Between rounds of live-Tweeting with his 175,000 followers from his vantage point at CES, marketing expert Scott Stratten checked in with CompTIA for a few words on why his AMM keynote address will resonate especially well with the IT crowd.
Stratten’s purposely nontraditional “unmarketing” methods, which make up the basis of his recent book, include the idea that you don’t need social media to succeed, just a way to connect with your clients socially. Your promotional video doesn’t need to go viral— it just needs to be contagious to your specific market. “I'm a huge geek of tech, but that doesn't mean everyone is,” Stratten said.
“One of the biggest things is using technology because we can instead of because we should,” said Stratten, known for his irreverent approach to marketing and selling. “I didn't write ‘QR Codes Kill Kittens’ because the title was funny — OK, that's part of it — but tech has to be adaptable to users, whether that be within organizations or consumers.”
Stratten will stress content, connection and engagement during his keynote speech at CompTIA’s Annual Member Meeting, scheduled for March 24-26 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. If you haven’t already, register now.
Learn How to UnMarket at AMM
An expert in viral, social and authentic marketing, Stratten’s Unselling method is about the big picture: creating repeat customers, not one-time buyers. Stratten urges companies to create loyal clients that refer others, not faceless numbers. His other take-home: Be the go-to company for something, before clients even need you.
The keynote will cover underappreciated truths that add up to a new way of thinking about business:
- Why UnSelling is about everything but the sell.
- Why one negative review can outweigh a thousand social media followers if it isn’t handled correctly.
- Why social media can be the wrong choice for your business.
- Why the people you hire matter more than the tasks you hire them to do.
Stratten predicts the ideas in the talk will completely change the way you sell.
About Scott Stratten
Stratten started his career in music marketing and ran an “unagency” for nearly 10 years before focusing on speaking events at companies like Deloitte, Fidelity Investments and PepsiCo. Tom Moradpour, International Marketing Director for PepsiCo, called Stratten’s talk “an eye-opener of why, and how, we need to start shifting our marketing weight from the broadcast leg to the dialogue leg.”
“And it doesn’t hurt one bit that he made it the funniest and most entertaining presentation we all sat through all year,” Moradpour said.
Stratten’s put his ideas down in the four best-selling business books with cowriter Alison Kramer. Their most recent book, “UnSelling: The New Customer Experience,” is the topic for his AMM talk. The book was named Sales Book of the Year by 1-800 CEOREAD.
Until you see Stratten speak live at AMM, get a taste for his passion for engagement on The UnPodcast, cohosted by Kramer, and follow him @unmarketing on Twitter, where he was named one of the top 5 social media influencers in the world on Forbes.com. It’s the only time, he said, that he’s felt comfortable being compared to Ashton Kutcher, P Diddy and Justin Bieber.
Michelle Peterson is a communications specialist for CompTIA.
