Once again, Content Matterz did Boston! As CEO of a marketing agency, it’s hard to step away from work for even a little bit, but when a client shared a pass to the 2023 HubSpot Inbound conference, I had to go.
Each year, HubSpost puts on one of the biggest conferences that “brings together business, marketing, and sales leaders to network, learn, and grow” — attendance is in the thousands, and many more stream online. In short, it’s an intensely packed few days of all things content and marketing (my favorite!).
But when the dust settles, the hashtags die down and the booths disassemble, the 12,000 of us who were there at the event (not to mention the 100,000 who tuned in online) have a LOT to process.
The name of the game is AI
First things first, the takeaways from Inbound can nearly all be summarized under one umbrella: AI is changing our lives and jobs forever. As the event host, HubSpot made it clear they are here to lead the way and help marketing, sales and service make the most of it.
With that said, here are my top 5 takeaways from HubSpot Inbound 2023:
1. We’re experiencing a major turning point for humanity
And yes, it’s all because of AI. Similar to when the internet was launched, the iPhone first hit the market and humans first liked a friend’s post, AI is already changing how we work and live. And rather than being scared by all this change, we’re going to take advantage of all the opportunities that inflection points offer — we have to.
As Dharmesh Shaw said in his keynote (paraphrasing from memory), “Inflection points offer everyone the same starting point. At this point in time, we all have the same information and tools, so it’s anyone’s game.”
2. AI: not just for writing content
My copywriting team can rest easy. Well, a little bit.
AI isn’t coming for your job quite yet. By now, we’re all familiar with tools like ChatGPT — simply enter a prompt, and a whole article-length piece (or whatever output is requested) appears in seconds. But it’s just not entirely up to snuff for publishing as-is. For now.
The real power of AI will come in managing the minutiae of our jobs—according to Forbes, 64% of businesses expect AI to increase productivity.
At Inbound, the excitement centered around AI improving many things on our plates, such as:
- More precise chatbots that are better at answering questions about a company’s offerings
- Campaign building and structuring, including landing pages, emails and ads
- Building websites (see #4)
3. Inspiring humans still steal the show
Amidst all the talk of robot takeovers, there is some good news for us mere mortals.*
Last year, Barack Obama shared his presidential two cents for solving problems and building culture. At HubSpot Inbound 2023, the illustrious Reese Witherspoon got on stage to talk about many things (though she did not talk about topics related to the state of the film industry or the writer’s strike).
I appreciated hearing her take on the realities of running a business that looks successful on the outside while hemorrhaging money on the back end. It gives me solace knowing that even for the Reese Witherspoons of the world, owning a company isn’t without the same challenges that affect us all!
*If one can even group former presidents and celebrities with “normal” humans.
4. The big picture is where the possibilities of AI begins
HubSpot has gone all in on AI and is developing amazing products to help us all. We’re talking AI-built websites — yes, entire websites, created in seconds. Additionally, keep a lookout for AI-designed campaigns that include emails, landing pages, and ad programs. Did I mention intuitive AI-driven sales tools?
Want to learn more? Or see a demo? Contact us.
5. It’s the end of the (sales+marketing) world as we know it
At the end of the day — or conference — my biggest takeaway is that marketers and salespeople cannot sit back and rely on things that worked in the past.
The pace of change is only accelerating, and while it’s overwhelming, we must keep reading, learning and growing to take advantage of some of the truly phenomenal advances that are coming. Or not. Stay as you are and get left behind — no one wants that.
Keeping this good momentum going
I’ve always enjoyed getting out in the world and learning what others are excited about — and events like Inbound let me do it with thousands of others in the same boat. As I dig into fall planning for Content Matterz and our clients, I’m inspired to try out some of these newfangled tools and think about marketing in a whole new AI-enhanced light.
Do you want to talk to a human about reimagining your marketing strategy (possibly using a little AI to boot)? Reach out today! Skip the bots and email me directly: cara@contentmatterz.com.