In my last INKsights post, I encouraged readers to grow a pair and get vulnerable. Today, I’m urging them to use said pair to stand out in a sea of mediocrity. Sorry, not sorry for the running theme.

Speaking of not sorry, I know y’all are all INBOUNDed out by now, but we still have more great takeaways to share from HubSpot’s annual conference. Here are a few from an all-time fave, MarketingProfs’ Ann Handley. Her session titled “Bigger, Braver and Bolder” was jam-packed with nuggets so awesome they helped me forget about my aching head and stomach on the last day of the conference (open bars are always a good idea in the moment). 

Great speakers make you feel like their message is pointed directly at you. Having had the pleasure to listen to Dr. Brené Brown’s keynote at HubSpot’s INBOUND15 conference this year had that effect on me. If you don’t know who she is (how did I miss this genius with three New York Times best sellers right now?!?), she gave one of the most viewed TED Talks, changed lives, and is well on her way to changing

mine.

Last year was the first time I attended HubSpot’s annual conference, INBOUND. It was so amazing and overwhelming, it’s a miracle my head didn’t explode daily. I did learn a few things I’d like to share with those who will be attending this year, whether you’re vets or newbies to this mother of all marketing conferences.

Not to sound like Scrooge, but I really hate all of these Christmas and Black Friday in July promotions. Come on, you pay your ad agencies millions of dollars. I’m sure they have art directors, creative directors and copywriters with the skills and desire to come up with something more creative, too.

On the flip side, I very much enjoyed the cookie I ate at our Christmas in July happy hour last week. 

A recent study by Ascend2 revealed that 53 percent of marketers feel a lack of internal content creation resources is their biggest content marketing challenge. If content marketing is part of your job description, you may feel 53 percent is a little low, given all the researching, writing, editing and image searching that goes into creating a single blog post. Luckily, your audience can appreciate content you share that isn’t necessarily penned by you. Sharing content with your prospects and customers that you didn’t create to build trust and credibility is called “content curation,” and it’s an important tool in the content marketer’s toolbox.