The Red Sox were on the West Coast, but there was no time to catch a game anyway. Unfortunately, not even a chance to venture out for a lobster roll. Industrial Marketer attended Hubspot’s Inbound 2013 marketing conference in Boston this week, and we’ve come back with a wall-to-wall information download of perspective-changing ideas for the possibilities of marketing today.
The best part? As manufacturers, engineers, and industrial marketers, we know we’re a niche group with a niche audience. Inbound 2013 had this covered with plenty of sessions and speakers talking about B2B marketing, “unsexy” industries, and how to get customers (and ourselves) excited about seemingly unexciting topics.
Some speakers focused on big ideas — with practical applications. Some got into the nitty-gritty of marketing for companies like yours — but with bold vision.
Here are some key takeaways on both sides from Inbound 2013.
1) Your content is always interesting to those who need your products or services
2) Industrial marketing shouldn’t be flashy — it should solve problems.
3) Most sellers are also buyers, and vice versa. What do you look for in a supplier site? Your customers feel the same way. Don’t be a marketing hypocrite.
4) Minivan marketers don’t care about Porsches. They care about other minivans, and the ways their minivan is better.
5) Minivan buyers aren’t looking for Porsches. They’re looking for the specific qualities of a minivan, and which one works better for them.
The minivan stand-in is just an illustration — replace it with roller bearings, heat sinks, or metal stampings, and think about how it relates to your industry.
A few big-picture points:
6) Digital marketing gives us unprecedented opportunity for message testing and risk taking. Re-examine your brand — or take a good look at it for the first time. You don’t need to reinvent, but trying something different is the only way to new success.
7) Unwillingness to fail is unwillingness to succeed.
8) The person who invented the ship also invented the shipwreck.
9) Be genuine in your message – that’s always interesting.
Many thanks to Seth Godin, Dan Moyle, Marcus Sheridan, and Jeff Coon for sharing their ideas and inspiring these tips.
Every broad statement has exceptions. But getting the most out of your marketing involves a big step, a big decision, and often some degree of risk. Do it yourself or bring on an agency or partner— but if what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working the way you want it to, don’t wait around for it to happen. Take steps to make it better.
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