Okay, I’ll admit it. INBOUND can be overwhelming. 10,000 people, 180 sessions, dozens of food trucks, and four packed days are exhausting for even the most energetic extroverts, and with all the speakers, seminars, and social events, you’re bound to have missed out on a nugget of wisdom to inspire you on a rainy day in your marketing or sales department.
Well, we’re here to help! We rounded up the most inspirational tidbits and takeaways from INBOUND14’s most popular speakers. Check out this SlideShare created by HubSpot’s Melissa Obleada — and, below it, you’ll find the five core themes that emerged from the conference overall.
5 Core Themes From INBOUND14
1) Dare To Be Different — Even Disagreeable
One of the most-tweeted moments of INBOUND14 was Malcolm Gladwell’s assertion that the best entrepreneurs in the world are by nature disagreeable. He quickly clarified that he didn’t mean ornery or cranky, but rather, that successful entrepreneurs are “disagreeably willing to accept the status quo.”
Malcolm’s conjecture is not just pie-in-the-sky thinking; it applies to tactical marketing as well. In his wildly popular presentation on email marketing hacks, Matt Heinz noted that, in optimization, “counterintuitive usually wins.”
Finally, Shiza Shahid closed INBOUND14 with this reflection: “There are certain moments in your life when you have to decide who you are. Be bold.” Simply put, if you were waiting to decide if a change was worth it or whether you should consider a seemingly crazy idea for your next campaign, one core takeaway from INBOUND14 is that you don’t win by following everyone else’s playbook. Write your own and you’ll be rewarded for it.
2) Invest In People
Simon Sinek’s powerful keynote was rooted in a core principle: “Business isn’t about money or numbers; it’s about people.” If you’re like me, it’s very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of day-to-day work. When’s your next meeting? What’s your next appointment? How can we drive the business forward? Sinek reminded the audience that putting down your phone and physically connecting with others (specifically, holding hugs six seconds longer than you might normally) can make a world of difference in your leadership power and your life.
Guy Kawasaki also spoke about people in the context of his experience at Apple. He told attendees at Monday’s welcome reception to “set the standard that you hire better than you in functional areas. ‘A’ players hire ‘A+’ players.”
And HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah, long known for his work on HubSpot’s Culture Code, reminded his keynote audience that while perks at the office are nice, peers outrank beers — because, above all else, awesome people want to work alongside awesome colleagues.
3) It’s Not Just Marketing That Needs to Change
INBOUND has always attracted marketers that understand the world has fundamentally changed; but this year, there were more attendees than ever from the world of sales. This is good news for everyone, including consumers, because even the most lovable inbound marketing experience can’t save a horrible, irrelevant selling process.
As HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan reminded attendees during his portion of the keynote, “the world used to be buyer beware, but it’s shifted to seller beware.” Consumers garner serious power when it comes to controlling their interactions with your brand, and that power extends well beyond marketing into sales.
David Meerman Scott offered a solution helpful for any business: To adapt to the way consumers shop and buy. He said, “Instead of selling, you educate and inform.” Always Be Helping is the new Always Be Closing, and you need a sales team and a sales process that reflects that shift. Having more people than ever from sales team worldwide at INBOUND14 just reinforced the notion that being less interruptive and more relevant isn’t a marketing tactic; it’s a business transformation.
4) Failing Matters
Beth Dunn, HubSpot’s in-house writer extraordinaire, said in her Bold Talk: “Crappy drafts are the raw material from where all good writing comes.” It was an encouraging reminder for those of us who have struggled with an idea or been discouraged when a campaign didn’t take off that failure yields inspiration and results. Lest you think HubSpot’s marketing is immune, HubSpot CMO Mike Volpe shared a quote from Henry David Thoreau as part of his talk: “Every misfortune is but a stepping stone to fortune.”
Shiza Shahid echoed this statement, noting that “your life is a constant process of creation. Failure is part of that.” Every entrepreneur or leader can vividly recall a moment when they failed or flopped horribly, but the best visionaries in the world use that failure as motivation for success. So the next time your blog post draft stinks or your first attempt at a viral video goes anything but viral, remind yourself you’re not alone: You’re in good company with thousands of marketers, sales leaders, and entrepreneurs alike.
5) Take It All In
One of my favorite quotes is from Ferris Bueller, who was not at INBOUND14 (maybe next year?), who said, “life moves pretty fast — if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you might miss it.” The same is true of huge conferences like INBOUND, and frankly, every day you spend as a marketer. It’s really, really easy to get overwhelmed with meetings, information, analysis, and distractions. Every once in a while, build time in your day to take a deep breath. Martha Stewart reminded us in her keynote that “we could never have predicted how busy our lives would become.”
As you’re finishing this, you probably also are scheduling a tweet, framing a blog post, following up with a prospect, or checking the clock to ensure you’re not late for your next meeting. So whether you made it to every session you wanted to attend, missed INBOUND entirely but followed it on Twitter (hope to see you next year!) or prioritized networking meetings and missed out on some of the content, take a deep breath and give yourself credit for trying something new, learning something different, and having the courage to challenge yourself. It’s much easier said than done.
Inspirational Tidbits & Takeaways From #INBOUND14 [SlideShare]
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