The following blog comes from Trygve Olsen, our Director of Buzz Development.
I used to travel a lot. A LOT. In the last several years I’ve gotten used to being at home. So when BizzyWeb asked me to take on a new adventure and go to INBOUND 2018 by myself, with orders to make an impact, well I created a Dropkick Murphys playlist on Spotify and headed to the airport. Here’s some of the major takeaways that I learned while at INBOUND 2018.
There’s more emphasis on value today than ever
Statistically speaking the majority of customers are looking for the right experience, on their time. Inundated by marketing for years, people today don’t want to talk to you until they do – and then they only on their terms. Being ready with the right information, at the right time, to the right people is a big changing dynamic in marketing and sales.
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Sales & Marketing are merging
Successful sales and marketing teams are working closer than ever, and in many cases are even intertwined into one “SMarketing” team now. Knowing when and what people are interested in creates a more authentic sales connection, and marketing is constantly being evaluated on how their creative performs – so working on both sales and marketing together means growing better together.
Bots are getting better and smarter
More and more companies and marketing agencies are looking for new ways to leverage artificial intelligence and bots. So while there’s a whole new technology to mispronounce my name (TRIG-VEE), there’s also a shiny new frontier of potential engagements to be had, as long as it’s done well. We found a roadmap on how to do it well – and BizzyWeb will be taking a hard look at including bots in our marketing and offerings for 2019.
The sales funnel is dead
This might be burying the lede a bit, but Hubspot is leading a charge on a new concept for the sales process: the Flywheel. Conceptually the idea is great: there’s no more funnel because prospects aren’t really part of any defined cycle anymore. Great agencies, sales teams and marketers instead go around and around, connecting with prospects, customers and advocates. The wheel keeps on spinning as long as you continue to provide audiences with a great experience.
We are farther ahead of the curve
When you go to a conference with 25,000 people, you tend to get really intimidated really quickly, with a lot of people talking about a lot of changes. A lot of what was considered revolutionary, and something to take back to your team as a major disruptor, we’re already doing at BizzyWeb.
Where do we go from here? We’re going to be talking a lot, and just like the new flywheel, we’re going to keep spinning and getting continuously better. It was a great trip – we’re doing amazing things for our customers at BizzyWeb, and we’re going to keep getting better!
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