The Connection Model team is back in the office after spending last week in Boston attending HubSpot's Inbound15. With approximately 14,000 other marketing professionals, we spent 4 days listening to some of the brightest minds in Inbound Marketing along with attending classes and seminars all designed to do one thing ... educate us on the newest tactics, tips and trends in today's ever changing market.
This wasn't our first Inbound, in fact we have been to the last six. This was by far the largest. And with most conferences, we come back with new knowledge that we firmly believe will positively impact our clients' ROI.
Some of the concepts were not new; when we began Connection Model years ago we believed that interruption marketing was going by way of the Dodo bird. Now all the experts, including Seth Godin, Daniel Pink and others, communicated that this shift is very real. Technology is empowering individuals across many spectrums -- from business to personal interactions.
Today's successful organization understands that customers, empowered by technology, demand a completely new approach to marketing and sales, where ‘connect’ replaces ‘push’ in building relationships and driving conversions. When technology mobility entered our lives, the power shifted.
Let's say it with Seth Godin's words. What is the definition of success in this new economy?
“Success is not doing what has already been thought or done, not doing what others do or could do. Success is doing something that would make the others say ‘We would miss you if you wouldn’t do it’.”
One big take-away is how can we help our clients provide a FRICTIONLESS buying experience.
If there was a consistent theme to each keynote speaker, it was simply that the traditional marketing and sales culture is shifting power from the seller to the buyer. This shift has transpired with access to information along with the vast number of social outlets that allow for posting of postive or negative buying experiences.
This obvioulsy takes buy-in from management to accomplish, but we are convinced that for long term success we have to shift our thought process from sales to service and a positive, frictionless transaction. As a prime example, think Uber. Several years ago, travlers in particular were reliant on local taxis. Then Uber arrived, supplying a great app and a seamless experience that has removed the purchasing friction, thereby making it easy to do business with them. The “Uberization” has raised the awareness on customer expectations. Today’s customers now expect a seamless experience, which requires your sales, marketing and customer service teams to be aligned like never before.
HubSpot announces new changes and additions to their platform
It would not be a HubSpot event if they did not take the opportunity to announce new features to their platform. This year, they announced a whole new suite of tools designed to help you grow your business, including:
- The Reporting Add-On: One dashboard. All your reports.
- The Ads Add-On: The easiest way to create, measure and leverage ads.
- The HubSpot Website: Welcome to the next-generation website platform.
- HubSpot Connect: Integrations to unite your company around the customer.
- HubSpot Predictive Lead Scoring: Stop guessing, start knowing.
We are really looking forward to integrating these new tools and features with our current clients as it makes sense. Combine these new products and features with a frictionless sales culture and watch the positive impact this could have to your business.
Written By: Doug Milnor
