Listen to episode 2 of our brand new podcast, Take Flight, where we’ve got you covered with helpful tips, session strategies, and everything you need to know about INBOUND21
HubSpot’s INBOUND21 is right around the corner and we want you to take full advantage of this virtual event. Hosts Chaz and Motso will walk you through what to expect and how to plan for attending INBOUND21 (if you’re an INBOUND first-timer), or, if you’re a seasoned INBOUNDER, then we’ll share our thoughts on which speakers we’re so excited about, and why.
Episode 2: How to prep for INBOUND21
In episode 2, we chat to Spitfire Head of Onboarding, Shiran Sugerman, on her top tips to help you plan and prep for this virtual event, what went down last year, and what to expect in 2021.
INBOUND is a conference, but beyond that, it’s a place to learn and grow and embrace digital transformation. It’s a collection of experts giving their expertise to other experts and showing us how you can do cool things and really focus on your customers. - Shiran Sugerman
We also include our regular HubSpot Product Updates segment where Motso will be discussing the SEO Audit tool, and how you can apply SEO best practices for individual website pages and blog posts - all within HubSpot.
Planning on attending INBOUND21? Follow us on social media for our live updates, insights, and key takeaways.
Listen to Episode 2:
Get a copy of the transcript here.
Learn more about our podcast here, or subscribe and listen to our podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
What did you think of Episode 2? Do you have any comments or suggestions? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us here.
Transcript:
Speaker 1 (00:00):
[Introduction music]
Kgomotso (00:04):
Welcome back to the Spitfire podcast. Take Flight. Here we chat inbound marketing as a methodology, digital marketing, sales and services, and we talk all things HubSpot and Spitfire related.
Chaz (00:17):
We’re your hosts, Chaz and Motso and we’re both Inbound Implementors at Spitfire Inbound. And we're excited about today's podcast because HubSpot’s INBOUND21 is just around the corner
Kgomotso (00:28):
Save the date for next week, as it’s running from the 12th - 14th October
Chaz (00:32):
Every year, key speakers and industry leaders share their knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Kgomotso (00:37):
What we are loving is that with the onset of the pandemic last year, Inbound has gone virtual, allowing more attendees to share in the experience.
Chaz (00:45):
We'll be sharing some key insights on how to prepare for a virtual inbound event and some of our highlights from last year,
Kgomotso (00:51):
We are stoked to be joined today by one of our fellow Spitfire colleagues, Shiran Sugerman. With that being said, let's get started.
Chaz (01:01):
Shiran's our Head of Onboarding. She works closely with clients every day to help them grow with HubSpot and offers strategic guidance on everything from marketing to sales. So welcome, Shiran.
Shiran (01:14):
Hi guys, thank you so much
Kgomotso (01:15):
We’re happy that you've joined us today.
Shiran (01:17):
Happy to be here.
Chaz (01:19):
Also, disclaimer, this is our first time recording via zoom. So if you had the jump that's what's happening, but it's all Gucci.
Kgomotso (01:31):
Yeah, I guess this is our new normal, but I think we’re going to make it work. So I guess then, you should just rock and roll and obviously, just to kick things off, I know everyone is excited for this. I'm also very excited for Inbound 21. So obviously, many people don't know what is Inbound and obviously, like me and Chaz, we’re going to be attending this for the first time. So, for someone who has never been to Inbound, who has never attended Inbound, how would you loosely define Inbound and also why would someone want to attend Inbound?
Shiran (02:04):
So Inbound is a conference essentially. But I think beyond that, it's a place to learn and grow and embrace the digital transformation sphere. So it's really just a collection of experts giving their expertise to other experts and, you know, showing us how cool you can do things and how you can really focus on your customers. And I mean, I think going to it is really just something that anyone who wants to learn and grow would really enjoy, and the system is really nice. There are some really awesome speakers, so there's, yeah, there's a lot of things that can really bring you to this exciting, you know, like conference as it were.
Chaz (02:52):
Would you say it's for people only that use HubSpot or the digital marketing space in general?
Shiran (02:59):
No, definitely for everyone. So, while there is a lot around the HubSpot sphere because it is essentially a HubSpot conference, it's more an Inbound conference. So there's topics that range from, you know, customer care and understanding your customers to just general talks about being a business leader and, you know, growing your business. And it is about moving into that digital transformation. I mean, just now this, you know, recording, is a perfect example of that. You know, the world has changed and being able to embrace the digital world is a key thing. And I think that, not only can you learn that at Inbound, but I think that the team have really built out a conference that embraces the whole digital sphere.
Chaz (03:53):
Cool. Yeah, it's interesting that you say that. I know you and I have a joke about it. Inbound is all online now. It used to be in Boston, Shiran was meant to go, but how do you feel the difference between it now being online, obviously because of COVID, is compared to the actual event when everyone goes to Boston?
Shiran (04:18):
Look, I mean, obviously, it would be amazing to go to Boston and experience this in-person, but there, I think the advantage of it having moved to an online space is it's actually opened it up for a lot more people to attend. It also gives people the ability to really enjoy the conference as a team. So, I mean, in previous years we would send like two or three team members to Boston to go to the conference and, you know, they would come back and relay their favourite parts to us, but you know, you never really felt like you were part of the experience until now. So I think that the digital part of it has really given people the ability to experience Inbounds the way no one's been able to experience it before
Kgomotso (05:10):
Talking about the online experience, I know last year we had Inbound, and obviously, it was done online because of COVID and for someone who has never attended before, what would you say that they need to prepare, or how should they prepare themselves for this type of event, which is obviously going to be online?
Shiran (05:29):
So I think that there, I mean, last year was the first online Inbound, and it was a really great experience for us as a team because, for the first time, we really did get to enjoy it and experience it and learn from it as a team. I think preparing wise, lots of snacks, make sure you have your snacks. Of course, even though it's not physically in Boston this year, it is still in the Boston timeline. So it is later in the afternoon than it would be for those of us here in South Africa. So, you know, gathering snacks and I would really recommend doing it. So, the way that we did last year was as a team. So we, you know, hooked everything up to a big screen in our main boardroom, and we split it up. We actually split it up between North, East, South – we got really technical and let everyone kind of go their own way and allowed people to kind of go through three different paths because Inbound, a lot of the things run concurrently.
Shiran (06:27):
So there's like three or four talks going on at the same time. So being able to like... so I would get people to plan for that. So go, “Okay, you know, we need three different locations with three different trajectories.” And then, what we did, which was really great, was we actually sat down with the agenda and we mapped out who was going to go to which one, and also just give each other time in between sessions. So, one thing that we did that was really nice, is that after each session, we kind of took, if we could, like a half an hour break and actually just discussed what we just watched and what we learnt, and as our team, and as our thinking, what was it that we enjoyed? What was it that we took away from it?
Shiran (07:10):
You know, not every session is wow. I mean, as you know, seasoned Inbound and HubSpot professionals that we are, there are some things that we were already doing, but it's more about going, “Well, what did... how are they doing it differently? And how can we use that or do we agree with it?” You know, so I think that that for me is one of the things that the digital Inbound, you know, the online Inbound has really done. It's really given us that opportunity, as a team, to enjoy it and to share ideas and, you know, think about things. So I think for a prep stage, yes, bring snacks. But I think…
Chaz:
I've noted all of those things down, especially the snacks.
Shiran (07:56):
Yeah, the snacks... the snacks, and the coffee. As long as there’s snacks and coffee, Spitfire’s happy. But yeah, I think that was it. I mean, what we actually did when we had Inbound live, well, when Inbound was in Boston is, the team that went there, we actually created a Google doc and we created like key three key questions that each person who went would answer about the session. So like, what did you… who was the speaker? What did you enjoy most about the talk? What are the three takeaways that you had from that talk?
And then, those lucky ones of us would stay up until midnight, you know, going through it and putting out social media posts trying to be really, really responsive in that moment. And for those of us who did it, it was actually quite fun because we got to experience it as it was happening rather than, you know, later on. So I think that's another great thing. So for me, it's all about planning, planning, planning, like get an agenda together, sit down, make a list, make sure that you know who's going to go to what, and don't distract yourself. Don't like, it's very easy when you are doing things in the digital space to go “Hmm,I'm a little bit bored so I'm going to quickly do something at the same time, but you do miss out on a lot if you do that. Focus guys, focus.
Chaz (09:15):
That's so exciting. Do you have any speakers or topics from last year that was a highlight for you or something that you would really like for them to speak about this year?
Shiran (09:26):
So, from my perspective, because I am client-facing and I'm in the world of customers and all of that, I always find the stuff around, you know, customer satisfaction to be really interesting to listen to. From a speaker perspective, for me, the speakers are, I mean, it's nice to know who the speaker is, but I think for me, the topic tends to have more appeal. But there are some speakers like Rahmini, she is a phenomenal person to listen to. She's just, she's got so many great ideas. And I mean, as a woman who has grown as she has, and become the CEO of HubSpot, she's a great person to listen to and she's captivating. She's a great speaker. So, you know, she's always someone that's great to listen to. If you are a HubSpot person, the talk that the guys do, that Brian and Dharmesh do, it's always a bit fun to watch because they are quite quirky and entertaining.
Shiran (10:25):
It's not going to get like something major out of it, but it's just a nice little spot, but yeah, I think focus on the topics. I know that there are special speakers. I know that this year Oprah is speaking, those do tend to be quite late at night from a South African perspective and it's quite short, it's only half an hour. But if the topic appeals to you as I said, you know, we all want to see Oprah speak, but maybe focus on the topic. But I think what's also really nice is that, because they've moved to the digital space, there is a free element, so there are obviously, the pay tickets, but then you do get the free tickets as well. And that's also a really cool addition that I think to Inbound is that you can go and experience and be part of the community, which is what HubSpot is all about, without having to pay for a ticket if you're unable to. So that's also quite nice. And those are, like on-demand videos, which are quite nice to watch as well.
Kgomotso (11:23):
Cool. So I think, yeah, like you've been actually giving us more insights, basically,.
Chaz:
So I know exactly how I’m going to prepare.
Kgomotso (11:30):
And I'm also looking forward to Dharmesh and Brian as well, because I've watched some of the videos. I've never heard them speak in a conference before, but I've definitely listened to them before. And they've always given so much value basically. And especially, how they actually describe Inbound and HubSpot generally. So I think those for me, are the two speakers that I'm also looking forward to, except obviously for Oprah and the new CEO, those are also very interesting speakers that are coming up.
Chaz (12:03):
Yeah, it's seeing them in a space that's not certification wise because then, they always come up when you're busy watching your videos and then they have a chat to you. So now they're going to be in real life, even though they are not.
Kgomotso (12:15):
So, yeah. So I think, from what you've given us, you've actually given us a proper expectation basically like from what to expect. And I think many of us who are going to be joining in Inbound this year for the first time will know what to expect and surely have a good time actually, and learn as well while we attend the event.
Chaz (12:42):
We're also going to be doing another episode, I think it's our fourth episode, and then that's going to be a recap of Inbound 21. So it's going to be, I'm going to hold Shiran's words to all of these things, and I'm going to say, “I'm sorry, you didn’t prepare me for enough stuff!” I'm really excited to come back and then I'm going to hold you to your words.
Shiran (13:03):
Alright wait, wait, let's prepare you for more. So, it is a digital thing. I think what I'm excited about this year, because I mean, you know, having been there for the first digital one next year, I'm excited to see how the platform has advanced because HubSpot's not the type of business to be stagnant. And I'm quite keen to see if they've made any tweaks or, you know, things to the platform that they actually built it on. Also I'm excited too, I hope they've kind of worked out some of the glitches. I mean, they did really well last year for a first time on a new platform and a new everything they did really well with a few glitches here and there. But, yeah, I'm quite excited to see that and it's an interactive platform as well, which is really cool, so that's something else to think about. Like what we did as well, was we kind of explored the platform a couple of days before just to see what was there and what they built. So I think from a digital experience kind of thing, it was actually really fun to kind of see what they come up with. So I'm excited to see if they've come up with anything new. We'll see afterwards, we'll have that discussion and be like, “Did they do anything differently this year?”
Chaz (14:11):
Tell me what they did on the platform. Making online friends it'd be like “Hello.”
Shiran (14:19):
I mean you can. That's another great thing is that you can, you actually can have, like there on the platform itself, you can chat with other people that are in the session. So like last year, some of our past employees who had obviously moved on to new adventures had attended Inbound and we actually had a little chat there. It was really cool. It was like seeing your old friend at a conference but it was all digital. So not really seen, but yeah, I mean, it's really, it's nice...
Shiran (14:51):
And they built these cool avatars. You can kind of see people standing in front of a stage. So I’m interested to see what they've done differently this year.
Chaz:
Yeah. I definitely think they'll level it up if you know HubSpot, what they are.
Shiran:
No pressure, Hubspot!
New Speaker (15:12):
Obviously for our listeners, surely if, obviously, you would like to attend the event I think you should just check out inbound.com and register there so that you can be able to join us. Obviously, as we will be attending as well from the 14th no, from the 12th to the 14th of 2021. So if you go on to inbound.com and register there, I think you will be able to see the event and all the details, but all these details we’lll also put in the description below as well.
Chaz (15:48):
Yes, we will. And Shiran, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.
Shiran:
Thank you for having me, guys.
Kgomoto:
Thank you so much, Shiran.
(15:56):
[HubSpot Segment Introduction Music ]
Kgomotso (16:03):
SEO is a complex and ever-changing discipline. Some estimate that Google updates search 350 times to 400 times per year. Because of this, it's difficult for marketers to know how to get started and where to focus their efforts for maximum impact. HubSpot existing toolkits enable website owners to apply SEO best practices for individual pages and blog posts within the optimization bar, but there hasn't been one consolidated view to see how pages could benefit from additional optimizations. That's where SEO Recommendation Home comes in. SEO Recommendation Home allows marketers to optimize their entire website for SEO from one location. They are also low, medium and high priority indicators so that you can get actionable guidance on which changes will have the most impact on your site’s performance in search. To get started, head over to the recommendations tab within the SEO tool. Choose which hostname you would like to see SEO recommendations for. Hostname with content hosted on HubSpot will automatically be displayed.
Kgomotso (17:24):
To add a new hostname with content hosted outside of HubSpot, click the Add new URL button. Clicking the View recommendations button will display a breakdown of the optimizations you could implement, how many pages each optimization applies to, the impact of implementing the optimization (categorized as low, medium, or high), and a brief explanation of why implementing the optimization is important for SEO success. Clicking the View Pages button next to the optimization displays the list of pages associated with selected optimization. Other details and controls may appear, depending on the optimization the user selected. Remember, content hosted on HubSpot is automatically rescanned for SEO issues whenever it's published or edited. To rescan content hosted outside of HubSpot click Scan For Recommendations button. SEO Recommendations Home is now available for all MarketingHub professionals and Enterprise customers, as well as users of HubSpot CMS.
(19:19):
[Outro music]
Kgomotso (19:19):
We hope that you enjoyed our second episode. Thanks again, to Shiran for joining us today.
Chaz (19:25):
Be sure to check out the blog posts connected to this episode at spitfireinbound.com and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Kgomotso (19:33):
We'd love for you to like, follow, and subscribe to our podcast and for you to leave us a review and share this episode.
Chaz (19:39):
In our next episode, we'll be starting our Women in Marketing series. We’ll be chatting to some of our own team members on what its like to be a woman in marketing, and more specifically, what being a woman at Spitfire means, and how and why it's important to our company culture.
Kgomotso (19:53):
It should tie really nicely to our first episode about company culture. So make sure to give that a listen, if you haven't already. Remember, all the links are in the description below. Thank you again. See you soon.
Chaz (20:07):
Byee!
