If you missed parts of the 2011 Inbound Marketing Summit here’s some of the best take-aways.

Youngme Moon on being different and standing out

• Embrace your negatives as part of your brand to stand out
• No one can tell you how to be different, you must have an idea for how to be different which is hard
• You must be willing to ignore your critics
• Negative markers is one of the most important tools marketers have for differentiation
• Differentiation in a crowded market comes not from well roundedness, but almost always from lopsidedness (focus on strengths only)
• Customer will almost always be able to how to improve but they will almost never be able to tell you how to be different
• Different and crazy can look the same at first
• To be different is to be alone. What makes it feel risky but also captivating to behold
• Doing anything you aren’t passionate about can feel a lot like work.
• Examples: Twitter (140 characters), IKEA (self service), Mini (crazy small

Chris Brogan on using Google+

• Fall in love w/the People & where they are not just Technology
• The biggest thing about Google+, when it’s all boiled down, is its impact on search
• We want to talk to the real person, not their PR agents
• Favorite part of Google+ is the ability to have deeper conversations around content.
• Find people on Google+: Findpeopleonplus.com
• Find people on Google+: Group.as
• Fill in About page otherwise people don’t get to know you
• Fill in “Current Employment” with the most interesting content because that’s what people see when they roll over your image
• Why to be in Google+ – because it ranks more highly in the Google search rankings
• Don’t abandon your main website, you own that.  You don’t own Google+ content

Brian Halligan on version 2 of inbound marketing

• Inbound version 1 was about fixing top of the funnel: spam, cold-calling, interruption based marketing
• Inbound version 2 is about the middle and bottom of the funnel: conversion, etc
• Old world marketing model
  • Asymmetric relationship
  • Sales had power over the customer (and had power within the organization)
  • “Enterprise death-march” sales process
• New world marketing model
  • Symmetric relationship
  • Customer has the power; Power needs to shift from sales to marketing because sales gets involved at the bottom of the funnel
  • New B2B buying process starts with search (search remains a useful tool throughout the process)
  • Content becomes a sustainable asset that appreciates over time, as opposed to traditional marketing where you rent space.
  • Gen1 website was brochureware. Gen2 was putting in a CMS. Gen3 is making them personalized

  MOFU – Middle of the Funnel

  • “Conversion expertise” is the common trait of the most successful marketing companies
  • Uses the “network effect” to improve the customer experience
  • Personalized experiences improve value and increase conversion rates
  • Build a moat around your business using inbound marketing
  • Organize around purpose: TOFU & MOFU
  • The profile of new-age marketers: digital native, content creator, analytical and social reach
  • Company examples: Netflix, Amazon, Google, Pandora

Content Management Systems and Platforms – Panel Discussion

• CMS value is getting the right message to the right customer in a timely manner
• Use theme of : Bait –> Hook –> Sinker
• Need to be able to repurpose content across multiple channels
• You need a strategy to leverage your CMS.  Tools alone have no value. YET the strategy has to be flexible and iterative
• “Engagement Value” scoring the ability of behaviors/actions to convert to a customer. How to do you measure the value of your website activites.
• Use A/B testing and thresholds to measure the value of content
• The system is only as smart as you are. You need to understand your analytics. Be ready to fail faster.