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5 Things Marketers Couldn’t Stop Talking About at INBOUND 2015

Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks

INBOUND 2015

I was lucky enough to snag a ticket to INBOUND 2015, which took place last week in Boston.

I’ll admit, at first I was a bit bummed out that I didn’t make it to all of the sessions I wanted to attend because I was busy chatting with fellow marketers at the Uberflip booth. I quickly realized, however, that steady booth traffic also brought in some great conversations.

The more I got to chat with fellow content managers, the more I realized that I was also learning some valuable lessons about content marketing. Although I spend a lot of time chatting with fellow content marketers on social media and creating content for their needs, it was great to meet so many people face-to-face who just got me.

Here are a few qualitative insights I found from some of the conversations I had.

1. The real difference between B2B and B2C

One session I did get to attend was with Rainmaker Digital (née: Copyblogger)’s Chief Content Officer and all around content hero, Sonia Simone. She brought up a couple of great B2C content marketing examples in her talk to demonstrate how great, passionate, geeky content wins, every time.

Which naturally led to someone asking about B2B examples, which lead to her answer: The main difference between B2B and B2C content is context.

B2B content is consumed in a professional light, which means often means that someone is consuming it with the pressure of their job in mind — an important consideration for B2B content marketers.

INBOUND 2015

2. Scaling content creation

As I perched in my pink shirt at the Uberflip booth (not unlike a flamingo), a question I often asked visitors was whether or not they had a lot of content. I didn’t scientifically keep track, but about 50% said they were “working on it”.

I was also impressed by the number of one-man content teams out there, who were struggling to meet their company’s endless content demands. We bonded over good freelancers, bad freelancers, and how difficult it is to scale content creation.

A lot of content managers had regrets over posts that they had published that weren’t good and didn’t end up moving the meter. And yet, they still hit “publish” to meet a deadline.

It’s not worth publishing something if it’s not good. Learn more about my crusade against crappy content.

3. The trouble with too much content

…is that it’s impossible to manage. The flip side of scaling content production is that you need to account for what to do with your content when you finally have a solid process in place.

When your content is left to die in a poorly optimized blog or resource center, it’s going to hurt your content strategy.

A few ways you can manage lots of content:

4. “I dream in headlines”

When one desperate content marketer revealed this to me, I laughed.

When three more content marketers revealed similar secrets, I cried. Because my stress was justified.

We all know the importance of a good headline. To reap the benefits of a good headline, it’s often necessary to attempt to save a good piece of content from a bad headline.

From what I gathered from fellow content marketers, the issue with headlines is that there’s not enough time in a day to create the perfect one.

Incorporate headline creation as an important step in your content strategy. Give it the time, energy and resources it deserves.

5. Using Integrations to make HubSpot better

HubSpot is pretty great on its own. However, there are a number of tools you can use to make your HubSpot efforts even better.

During HubSpot co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah’s keynote, they announced their integrated partner program, HubSpot Connect. The program aims to provide a cohesive experience for sharing data between a company’s different departments, allowing for a more holistic view of the customer journey.

We’re excited to announce that Uberflip is part of HubSpot Connect. CEO Brian Halligan had some pretty cool things to say about Uberflip’s HubSpot integration:

“HubSpot’s integration with Uberflip is a valued piece of the HubSpot Connect program. HubSpot customers can generate leads with strategically placed CTAs that sync directly to HubSpot SmartLists — making it that much easier for them to attract, engage, and delight the right people in the right ways.”

— HubSpot CEO, Brian Halligan.

IMG_3040.JPGINBOUND 2015

See you next year!

A lot can happen in a year, but I’m especially excited to see how people optimize their B2B content strategy, scale their content creation, expertly manage their content, and take their content to new heights.

How do you feel about these content marketing trends? Subscribe to our Hub to get an email every day from content marketers like you!

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