In 2012 I returned to the discipline of marketing and felt as though my degree and prior experience were completely irrelevant. While I could look up the definition of terms like content marketing, drip campaigns, lead generation, and marketing automation I had no tangible experience with them. I felt old and incompetent.

Thankfully that all changed when I was asked to help stand up Pardot, a marketing automation tool. The work of that task forced me to roll up my sleeves and learn the nuances of this concept of marketing 2.0. I discovered the gut of what I am as a marketer was still relevant. Sensing needs and challenges and translating those cues into messaging and campaignsDymystify marketing 2.0 still applied. What changed was the approach and channels.

When I was a college student studying marketing circa 2005 companies that were able to send emails to their customers were on the leading edge. If those emails were pretty and you were able to automatically manage subscriptions you were knocking it out of the park. Today companies of all sizes are blasting their customers and prospects with emails on a daily basis. The game is no longer to stand up email marketing but rather to become an invited guest into your prospects’ inboxes so that your emails are not only delivered but read.

Take a few moments and check out my deck on SlideShare that helps to demystify this new approach to marketing.