Key Takeaways from Experience Inbound 2014

Experience Inbound 2014 sparked many ideas and concepts that inbound marketers are doing on a daily basis.  The speakers hit on all levels of inbound marketing, from organization structure to content, sales and more.  Keystone Click wanted to take the time to pull out the trends and key takeaways from the event in a separate blog post from the original Experience Inbound 2014 Recap (Image from Stream Creative).

Please list your key takeaways in the comment section below.

Laura’s Points:

Customization – People want customized, interesting content that they don’t have to go out of their way to get. As marketers, we need to send out the message to the places that these people live and these messages need to be relevant. Interruptive advertising is a thing of the past. People want a message that is specifically tailored to them, the internet has taught us that this is possible and now we want that in every aspect of our lives. It is up to us, the marketers, to create that tailored message and get it to the right people at the right time.

Be true to your brand – Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, don’t try to make an uninteresting product seem interesting to someone who doesn’t need it and never will. Someone, who needs your product, will find it beautiful, necessary and interesting. It is up to you to make sure you have targeted the right audience and focus your attention on them. You only need to be attractive to those who your industry/product applies to.

Stale content is dead content – Innovation should be a habit. Don’t let the little things get in the way of moving forward. Innovation can be incremental, a terrifying new venture, a breakthrough that you have been waiting for, or a business model you would like to try. Innovation is everywhere you just need to be the one who keeps the innovation engine running.

Greg’s Points:

Personalization – Your marketing messages need to be personal.  The day of mass sending messages to your contacts is over…hopefully!  You visit a website for a specific reason, and as such you want to receive specific answers.  Get to know your customers/visitors and give them the content they are interested in.

Be Sexy – Maybe on the cover your industry isn’t something you think is very marketable.  You’re wrong! Share your awards, blogs, videos, sponsorships etc.  Your company is active and is connecting with individuals, now that’s sexy!

Content is King – By now we’ve all heard this phrase because it’s true.  Without high quality content that is sharable, you will not be successful.

Grant’s Points:

Content Marketing is Still Evolving – The Advertising, Marketing and Sales world are all ready for monumental switch: this meaning the current rule book is broken. The focus needs to be purely on the individual and how we draw them in, not bombard them. Taking an “inbound” approach to these three areas and making sure everything that is done is relevant to the customer’s – culture, family, friends, hobbies, frustrations, dreams, etc. Content marketing is evolving, are you?

Companies Need to Evolve as Well – TIME is the currency of our FUTURE- if your company does not have the processes or core leadership in place you risk losing efficiency. Those that are responsive will survive. Be receptive and open to change.

Your Industry is Unique and Wonderful – When you ask an industry expert about his or her product or service, they could talk your ear off for days.  Each industry has thought leaders.  These thought leaders emerged because they are turning the industry to be sexy or appealing.  Creating unique, sharable content should be sexy.

What would you add to the list of key takeaways?

Post by KEYSTONE CLICK.