(Seriously, INBOUND was that good that I’ve got enough to say to fill up this many posts. Go read my other ones! I’ve got at least one more in me!)
Today, I’m highlighting my very favorite session of the conference: Endless Customers, by Marcus Sheridan, along with some commentary of my own.
Let me start by saying that I found almost nothing Marcus said to be revolutionary. I think he’d agree. Marcus, want to chime in here?
But what he shared was so fundamentally basic as to be revolutionary. It’s the kind of stuff that first-year marketing students hear. But, you see, there’s so much noise today around buzz words and tech, the next new-fangled marketing tactic, that the basics often get lost, the longer you work in the marketing discipline.
🍳 Be Customer-Obsessed.
Everything you do should be guided by customer-focused questions: how will this help customers? How will customers perceive this? What are we trying to communicate? Why?
This is especially true for your website and social media presence. The content of every page and every post ought to focus on the buyer.
🥞 Be Different.
What are you willing to say or do online that your competitors don’t have the guts to do? Break the rules. Don’t market like your competition. Why? Because this is what it means to be customer-obsessed.
As marketers adopt AI-everything, I find myself wondering: is there space to be radically human? “Hyper-Personalized” AI email blasts will never replace IRL interactions. Gary Vaynerchuk’s “friend business” concept is pretty spot-on.
🥓 Be Known and Trusted.
How are you answering customer’s greatest concerns with honesty: cost, solving a problem, product/service comparisons, customer reviews, what’s the best solution?
☕️ Congrats, You’re a Media Company Now.
“Whether you realize it or not, you are becoming a media company.”
Video is the capital of our present age. It’s time to sit down with a fresh cup of finely-crafted coffee from Intelligentsia Coffee Inc. and map out how you will build your media empire.
Make a plan and get buy-in from your senior leadership team. The survival of your company just may depend on it.
So I’ve got thoughts enough left for at least one more post… but I think that will be about it. Are you sick of me yet? In my final post(?), I’ll touch on event marketing, a couple more memorable quotes, and maybe a few personal insights that made my INBOUND unforgettable.
