What are some of the biggest challenges marketers face? Your team spends all this time and effort creating an incredible campaign, but somehow it still underperforms. Wouldn’t it be nice to identify and fix the issues in real time with all your stakeholders? That’s just one of the ways that Slack integrations with Marketing Cloud aim to improve the marketing industry.
Michael Kostow, EVP and GM of Marketing Cloud, offers a preview of what infusing Slack into Marketing Cloud could mean for marketers and the industry’s future.
Q. What was your first reaction to the Salesforce-Slack acquisition?
I was excited because our Marketing Cloud team is highly distributed across the globe. My team is in Israel, Canada, Indianapolis, San Francisco and a million other places in-between. Slack has helped create an incredibly strong culture across our team despite our distance, which is even more important through the pandemic, as we haven’t been able to see each other in person.
Q. How have you adjusted to using Slack as a primary communication tool?
Honestly, it took me a little while to get going in the beginning but now I’m cooking with gas and super excited every time I find a new feature in Slack. Our team loves emojis and we have our Canadian Mountie salute emoji that we’re really passionate about for all the Canadians on our team.
If I work late at night, early in the morning, or on the weekends, none of that is time critical for my team. The ability to send scheduled messages and communication is really powerful.”
michael kostow, evp/gm marketing cloud, salesforce
I also love being able to send scheduled slacks. If I work late at night, early in the morning, or on the weekends, none of that is time critical for my team. The ability to send scheduled messages and communication is really powerful.
Q. From the perspective of our marketing customers, what kinds of innovations did you start to picture with the integration of Slack and Salesforce?
If you look at our latest State of Marketing report, you see how marketers have embraced the work from anywhere environment. There’s an incredible opportunity to leverage the power of Slack and Customer 360 to be more effective in how we market and deliver better, more personal content to customers. We can also improve real-time campaign performance thanks to actionable insights sent through Slack.
In fact to make that report, we had hundreds of people both internally at Salesforce and externally, collating and synthesizing all this incredible insight into the future of the marketing — and it was all built through the power of Slack. We talk about how our customers are leveraging the platform but we’re using it within our teams to drive change.
Q. What are the benefits of using Slack as your Digital HQ for Marketing, and how is it different from before?
Marketing is a very collaborative profession where teams are deeply connected to agencies and other partners. So it’s essential for all those teams to have a common set of content and data to help inform their decisions.
Recently we brought our first Slack integration to market — Slack for Datorama, the leading global marketing intelligence company. Think about all the effort involved in building and executing a campaign. All parties involved want to see how that campaign is performing in real time. That way if there are any issues, it’s spotted immediately and you can act on it.
The Digital HQ for Marketing helps organizations with their digital transformation, especially when it comes to technology and agility. Do companies have the technology to make the change? How agile is the tech? With Slack-First Marketing, everyone and everything is brought together — data, technology, customers. Instead of operating as a series of individual departments, there’s one brand working in unison.
We talk about how our customers are leveraging the platform, but we’re using it within our teams to drive change.”
michael kostow, evp/gm marketing cloud, salesforce
With features like Slack Connect, which allows safe and secure collaboration between internal and external teams, our customers can move from ideas to market faster and more seamless than ever before.
Q. According to the State of Marketing report, 69% of marketers say it’s harder to collaborate now than it was prior to the pandemic and marketers are the least likely group to feel connected to their colleagues in other departments. How does Slack help address these issues?
The vast majority of marketers are either remote or operating in a hybrid environment and they’re wondering how to stay connected with their colleagues and partner agencies, especially those who are mission critical. One way Slack has made this process more efficient is by producing less meetings. We shouldn’t gloss over that. We can get a lot more work done, asynchronously — or basically on our own time, which in-turn frees up time for us to retain and strengthen the strong bonds and culture we already have.
Q. When it comes to marketing, more data doesn’t necessarily mean more insight. How does the Digital HQ for Marketing help marketers not only sift through data, but understand and act on it more quickly?
Marketers thriving now are data-driven and know that in order to create lifelong customers, they need to deliver highly personalized and relevant messages. When you put out a campaign to market, you’re leveraging all kinds of data to deliver a personalized message. To truly see how that message is resonating, you need to be able to see and pivot in real time. Slack — combined with Datorama — tells you what’s happening with that campaign, alerts everyone involved, and lets you make adjustments to it instantaneously. As marketers, we’re not always going to get things right. But what we can do is be nimble and pivot. We can adjust as we learn more about how our customers are responding, and Slack allows you to do that.
As marketers, we’re not always going to get things right. But what we can do is be nimble and pivot. We can adjust as we learn more about how our customers are responding, and Slack allows you to do that.
michael kostow, evp/gm marketing cloud, salesforce
Q. What will be the impact of Slack integrations into Marketing Cloud on the industry?
I think it’s going to be the mainstay platform for marketing organizations. Slack is the platform that will best allow marketers to transition to thinking data first, as well as reach digital-first customers. Marketers need a platform that allows them to collaborate, pivot campaigns, understand and activate in real time. Using Slack as your Digital HQ for Marketing has the power to do that.
More details on the Digital HQ for Marketing here
Insights from the 2021 State of Marketing Report here
Exclusive: Service Cloud CEO on the advantages of Slack integrations into Service Cloud here
