Salesforce hosted Connections in Atlanta, Georgia this week. For marketers, here are the top 3 takeaways to note from the event and how they impact where marketing goes next. 

1. Journey Builder Got Struck by Lightning
Marketing Cloud is available in Salesforce Lightning and Journey Builder’s functionality was enhanced significantly. In Lightning’s UI, creating a customer journey is now as easy as dragging and dropping content in their path. Salesforce also announced that the new e-mail studio will go live for all users next week. Social Studio gained new integration points for better enablement of sales and service.

2. Advertising Studio Allows Marketers to Close the Loop
Salesforce showed off the new Advertising Studio. This studio includes the smart feature that tracks which products a customer has bought. You can then choose to switch off the ad for that particular product going out to that customer so the customer doesn’t continue to be advertised something they already bought. This feature effectively closes the loop when an opportunity hits “closed won.”

3. Multi-Cloud Integrations Create Customers for Life
There were a couple of keynotes on creating alignment between sales and marketing. Several popular sessions discussed how crucial social media is becoming for both marketers and as a customer service tool. By the end of Connections, the point of these conversations was clear. Marketers are striving to give customers the consistent, personalized experience they desire. In order to do this, marketing teams can’t operate in a silo. To have a deep understanding of the customer, integration is needed across sales, marketing, and service channels. This integration is what enables incredible stories of connections between customers and brands. This is the future of marketing.

Are you tapping into the full power of Marketing Cloud? If you aren’t sure, our Digital Marketing Assessment can ensure you get the most out of your investment.