5 takeaways from Inbound 15: What it means for content marketing in dubai

Dubai to Boston for the World's biggest Content Marketing conference

So at the beginning of September three of the Nexa team and I boarded the Emirates A380 to Boston, with a little stop in New York on the way. 

What did I learn and what does it mean to the movement in Dubai?

New York, New York! 

En route to Boston we stopped in New York. It wasn't all play as we had partners to meet and a lot to learn from this bustling city. One of the people we met in New York was Geoff Goldberg. Geoff is one of the early adopters of the Periscope and Meerkat platforms. He walks the streets of Manhattan and its neighbours and gives a real New Yorker (pronounced "noo yoiker") first person impression of the city.

It was amazing to see the power of embracing new platforms early and the effect of great, frequent content. He has been named one of the most influencial people on Periscope and Meerkat and on the back of his efforts, his Twitter following has also flourished. Check him out on all platforms @geoffgoldberg. 

Inbound 15 and the takeaways

The sessions came thick and fast. So much so that even with four of us there we barely scratched the surface. 

I took the sales and business development track and this is what I learned and what you can hopefully use for your own strategies in Dubai. 

1. IT IS not a tactic it's a movement

Hubspot started it's platform in 2006. The first conference they held was seven years ago and it hosted a mere 20 people. This has evolved into one of the world's biggest digital conference with a whopping 14,500 attendees this year. 

Although the event was occupied by a majority of marketing agencies, there was never a feeling of competition. The agencies that attended all took their opportunities to share or receive best practice advice with other agencies. This sharing and caring attitude ensures that agencies that adopt this form of marketing become part of a marketing revolution. 

Content Marketing is in its infancy in Dubai. The companies and agencies that adopt this type of marketing earliest and with the best practices are the ones that will reap the rewards. 

2. Keep asking questions

Whether you are an agency finding out the very depths of your client or a company trying to understand your target audience, keep asking questions. 

The questions you ask and how you ask them is going to form the foundation of your content strategy. This marketing effort relies on the ability to completely understand your target audience. You need to know how your customers lives, breathes, makes decisions and why? The closer you get to your customer the better the results. 

Companies need to be understanding the questions that their clients are asking too. If you can answer the questions, problems, concerns, challenges and needs of your potential customer then you are a long way along the route to having this potential turn into a reality. 

3. your time is precious, use it wisely

Using your time in the most efficient way seems almost impossible. Here are some quick fire tips to help out:

• Focus - statistics shown at the event highlighted that every interuption in the workplace leads to about 40 minutes of wasted time before you refocus on the task at hand. It is time to cut the time wasters out of your life. The biggest players in this are email and social media. When you are committed to a task turn off notifications at the very least. If you can build a system where you have out of office on when you are doing non-email things then you will see the effects. 
• Organise your team by energy not time slots - an interesting one here. The most simple example is with your sales team. If they are communicating with people when the are not in the mood then the customer is going to feel this. Get them to organise their meetings, calls etc when they are full of energy. 
• Qualify effectively - Dubai is the king of the meeting. But how many of the meetings you attend come to anything. Content Marketing gives you the ability to gain commitment and information from the other party before you go and waste your time. I like to build sales questions around the BANT methodology;

1. BUDGET - what is the amount of money that your potential customers want or feel they have to put towards this effort?
2. AUTHORITY - is the person you are communicating with the person that is going to be making the decision? Don't let the person you are talking have to sell your products or services to their management. Get the management in the arena. Work out the success parameters for everyone in that room and why it is important to them. 
3. NEED - what are they actually trying to do? What does success look like to them and their company? What does failure look like? Try and get facts and figures, you will appreciate it when you calculate the ROI (return on investment). 
4. TIMELINE - What timeframes are they working to? Are they realistic? Remember Content Marketing is a medium to long term play. 

• Be here now - Whatever you do, whether in the workplace, with friends or family or just your personal downtime, be here now. If you are at work, work. If you are with your kids, spend that precious time with them not thinking about that email that can wait until tomorrow. 

4. Think about the receiver of the information

The Golden rule in communication was previosuly "Treat your customers how you would like to be treated", while this is great it has evolved. The Platinum rule is "Treat your customers how they would like to be treated". This is true for all forms of communication. 

A great example of this is the email. How many times do you read your email on the phone? Has the person that sent the email thought about how you will be reading it? If the email is a five page essay then probably not. 

Think about how your customer wants to receive information and apply it to your communication strategy. 

5. GET COMPANY BUY IN NOW

Whether you are an agency creating great customers for your client or a company building an awesome customer base you need buy in. 

The conference showed many examples of huge success. One of the most common themes that attributed this success was company or cultural buy in. If you are serious about your strategy then your entire team needs to be. If members of your team aren't or won't get it should they be there? Some companies even use the Hubspot certification tool as a requirement for their staff. 

Quite simply, get everyone behind this idea and you will see the fruits of your work. 

CONCLUSION:

I hope that these tips will help you and your company out when thinking about embracing Content Marketing in Dubai. 

If you have any questions about anything marketing then please ask me using the form to the right. 

Otherwise please check out our free guide below. 

Check out the experiences from the rest of our team:

Amit Vyas - CEO /inbound15-insights-and-general-thoughts-from-hubspots-annual-conference

Andrew Thomas - Managing Director /inbound-15-more-than-a-content-and-inbound-conference

Ravi Vyas - Operations Director /dubai-to-boston-inbound-15-was-it-worth-it