Though some of our clients embraced marketing operations earlier than others, I still feel like 2012 has been the year of marketing automation. Last year, some of our customers didn’t even register this as important to their specific program goals and now most would agree that investing in operations and automation is a new requirement. I think by the time 2013 comes around, the budget line items for backend marketing operations, campaign tracking, and marketing business intelligence will have doubled—and not just in the enterprise space. Tech companies like SalesFusion, Hubspot, and Influitive will make organizing, automating, and tracking marketing easier for midsized organizations as well. That is good news for our customers large and small. Projectline has a reputation for marketing and BI services that are best when integrated with world-class marketing automation tools. We love them. We need them. We master them. And so should you.

If you are in the Pacific Northwest and your company hasn’t fully embraced the new world of marketing operations. Or, if it has started, and you aren’t sure where to jump in, there’s an upcoming event that might be perfect for you. Our local Puget Sound chapter of the American Marketing Association is hosting a very timely luncheon: “Wake-Up Call: Marketing and Sales 3.0 – How to Survive the Changing Landscape.” The flyer for this event only came across my desk late last week, but Projectline immediately jumped on as a sponsor. Because we feel that this topic is critical for all marketers—across all segments, all disciplines, B2B and B2C—we knew we needed to be part of the conversation.

Brett Clay, Award-winning marketer and author of Selling Change, 101 Secrets for Growing Sales by Leading Change, will be speaking on this ongoing shift to automate and integrate sales and marketing. He will help answer questions that many of us have, such as:

• What will be the new required competencies in Marketing and Sales 3.0?
• How should executives and marketers prepare their organizations and themselves for these changes?
• What is the impact of Marketing and Sales 3.0 on this year’s marketing budget?

Projectline will be there with bells on, to share what we know and, of course, offer services to those who need nuance behind the tools of automation. I hope most Northwest marketers will take the chance to learn more about this new world and join us for lunch!

See you there.