Episode 3 of our brand new podcast, Take Flight, is out! In this episode, we’re coming down from the high that was INBOUND21, and we’re getting an in-depth round-up from our colleagues about their experience at INBOUND21.
INBOUND21 was truly mind blowing on so many different levels! We blocked out our calendars for a few days to learn and grow in our areas of expertise at HubSpot INBOUND21.
In this episode, Neo and Lauren share their key takeaways and actionable insights, and Alison Lieshman, our Strategic Director, shares her thoughts about how Spitfire can effect change and amplify progress with our learnings from INBOUND21.
Our Inbound Success Associate, Neo, studied Public Relations and worked in the ICT sector as a communications and PR intern. She has always had a love for marketing and was drawn to the way inbound marketing is different. Her top learnings from INBOUND21 were the customer focused sessions and technical HubSpot skills.
“INBOUND21 was all the knowledge and motivation I need for my career, packaged in three days” - Neo Sejake
Lauren has been on the Spitfire Inbound team since 2019, and is our Social Media and Digital Content Manager. With a strong agency background and qualification in Digital Marketing, she specialises in social media with a core focus on paid media, content, and strategy. Lauren especially enjoyed the LinkedIn focused sessions, as well as the spotlight sessions.
“Approach everything you do with intent, empathy and remember, no one ever lies to Google” - Lauren Espach
Listen to Episode 3:
Transcript can be found 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 3? Do you have any comments or suggestions? We’d love to hear from you.
Transcript:
Motso (00:01):
Do better, be better. Welcome back to the Spitfire Podcast, Take Flight. This is where we chat Inbound Marketing Methodology, Digital Marketing, Sales and Services and talk all things HubSpot and Spitfire related. My name is Motso.
Chaz (00:17):
And I'm Chaz and we are your hosts for Take Flight.
Motso (00:20):
We are coming down from the high that was Inbound 21 last week, that went from the 12th to the 14th October.
Chaz (00:27):
In our previous episode, we spoke to our head of onboarding, Shiran Sugarman, on what to expect from Inbound. And boy was she right by saying, “Have lots of snacks and energy drinks”, but also in her suggestions to fully immerse yourself and not get distracted during the sessions, because Inbound had a ton of knowledge bombs that you didn't want to miss.
Motso (00:47):
So we've got two of our Spitfire colleagues with us today to round up on Inbound21, and hear their key takeaways from this year's virtual event.
Chaz (00:56):
Our inbound Success Associate Neo, studied Public Relations and worked in the ICT sector as a Communications and PR intern. She has always had a love for Marketing and was drawn in to the way Inbound Marketing is different, and how it solves the really big problems that brands have had for many years.
Motso (01:14):
Lauren has been in the Spitfire Inbound Marketing team since 2019, and is our Social Media and Digital Content Manager, with a strong agency background and a qualification in Digital Marketing. She specializes in social media with the core focus on content and strategy.
Chaz (01:32):
To wrap up the interview, our Strategic Director, Alison Leishman, left us with a sneaky sound bite on her thoughts on Inbound21. And after going to both the online Inbound events, and the actual ones in Boston, we're very excited to hear what she has to say. But without further ado, now that the introductions are done, let's talk about Inbound21. So, we have Neo and Lauren with us. We have just given a whole introduction about how amazing you are. HubSpot”s annual Inbound absolutely blew us away. We're going to be rounding up Inbound21 with our key takeaways and actionable insights and strategies from this year's virtual event. So welcome, Lauren and Neo. Thank you so much for being with us today. Obviously we’re chatting about Inbound. Yea. I can’t believe it was last week and it's all over now already.
Motso (02:35):
Yeah, hey. There is a lot to chat about this time around. I invited you guys here to come have a chat with us about what you guys thought about Inbound and just some of the things that you were expecting that actually came up this time around.
Chaz (02:52):
So I'm going to, I'm going to start with Lauren because I was following Lauren on Twitter. If I was missing out on anything from Inbound, I would just go on and I'd be like, “Oh, okay, cool, this is what's going on”. So La, just a quick highlight of your keynote speakers or your favorite speakers from the weekend. And what topics they spoke about if you could, if you could summarize who your favorite was or what your favorite was from the weekend.
Lauren (03:25):
Absolutely. So I mean, first and foremost, it definitely has to be at the HubSpot spotlights. So, they do have that every year, this year it was Yamini Rangun, Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan. And they really... it was so inspiring because they really spoke about obviously, you know, it's the second year of pandemic and COVID, and last year it was all about, you know, pivoting to online and pivoting in response to COVID. And this year it was more about you know, overcoming sort of personal obstacles for all three of them. And it was quite motivational. And what I really liked was Dharmesh went quite deep into, basically, you know, the future of Inbound and I really liked what he said about putting the customer back into CRM.
Lauren (04:26):
So the customer goes in to see, and really just with a very strong focus on the customer and how we can better serve our customers as well as obviously the latest product updates. So there's some cool things coming up. But that was really, I think the standout spotlight for me. And then another one that I really enjoyed was Hasan Minhaj. So I've been a fan of his for a while. His session was called Finding Your Inner Voice. And it was more of a one-on-one interview where he was just talking. But I really was so motivated and I've got so much respect for him. Just what he was saying around you know, companies and brands need to, like, don't just say you're authentic, like actually be authentic. And people are, you know, people aren't blind to that; people can quite easily pick up if your brand is, if it's just lip service or if you actually believe and practice, you know, what you put out there. Yeah. So those, those, are my standouts, those speakers.
Chaz (05:27):
100%, you know what I thought was so interesting about it was that the famous spotlight speakers. I know when we were talking about it previously, they' were amazing and they're super inspirational, but obviously, they are in a different kind of industry and they’re kind of just there to share knowledge and wisdom that broadly would apply to inbounders, but I didn't feel that way at all with either of them this year. I feel like they all, I don't know if they thought about it or if that was just why they were chosen, but I feel like they all ended up relating it to business and marketing so well. Oprah and Spike Lee, as well. So I agree, apart from the very in-depth and specific chats for our industry, those ones were really lovely and then could apply to life and business, which I found really interesting.
Lauren (06:28):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, they're all great, but those personally, those were the ones that stood out for me.
Neo (06:35):
Gosh, Lauren actually mentioned one of the ones that I was going to mention, the HubSpot spotlights with Dharmesh, and how he spoke about customer-centricity and how it's very important to put the customer at the centre of everything that we do. And just the way that he made, like, examples and he used the ‘Underpants Gnomes Effect’ that he got from South Park. That was so cool! Yeah. So yeah, like just basically putting, you know, everything into perspective for us and like, and how we would need to, you know, go forward regarding the CRM and just being able to, you know, maintain our customers and clients. And how to use the CRM in a way that is effective, you know obviously, like the flywheel and all of that, and just really emphasizing everything about it.
Neo (07:38):
And so that was like one of the ones that stood out for me. And, also because I'm an Inbound Success Associate, I was really looking for a lot of sessions regarding customer success or anything regarding, you know, how to deal with customers and clients. And, you know, one that stood out to me was a session called I think, Sitting at The Same Side of the Table. And I think she's a Customer Success Manager, or if I'm wrong, I’m not so sure, for HubSpot. And she was explaining how to deal with customers that are frustrated and how it's important to have emotional intelligence and empathy so that you can, like, put yourself in their shoes. And like, it just puts, or makes me realize, you know, if I'm speaking to a client or if, you know, you are dealing with somebody who is probably frustrated at, you know, something that's happening on HubSpot, you know, it just puts yourself in their shoes and think about how you would feel if you needed that help and what you would want to receive.
Neo (08:53):
So a lot of that, as well as…. Oprah was big for me, and I think I'll watch that every single time I get the chance because she really spoke a lot about what we all face and you know, yeah, just, I think those were like my standouts and yeah, pretty big takeaways for me
Chaz (09:17):
And definitely not me watching Oprah, like three or four times already, since...
Neo (09:23):
I'm not judging you, I'm not judging you.
Chaz (09:26):
Yeah, every time I cover, I write more notes and I'm just like, how is there this much wisdom in one human? But also Neo, everything that you said, right, and everything that you've learned or not learned, that was reinforced and I said it in one of our focus meetings.... So at Spitfire Inbound, we meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at half-past 8 and we just kind of get together and speak to each other about what our wins for the week, for the day, were and our focus. And I said like, that's all the inbound methodology - wild! Like, all of the stuff that we were learning at Inbound was reinforcing what we learned while we're working with this Inbound methodology way of doing things. And for it to come out as empathetic and human over and over and over again, it's just, it's... I'm so happy that we're all doing this together because it's a good way of doing marketing in the world, if that makes sense? Yeah. What I'm saying?
Motso (10:43):
Also for me, like my highlight, I would say guys, was Dharmesh, that talk that he gave. And I liked how he gave us a background of CRM and how he sees CRM as not just customer relationship management, but customer relationship magic. So meaning putting the customer first, making sure that whatever you do, you make sure that the customer is divided. And I think that's what HubSpot always emphasizes is that, you know what, let's do away with the funnel. And let's actually have a flywheel basically where we could actually have this process be repeated over and over again, to make sure that the customer is divided. And, you know, the whole thing of customer-centricity, like makes sure that we put the customer first and we always always make sure that they are satisfied with what we do so that at the end of the day, they can be able to refer us to other people and make sure that our business also grows and they're also happy as well. So I think for me, that was also like a very interesting thought. And like you said, Chaz, like reemphasizing what we've already been learning and what we have also been doing as well.
Chaz (11:54):
Definitely, yeah, and also being a first time Inbounder and new in the world of Inbound, it was just a reinforcing and... I'm really excited about the updates that are coming, Lauren, what would you say? I mean, you can't really say there's a favourite because they're all going to be amazing, but what would you say one of your favourite upcoming updates will be? Dharmesh also spoke in his chat about web one, web two and web three and that was a revolution that's kind of going to be coming and not really happening just yet, but it's on its way. And I feel like the updates really have spoken into preparing for that.
Lauren (12:43):
Absolutely, you know, there are a number of updates and cool things sort of in beta testing and that are coming up. I would highly recommend for everyone listening to this, our Strategic Director, Alison Leishman, she actually wrote and published a fantastic blog article on the latest updates to come out of Inbound. So I would definitely encourage you to go check that out. I'm sure Chaz and Motso will put that link in the show notes. And she lists all of the updates, but the one I'm excited about is the Sandboxes which is live. And this is a really cool update that just allows, it's more of a safe place for users to test changes without kind of permanently changing data or interacting with customers. So you can sort of do what you need to do, test it out before going live. And it's really a tool that will help build, you know, help all the team's confidence within HubSpot. So I would definitely say that that's a big one. So go check out the article and go check out specifically Sandboxes, if you do work in the HubSpot portal, it's definitely going to be a game-changer.
Chaz (14:01):
I remember seeing in the comments, people thinking, “What is the sandbox, where can we play?” Yes, we can play, we can play safe but not right now. Everybody calm. And for you Neo, was there anything, was there any kind of concepts or updates specifically HubSpot, or just from a speaker in general, that you thought, “Ah, you know, I already do that or I don't do enough of that or, I don't do that at all, and I'm really excited to implement that in my work?”
Neo (14:35):
Gosh. so I watched one on Emails and it's, literally, what I do quite a lot. And I mean, as an Inbound Implementer, that's definitely key, you know, one of the core things that we work on is emails. And he spoke about a lot of things, so he's like, I think he works at Subject Line or Subject....
Lauren (14:59):
Oh, World Data–it's Jay Schwedelson. Yeah. Yeah. He's fantastic.
Neo (15:08):
That was.. again, I think I'll watch that more than once, but he told us a lot about what you know, works for subject lines and all of that and I definitely will implement it. One of them is like putting ‘oops’ in your subject line and, to be honest, I would open that; so it increases open rate and increases engagement. You know, so just things like that I think is definitely something that was like, I don't do enough of this, let me go and work on that. It's very exciting to actually like, implement that going forward. And I know that it will drive results I'm very sure.
Lauren(15:52):
Absolutely. Just to jump in here, Neo. I watched him last year, so this is the second year that I've attended Inbound, and I watched him last year and what I love about his sessions is that he's got so much energy, but then he also kind of tells you the email trends for right now. So it might not have worked in the past or it might not work in like three months time, but right now you have some actionable... so he takes the data and they are actionable tips that you can use right now. And the one thing that stood out for me was using bookend emojis in your email subject line. So that's putting an emoji first and then having your email subject line and then putting another emoji at the end. And that increases your email rate by… I can’t remember what the percentage is now I'll have to go back and check, but it was huge, it was like over 30%, like almost 40% just by using bookend emojis in your subject line. Which is, which is so cool. And it's something so easy and it really makes your brand stand out, because competitors aren't doing that right now.
Chaz (16:58):
Yeah. So there was also... I was surprised by how many things people try. I mean, I've never seen it, I've seen it, but we've never tried it before and we know it’s a no no, but like kind of myths, and especially within the email sphere, and I'm assuming that's probably something that people used to be able to do like three, four years ago. And now it's just like, stop, don't do that anymore. And he was super (open) on those things. He was just like, don't do those, don't do this, do this, do this, do this. And I was like, “Hmm.” Yeah. And I would have never have even thought about it.
Lauren (17:33):
Yeah. And using comparisons in your email subject line as well. Yeah. That also helps with open rate.
Chaz (17:45):
For me, I watched a debate with the B2B institutes, the LinkedIn guys, John, John Lombardo and I think Peter, Peter Weinberg or something, but guys, it was like late, late. So for Inbound, for us in South Africa, it would start around 12-1 o'clock in the afternoon and end around 12-1 o'clock in the evening. And this is kind of one of the last debates I think, on the Tuesday evening, and they spoke about contrarian marketing versus conventional marketing. So brands versus clicks, you know, and it was so funny because they worked for the same place and you can see that in their titles, but they were going for the debate like I honestly at some point, thought that they hated each other a little bit. I was like, “This is so spicy. Oh my goodness. We're getting into it.” And then by the end of it, they, you know, calm down and then it's a plot twist.
Chaz (18:47):
You get that they were in on it the whole time, although I can be gullible as a human, so we might just put it down to that. But it was kind of like, there's never better or worse. There's not… there's nothing that works 100% without the other, you know, it always has to do with the customer. It always has to do with the intention behind what you're marketing and it's, you know, specific type of marketers will always say that their specific niche is better, but it's not, everything works together. And it depends on what the goal is. And it depends on what you're trying to achieve, and if one type of marketing gets you there better, then obviously, that's amazing, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best type of marketing. It's just the best type for what you're trying to do, and for your clients.
Chaz (19:46):
And it goes right back to putting the customer first again. And then it even goes back to Oprah’s chat. I mean, this is what I was saying with the keynote speakers, wildly managing to use their life stories and it’s business but with intention. Literally the next day in a meeting with the clients, Louisa used the word. She was like, “It needs strategic intention.” And I was like, “I know for a fact, Louisa, wasn't watching Oprah last night”. Because, like, that's the way that we work, you know? So I thought that was really nice. Yeah.
Motso (20:26):
Oh, so I also enjoyed a talk about SEO, the killer SEO strategies, deep product design methodology by Tony Verre, and I liked what he said about Google never lying, and that it simply ties back to intention. You know, because many times when we do it, obviously in the past, we think that SEO we'll have to just stuff a lot of keywords to make sure that Google picks it up. But due to the updates that Google has done to the algorithm, it does not actually work that way anymore. It actually prioritizes the intent behind the blog or the website page. So I think that whole mindset of intention really, really resonates a lot to this. And also, I like what he said, that every time you do write anything basically on a website, you always need to remember about the expertise, the authority, and the trust, which is why, actually, it can help someone who's actually building a landing page or webpage or a blog to always remember the intent.
Motso (21:32):
Like, what is the intent behind that, what are you actually trying to help the customer solve? So I think with that, like it just connects everything, like what Oprah said and what those tips that were given as like, it just connects everything together and it makes it so, so, so purposeful. And it helps you as well, when you're building out, to always remember that you want to help the customer solve a problem. Not that they can come to a website and click a couple of pages, but to always remember that there always has to be an intention behind what you write. So I found that to be very, very interesting, basically.
Lauren (22:11):
That was a cool session. I watched that one as well. And in terms of no one lies to Google, I mean, that's such a great point and quote to remember. So I mean, also, it's also about using the data. So use the data to tailor for your customer's needs. You know, you don't have to... there's no guesswork, you know, Google gives you the data which is amazing, which is super cool. And then something that really stood out for me and I have this on my top five key takeaways list, and this plugs into everything we've been saying now, is that the fundamentals of Inbound Marketing... so the Inbound Marketing Methodology, the fundamentals stay the same, right? It's all about using, finding the right combination of strategy tools, trends that will work for your client and for your project. And it's just about finding new ways of using those applications to achieve the goals of your clients.
Chaz (23:14):
Yes. I wanted to start kicking cause it was like exactly that. Okay. So, we're obviously kind of on the high off of Inbound. I've, I mean, I said earlier, I felt like Inbound was like the Olympics, like the Olympics of the Inbound Marketing World. And now, you know, after the Olympics or after some kind of events, you just feel very excited and kind of rejuvenated to go in and practice all of those things. But we're going to be those guys for a second and ask what you think Inbound could do better next time. It's the second time that they have been an online event, obviously the first time being due to COVID. I know the platform was really, really cool and quite easy to use. But if you had to say anything that they could do better next time, what would your opinion be on that?
Lauren (24:21):
I have one, only one thing, right? The platform was fantastic. You know, it was really robust and they had new features this year. So, for example they had like a networking tab where you could network with other members of the audience and attendees. You could check out the sponsors, you could download like content from the sponsors. All of that was fantastic. The one thing that I would say is that I would love to see, is if they had an option to basically share quotes or share, yeah, just share to social and have the speaker handles within the agenda or the platform, because that's, you know, as you’re listening you're busy, like tweeting and you're busy sharing on social, and it would just, it would help streamline basically productivity.
Lauren (25:11):
So you wouldn't have to maybe go and like search for the specific speaker on social you know, you've got their handle there. Cool, you know, you can just like, tweet them or you can share to social. That is my only criticism. I would love to see that next year, otherwise you know, they did so well with the platform, you know, they had I think at one stage, like over 4,000 users on the platform at one time. So I mean, it really, you know, it didn't crash; there weren't many glitches, so they've definitely ironed out a lot of those sorts of niggles from last year.
Neo (25:43):
I don't have much, or anything really cause I haven't attended in the previous years. I would say that my experience this year as a first timer, it was amazing. I can definitely agree with Lauren and maybe, you know, like just having the speaker handles so we can tag them, so that you can find them on social, that's definitely something that they can implement next year, but besides that, everything was so cool. The way you could interact with people. It's like a community online where you can literally just network. And I mean, I think also, because of how they can just be readily available to you on demand to watch at any time, that is definitely one of the best things about this conference this year.
Chaz (26:33):
I completely agree, Neo being a first timer, that I think the only thing for me at all, was that when you went onto the agenda, it didn't jump to you on day two if you were on day two. And then kind of to the time where you were at, you had to go and find it, a kind of smart content that you could put in and implement, I guess. I don't know, I'm not telling them how to do their jobs at all. I think they were also amazing, amazing, responsive via socials when we were tweeting and on Instagram and everything. So I also really enjoyed that part from them and I would love, love, love to go to Boston and experience Inbound there after seeing...
Lauren (27:19):
I would too. That must just be such a whole different experience.
Chaz (27:24):
Like I was just kind of like putting myself there-ish as well, with the excitement and adrenaline and conversations we were having. And I just thought to myself it would be so cool running from one chat to the next now and doing all of the things. So that's definitely an Inbound bucketlist for me. Okay. So how are we going to implement what we learned at Inbound, into our daily lives, into our work lives?
Lauren (27:55):
That's a good question. I think in terms of like, practically implementing, you know, some of the tips and strategies that we learned for me personally, it's all about intent. So I am going to... intent and empathy… so I am going to approach everything that I do with myself, my colleagues, and my clients with intent and empathy. And in terms of practical tips, some of the LinkedIn expert sessions I attended, I learned a couple of tips and tricks, which I'm going to play around with which is great, because you're always learning and always growing, you know, you never stop learning. So I think that's going to be a big one for me in the coming months.
Neo (28:43):
Yeah. And that's really, that's a good one, Lauren. Also for me, I would definitely take empathy. And you know, with the session that spoke about how to speak to customers and everything just, you know, knowing that your tone matters. You know I think that if a client or a customer comes to you and they’re frustrated or they’re very you know, worried she spoke about...And, you know, like it's funny because as somebody who has been in the shoes of a customer calling somewhere and getting really irritated at service or at something you'd be so frustrated over the phone and then wonder why the person I was speaking to, his tone is so calm and, you know, like, so she mentioned stuff like that. You know, if a client is coming to you with a tone like “I'm not happy with this,” and you would just come and be like, “What can I help you with?”
Neo (29:45):
So things like that, I think I need to learn that. And it's really, it really makes sense because you don't want to come off frustrated or angry as well, just like the customer they're going to be... they’re probably going to be even more frustrated. So you need to speak in a tone like that, that tells them that you're going to fix the problem and that you know what you're doing as well. So that is like a big thing because of how much I'll be like, facing customers and stuff. So learning to do that and like, just practicing, like in future, I'll just do like, a lot of roleplaying. We have a HubSpot mentorship program here. So we do sit with a couple of the people that work at HubSpot, and really cool sessions that we have with them, like once a month. And I do a lot of role playing with my mentor and, you know, she puts different scenarios of me speaking to clients and how they respond. So I think that that's like a very big thing to take and implement going forward.
Chaz (30:54):
I'm going to call you up and I'm going to be a ‘Karen’ and every single time, it's going to be a thing from now on, every single time you’ve got to reply differently, ok?
Neo:
Yeah. Differently. Let's try that.
Lauren (31:06):
I love that, Neo, and that just, you know, that goes back to what we were talking about right at the beginning of the interview, is putting the customer back into the customer relationship manager. Definitely.
Motso (31:23):
For me, I would say that intent also is a huge one, you know, like doing the work that we do, like, we always have to remember why we're doing it. So I think it's always good practice, basically like to take your moment before you do anything, to remember why you're doing it so that you know, that, okay, you are actually doing this, like, with an intent. You're not just doing it because you have to do it, but you're doing it because there's a reason why, behind why you're doing it. So whether it's creating a social post or like preparing a report or anything, basically, even if it's client related work or like having to respond to client, having to remember why you're doing it, I think that for me, like, it's the biggest takeaway from the entire thing actually.
Chaz (32:08):
Definitely. And I mean, that feeds in so well to your purpose as an individual, right? I mean, if you don't have... if you don't have the set intentions, it's kind of a gray area, it's easy to wake up in the morning and, you know, not want to work or not want to serve your clients in the best way possible. And it's… Myself and Motso were up on, I think it was on Thursday night, watching Oprah, and we were referring back to our first episode, Take Flight episode that we recorded with Darren, where he spoke about our culture at Spitfire and then culture in general and how important it is for business. And a lot of what he was saying was that, you know, money, money isn't everything, wanting to wake up in the morning and do what you want to do
Chaz (33:06):
work-wise, when it takes up more of your life than anything else, is so important because that's what drives you. And that's what makes you happy. And you know, happy wife, happy life, but like insert employees here, and if our actual work has intention behind it, if our marketing has intention behind it, if everything that we do we're taking a moment and stepping back and saying, hey, like, why are we doing this? And working with our team members to make sure that that's the right thing to do, that makes me very happy. And that makes me really happy to be working with a team like this and in an industry like this.
Lauren (33:49):
I love that Chaz. It's really cool. It's like, what is your purpose? What is our purpose as individuals? as well as a business, you know? That's really so cool. I think that's such a key thing to always remember.
Chaz (34:04):
Insert sub soap here. Yeah. But yeah, that's kind of, so on that note though, that is how Inbound made me feel. I was mushy. I was inspired. I was, I was really you know, taught a lot of knowledge bombs which were just thrown and I was like, “Oh my gosh, amazing!” But then, also at the same time, able in my brain to already start implementing it, right? Like able to think, “Oh my gosh, yes!” Like that would make that much more effective. And that, that's where I could use this.
To close off, Inbound was a vibe, and we're excited for next year. But I would be excited to, with the four of us, closer to Inbound next year, have a conversation and kind of suss where we've come from here. And then think about what's going to happen in Inbound 2022, which I think they've set the dates for, have they? Does anybody know?
Lauren (35:10):
Think it'll be in October next year?
Chaz (35:13):
Same, same. Which is great.
Lauren (35:15):
Yeah. I mean, it leaves you feeling, you know, as this is my second Inbound, you know, the first one I attended, you know, I was just so like stars in eyes. I was so in awe of everything that I learned and, all the things you've said Chaz, like motivated and inspired. And I think this year I had all of those things, but I also love the fact that it is a community; like HubSpot is a community, and there are like-minded individuals all across the world, you know, globally. If you get to come together and get to grow together and we all have...we'll all practice the same Inbound Marketing Methodology. And we all have that purpose, which just makes the industry a better place and a bit of a better place to work in, both for our clients and for ourselves.
Chaz (36:09):
Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it. Inbound was fun and it was fun to do it with you all.
Lauren (36:19):
Cool. Thank you. Thanks so much for having us on the show. Very exciting.
Alison (36:36):
Some of my experiences of Inbound in person include meeting fantastic people. Gina Balarin being one of the first people that I met at Inbound, I think that was back in 2016, and we've maintained our relationship to this day. She's moved countries three times. We still meet and share ideas and collaborate. So meeting people, networking really, really key to the in-person Inbound event. Yeah, the scale of it, like when you arrive, no matter if we've taken different team members and we prepare them and say, “It's really big” and you go down the escalators and see the absolute scope of it, and you see how many sponsors there are and the vibe and the music and the happy hour drinks, Inbound rocks—all of those experiences are key takeaways. Going in the evening, out into Boston and finding fellow Inbounders wherever you go and connecting with some of the special events; those are all in-person Inbound experiences that you take with you.
Alison (37:53):
In sessions, the first Inbound we went to you, you couldn't book on the agenda, so that like rushing between sessions, trying to get there in time so you can get into the group and then abandoning that and going, “I'm going to sit in this room because I know no matter who comes, they're going to be good.” And some of the best sessions that I've attended in Inbound are not necessarily the ones that I chose, but the ones I landed up in because I didn't get into the ones I chose. And some of those have been the most inspirational. And I think that just testifies to the extent and the quality of the speakers and the vetting process that they take their speaker through because you leave every session learning something. And if you don't learn something, you've met somebody.
Speaker 6 (38:46):
What we did, something that I did, and then whenever we've gone to Inbound, and it's something I actually learned from Gina was, have a question ready that you can use as a kickstarter to ask the people sitting around you. You don't have to sit there going, “How do I make small talk and what do I say?” but have a question. So the one question in the one year was, what is your biggest marketing challenge and we actually did a blog post on that; we collected all the answers together and said, “You know, from our dipstick test at Inbound, this is what people around the world are saying their marketing challenge is.” It could be something like, “What is the next trend, or what do you think Hubspot’s going to launch next?” And that really helped to break the ice and was such a useful and exciting way to meet people and make those connections. Yeah, so in-person Inbound: absolutely wonderful memories. Meeting the sponsors face to face, I think is also something that is really great. And yeah, I hope we go back, but I hope we keep the virtual as well sO that more people that can attend it as I said earlier.
Chaz (39:55):
We have this segment to share the HubSpot updates we'd heard about, and think you should know about. As mentioned, HubSpot delivered its key annual updates at Inbound 21, so we thought what better to chat about these. During the HubSpot spotlight session on Tuesday, CEO Yamini Rangan noted that her favorite, but not limited to updates, were HubSpot payments, Operations Enterprise and the Service Hub customer portal. Hubspot payments are for US customers only at the moment and is running in open beta. It'll give you payment links, allowing for recurring payments, as well as native quotes and payment integrations. We're excited about the e-commerce value of this, and we'll hopefully soon see it being integrated worldwide. Operations Hub Enterprise, will be launching in November. It will be a part of the Enterprise suite. We're thinking data sets, but we'll have to keep you updated as we learn all the details.
Chaz (40:53):
I know a really exciting update to Service Hub Pro and Enterprise users is the customer portal. Here, your customers are able to log into a webpage where they can access and reply to support tickets. This keeps the conversation going between customers and support reps with no coding, as it's connected to a shared inbox. A crowd favorite update for Spitfire, as Lauren mentioned earlier, are Sandboxes .They provide a safe space for users to test changes without permanently changing data or interacting with their customers. It's a huge advantage in building your team's confidence in HubSpot. Next time you're setting up a CRM, testing or just wanting to see how your code interacts with HubSpot, Sandboxes will be the perfect place to be. If you have an Enterprise level portal, you'll have access to one Sandbox and additional are available for purchase. On top of these, other exciting updates include business units, permissioning and governance, flexible associations, custom surveys, custom behavioral events, the custom report builder, and forecasting. So many updates that are just going to allow us to do better and be better.
We hope you enjoyed our wrap up of Inbound 21. Thanks again to Lauren and Neo for joining us today and to Ali, for her extra insights.
Motso (42:10):
Be sure to check out the blog post connected to this episode at Spitfireinbound.com and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Chaz (42:18):
We’d love for you to like, follow, and subscribe to our podcast and please go leave us a review and share this.
Motso (42:25):
In our previous episode, we said that we'll be starting our Women in Marketing series, but we really wanted to speak about Inbound while it's still fresh.
Chaz (42:33):
So episode four, we'll be chatting to some of our own team members on what it means to be a woman in marketing, and more specifically, what being a woman at Spitfire means and how and why it's so important to our company culture.
Motso (42:45):
Remember, all the links that were mentioned in the show about Inbound21 are in the description below.
Thank you again.
See you soon.
Bye!
