Tips and Insights from Hubspot’s Inbound 2015

If you are trying to keep up with content marketing’s exponential growth, you have probably heard of HubSpot. For those who have not seen their product in action, HubSpot is a marketing and sales software provider that aims to make public relations and marketing more efficient and successful.

The company is known for posting tips and tricks on its blogs. In addition to sharing that knowledge, they also put together a yearly event, the biggest inbound marketing conference in the world: Inbound. The 2015 event took place in Boston. From September 8 to 11, approximately 14,000 communications professionals and marketers passed through the halls of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

According to the conference’s website, “Inbound’s purpose is to provide the inspiration, education, and connections you need to transform your business.” The truth is that the conference itself was an example of great inbound marketing: generating interesting, engaging content to captivate your audience and convert leads to sales without having to rely strongly on a traditional sales pitch.

The more than 170 talks, intertwined with meaningful keynote speakers, such as Chelsea Clinton and Dan Pink, attracted professionals from all over the world looking to gain a better understanding of this growing industry and network with colleagues. Everywhere attendees looked, their eyes caught a HubSpot logo and a friendly, helpful employee of the software company to answer questions about the product or about where was the next session.

The conference was a sensory overload: there was a lot going on simultaneously and it was impossible to keep up with everything. One’s best bet to catch sessions that happened at the same time was to divide and conquer with friends and colleagues. For missed sessions, there were several encore options.

For those who were not so lucky as to make it to New England, HubSpot put together a compilation of videos, presentations and notes of all the sessions in all the tracks.

Keep in mind when reviewing the materials that there were more than 10,000 people in attendance, with different backgrounds and multiple levels of understanding. Therefore, it’s not surprising that some talks just scratch the surface, while others are more profound.

Nonetheless, the contacts made and the networking opportunities were instrumental to share the knowledge and will be important to stay up-to-date with industry trends. In that aspect, Inbound was perfect, as the organizers were devoted to setting up an environment that enabled exchange and the creation of bonds and relationships.

Hubspot’s Inbound 2015 was a great opportunity for networking and learning about inbound marketing and the communications industry. Below are a few takeaways from the sessions that are important for marketing and PR professionals to keep in mind:

The Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles changed the game for the PR industry. This year, the main professional associations got together to update the guidelines. Even though there was some controversy, structuring campaign goals and objectives around suggested metrics differentiate professionals and help clients understand results.
80 percent of the social shares are done with 10 percent of the posts. That means understanding the audience is even more important. What moves them? What are their interests? How do they prefer to consume content? “Just” good content sometimes is not enough. Having these answers will help keep the audience interested, engaged and, more importantly, coming back and recommending your channels.
Research proves that comedy and emotion are still the shortest paths to audience engagement. That still hasn’t changed. Try to incorporate emotion in a natural way on your next campaign.
Communication is part of any company’s values. The personality and work environment show through its payed, earned, owned and social channels. Use that in your favor. Just as a friend recognizes a voice over the phone, consumers will know which company is “talking” if message and tone are coherent throughout the platforms. Authenticity is the key word.
Live streaming has caught on. Tools like Periscope and Meerkat have been around for some time and have built quite a following. A new app, called im, has recently come out and has been “stealing” users from the other two. Unlike Vine, these platforms are still not on company’s radars, but can be a very useful tool to engage audiences.

Did you attend Inbound 2015? If so, what did you think of the event? Share your feedback in the comments section!

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a PR, marketing or social media campaign, contact Scott Public Relations.