The Inbound Marketing Summit is THE event for inbound marketers. Last year was filled with so many great speakers that Anthony and I made it a point to keep this on our schedule for this year, and it did not disappoint.
The two days are filled with a talent-laden schedule where each speaker gets around 20 minutes for presenting and Q and A. This keeps the pace moving quickly and provides a great way to get the best information from each speaker in a short amount of time.
Here’s a recap of some of the Day 1 presentations I found most interesting.
1. The Realities of Referral
John Jantsch (@ducttape)
John is “Duct Tape Marketing” and the author of the recently released book “The Referral Engine.” His session covered how and why companies really generate referrals. Here’s some key points from his presentation:
- Marketing is the process of getting someone to know, like and trust you
- People make referrals because they need to
- All business involves risk
- Nobody talks about boring businesses
- Marketing is a system – “Marketing always starts with strategy before tactics”
- It’s not about B2B or B2C marketing but O2O: Online to Offline
- Digital interactivity is now at the center of marketing
- Focus on Customer experience and conversions to spend less on lead generation (turn customers into fans)
- The secret to generating referrals is to be more referrable
2. Real-Time Marketing and PR
David Meerman Scott (@dmscott)
David Meerman Scott is a well known speaker and the author of “The New Rules of Marketing & PR.” His session explored how marketing and PR is now an always-on 24×7 business environment and how brands that embrace real-time communications are at an advantage over their competition. Some of his key points:
- Media isn’t dying, it’s just becoming real-time
- Be remarkable. Stand out from the crowd
- Social media are the tools and real-time is the mind-set
- Speed and agility are decisive competitive advantages
3. What You’re Missing By Measuring Social Media Online
Tom Webster, VP Strategy, Edison Research (@webby2001)
I had a chance to meet Tom at Social Fresh Charlotte and being a stats junkie, was a bit jealous that he does this as a line of work. But its clear that Tom has been involved in some of the most in-depth study of social media usage and behaviors, and his presentation was tremendously insightful. Here’s some stats and points he shared during his presentation:
- Social media is an enormous mainstream activity
- Number of users checking social media sites “several times per day” rose from 18 to 39 million in the past year
- 87% of all Americans are familiar with Twitter; 88% familiar with Facebook
- 71% of tweets produce no response
- 30% of Tweets provoke some type of response – a reply, retweet, etc
- The funnel isn’t dead. It’s just that we don’t all go in through the top
- We need to stop measuring tweets and start measuring people
- Measure before, during and after provides the actionable truth
4. If I Started Now
Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs (@chrisbrogan)
Chris may be the most well-known writer and speaker, and his little bits of wisdom and entertainment throughout the day and during his session were interesting and enjoyable. Some of his best lines:
- You live and die by your database. Feed the list. If you have a list feed it things of value. Give your audience something they want, something they can use.
- Measure your community through growth and engagement
- “Views” is the stupidest metric ever made…unless you’re selling ads
- Grow. Expand. Segment. Regrow.
5. Un-Marketing
Scott Stratten (@UnMarketing)
Scott (better known as “UnMarketing“) delivered perhaps the most engaging speech of the conference at the close of Day 1. When no one had any energy left, Scott had enough for the whole room. Scott’s edgy style made him a crowd favorite, and everyone was talking about his new book “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging.”
Some of Scott’s key points:
- Social media doesn’t replace traditional conversation, it enhances it.
- People don’t spread “meh”, people spread Awesome.
- Why do people market using the same methods they hate being marketed to?
- If you suck, you suck harder on social media.
- Social media doesn’t change the fact that relationships take time.
- Be you. Be authentic. When you’re authentic, then you have no competition.
Get yourself a taste of UnMarketing- watch the video of his session here.
Stay tuned- tomorrow I’ll post a recap of day 2 highlights.
Inbound Marketing Summit: Day 1 Highlights is a post from the Mass Transmit Broadcast Blog. Subscribe to receive blog posts via email. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+!