YouTube is more than cat videos and weird children's media. It's an excellent resource to educate and influence users!

At Experience Inbound 2022, we're excited to welcome keynote speaker Tim Washer! Tim has acted/written for Saturday Night Live, The Late Show, James Corden and John Oliver. He served as global head of social content for the Smarter Planet IOT campaign at IBM, where he used humor to capture attention and earn trust with audiences.

The landscape of marketing among manufacturing companies is changing. If your company is still relying solely on outbound marketing (traditional advertising) by using print ads, trade shows, telemarketing and other costly tactics to generate new business by pushing messages outward – you are sure to experience something our partners at HubSpot call the “Oh S**T” Moment.

This is the moment when you realize that it is not only people looking for a Black Friday deal, a new phone or an electronic item that use Google for their search. Did you know that over 90% of B2B buyers (including those researching new manufacturing equipment and services) start their research online? If your potential customers can’t find you, they may find your competitor. And there is that moment…

Andy Crestodina established one of Chicago's premier web design and development agencies fifteen years ago, Orbit Media Studios, but admits that there is some brand confusion around the company’s services provided and practices preached. As the author of “Content Chemistry” and founder of Content Jam in Chicago, so much of Andy’s expertise revolves around educating marketers about content marketing.

He says that his team takes the approach of “building cars AND teaching drivers ed.” While his company focuses on web design, they understand the importance of providing education to marketers that goes deeper into SEO, analytic conversion, content strategy and much more.

Converting bottom of the funnel leads to customers may be the most critical stage of your sales funnel. At this point you’ve captured a prospect’s attention through blog articles, tip sheets, ebooks and more. Now is the point where if you offer a unique product or service, a “request a sample” opportunity could be the next phase that ultimately seals the deal. This step can be particularly valuable if the product and service you offer is complex, best explained visually, and showcases superior features offered within your industry.

Creating a lead-generating ebook can be especially challenging for manufacturers given the complexity of their products and services. Understanding the unique challenges and interests of key personas for a particular product group is the first step to developing valuable content and determining a direction for a design that appeals to the reader. At the start of the ebook development process, it’s important to keep in mind that regardless of the ebook’s theme, its ability to teach, inspire and motivate are the ultimate elements for success.

I like to think of a great content marketing plan like an exceptional server at your favorite restaurant. There are a few key ingredients that go into creating an effective content marketing plan that serves up more visitors, leads and sales.

We discuss quality content with our customer partners on a daily basis and most know that it is an essential component to marketing success. As our ability to target messages with dynamic content expands, so does the need to create content that provides an educational, exciting and inspiring experience for web visitors and email recipients. The best way to ensure content is relevant to both current customers and prospects is not necessarily about changing your message, but customizing it with dynamic content. In order to do this effectively, you need to know something about the preferences of those you are targeting.  You’ll be hearing a lot more about dynamic content in the future but for now, here’s an introduction and what you need to know:

This week, 5,000+ marketers from around the world have come together in Boston, MA for Inbound 2013 – a four-day event hosted by HubSpot featuring more than 100 keynote sessions, product demonstrations and entertainment.  The Stream Creative team is onsite and not only are we learning from colleagues representing other parts of the country and sharing a bit of our own expertise, we are hearing all about the incredible new product offerings being launched this week by HubSpot.  One of the biggest announcements happened today with the unveiling of The Content Optimization System, Social Inbox and Signals. Here’s the latest on what HubSpot platform users have to look forward to with many more details to come…