This week, Boston is hosting HubSpot’s INBOUND 2016 event featuring a wide variety of speakers, keynote and educational sessions. This event happens to come at an interesting time as marketers look back at lessons learned from inbound marketing. What went wrong? What went right? And most importantly, what do they need to focus on now as they move into 2017.
In order to get this kind of in-depth trend forecast, you need to not only attend events like HubSpot’s INBOUND, but also be listening and participating in the conversation with key industry influencers.
Here are 6 inbound influencers that you can start tracking:
Yaron Galai (@YaronGalai): Is the CEO and Co-Founder of the content amplification tool called OutBrain. So, who better to discuss having hyper personalized content at INBOUND this year? Yaron has the insight you need on the digital tomorrow. He also keeps your content strategy in line by reminding modern marketers that it’s all about portraying your brand with a single story and message.
Rand Fishkin (@randfishkin): SEO can be a challenge for any marketing team. As Google continues to change and evolve, it’s important to keep up with the essentials. Rand will be speaking about what marketers can expect in 2017 and beyond in terms of SEO, so make sure you are following him on Twitter and keeping up with the conversation even post INBOUND. Rand is in fact the founder of Moz, the web’s most popular SEO software provider, and if you don’t get time to catch his session at INBOUND, his blogs are certainly worth taking note of.
Beth Dunn (@bethdunn): If you are planning on catching her speak at this year’s INBOUND 2016, you’ll be hearing about the importance of effective copywriting and storytelling. As HubSpot’s Product Editor-in-Chief, she’s the one to listen to on how to refine your content strategy and strengthen your brand voice.
Stella Garber (@startupstella): Getting your marketing team to stay more organized and effective come 2017 might be one your goals, and if it is, well you’re in luck because Stella Garber is the VP of Marketing at a collaboration tool call Trello. Stella helped take Trello to news levels by applying different marketing strategies and growing the brand to a global level. Learn more from her experience at: Trello Goes Global: Launching an International Marketing Strategy or catch her guest blog posts on Technori, TechCocktail or Women Grow Business.
Oli Gardner (@oligardner): Is the Co-Founder of Unbounce, a platform that allows marketers to build, publish and test landing pages without IT or software. If you caught him at INBOUND this year, you most likely heard him talk about the future of conversion and how to increase conversion rates as soon as you walk out the door. If you did miss his session and you’re experiencing FOMO, check out this video clip: The Four Corners of Conversion.
Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs): Last but not least, we have the CCO of Marketing Profs. Her topic of choice for INBOUND is why your business should think about “slowing down”. Learn how to slow down at the right moment with the right things with her guidance. If you miss her must-see session, then go ahead and order her best-selling book on content marketing, Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.
Looking for top inbound trends to help guide your team in the right direction? Check out: The Biggest Inbound Marketing Trends Shaping Up 2017