At Simantel we believe an inspired idea can change everything. And wow, were there some amazing ideas at Dreamforce this week. As I waited to board my plane to leave San Francisco, I took a deep breath and thought through how to even recap this mega conference. With over 2,700 sessions, there truly was something for everyone in the Salesforce Community. But, if I dig deep, I can honestly say there are three themes that were a part of everything this week.

1. It’s About the Data

First party data, third party data, tracking data, shopping data, social data, event data, DMP data – everyone in every area of Salesforce is talking about data. There is some powerful functionality within the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Part of its power comes from the many connections it can make to other clouds, to legacy systems, etc. But, without the correct data architecture in place that functionality can begin to suffer. Forrester had a great session, where they discussed using marketing technology as a weapon to create moments that matter to your customer. All of the data and technology in the world won’t make campaigns better if your intent is not to make a human connection – with a person who can be helped by your brand.

2. Being a Good Communicator Never Gets Old

In a world where consumers unsubscribe from marketing communications based on a bad brand experience, it’s vitally important that marketers be the best communicators. Prezi had a session with a cognitive neuroscientist from Memzy. They battled the idea that our attention span is that of a goldfish, and also gave some great insight into what keeps a brain engaged. People need a good story with motion or “cuts” that hook the brain into staying engaged. Too often, our business communications are abstract and fall flat because they lack emotion or they’re too complicated. Dan Roam continued this theme during his session on the visual decoder. He talked about making complicated things simple to understand. In the B2B world where sales cycles can take months or even years, this hit home. Marketers who can tell a simple story in an engaging manner will win.

3. Stay Relevant

Metallica still rocks. They have reinvented themselves to stay relevant to new and old fans alike. James Hetfield, one of the co-founders and lead singers, has been known to say that individually, each member of the band isn’t that great a musician, but together they’ve made history. Metallica has been a band since 1981. Simantel also started the road to down-and-dirty-cool-as-hell-B2B-marketing in 1981. Coincidence? I think not! Keep working hard, stay relevant and your fans – your real fans – will always sing along with you.

Dreamforce in a nutshell? Use data wisely to communicate a good message. At the core, marketing doesn’t change. The difference is, it’s in every piece of technology that wraps itself around that. If you want to understand more about Salesforce Marketing Cloud, let us know – we’re happy to bring you more insights!