For those of you who missed the Inbound Marketing Summit (IMS11) and HubSpot User Group Summit (HUGS11) in Boston this week, I thought I would boil down my takeaways into a to-do list. I like to create an action list so that I won't just file away the exchange of ideas and tips that are so valuable in these meetings. I'll actually remember, be inspired and take action on the key points.
- It's Marketing Stupid - things are happening so fast in marketing technology that we tend to focus on "how" and less on "why". Youngme Moon's and Guy Kawasaki's keynotes were the highlight of the IMS in my view. Neither talked about technology or inbound marketing "per se". Instead, they both delivered clever, clear dialogs on how to be different (or as HubSpot would say, "remarkable") and how to attract (or be "enchanting"). When you hear these folks' riveting presentations, you can't help but be inspired to reinvent yourself and your marketing strategies. My #1 to-do is to remember why we are doing marketing and to never forget that humans , not metrics, are on the other end of the sales pitch.
- Don't Measure Everything - it's tempting to just throw a bunch of rats into a maze and see which one finishes first. This accomplishes absolutely nothing. Thanks to Dan Zarrella at the HUGS for reminding me that tracking lead generation statistics is all about designing the right experiment to answer a specific question. More to the point, design your question or series of questions to answer an important marketing dilemma, like why are your customers your customers (no, that's not a typo, spell checker).
- Real Engagement is 10X More Valuable Than Online Engagement - this one's self-explanatory, but I often forget. I gained so much by networking in person that I forgot to tweet about it. I listened to people so completely that I remembered how valuable that is. What am I going to do about it? Good question. It's so easy to go back to multitasking and social networking. They should really call online engagement something other than "social networking". It pales in comparison to face-to-face conversation.
That's it. At my advancing age, remembering three things is optimistic at best. Seriously though, these are some of the most important takeaways I can remember from any convention or professional meet-up. I look forward to hearing from you about your impressions and to-do's for the next year. Maybe next year we can actually go outside for a breath of fresh air and a conversation about this stuff.
Photo credit: Me!
Dork: Chad Pollitt, a.k.a. @cpollittiu
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