Inbound - Report From the Field Day One
Day one is in the books for GCommerce and our partners at Inbound. As expected, AI is in the spotlight as the technology moves from aspirational to operational. The pace of innovation is exciting and daunting. Moore’s law states that computers double in power every 18 months. Today we learned that AI models are doubling in capability every 6 months. It reminds us to never get stuck building future strategies on the limitations of today.
Transformational marketing technology is making its way into the hands of marketers at companies of every size. We learned how prospecting has gone from a human-led exercise in futility to an AI-led process of precision. We learned how conversion-rate optimization can take on new meanings as technology enables the connection of dynamic guest profiles to their website experience - with jaw-dopping results. We learned how AI will graduate in the coming year from accelerating our marketing organizations to transforming them. The future is truly boundless.
Our love of Inbound can be described in this dichotomy. While our heads were spacewalking in the stars, we were also grounded with content that can help us, and our clients, tomorrow. No development necessary.
Google announced exciting new AI-driven ad targeting, available to those who know how to access it. We heard compelling statistical data about what makes a successful email campaign, from headline to copy to imagery (quick takeaway - the hospitality industry has a LOT to learn). We learned about how understanding psychological triggers can allow us to reposition copy for success, and how to build more efficient LinkedIn campaigns.
Finally, we were grateful to hear that the issues our industry has with attribution tracking are not ours alone. As browsers continue their regulation and relegation of cookies, the systems we have all relied on for tracking are breaking at their core. Not only that, the traffic sources that have been a near constant for a decade are degrading. From the opening session with the CEO and CTO of HubSpot, we heard that search volume will drop 25% in the next two years thanks to AI. Social traffic is plummeting, in no small part because those channels are suppressing content that contains outside links (they want to protect their walled gardens).
We concluded the day with a feast for the ages with our close partners - all of whom experienced Inbound for the first time. We talked about our takeaways and how we all planned to prepare for 2025 budgets. Most of all, we bonded over stories of hospitality, the industry we all love, newly relevant in the world of Inbound.
If this all sounds like too much fun for us to have alone, sign up to learn more about our plans for Inbound 2025 and how you can join.
