

Thinking like an architect is only sometimes a straight line. A heavy dose of thinking about the Art of the possible will open your mind and excite your stakeholders. Open a doc or a notebook and write out the wildest ideas you can think of. This is your chance to push the boundaries and turn some heads.

#4: Think longer term

Don’t be like Homer. Think about what the needs of your company might be in 1 year, in 3 years, in five years. What changes? What changes if you layer on a once-in-a-generation industry-shaking change? How would this inform how you build today with an eye toward a scalable and profitable future? You can go fast AND far.

#5: Analytics for the win!

Wherever possible, use data to support your thinking. This is especially important when pitching concepts to your stakeholders. If you and the teams you work with are using Salesforce, then lots of data is available to you. Moreso, if there has been an investment in more advanced analytics tools like Data Cloud and Einstein Analytics or B2BMA. With so much data at our fingertips, why not share?!

Bonus Tips!

Be nimble as the needs of your company change throughout the year. Unexpected headwinds could force a change that can be faced head-on by thinking about the work differently.
Don’t be afraid to share your work. Especially during fast-moving times, our ideas can really make a difference but we need to share them!

Whether you’re a developer, admin, or even a casual user, adopting an architect’s mindset can transform your work. So go beyond the tactical in what you do. By zooming out, getting curious, thinking longer term, and using data to guide decisions, you could lead to an architect mindset revolution in your organization.

Career Development, Community, Real Talk
January 3, 2024

The Big Salesforce Consultant Differentiators: A Recruiter’s View

Kelly Rodich

Let’s just start by stating a few facts: we live in a super-connected, yet totally disconnected world. Nobody wants to go back into the office (yes, I’m going here two sentences into this blog post, so hang on to your seats!), but everybody wants to be virtually plugged in 24/7. Nobody wants to actually drive to the store, but everybody wants the stuff they order from their phones to arrive the same day.

How in the world do we actually reach and keep up with our consumers?! It’s a funky time for marketers to market!

People to power the tech strategies

We’re forced to rely on the creme de la creme of marketing products and strategies to keep up with the ~~completely crazy~~ consumer lifestyle. At this point, you’ve been living under a rock if you aren’t aware that Salesforce marketing tools have been a top choice for companies both big and small for eons. Just last month alone, Salesforce was yet again announced as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant — both for B2B Marketing Automation and Multichannel Marketing Hubs. Thank goodness for solutions!!

So we’ve got this huge marketing opportunity, and we’ve got amazing tools from our friends over at Salesforce, but what happens next? NOTHING is more irritating than being told a product, appliance — really, anything — will solve all of our woes. And right after we sell the farm to pay for the golden solution, we realize we actually have no clue how to use it.

That’s when frustration and immediate buyer’s remorse starts to sink in. We so desperately need people to implement the technology [CORRECTLY] and teach us how to “do all the things.” We need an advocate, a guide, a mentor, a technical wiz — someone who has walked in our shoes and will tell us exactly how the solution will make our lives much easier, as it was promised, once our sales rep is long gone chasing other deals down to meet their quota. The question is: what trees do these people grow on and how do we even know what to look for?

Key differentiators in MarTech talent

Candidates are flying off the shelves. Offers are being extended left and right. Employees aren’t settling for “mediocre” in the name of loyalty as their parents and grandparents did and are now choosing to leave if they don’t feel a work environment, team, or job meets their expectations. Everyone is working fast to scoop up the top talent and retain them.

Speaking of….What exactly defines “top talent” in MarTech?

To set the record straight: I ~~hate~~ ~~despise~~ strongly dislike the phrase “top talent.” It reminds me of old school staffing industry terminology where any candidate you wanted to pitch to a client is “top talent” <insert eyeroll and puke emojis>.

But in reality, there are differentiators we look for here at Sercante when hiring that set candidates who could probably do the job apart from candidates we know our clients are going to be over the moon to work with.

What exactly are these attributes, might you ask? Well dear reader, keep on reading.

A technology lovin’ kinda person

Yes, you may have your certs, that Coursera course on coding under your belt, and know your way around the backend of the system. But do you actually think it’s cool? Do you geek out on reworking the puzzle pieces to better serve the environment in which the technology will be used? Do you tinker with other related Salesforce marketing tools just because you like to? This is what sets apart someone who does it because they have to from someone who does it because they WANT to.

I’ve told nearly every candidate I’ve hired in technology that the job will get boring very fast if you don’t actually think it’s cool and interesting. And I stand by that. You’ve gotta love the product for your excitement and knowledge to shine through to a customer. The passion for the technology in a candidate unlocks the keys to the kingdom for our clients.

The project manager hat

Every job has some flavor of project management. Even in recruiting, we have hiring deadlines to meet. Hiring managers to chase down to make sure we stay on track. A budget to be mindful of, and an approval process if we need to go outside of the budget. Standing updates to give so they know we’re actually working and are aware of the wins and challenges. The list goes on!

If you’re actually PMP certified, you’re probably rolling your eyes at this point because being a project manager means so much more than this — and, you’re right. We get it.

BUT, there is truth that even if you’re the guru for Marketing Cloud implementations, if you can’t wrangle a bunch of other people who have competing deadlines and projects and drive them together towards a collective goal — you just ain’t gunna be successful (sorry not sorry for southern grammar to hit home the emphasis). That project management mindset and experience is crucial to make sure we do what we say we are going to do, the way we say we’ll do it, and nothing slips through the cracks.

Mother Goose Instincts. I mean, a consultative approach.

Being able to check off the to-do list is great and feels like an accomplishment. We did what we were asked to do — hooray! But, there’s more to it than a list.

Knowing how to anticipate and recommend what even needs to be on the to-do list is what elevates a MarTech candidate. Leading with empathy. Anticipating what’s around the corner and planning ahead. Thinking big picture of how the project/implementation/audit/etc. impacts the rest of the business. Digging into the other pain points not mentioned in the original scope that we also may actually be able to help with in the future.

These are all beautiful phrases that sound easy and natural, but in reality, take time and courage to develop. They are the difference between a “they can get the job done” kinda hire and a “our CSAT is 5/5 because Client XYZ can’t live without our consultant” kinda hire.

Sercante + MarTech Talent = Success

The Secret Sauce

One question we often get from candidates interviewing with us is what sets us apart from the hundreds of other Salesforce partners in the ecosystem. We LOVE this question. It gives us an opportunity to show how we’ve been successful and in turn, why a lot of our customers choose us.

In short, we’re marketers at heart. We truly love what we do. A lot of us started on the client side and have walked in a version of our customers’ shoes before. We want to empathize with you and make it easy (hello Sercante core value: Simplifying Complexity). It. Just. Shouldn’t. Be. That. Hard! We weren’t founded off of trying to be the world’s best or biggest consultancy. We were founded off of trying to help marketers and salespeople be wildly successful on the Salesforce platform.

Landing this plane

If you are a partner in the Salesforce ecosystem reading this, I hope it encourages you to lift the pen-to-paper bullet points off the job description and think more about the customer and how much of an impact each hire has on customer success, happiness, and truly the long-term success of your own organization.

If you’re a Sercante client or prospective client who wants a peek behind the curtain as to how we deliver, I hope it’s reemphasized the amount of thought and quality that goes into staffing here at Sercante. If hiring in MarTech is still fuzzy, reach out — we’d love to hear from you and give the gift of knowledge that we’ve gratefully received over the years.

Career Development, Community, Events, Real Talk
November 18, 2023

Florida Dreamin’: A Conference Where Soft Skills Shine

Abbey Freund

In the beautiful sunshine and chill vibes of Clearwater Beach, FL, Salesforce community members of all kinds came together recently for Florida Dreamin’. The Dreamin’ events are community-led Salesforce conferences around the globe each with their personality. Florida Dreamin’ specifically strives to, “provide inspiration, coaching, and guidance on how to truly blaze your own trail.”

This comes from a perceived, “gap in Salesforce education when it comes to career pathing and guidance.” From my experience as a first-time attendee, this conference lives up to its vision by serving up an abundance of project management/team dynamics & soft-skill content.

Of the 44 sessions on offer, over half had a non-technical focus with topics spanning from career path advice and how to negotiate like a pro to advice on building diagrams and running demos that are informative and effective.

Some Soft-Skill Session Highlights

I attended many wonderful sessions across a variety of technical and non-technical topics, but wanted to highlight three soft-skill sessions in particular. Two of them I found especially illuminating and will be taking tips and tricks back to my consulting work and the third one is my speaking session, which I certainly hope provided impactful guidance to those in attendance.

5 Critical Change Management Steps for Successful Adoption

In this session, Paula Cervoni and Stacey Chery of Silverline emphasized the importance of dedicated and continual change management throughout the lifecycle of a project and into the training and adoption phase. Good change management helps get to the end goal of successful happy users which is what we all want! The change management steps Paula and Stacey outlined are:

Alignment – to the vision and mission of the project with engagement from Stakeholders, SMEs, Executive Team Members, and end users
Communication – a concerted strategy and communication plan to keep users informed every step of the way,
Training – curated applicable training paths for each user group/business role using real-world examples when possible to demonstrate utility,
Reinforcement – making sure that users are actively supported and know exactly who to go to when they have issues at go-live,
Measurement – getting some data behind adoption and success with both formal and informal measurement methods

With these steps, you too can change manage with the best of them and help your projects succeed, not just from a technical perspective, but from an adoption and satisfaction perspective as well.

The Surviving & Thriving Handbook for Accidental Admins

I was honored to give my first-ever Salesforce speaking session at Florida Dreamin’ and am especially happy to be able to join in on the soft-skills theme. My session highlighted my journey into accidental adminship* at a nonprofit organization and the struggles I faced trying to be successful in my day-to-day job as well as my Salesforce Admin duties.

To help bring myself from surviving to thriving, I enacted a number of actionable processes which streamlined my responsibilities, set expectations for my end users, and increased buy-in and end-user satisfaction.

Suggested steps for others facing accidental adminship included:

Establishing 2x yearly full organization Salesforce expectations and communication meetings
Offering regularly scheduled office hours to your end users
Identifying and leveraging your super users to be your champions, beta testers, and day-to-day support for other users in their departments
Setting up a Salesforce Request queue process to allow the Admin to triage, manage, and systematically work through end-user needs and issues
Bringing in a trusted partner, such as Sercante, for support

If this sounds like a topic you could use some support on please reach out to Sercante! We are here to help ease your Admin burden.

* An Accidental Admin is, “someone who had not considered a career in Salesforce until some event brought Salesforce into their work life and who juggles Salesforce admin responsibilities in addition to their regular job” – Source: Salesforce Ben

Just a Demo? Never! Always Demo Like a Pro

Jennifer Kinstle, Principal Architect at Zennify, gave a super practical guide on how to demo like a pro. She highlighted three key steps to a successful demo which ultimately can lead to increased adoption and project success.

Her recipe for a great demo is the following:

1. Know the business – Understand the specific audience you will be demoing to. Tailor your demo to the language and topics that will be most understood and valued by the demo audience.

2. Tell the story – A good demo has a beginning, middle, and end and works with an applicable business use case. Jennifer suggested always “share the why” – making it clear to your audience why the demo is important to them and their business.

3. Prepare & practice – This includes preparing your space, both physical and digital to ensure there are no unexpected interruptions… error messages or chat messages, and the like.

Jennifer also advises tailoring your demo script to what you need. If you need a full line-by-line script, do that, if you do better with bulleted talking points, then go for it. She also highlighted the importance of the run-through, do the demo exactly as you would for the demo audience in the environment where you will be doing the final demo. This is a critical step to mitigate unexpected errors or bugs so you can fix them before show time.

Following the tips in this session, I feel like I will be able to improve the utility of my demos for my clients.

Florida Dreamin’ for the Win!

Florida Dreamin’ was a wonderful conference experience and a great place to give my first ever speaking session. The manageable size of the conference, beautiful location, and focus on soft skills and the Ohana spirit make this an ideal conference for everyone from the seasoned pro to the brand new trailblazer.

Gorgeous ocean sunsets and delicious tiki drinks aside, this conference has a strong sense of community and inclusion with loads of meetups (including a nonprofit lunch meetup that I attended) and excursions. Folks were there to learn a lot, network, and have a fun time doing it, and I don’t think you can ask for much more out of a Dreamin’ event.

Be sure to check out these other posts from my fellow dragons who attended Florida Dreamin’ with me and shared details about their favorite sessions there.

The Art of Delivering Empathetic and Joyful User Experiences | Catherine Williams

How to Write like a Marketer: Intro to AMPscript for Salesforce Marketing Cloud | Kayla Border

Career Development, Community, Events
October 20, 2023

Can’t-Miss Sessions for Marketers at MarDreamin’ 2023

Pam Carey

If you’re like me, you get immediate brain paralysis with your first look at an event agenda. It happened again with MarDreamin’ 2023 (which — by the way — is RIGHT around the corner: Nov. 1-3). In hopes of sparing you from your own brain freeze, I’ve collected groups of “can’t-miss” sessions below.

(Note that these sessions are not an exhaustive list of ALL sessions you’ll find at MarDreamin’. There are many more to be found in the full agenda!)

Good to know: The online MarDreamin’ agenda includes filters to help you find your desired sessions quickly. Each session also has a “Related” section at the bottom.

Did you register? If you haven’t done this yet, register now (it’s free – what do you have to lose?!). Can’t attend live Nov. 1-3? Register anyway and catch up with on-demand sessions. You can also amp up your learning and get in on the Oct. 31 Workshop day (you can attend 3 on the day, then catch up with all the others afterward).

Marketing Leadership

Insightful sessions to help you create strategy, empower your team, and report to executives.

5 Next-Level AMPscript Tips For Hyper-Personalized Content

Get ready to unleash the power of Marketing Cloud to deliver custom 1:1 personalization. You’ll learn five ways to use AMPscript to deliver the ideal customer experience.

Boost Your Business Performance and Revenue With B2B Marketing Analytics

Explore the benefits of B2B Marketing Analytics and why businesses must incorporate it into their marketing strategy.

Building a Marketing Tech Stack for Highly Effective Marketing

This session covers best practices for marketing technology, pitfalls to avoid, and approaches for more effective problem-solving.

Can GPT Replace A Salesforce Marketer?

This session covers 9 aspects/responsibilities of marketers on the Salesforce platform (from content creation to inbound lead funneling, user adoption, and more) and details how GPT can have an impact and why there needs to be a human in the loop.

Designing An Effective Demand Gen Funnel & Reporting For Your SMB

Be prepared for the next time your CEO asks, “What’s marketing’s impact on generating sales pipeline?” Learn how to select and build the right funnel for your business, make the stages of your funnel meaningful, get buy-in across the organization to measure your team’s efforts, and more.

Explore How MOPs Gets Things Done

Hear from the panelists on how they keep up-to-date on the latest trends in Marketing Operations, how they lead cross-functional teams, and how they stay organized and work efficiently to be able to go home on time to their families.

Going Beyond SLAs: How To Build A Stronger Strategic Team

This session includes ways that marketing operations, revenue operations, and marketing teams can work together to build lasting partnerships and get more done.

Say Goodbye to Leads & Hello to Account-Based Strategy

Shifting from a lead-based sales and marketing approach to an account-based strategy is crucial for success in today’s business climate. This session aims to guide strategic leaders through the process of making this transition effective.

The Art Of Listening: Crafting Impactful Customer Journeys In Marketing Cloud

We all know about the magic of Journey Builder in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. There are plenty of resources out there that prepare you for the technical configuration of your flow. But what needs to happen BEFORE you open your instance? How do you shape the design of the solution?

Winning The Quest For Marketing Attribution

How can you accurately attribute revenue generated by a marketing campaign to see the most effective channels your customers take to arrive at a purchase? This session will help you figure that out so you can finally reach the pinnacle of marketing attribution.

Why Generative AI Is The Calculator For Content Marketers

Learn how content marketers can tap AI tools to do everything faster and better than ever before. You’ll leave with ways to implement these tools today. Then you can empower content teams and multi-hat-wearing marketers to do more with less. You’ll also get strategies to avoid potential risks the tools can bring as you ride into the future.

Marketing Ops

Tools, tips, tricks, and know-how for those of you in the trenches!

5 Essential Data Configurations For Marketing Cloud Engagement

Explore 5 data configurations you can implement in your Marketing Cloud Engagement account today to enrich your marketing strategy and streamline your marketing operations.

Building Dynamic Personalization At Scale By Leveraging First-Party Data

This session highlights the significance of leveraging a strong first-party data foundation to build personalization at scale. Hear useful tips on what you can be doing today to ensure you are making good use of your first-party data.

Creating A Roadmap For Your Salesforce Journey In MOPs

Gain guidance, knowledge, and strategies to navigate, and excel in the dynamic field of marketing operations.

Data Privacy Future: Upgrading Your Account Engagement Reporting Strategy

If your email strategy’s success is based on clicks, opens, and assumed opt-ins, then you may be in for a rude awakening with the data privacy landscape of the future. Learn how to start preparing now!

5 Strategies For A Cleaner Account Engagement Database In Preparation For AI

This session includes 5 strategies for creating and maintaining a clean database in Account Engagement to help marketers prepare for the future use of AI.

Engaging Customers Throughout Their Lifecycle with Engagement Studio

Learn how an enterprise software company builds and optimizes customer lifecycle journeys using Engagement Studio in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

Going Global: One Account Engagement Form, Multiple Languages

Explore a new, more efficient method to create multiple-language Account Engagement forms with improved reporting and a streamlined translation process.

How To Create Amazing Emails Without All The Back-And-Forth

For 80 percent of companies, it takes two or more weeks to get just one marketing email out the door. Hear how to cut creation time by up to 90 percent while boosting email performance.

Streamline Your Campaign Architecture & Attribution With These Best Practices

Learn how to leverage campaigns for ROI and attribution, gain best practices for setting up campaign hierarchies, and hear about AI-driven analysis with Einstein Attribution.

Unifying Your Marketing Funnel With Campaign Members

With a unified marketing funnel, you can track individuals and accounts from start to finish and better understand how your marketing efforts are performing. Learn about the advantages of a unified marketing funnel and see how to build it.

Salesforce Admin

We’ve got sessions for you, the wizard behind the curtain that keeps the Salesforce org running smoothly.

Data Cloud: 5 Tips For Getting Started

Accelerate time to value with 5 realistic tips and takeaways for a successful Data Cloud implementation.

Demystifying AI + Data + CRM: Where To Start

Take a look at core concepts and foundational functionality and hear tips to start assessing where you are in the AI + Data + CRM journey.

Developing A Complete Digital Customer Experience Within Salesforce

Listen to this journey in building a truly digital customer experience by using Experience Cloud involving migrating and creating several websites, automation, emails, and analytics by leveraging this tool.

Exploring Data Cloud For Marketing: Architecture And Orchestration

Explore the Salesforce Customer 360 landscape through the lens of Data Cloud for marketing and learn how to approach a multi-cloud implementation in a thoughtful and well-constructed manner to scale the overall technology stack.

Exploring What’s Possible With Analytics

What happens when this data becomes a barrier versus a catalyst for change? Hear how this panel has improved operations, processes, and reports to ultimately leverage Salesforce as their North Star.

One Marketing Cloud Key To Rule Them All

Explore the various types of keys in Marketing Cloud and learn how to use one key to rule them all. Walk through the right processes (and not-so-good practices) that keep our data clean and our marketing consistent.

Personalize Multi-Touch Attribution Dashboards With Ease

This session is great for everyone who is not familiar with CRM Analytics and uses only the default dashboards offered by Salesforce. Learn how to personalize the dashboard to get the metrics you need by diving into the data flow, modifying the initial data, and adding filters, tables, and charts.

Everyone

Looking for more well-rounded topics? These are for you:

7 Easy Tips For Effective Email Campaigns

Take a high-level look at what goes into building emails and walk away with practical tips to incorporate into your marketing strategy today.

Better Together: AI-Powered Marketing Solutions

A deep dive into the world of AI-powered marketing campaigns to discover the secrets to driving some pretty cool results.

Explore How Slack Is Changing The Way Marketers Work

Take a look at how innovative tools such as Marketing Cloud Intelligence Insights, Digital Command Center, Account Engagement, and Slack GPT can supercharge Slack and your marketing efforts to deliver more personalized experiences.

How Salesforce Marketing Cloud Works With Consent Management Framework

Learn how to incorporate the consent management objects from Salesforce CRM into Salesforce Marketing Cloud and see how consent status is synchronized and stored in different clouds.

Marketing in the Age of Generative AI

This presentation and fireside chat with Salesforce product leaders explores how innovations in AI help marketers better understand and activate data to create personalized customer experiences. Hear tactics to prepare organizations to use AI – from getting your data house in order, to thinking about AI and trust.

Marketing Cloud Product Roadmap

Learn about key upcoming features in Marketing Cloud and how they can help you optimize your marketing.

Unleashing the Power of 1:1 Personalization: A $4.5M Case Study

Explore the transformative power of omnichannel personalized marketing strategies. This session showcases a real-life case study of how one team dramatically increased its revenue by $4.5 million over a 10-week pilot.

Register for Mardreamin Today

The bottom line is: No matter where you are in the martech world, you need to attend MarDreamin’ 2023! Register today.

Career Development, Community, Community Spotlight, To export
September 28, 2023

Winner Spotlight: Sercante Dreamforce 2023 Ticket Giveaway

Ambre Juryea-Amole

Going to Dreamforce can completely change the course of someone’s career. Whether it’s while soaking in the session content and learning how to take on bigger responsibilities at work. Or through the parties where they meet new people and then stay in touch on Slack and LinkedIn. Or by leading sessions and getting a confidence boost that makes them reach for bigger goals.

That was the whole idea behind the 2023 Dreamforce ticket giveaway contest. We wanted to give that opportunity to one lucky person. And that’s exactly what we did.

After receiving an overwhelming response from the Salesforce community that included entries from people living in 19 countries, we were pleased to announce the winner of the contest.

Our 2023 Dreamforce ticket giveaway contest winner was Amanda Martini, digital marketing manager at ISSA.

Amanda got the full works for Dreamforce. She traveled from her home state of New York to San Francisco for the conference. Sercante covered the cost of her airfare as well as her hotel stay and coveted Dreamforce conference pass. She was also the official queen of The Home for Marketers at Dreamforce, which is where the Sercante team hosted events all week.

Trip Reflection from Dreamforce Ticket Giveaway Winner, Amanda Martini

We asked Amanda to tell us about her trip in her own words. Here’s what she had to say about the whole thing.

Dreamforce Ticket Giveaway Winner Amanda Martini with Sercante Founder & CEO Andrea Tarrell

“Winning the Dreamforce ticket giveaway was an absolute honor. Working for a smaller organization, it can be difficult to budget for larger conferences, as pricing can often be an issue. Winning the ticket, and therefore being able to experience Dreamforce in person, has given me so much.

Our organization is what I would call ‘Salesforce lite’ for the moment, but being surrounded by so many people who live and breathe the ecosystem really rejuvenated me; not only for my role but for where our organization can go when we are fully on the system.”

Amanda’s Dreamforce Takeaways

“One of my big takeaways, that I am sharing with everyone in our organization, is simply to jump right into the ecosystem and immerse yourself.

There are so many resources and so many like minded people who are more than willing to share their knowledge, to troubleshoot, to just chat about anything Salesforce related. Becoming a part of that community, while not a requirement for using a piece of technology, does seem like it benefits the user and the company a great deal.

I think seeing that firsthand was one of the more surprising things that I experienced. When you’re on the periphery, you SEE the interaction and you know the big names, but being surrounded by it was really something else. It makes you want to get more involved.”

Finding your people is a great feeling

“For a while now, I’ve felt like I am on an island as I am the person most involved in the Salesforce ecosystem due to my daily use of Pardot, with the rest of the organization still to get onto our Salesforce instance.

Attending Dreamforce allowed me to see that you’re only as alone as you allow yourself to be. The community is vast, and really quite welcoming. Even just one week removed from the event, I have RSVP’d for two Trailblazer community group sessions to keep my learning and understanding going. They’re virtual, but that doesn’t matter! It’s just as valuable to listen to other folks ask their questions (until you’re ready to ask your own!).”

Attending Dreamforce allowed me to see that you’re only as alone as you allow yourself to be.

All questions are good questions

“I also got a really good piece of advice: I tend to be a self-deprecating person, always prefacing a question by acknowledging it might be stupid. But I was told to stop that!

As the admin/leader for my system in my organization, I have to be confident with what I present. If I don’t seem to trust myself, my stakeholders are not necessarily going to trust or listen to what I am suggesting. And in the end, I’m the one that really knows what’s best for my system. I need to own my place in this space and project confidence (even if there’s still that little voice inside that says you’re gonna sound stupid). Fake it ‘til you make it really does work most of the time.”

Go see Salesforce releases in action

“Honestly, all of the sessions I managed to attend were so informative. And while I pay attention to release notes and the releases, I felt like having that information right at my fingertips, so to speak, really hit home the ways Salesforce is heading into the future and the ways in which my organization can utilize that future.

Seeing demos of the new releases at work was so helpful and it got me immediately thinking about ways that our marketing managers (MMs) will be able to have their hands in the systems more, and how to help us work smarter.

As a department that “reports to” many stakeholders as well as our members, it’s important that our MMs have the tools to help them work more efficiently. Being able to check in with technologies that we don’t use but I’ve wondered about was an incredible opportunity as well. From the conversations I had at Dreamforce, I now have a better understanding of how to help our organization increase efficiency.

I learned I have a lot of work to do going into 2024 to get our Pardot instance cleaned up and ready for the new year and when we’re truly connected with our Salesforce org in production. But I am looking forward to that challenge because I’ve felt there was work to do, Dreamforce just reinforced what needs to be done. It’s all for the good of the organization.

Dreamforce also has had me looking at our marketing and tech stack and asking the hard questions: Are we using the correct technology? Are we using it correctly or to the best of its ability? Stay tuned!”

Final thoughts about the Dreamforce ticket giveaway

“As for the coolest thing that happened to me… there were so many, but I have to say that learning last minute about the first-ever Dreamforce Comedy Hour was a dream come true.

Seth Meyers is MY FAVORITE and to have the opportunity to see him perform in person… pretty much took the cake. Of course, the entire event was at the top of the list of the coolest things that has EVER happened to me, but Seth takes a close second place.”

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the Sercante 2023 Dreamforce Ticket Giveaway Contest and to Amanda for sharing her thoughts about the experience. Stay tuned next year to see what we have in store for Dreamforce 2024.

Career Development, Community, Events
August 29, 2023

Dreamforce 2023: The Ultimate Marketer Guidebook

Kelly Ryan

Guess what time it is! Dreamforce season! As the weather begins to cool (please no more heatwave!) and the kids go back to school, we begin our journeys to San Francisco, CA September 12-14 to learn, network, eat, and play. And we are back with our go-to marketer guidebook to Dreamforce 2023! As always, we have been promised this will be even bigger and better than Dreamforce 2022, focusing on how AI + Data + CRM is “powering the future.”

If this is your first time attending Dreamforce or you are a seasoned Trailblazer, Dreamforce 2023 is going to be packed full of 1500+ amazing sessions and countless community events and we don’t want you to miss a thing.

Consider this your ultimate marketer guidebook to Dreamforce 2023!

Not going to be able to attend in person this year? No worries! Dreamforce is streaming on Salesforce+ with “live sessions and keynotes, on-demand episodes, exclusive digital content, and much more.” Remember to register for free here.

Dreamforce 2023 has everything – from small breakout sessions to inspirational keynotes from world leaders and celebrities. Just check out the number of different roles, industries, and topics Trail Maps Salesforce provides! Here is the Marketers Trail Map to keep you focused.

Hoping to just hang out with your favorite marketing consulting agency? Well, make sure to look for the Sercante team at these Dreamforce ‘23 sessions and events.

Here are our top marketing-focused sessions, meetups, parties, and events to consider both virtually and in-person as you build your dream Dreamforce schedule.

Let’s get planning for Dreamforce 2023!

Day 1: Tuesday, September 12th

Dreamforce Main Keynote

Join Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff along with special guests for our newest innovations at the Dreamforce main keynote.

Sanjna Parulekar, VP, Product Marketing, Salesforce
Clara Shih, CEO, Salesforce AI, Salesforce

TUESDAY, SEP 12 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PDT | MOSCONE NORTH, HALL F
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Marketing Cloud Release Highlights

Salesforce announced Marketing GPT earlier this year at Connections. 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.

Heather Rinke, Salesforce Product Director, Sercante
Whitni Freeman, Lead Solution Engineer, Salesforce
Ruth Bolster, Product Marketing Manager, Salesforce

TUESDAY, SEP 12 | 1:00 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Data Cloud + Einstein: Plan Your Marketing Data Strategy

The promise of CDP and AI-driven marketing is enticing—personalization at scale. Bad data gets in the way of this outcome. Learn to overcome this obstacle with a marketing data strategy.

Timo Kovala, Managing Delivery Architect, Capgemini

TUESDAY, SEP 12 | 3:00 PM – 3:20 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Enhance Marketing Automation with Account Engagement and AI

Dive deep into how artificial intelligence can boost marketing automation capabilities, optimize campaigns, and create more meaningful relationships with customers in the digital cloud landscape.

Stephen Stouffer, VP, Digital Transformation & Innovation, SaaScend

TUESDAY, SEP 12 | 4:00 PM – 4:20 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, L1
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5 Ways Busy B2B Marketers Can Do More with Less

Explore how marketing automation can save you time — from using AI to building reusable assets. These best practices will allow all teams, both large and lean, to work more efficiently.

Natalie Mathes, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Salesforce

TUESDAY, SEP 12 | 4:00 PM – 4:20 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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How Marketers Can Create Their Own Tribe at Dreamforce (And Beyond!)

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!

Marcos Duran, Marketing Manager, Sercante

TUESDAY, SEP 12 | 4:30 PM PDT | COMMUNITY NETWORKING AREA
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Day 2: Wednesday, September 13th

Marketing Cloud Release Highlights

THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 9:00 AM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2

The (Email) Future is Now: Prepare for 2024 with Data Cloud

What awaits email marketers in 2024? Discover how Data Cloud harnesses the power of streamlined workflows, enhances CX, and provides actionable insights to wow your customers and meet business goals.

Yeva Roberts, VP of Strategic Alliances, North America, AllCloud
Chris Zullo, Practice Director, Marketing, AllCloud

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 9:00 AM – 9:20 AM PDT | MOSCONE SOUTH, CAMPGROUND
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What’s the “Big Idea”? Key Trends in Marketing

Losing sight of the big picture amid the daily marketing grind? Learn how hot trends like AI can impact your business, and which other trends may stay or fade.

Martin Kihn, SVP, Market Strategy, Marketing Cloud, Salesforce
Erika McGrath, VP Salesforce Data Cloud & MarTech, Astound Commerce

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 9:00 AM – 9:40 AM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Data Cloud + Einstein: Plan Your Marketing Data Strategy

The promise of CDP and AI-driven marketing is enticing—personalization at scale. Bad data gets in the way of this outcome. Learn to overcome this obstacle with a marketing data strategy.

Timo Kovala, Managing Delivery Architect, Capgemini

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 11:00 AM – 11:20 AM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Scale Your Marketing Insights with Automation and AI

Data is growing rapidly and marketers need a way to keep up. Learn how Marketing Cloud Intelligence helps teams automate their data practice to speed time to insight.

Jaime Romero, Vice President Corporate Marketing, Fortinet
Dillon Baker, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Salesforce

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 12:00 PM – 12:40 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Personalize Mobile Experiences with Einstein

Help your users supercharge Salesforce on mobile with the help of Einstein. Learn how admins can configure Prompt Studio and Dynamic Forms to deliver a next-gen experience for mobile users.

Keith Samuel Jr., Associate Product Marketing Manager, Salesforce
Andrew Mangano, Director, Product Management, Salesforce

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 12:00 PM – 12:40 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 3
THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 1:30 PM – 2:10 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 3
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Learn Essential Habits for Salesforce Admins

Build good habits around the four core responsibilities needed for admin success and learn about growing your skills with the Salesforce Admin Skills Kit.

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 12:30 PM – 12:50 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, TRAILBLAZER FOREST
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Marketing Keynote: Marketing in Generation AI

Generative AI is disrupting marketing everywhere. To drive growth, marketers must innovate across the campaign lifecycle. Learn how Trailblazers are transforming their business with AI + Data + CRM.

Kelly Eliyahu, Product Marketing Senior Director, Salesforce
Ruth Hartmann, SVP, Product Management, Salesforce
Prasanna Vijayakumar, VP, Product Management, Marketing Cloud, Salesforce
Steve Hammond, EVP & GM, Marketing Cloud, Salesforce

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 12:45 PM – 1:35 PM PDT | MOSCONE NORTH, HALL F
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AI-Powered Strategies for Next-Level Marketing Operations

Learn how to leverage generative AI to revolutionize customer segmentation, personalize messaging, and optimize your campaigns. Experience how AI can propel your marketing ops into the future.

Adele Kurki, MarTech Lead, Aiven
Jamie López, Sr. Director, Marketing Operations, Aiven

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 2:30 PM – 2:50 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Data Done Right: Admin Playbook for Ensuring Data Quality

Unlock the true value of your data with innovative strategies. Learn how to improve data with flows, lightning components, duplicate management rules, exception reports, and dashboards.

Monica Sandberg, Architect/Admin, EKIA/ PCFoy

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13, THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 2:30 PM – 2:50 PM PDT | MWEST, TRAILBLAZER FOREST
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AI-Driven Campaign Analysis with Einstein Attribution

Explore measuring campaign impact in Sales Cloud effectively. Gain insight on measuring Campaign ROI and attribution in Salesforce, incorporating AI analysis via Einstein Attribution.

Tasha Rucker, Founder, Principal Consultant, ReadyCRM
Brandon Walton, Founder & Principal Consultant, Cypress Learning Solutions

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 3:30 PM – 3:50 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Day 3: Thursday, September 14th

Marketing Cloud Release Highlights

Heather Rinke, Salesforce Product Director, Sercante
Whitni Freeman, Lead Solution Engineer, Salesforce
Ruth Bolster, Product Marketing Manager, Salesforce

Thursday, Sep 14 | 9:00 AM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Supercharge Your B2B Marketing with AI and Data

AI and data are fundamental to helping B2B marketers make smart decisions and do more with less. Learn how you can use Account Engagement and AI to align teams and supercharge your B2B strategy.

Victoria Calkins, Product Marketing Manager, Salesforce
Kelli Meador, Senior Manager, Marketing Operations, Grammarly
Danielle Grau, Director, Product Management, Salesforce

THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 9:30 AM – 10:10 AM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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How AI Turns Your Website into a Pipeline Generation Machine

Join this session to learn how AI can power the corporate website, deliver a completely bespoke visitor experience, and generate more pipeline.

Sarah McConnell, VP, Demand Generation, Qualified
Joanne Lee, Solutions Engineering Team Lead, Qualified
Tooba Durraze, Vice President, Product (AI and Data), Qualified

THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 10:00 AM – 10:20 AM PDT | MOSCONE SOUTH, LODGE VILLAGE
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Elevate Your B2B Marketing with These Key Features

Your B2B customers’ needs are evolving, and we’re innovating to empower marketers to keep pace. Discover key features in Account Engagement that’ll maximize your B2B marketing.

Becka Miller, Senior Consultant, Rosetree Solutions
Blake Miller, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Salesforce
Shonica Mitchell, Global Marketing Automation Manager & Community Manager, BrightDrop (GM)
Stephen Stouffer, VP, Digital Transformation & Innovation, SaaScend
Nathan Maphet, VP, Product Management, Salesforce

THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 11:30 AM – 12:10 PM PDT | MOSCONE WEST, LEVEL 2
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Measure Impact with Engagement and Google Analytics 4

Make the most of your data for your journeys with Google. In this session, we will dive into how you can utilize this partnership for more effective marketing.

Sara Fefferman, Marketing Cloud PMM, Salesforce
Kyle Robbins, Senior Product Manager, Salesforce

THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 12:00 PM – 12:20 PM PDT | MOSCONE SOUTH, CAMPGROUND
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Develop, Measure, and Optimize Your ABM Programs

80% of marketing teams lead customer experience initiatives across the business. Join us for a hands-on workshop to sharpen your ABM strategy, learn best practices, and gain insights from your peers.

Jared Roy, Senior Managing Director, Salesforce
Daniel Newman, Executive Strategist, Media & Communications, Salesforce
Jeffrey Stollenwerk, Principal Solution Engineer, Salesforce

THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDT, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PDT | SOUTH, LODGE VILLAGE
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Our Favorite Dreamforce Meetups, Events, Parties, & Places

The Home For Marketers

This is where marketers meet at Dreamforce! The Home For Marketers (HFM) @ The Pink Elephant Alibi is where marketers on the Salesforce platform can go to find their people. It’s the perfect spot to take a break, network, and get resources to level up your marketing operations.

MONDAY, SEP 11 – THURSDAY, SEP 14 | THE PINK ELEPHANT ALIBI
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The Lodge for Marketing Trailblazers

The Marketing Lodge is a home away from home for marketers at Dreamforce, with networking, meals, and more.
Learn more

Connect and Learn in the Admin Meadow

Theater sessions, four demos, a quiz-based activation and 1:1 Consultations: all for admins, by admins!
Learn more

Marketers Welcome Bash

Come find a friend (or two) to experience everything that Dreamforce has to offer. We will have plenty of food, drinks, and goodies to give away throughout the night.

MONDAY, SEP 11 | 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM PDT | THE PINK ELEPHANT ALIBI
Register here

Dreamforce Party: An Intergalactic Night

Get ready for an out-of-this-world party! From delicious appetizers to signature drinks, you’ll find all your friends at this incredible party.

TUESDAY, SEP 12 | 7:00 PM – 12:00 AM PDT | CITY NIGHTS CLUB
Register here

Dreamfest Pump Up Party

Ignite your festivities with upbeat tunes from a live DJ and your favorite cocktail to get amped up before the concert trailblazers will talk about for decades!

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM PDT | THE PINK ELEPHANT ALIBI
Register here

Dreamfest

The biggest Dreamforce party is back! Dreamfest 2023 is once again supporting UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Foundation and this year’s main live act is Foo Fighters.

WEDNESDAY, SEP 13 | 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM PDT | CHASE CENTER, WARRIORS WAY
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OpsStars 2023

Join 2500+ sales, marketing, and CX operations professionals and explore how to reduce friction in every aspect of your go-to-market strategy to fuel business growth, gain a competitive edge, and get deals done faster.
Learn more

B2B Marketer’s Lounge

Step away from the madness at Moscone and refuel at our B2B Marketer’s Lounge featuring live content and delicious snacks throughout the day.
Learn more

Pipeline Summit at Dreamforce

Join us for an evening of networking, thought leadership, and fun with leaders from some of the biggest names in B2B.
Learn more

Marketing Career Growth Meetup

Moving to the next level in your marketing career is so much easier when you have people in your corner. So, get into the Marketing Career Growth Meetup and form the connections to make that happen. This is also your opportunity to connect with marketers like you who are plugged into the Salesforce platform. You’ll expand your network, see things from another perspective, and share laughs over drinks.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 | 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PDT | THE PINK ELEPHANT ALIBI
Register here

Marketer’s Afterglow Party

Join us for a quick drink before heading out at our wrap-up happy hour on the last day of Dreamforce. Come say goodbye to all your newfound friends

THURSDAY, SEP 14 | 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM PDT | THE PINK ELEPHANT ALIBI
Register here

Dreamforce Virtual Event

Marketer’s (Virtual) Networking Event

Not heading to Dreamforce this year? We’ve got you covered.

Join us on September 14th from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET for the Marketer’s (Virtual) Networking Event to exchange ideas and share takeaways from buzzing topics, keynote sessions, and network with your fellow trailblazers from across the globe.

We discuss the magic of AI + Data + CRM as a group and then engaging in breakout sessions to dive even deeper.

Salesforce+ will be streaming select Dreamforce sessions and main keynotes. Don’t forget to tune in and bring your insights to the virtual networking event.
Register here

Let’s Be Friends Forever!

Pardashians

Join all the cool new Slack groups you learned about including our favorite, The Pardashians.
Apply To Join

MarDreamin’

Register for MarDreamin’ for free – a 3-day virtual conference focused on all things marketing on the Salesforce platform.
Sign Up For Mardreamin’

See You Soon!

Remember, this is just your ultimate marketer guidebook to Dreamforce 2023. Definitely leave wiggle room for changes in the schedule, crazy weather, extra snack and nap breaks, and great networking.

Feeling more of a party vibe this year? Check our SalesforceBen’s Ultimate Dreamforce Parties & Events 2023.

Want a quick refresher on last year’s marketing moment and events? Check these out:

And remember, you are not alone. This is an inclusive community of like-minded individuals who will be just as lost as you, even if they are seasoned Dreamforce professionals. Stop by and say hi!