The Chicago HubSpot User Group Recaps INBOUND 2017

On October 25, members of our team headed into the city for the local Chicago HubSpot User Group Meetup. Despite the rain and 40° weather, there was still a great turnout for the INBOUND 2017 recap and panel. In fact, our Director of Digital Marketing, Allison Casey, was asked to present her key insights. 

Gotta stop for coffee after the Metra commute into the city!

Before the panel, Stephanie Casstevens and Debra Monkman, recapped their INBOUND takeaways and highlighted some of the new marketing product rollouts that HubSpot announced at the conference. Key featured products include: a content strategy tool which we knew about from our workshop with Justin Champion, campaign reporting functionality, Facebook Ads, Instagram for HubSpot, a Shopify integration and HubSpot Collect.

Then it was time for the panel of six INBOUND attendees to share their insights. The panelists were Allison Casey, Laura Brennan, Taylor Rowe, Chris Kelley, Jill Wilson, and Katie Gutwein. Each person shared something they learned at INBOUND, something they are working on implementing immediately within their organization and their favorite session from the conference.



Chris Kelley, V2 Marketing account executive and Rockford HUG leader, mentioned that one of his biggest takeaways was remembering to put himself in the shoes of the customer. It’s easy to forget that we’re marketing to other humans. “Practice empathy and provide context when answering customer questions,” he says.

Allison Casey, Diagram’s digital marketing director, shares her insights from INBOUND 2017.

Allison Casey, Diagram's director of digital marketing, shared about the importance of SEO and also voice search. “Fifty percent of Google searches are mobile. How are you being found in mobile searches? Furthermore, by 2020, it’s estimated that 50% of all searches will be voice searches. When it comes to SEO, think about how people would ‘say’ their search instead of only focusing on keywords.” She adds that Rand Fishkin’s spotlight at INBOUND this year was her favorite, as it focused on cultural conditioning and how it impacts marketing. You can view his presentation here.

Attendees who couldn’t attend INBOUND were encouraged to chat with those who did, furthering the networking opportunities that the Chicago HUG provides. We see great value in volunteering and attending the HUG meetups. If you’re headed to the next one, let us know. We’d enjoy meeting you!