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Community, Events, Industry News, Strategy
September 26, 2023

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

Christina Anderson

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

education panel at Dreamforce Home for Marketers

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.

Getting Started, Industry News, Setup & Admin
September 20, 2023

Salesforce Starter: The Perfect Solution for Small Businesses

Jason Ventura

Are you a small business owner who is interested in using Salesforce for your business all the way up until you saw the pricing? If so, Salesforce Starter was created just for you!

I know what you’re thinking: Salesforce is a big, expensive CRM platform. But Salesforce Starter is different. It’s a low-cost, lightweight version of Salesforce that’s designed specifically for small businesses. Coming in at $25 USD per month/per user, it’s a downright smoking deal to be honest.

There’s even a 30-day free trial to test it out and see if it’s right for you and your team!

Salesforce Starter Capabilities

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the stuff you can do with Salesforce Starter RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!

Track your leads and customers
Manage your sales pipeline
Automate your marketing campaigns
Manage customer cases
Write knowledge articles for your support reps

Ease of Use is key to Salesforce Starter

What do I mean by that? I mean, it literally guides you through accessing objects (types of records) based on a picklist (dropdown) menu right after you log in (via your homepage)!

Also featured on the home page are premade dashboard components that display your leads, contacts, opportunities, tasks, and any recommended actions! You can also see any recent records.

If your team’s focus is centered around Sales (Revenue), Marketing (Hello, Sercante) or Service (Support), choose those in the Quick Look picklist and your options change.

Salesforce Starter for Sales

First up is Sales, the lifeblood of your business. If Sales is your focus, then Salesforce is built for you! Choosing Sales as your focus brings up Contacts (people), Leads (prospects), Opportunities (deals), To Do list (Tasks) along with Tutorials and Setup.

Salesforce Starter for Marketing

Selecting Marketing as your focus gives you the option to import your Contacts (people), create Campaigns (think email or direct mail campaigns), and has links directly to tutorials and setup.

Salesforce Starter for Service

Choosing Service opens up access to Cases (customer support requests), Connecting Support Channels (think email or web forms), Knowledge (think help articles), Reports (probably the most important part of Salesforce!), along with links to tutorials and setup.

Clicking on any of these will take you directly to a list of records of that type (List View) that you have in your organization, and allow you to view, edit, or delete them as you desire.

Connect Salesforce Starter to email accounts for Einstein Activity Insights

Salesforce Starter even prompts you to connect your Microsoft or Google email accounts so you can sync your calendars and get Einstein Activity Insights (AI recommendations) on your incoming emails.

The data science and machine learning from Einstein is built to analyze external new sources and your account data to help build a data model that provides relevant updates to help you win more deals. Sounds like a win-win!

Go for all three

One last thought here, you aren’t limited to one or the other, you have access to Sales, Service, AND Marketing!

OK Jason, that’s great. But what if we grow out of Salesforce Starter?

Salesforce Starter is built on the same foundation as Salesforce Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited. So as your CRM needs grow, Salesforce can grow with you. All you have to do is contact your Account Executive (AE) to upgrade your edition and I’m pretty sure they just hit a magic button* and BOOM you’ve upgraded!

(*This is unverified, but I imagine that they have a big red upgrade button they smack when a client wants to upgrade followed by a confetti explosion and 30-second dance party.)

Alright, I’m kind of convinced. Where do I start?

Well any good SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) has a trial and that’s where you begin with the Salesforce Starter package.

Sign up for 30-day Salesforce Starter trial

Click this link and you’ll head over to the Salesforce Starter site, where you can sign up for your own 30-day trial, check out a demo, or read some customer stories.

Then, what’s next?

If you want to know more about how it works, I would recommend taking a look at the Salesforce Starter Quick Look Module on Trailhead.

If you’re not familiar with Trailhead, it’s where all of us Salesforce nerds go to learn about our favorite CRM in a fun, gameified way! It’s free to sign up, and use and can lead to some awesome new skills.

Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments below.

Events, Pro Tips, Strategy
September 20, 2023

5 Event Marketing Best Practices To Implement For Your Next Campaign

Christina Anderson

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!

Community, Events, Real Talk
September 13, 2023

Navigating the Tumultuous Waters of AI, Ethics, and Accessibility

Sarah Smith

Hot take: I’m not ready to hop on the AI hype train just yet.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand how the possibilities of AI are there, even if much of it hasn’t been quite realized yet. AI has the potential to make our lives easier. AI will definitely increase productivity. Even if the mention of ChatGPT makes you want to roll your eyes so hard they fall out of your head and you won’t have to be subjected to another useless AI-generated “news article” littering Google’s page one search results, the technology is accelerating at an exponential rate and there’s no turning back now.

It’s just that for me, the very real harms—such as exacerbating racial discrimination in policing and surveillance and scraping struggling artists’ works without consent, to name only a few — still far outweigh AI’s currently novel but ultimately still tepid applications.

Reflecting on Three Sessions from Three 2023 Salesforce Dreamin’ Conferences

A rising tide will carry all boats, but what if you don’t have a boat to begin with? What if you are already struggling to keep your head above water, and the deluge comes?

And yet, after recently wrapping up a hat trick of conferences (Midwest Dreamin’, WITness Success, and Mile High Dreamin’) where the topic of this year’s sessions and keynotes were inevitably dominated by some permutation of AI (an in particular, GenAI), three sessions that I attended have managed to, if not entirely change, then at least somewhat soften my bearish stance on the whole thing.

At the very least, they’ve given me a lot of food for thought around AI and accessibility: who gets to have it, who doesn’t, and what that ultimately means.

“Generative AI and Ethics: Safeguarding Privacy and Nurturing Trust in the Salesforce Ecosystem”

Robert Wieland, Mile High Dreamin’ 2023

At this year’s Mile High Dreamin’, Robert Wieland, an AI Ethicist and Senior Salesforce Engineer at Verisk Analytics, led his audience through a brief but fascinating history of AI development, which actually started as early as 1966 with the creation of ELIZA, the world’s earliest AI chatbot. His tour through AI history’s highlights and lowlights centered less on the latest groundbreaking developments and more so on the philosophies, ethical concerns, and questions that have arisen as a result, which made for a refreshing change from the usual shock and awe sales pitches I usually hear when it comes to the wonders of AI.

AI’s ethics framework can trace its roots to the 1979 Belmont Report, which laid the ethical foundation for human subjects research in medicine and the social sciences:

Human Autonomy, or the respect for people’s decisions and not injecting bias or manipulation into the decision-making process
Beneficence, or how to minimize harm while maximizing human well-being and benefits
Justice, or how to ensure equitable access and the equal and greatest distribution of benefits

“In the realm of AI, ethics involves the thoughtful consideration of the potential impacts of AI technologies on individuals, society, and the environment,” Wieland said. “It prompts us to assess how these technologies align with our shared values and to ensure their responsible development and deployment.”

When it comes to predictive AI and language models, the ethical and social risks are not insubstantial, Wieland went on to explain, something we’ve unfortunately already begun to see play out in an alarming number of ways: from producing discrimination, exclusion, and toxicity to being used for misinformation by malicious actors to the incidental environmental harm as a byproduct of the sheer amount of processing power needed to run these increasingly complex processes to the unintentional harm caused by humans overly trusting a language model or treating it as human-like.

While he’s not looking at the AI world through rose-colored glasses, ultimately Wieland ended his presentation on a more optimistic note. There are, after all, a number of very smart people trying to steer this ship for whom these ethical considerations are always top of mind, including Paula Goldman, Salesforce’s Chief Ethical and Human Use Officer, and Kathy Baxter, Principal Architect of Ethical AI Practice. Together, they put out five guidelines for responsible generative AI development to act as Salesforce’s North Star.

While it’s reassuring to know that Salesforce wants to responsibly balance innovation with ethics, I’m more skeptical than Wieland on this front: I can only place so much trust in a corporate or governmental entity’s ability to be self-accountable to their self-proclaimed principles, something for which even Salesforce is not without controversy. Wieland himself noted, “Even if you’re following the law, you can do things where people get queasy,” in reference to the 2012 controversy where Target used customer data to predict when someone was pregnant based on their shopping behavior and market to them accordingly. As we’ve seen many U.S. states begin to roll back LGBTQ+ protections and legal access to abortion, just because something is law does not necessarily mean it is ethical or just. How will the power of AI be wielded in those instances?

“Tech for Good: AI’s Role in Uplifting Marginalized and Underserved Communities”

Jaye Cherenfant, WITness Success 2023

Jaye Cherenfant is a Salesforce Administrator, tech enthusiast, and AI strategist who spent over a decade empowering Black students in the U.S. and South Africa before founding her own sustainable gardening business and then later launching Vista Tech Solutions, LLC, a tech consulting company.

As a Black, neurodivergent woman in tech, Cherenfant understands the vital importance of leveraging technology for beneficence, especially when it comes to serving the marginalized and underserved. In her session, she was especially concerned with how AI can inherit societal biases, further discrimination, and lead to data privacy violations that disproportionately impact BIPOC communities.

One of the best ways to begin to address these concerns, Cherenfant argued, is to ensure that tech teams, especially AI teams, diversify: Black people need a seat at the table.

But that’s far easier said than done. As of 2021, Black representation made up less than 10% of the STEM workforce, while Black women only represented 2% of the tech industry. These figures also reflect the STEM pipeline, where Black students make up only 9% of STEM degrees at all levels. According to a report from Jobs for the Future, the primary reasons for STEM underrepresentation are “systemic and structural barriers that Black learners confront from an early age into adulthood.” This includes a lack of access to a quality education and resources, which, in the U.S., are allocated based on wealth.

According to 2023 Pew Research, over half of Black households make less than $50,000 in the U.S, with 30% of Black households making less than $25,000.

One cascading effect of these inequities, Cherenfant pointed out, is a growing Digital Divide between children from low-income households and their more affluent peers, a disparity that worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Pew Research Center, almost 60% of lower income families experienced at least one of the following digital access obstacles during the COVID-19 school shutdowns:

Having to use a mobile phone to complete schoolwork
Needing to use public Wi-Fi to complete schoolwork due to unreliable or no internet connectivity at home
Being unable to complete schoolwork due to not owning a computer

As the pace of technological innovation keeps accelerating, those who cannot access the knowledge and tools needed to contribute to these advances in hopes of shaping the discourse, nevermind merely being able to keep up with them, will fall further behind and eventually be shut out of these critical spheres altogether.

So where does that leave us? Where can we even begin to address these challenges? Cherenfant advocates that one’s activism can begin locally, from collaborating with her children on generative AI art projects to volunteering at local groups and community-driven events to introduce the community, and especially the youth, to the world of AI and practical AI applications. Giving underrepresented groups access to, knowledge of, and skills to use AI is the first step to giving them that much-needed seat.

My feelings on this are, as ever, somewhat mixed. On one hand, giving marginalized people equitable access to privileged white spaces to empower themselves and others is crucially important to AI’s future and mitigating the growing harm that systemic biases like flawed racial profiling software and “predictive policing” algorithms are perpetuating.

On the other hand, as Audre Lorde said, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Can we ignore how, despite assurances, companies are actively replacing or attempting to replace human creative labor, including already underrepresented Black creative labor, with generative AI to the point where even Hollywood has sat up and taken notice? Or how these technologies still betray their systemic bias even when they are being used by Black creators because of the inherently biased data sets they’re trained on?

I don’t know what the right answers are, or if there even are any to be had right now. If the goal laid out in our AI Ethics framework is to make sure AI is doing the greatest amount of good with the least amount of harm, what is an acceptable level of harm and who gets to decide what that is?

“How to Create Accessible Digital Marketing Assets”

Cara Weese, WITness Success 2023

While Cara Weese, CRM & Marketing Automation Strategist at Sercante (and, in full disclosure, one of my most favorite coworkers ever), did not directly address AI during her presentation, her topic was one that runs in the same circles of AI discussions nevertheless: accessibility, and in this case, specifically for those with disabilities.

Weese set the stage for her presentation by sharing her own powerful story as a person with a disability, which further drove home the point that people with disabilities aren’t an imaginary segment of the population to be treated as an afterthought or, worse still, acceptable collateral damage if the cost proves too high or the effort too bothersome to be ADA-compliant. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the world’s population, have a significant disability.

If us marketers don’t center accessibility-first strategies in our work, Weese said, we not only exclude a not insignificant portion of the population, we also risk a number of repercussions from missing opportunities to expand our customer base, create positive associations with our brand, encourage inclusivity in others, and improve our quality ranking score and SEO.

And if that wasn’t convincing enough, businesses who fail to comply with ADA regulations are liable for some hefty penalties should their non-compliant practices be reported.

As Donald A. Norman, author of the influential book Design of Everyday Things, points out, “Designing for people with disabilities almost always leads to products that work better for everyone.” Using large, legible fonts and high contrast in our emails not only helps those with visual disabilities, but consider how much the elderly with failing eyesight would also appreciate these design choices. Or how about the fact that we’re all having to turn on the subtitles to watch TV shows and films these days.

Even in this, class is inextricably entwined with accessibility, furthering the Digital Divide. Assistive technologies such as screen readers are a helpful device for the visually impaired to navigate the digital world, but their high price point can pose a significant barrier for lower income households. And even if one were able to secure a lower cost device, as Weese explained, newer, more expensive screen readers are often more capable of parsing web pages and emails than cheaper ones, even when the content doesn’t entirely meet web accessibility requirements.

Conclusion

I’m not anti-AI.

I’m already eager to see how AI will get better at making inaccessible digital content accessible. I’ve already played around with gen AI for coding and generating seed data for Salesforce imports. I’m looking forward to trying out Jaye Cherenfant’s method of using gen AI to study for her Salesforce exam.

But what is more important to me than what I want AI to do is how I want it to be used — and how I don’t want it to be used. I’d love to see the rich experience of the marginalized to be welcomed and included in AI’s development to not only empower those communities but to improve the accuracy and power of AI itself. I want to see AI close the gap between the privileged and the underserved.

I don’t want to see the worst consequences of AI fall upon the most vulnerable among us: those with lower incomes, those who have been excluded from consideration, those who will suffer the most from climate change, and those who are primed to be heavily exploited by richer, and vastly more powerful entities.

The tide is rising, and the sea is rough. If we can’t stem or even slow it down, then at the very least, I hope we have the courage and strength to pull others out of the water and into the boat with us on our way up.

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.
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Connect and Learn in the Admin Meadow

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

Career Development, Community, Events
August 29, 2023

WITness Success 2023: An Inspirational Experience

Cara Weese

WITness Success 2023 was undoubtedly empowering. As a first-time attendee, I found the experience to be quite remarkable. A gathering of women in tech and allies in Minneapolis, Minnesota, offered me and fellow Sercante employees the opportunity to learn and network with like-minded Salesforce professionals.

WITness Success is an annual event planned and hosted by the Salesforce Women in Tech user group with a mission to “empower, support, and invest in Salesforce Women in Tech.” With membership at 4000+ members and continuous growth, I only see this conference becoming more prominent and better as we move toward the future.

Empowering Women in Tech

There were a multitude of moments that left me feeling truly empowered, but there are a few that specifically stand out to me. I had the honor and privilege of being able to speak at WITness Success, which left me feeling like I could do anything, alongside an inspiring session I was able to attend that left me feeling a sense of renewed energy and confidence.

Accessibility in Digital Marketing

I was honored to be chosen as a speaker for WITness, and not only to be chosen but to be able to speak on a topic I am passionate about — accessibility in digital marketing.

Was I anxious? Absolutely! Was I terrified I would mess up, or no one would show up? 1000%, yes! Did I power through, have a wonderful presentation, and have amazing discussions afterward? Sure did! The unknown can be fearful but also bring you to new heights.

Women in Tech showed me that by allowing this experience and inspiring me to continue speaking and sharing my thoughts on such an important topic.

Microaggressions as a Woman in the Workplace

Shahida Robertson-Davis’ session on microaggressions left me in a state of awe. I never truly realized or registered what microaggressions were or that they were happening to me, and more importantly, they were happening to others around me, and I was silent.

Shahida offered relatable examples, and insightful conversations during and after the session and gave us the tools to speak up for ourselves and others if needed. Overall, this was a great session to kick off my experience at WITness and left a lasting imprint I will carry with me.

Supporting Women in Tech

We ended our first day of the event with a tradition that spouted nothing but support and honor of fellow women — the Ally dinner. And at the end of that dinner, the Trailheart Award was presented to someone so deserving it came as no surprise. This was the icing on the cake to an eventful first day and left us feeling proud to be who we are doing what we do.

The Ally Dinner and Women’s Entrepreneur Panel

The cocktail hour and dinner to follow was a wonderful experience full of networking and exchanging of stories, hard truths, and a peek into the future. For me, it was the panel of female entrepreneurs that stood out to me. The panel was composed of Hayley Tuller, Tiffany Spencer, and Marisa Hambleton.

These women shared about their support people and allies, and how they have achieved success in the world of technology, and how they continue to support and mentor other women in tech.

For Hayley, it is through her work with her company, Navigators, and her work with Hiring Our Heroes.

Tiffany is the founder of a non-profit, Tech Forward, runs her own consulting business, Tech Forward Solutions, and is the founder of Dreamin’ in Color; through this work, she inspires and mentors young men and women daily.

Founder and CEO at MH2X, Marisa strives each day to empower men and women as they seek their best by helping them implement Salesforce solutions.

All three left me feeling inspired and wanting to do more to support my fellow women in tech.

Guilda Hilaire Presented the Trailheart Award

Following the amazing panel of women, the Trailheart Award was given out in honor of the legacy Tami Esling left behind. This award is given to a woman in the Salesforce ecosystem who “gives to this community wholeheartedly and without the expected reciprocation of notoriety.”

After speaking about the award, it was no surprise to anyone in that room that the recipient for this year was Guilda Hilaire, Director, Product Marketing at Salesforce. I was fortunate enough to have met Guilda for the first time at this conference (I was starstruck!), and she is everything that this award signifies and more. To see so many people recognizing and sharing their support for Guilda, was something to behold.

Congratulations, Guilda!

Investing in Women in Tech

When investing in women, that was the entire conference. Every opportunity and session presented itself as doing just that, providing support and guidance to invest in our future and our roles in tech overall and specifically within the Salesforce Ecosystem. However, two specific sessions stood out most to me and resonated with me as an investment — the networking and the coloring sessions.

Mentor/Mentee Speed Networking

Talk about making a spin-off of speed dating; this event crushed it! So many participants joined, and somehow, we worked out to an even number of mentors and mentees. The session was 90 minutes, but it flew by as we went down the line, collaborating and speaking with one another. I was looking for guidance on expanding my footprint within the Salesforce community and was driven to be a mentee for this round, though I could see myself joining as a mentor the next time.

The entire experience was uplifting, and I got such great advice; plus I met a few people I could connect with. This session should be offered across all Dreamin’ events, allowing new and up-and-coming Trailblazers to network without pressure to create small talk. Dive into the conversation and get valuable feedback that you can expand upon beyond the conference setting.

Mental Health + Illness Group Coloring Session

Who doesn’t like to color? What an incredible experience it was to step away from the hecticness that every conference has to take a breath, talk in small groups or work alone, and simply color or do a puzzle, or fill in the crossword puzzle.

This was exactly what I needed, a break in my day to calm my jitters, and I was fortunate enough that this session took place right before my speaking session, so I was cool, calm, and collected until I stood up at the podium and the nerves went all wacky again. But seriously, I think this was an awesome session sponsored by the Mental Health + Illness community group, and based on attendance, I was not the only one who felt that way.

Taking time to invest in ourselves goes beyond our learning and growth, it includes our physical and mental health as well. We can’t be great women in tech if we aren’t taking care of ourselves.

WITness Success final thoughts

Was WITness Success worth it? Yes! Will I be attending again next year? Of course! The only question left to answer is whether or not I will see you there. I hope the answer is ABSOLUTELY!