I just returned from HubSpot's Inbound17 in Boston. Most of the focus of this event is to learn new tools and tips on Inbound Marketing that we can then deploy for our clients along with HubSpot announcing changes and enhancements to their platform.
For a quick background, when we started Connection Model back in 2008, our first strategic decision was to align ourselves with a company that we saw had potential and could grow with us. We chose HubSpot, and if memory serves me correct, Connection Model was first Certified Agency Partner. Since then, we have enjoyed watching HubSpot's growth, as a platform and business.
A lot of things have changed since then, but their focus on Inbound Marketing has remained.
Unlike years past, the first day started with over 1,600 HubSpot partners from 38 countries hearing the changes and announcements and getting to shake hands with friends that we have made over the past events.
HubSpot announced some major new changes, here are the big ones:
1) Sales Professional: They have amped up their Sales portal and with that they have increased the price. Up until October 31st, the price will remain consistent and anyone who signs up will be grandfathered in, thereafter the cost will be $400/month for the first 5 users and $50/user over 5.
2) Conversations: Now in one portal, you can aggregate HubSpot's free messaging platform that combines live chat, bots, and the context-rich CRM. The goal is to allow your customers to communicate with you however they wish. And, with the growth in Automated Bots, having a conversation portal to manage the communication stream will be imperative.
3) Customer HUB: More to come on this, but HubSpot announced they want to focus not only on the sales pipeline but also have a hub for Customers. Obviously, more to come.
4) Marketing Changes: Not to be forgotten, the Marketing side has some big announcements as well that are geared toward helping marketers experience better tracking and manage spend.
- Facebook Audiences and Lead Ads: From a marketing standpoint, I am excited about this. We can now sync our HubSpot SmartLists with Facebook to build targeting audiences and then create, track and sync lead ads all within HubSpot. What is great is that we can then create marketing automation to help prospective customers get through the pipeline.
- Content Strategy: This is something they announced a few months back as they saw a change in SEO and keywords. Bottom line, blogs need to be revisited to focus on 3-5 keywords with supporting micro blogs feeding one 2000 word macro blog. This is their content hub and spoke approach which has helped organizations on being able to blog more consistently (300-350 word blog is easier than 750-1000 word blog), and has proven better for getting ranked for primary keywords.
- Account Based Marketing: There were a couple of themes, one of these was Account Based Marketing or ABM. Announcements centered around Facebook Audiences and partnerships that will help especially SMB companies become more effective.
- Better Ecommerce with Shopify Integration: This has been one of the missing components, although both Shopify and BigCommerce complemented HubSpot well in this space. But now, Shopify can be integrated making marketing automation easier.
Takeaways
There were a couple, focusing exclusively on the marketing side...
- Bots and automation will continue to grow and have an ever-increasing role.
- Video will become more and more important. There are organizations out there that can now provide cost-effective video and technology continues to get better so there should be no excuse.
- Authenticity will be important for brands that want to truly connect with their customers. The advancement of video, live feeds via social media and other tools are allowing your customers to see who you really are.
- Inbound Marketing will continue to evolve and HubSpot will be there to have a robust platform to support it.
It is always great to learn new tools. Upon my return to Seattle, I came back with an 8-point action plan for Connection Model to deliver to our clients that will hopefully benefit their continued growth.
Inbound has changed, it is no longer this intimate event where we get to enjoy dinner with the founders of HubSpot. Over 21,000 people attended this year, which is a testimony to how Inbound Marketing has evolved and become the priority for organizations focused on growth. With great ideas and new technology, this will only continue to evolve.
If you were at Inbound this year, we would love to hear your opinions on the event.