Proving ROI, using new technologies and leveraging partner marketing were key topics at Red Herring's CMO 2008 conference in San Diego last week.

The conference drew more than 300 senior marketing executives, mostly from b-to-b companies, who shared strategies for competing in today's challenging business environment.

One of the hot topics was partner marketing, with presentations by several executives whose companies use channel marketing models.

Stephen DiFranco, corporate VP-corporate and channels marketing at chip maker AMD, discussed how the company has leveraged its partner channel to confront rival Intel Corp. Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

- - -

Carol Kurimsky, VP-marketing at technology distributor Ingram Micro, also talked about the importance of partner marketing.

"We don't really go out and market Ingram very much," Kurimsky said. "We are a partner to help our partners sell their products."

One of the key ways Ingram does this is through extensive data mining and analytics that help its partners achieve a better ROI, she said.

- - -

Technology was another hot topic at the Red Herring conference, with marketers discussing applications such as social networks, mobile communications and digital video recording devices.

Mark Gambill, VP-CMO of CDW Corp., discussed how the technology provider is using social networks during a panel discussion on leveraging such networks.

He was the lone b-to-b marketer on the panel, with other panelists representing social networking sites Cyworld, Friendster and LinkedIn.

"We look at it from three perspectives—what are [customers] doing and how are they leveraging these tools; what kinds of content energize those who use social networks; and the third piece, which most marketers haven't figured out, is the transactional component," Gambill said. Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.