SAS will be at the DMA2011 conference in Boston on October 1-6, 2011, sponsoring David Meerman Scott in the Thought Leadership Series.  David is a noted marketing strategist and author of seven books on marketing and PR, including The New Rules of Marketing and PR.  His session is titled, 'How to  Engage, Connect and Grow in Real Time: A SAS Spotlight Session.' In preparing for the event, I had the opportunity to get his thoughts on real-time marketing, which provide a glimpse into what he'll present in his session:

Gone are the days when you could plan out your marketing and public relations programs well in advance and release them on our  timetable. It’s a real-time world now, and if you’re not engaged, you’re on your way to marketplace irrelevance.

Understand the power of real-time information and gain a competitive edge because:

• Events now unfold light years faster than a conventional campaign can deal with.
• A nimble, real-time-oriented competitor may snatch an opportunity before you even notice it's there.
• Your company may look out of touch and clueless if a crisis hits and you have nothing to say for a whole hour.
• One single customer, whose broken guitar your people might have neglected, may rock your world.

Approaches to Encourage Real-Time Marketing

Think in real-time.
Recognize that a real-time mind-set is an attitude to business that emphasizes moving quickly when the time is right. It requires quick thinking and taking risks. Measure results today and know that the customer defines what is “right time.”

Plan for real-time.
Keep your playbook and maintain the knowledge and thoroughness from traditional campaign approaches. Then, as applicable, assess the potential for real-time market changes in your business and accept that it may impact your plans.

Execute with real-time.
Empower your people to change plans and ideas quickly to match the pace of your market. Stay tuned to your customers and competitors, and be ready to execute in real-time when time comes to throw the playbook aside and act before the window of opportunity vanishes.

Get it done and push it out because it may not be perfect. But it will be right.

SAS will also conduct the Pre-Conference Intensive session before the conference begins on Customer Intelligence and Analytics.  For anyone interested in meeting up with us at DMA, please click here.