Digitize + Socialize + Optimize = The New Way to Market

Ironic. That’s what it felt like being on stage at the CM Summit in New York this week. I was there to share a brief case study on our recent Creative Suite 5 launch – how we held a virtual launch event, maxed our outreach efforts through social media, and measured, optimized and measured again. If it was digital, social or virtual – we probably did it. I note the irony because I was standing in the very building where one of the largest old-school, in-person launch events in tech history took place. In 1990, Microsoft unveiled Windows 3.0 in that very theater and I was there (I was in high school of course☺). Aside from being broadcast via satellite to eight other cities, it wasn’t very digital. It was a spectacular launch for Microsoft. But needless to say, the science of marketing has changed tremendously since then.

In fact, it’s incredible to think about how much marketing has changed in just the past two years alone. Take for example our use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. In the blink of an eye we’ve gone from simply counting audience size – followers, friends, updates and tweets – to truly measuring the impact social media has on our product trials, customer sentiment and revenue. We’ve put this into action as part of our CS5 marketing program and have developed a social media dashboard that tracks specific marketing results back to social media activities. Of all the topics I touched on at the CM Summit, this one probably got the most attention and positive response from the audience. Just some of the feedback (via Twitter, of course):
• “Marketing used to be a soft science. Now with social media analytics it can become an exact science.”
• “What I like… …is that Adobe tries new social tools for marketing and testing value through numbers”
• “Optimizing Omniture dashboards are nirvana for marketers. Amen!!”

The CM Summit featured a great two-day line up of speakers and I was glad to play a small part in it. All summit presentations – including my “Digitize+Socialize+Optimize” case study – are posted at http://www.slideshare.net/CMSummit/