Our team of INBOUND newbies braved a crowd of over 21,000 to get our HubSpot on last week. Given that this post wasn't even published until now speaks to how much information needs to be digested. Here's a quick wrap-up of our takeaways.
Top 9 Takeaways from INBOUND17
Adam Stewart, Senior Inbound Strategist
-
Keyword phrases are out, pillar content is in.
With the announcement of the Content Strategy Tool comes the reminder that the way in which strategist are thinking about content needs to stay aligned with how Google searches for and rewards content. Simply thinking about keywords as a way to flesh out editorial calendars is a dated practice. Long-form, linked content based on topic clusters is the way to jump the ranks.
-
"Double down on content."
Straight from the mouth of Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot CTO and Founder, we need to be producing higher-quality content. The double-down mantra refers to prioritizing quality over quantity. Rather than scrambling to produce as many blog posts as you can, step back and get ready to take deep dives into subject matter you'd like to rank for.
-
Get to know your HubSpot tools.
HubSpot is getting really serious about upgrading sales and marketing features within the platform to improve internal alignment and efficiencies. At the same time, the platform will be a hub to improve an end-to-end experience for our consumers and buyers. This will include new ecommerce functionality, too.
Kayla Fullington, Inbound Marketing Consultant
-
Watch your language on Facebook.
Ditch the "Learn More," "Watch More," and "Sign Up," call-to-action buttons on Facebook ads. As consumers, we're becoming immune to ads. With a single scan we can quickly identify posts in our news feeds that are paid promotions. Links help to camouflage the fact that a post is sponsored, which may result in more clicks.
-
Chat it up, online.
With 2.4 billion Facebook messages exchanged this year (with businesses, folks!), chat is quickly becoming an essential sales and marketing tool. Consumers are looking for one-on-one interactions with companies, and Facebook Messenger is quickly becoming the ideal native platform of choice.
-
Chat it up, in person.
Despite being comfortable behind our computers, we need to step out and do more networking in our roles, especially as we aim to join panel discussions or secure speaking events. Rather than letting the awkwardness of networking guide your actions, voice that feeling in conversations to break the ice. Chance are, other people are sharing the same vibe.
Ashley Perron, Marketing Automation Specialist
-
Bots are the future.
Session after session, chatbots were positioned as the future of marketing automation because of the ability to respond to basic user inquiries any time, all the time, without the need for around-the-clock support. With HubSpot’s recent acquisition of chatbot-building software Motion.AI, I’m looking forward to how we as marketers can start using bots to better engage with leads and customers.
-
Shift from the traditional PDF format.
Sessions like “Kill the PDF” introduced alternatives to the traditional offer download sequence of filling out a form and receiving a PDF copy of an eBook. We are now seeing alternatives like webpage-version content offers instead of the traditional PDF format.
-
Customer service is key.
With HubSpot’s product announcement of the Customer Hub coming in 2018, there is a clear focus on the importance of customer service in the inbound methodology. The Customer Hub is positioned as a way for companies to improve the entire customer experience and, according to HubSpot, it will make it easy for companies to understand, respond, and grow through the success of their customers.
Did you attend INBOUND17? If so, what were your big takeaways? Let us know in the comments!