Inbound- Hospitality Marketing Nirvana

I’m at 30,000 feet on my way to the world’s greatest marketing conference, a conference I’d bet most of you have never heard of.  Inbound, imagined, and launched to the world by HubSpot, is attended by 11,000 professionals and features presentations, panels, and networking with the most celebrated marketers of our time.  This marks GCommerce’s tenth year attending, and over that decade, the inspiration and practical advice we’ve gleaned from countless Inbound sessions have been our secret weapon as GCommerce has ascended to the pantheon of strategic hospitality marketing.  And yet, over our ten years in attendance, our friends from the hospitality industry have been conspicuously absent.  I could wax poetic about the insular, circular nature of our industry, but I also love networking with peers at the premier events in hospitality.  Instead, here’s a compelling argument for why you should consider Inbound in your plans for next year.

World-class marketing content

Ryan Reynolds, Serena Williams, and Kara Swisher headline this year's main stage speakers.  Past years have included Barack and Michelle Obama, Anna Kendrick, Reese Witherspoon, Jane Goodall, Chip and Joanna Gains, and many more.  Each had an interesting story to tell, and their A-list status demonstrates the power of the Inbound audience.  Imagine, then, the quality of the marketing professionals that the conference can attract to present and discuss their current work.  Presenters that don’t speak on the main stage but instead present 90-minute deep divers into their most compelling works.    

What can we all learn from CMO’s steering great companies in technology, publishing/media, consumer goods, and transportation?  How does that content diverge from what we experience at hospitality-focused events?

Innovation is featured, unleashed by progressive budgets and perpetual research.  These speakers aren’t competing for today; they’re inventing for tomorrow.  While our R&D budgets may not mirror theirs, we can learn from their insights and outcomes.  We can understand how their research informs how they see the future and the steps they are taking to claim their share.  

At Inbound, we also hear about emerging technologies and practices that are hot topics in our industry.  This year, we expect to hear a lot about AI, and not just about how it is used to attract travelers.  We’ll learn about GenZ’s media consumption and not just about how they prefer to travel. I expect we’ll hear more about data privacy and security and how heavyweight social media companies are adjusting their advertising platforms to remain relevant.  The content; straight from the minds of the tastemakers, will give us a leg up on future trends.

We come to Inbound for content that inspires us; that breaks the mold of incestuous thinking, and dares us to question our own practices.  

Breaking the mold - Cross industry education

It’s often said that hospitality is years behind other industries. We stare wistfully at the conversion paths of eCommerce companies.  We marvel at the emotional resonance of DTC brands.  We envy the data collection prowess of technology firms.  

We don’t have to accept the dissonance.  It may seem basic, but simply hearing stories from innovators from other industries has led GCommerce to change our approach.  At Inbound, you come to understand that universal best practices from other industries are considered innovative in the hospitality industry.  Without this yearly jolt of perspective, it would be easy to fall into complacency.  Inbound provides us an opportunity to learn from the best and brightest marketers out there, regardless of their industry.  We are unified by marketing principles that are timeless…and practical.

Practical solutions - Rubber meets the road

All this high-minded inspiration may lead you to question the real value of the conference.  I can picture a well-intentioned decision-maker saying “I’m happy you were inspired by some celebrities, but how is this going to help our hotel this year?”

While the answer varies by year and by attendee, here are a few universal thoughts. How you collect first-party data matters.  How you use storytelling to connect with your audience matters. How you nurture your conversion funnel matters.  

Yes, we leave Inbound ready to leap tall buildings, but we also leave with a dozen or more practical ideas that, every single year, produce incremental advantages for our clients.  Dig into the details of the agenda, and you will see that it is chock-full of practical content that can change the trajectory of your property and improve the performance of your marketing.  

Improved performance

Bending the trajectory of our marketing towards better performance is what we are all after, right?  We want to discover the tools and techniques that allow us to perform while our competition struggles.  Yet, too often, we follow the same script as our competition; we attend the same conferences and read the same trades.  Is it a surprise that we often achieve similar results as our peers?  

Inbound breaks that mold and brings novel ideas to the forefront.  It allows us to bring new ideas and revenue focused initiatives to our owners.  When those ideas bear fruit, we find ourselves in new territory not yet harvested by our competition.  The result - improved performance relative to our competition.  

We are all staring wobbly demand in the face, hoping that 2025 won’t be a down year.  Hope is not a strategy.  Instead, imagine a dozen ideas, grounded in research yet novel amongst your comp set, all designed to drive improved performance regardless of fluctuations in demand.  That’s the definition of marketing nirvana.

Marketing nirvana

Ten years is a long time to enjoy marketing nirvana in blissful isolation.  This year, GCommerce has invited a few close partners to join our pilgrimage.  Our long-time partners and friends at the Lenox Hotel have offered great rates and even better hospitality.  We have a few select clients from across the country joining us for the week.  We’ll spend our days navigating the world’s greatest marketing conference together and the evenings sharing what we learned, brainstorming ideas, and building relationships with our peers.  

If this all sounds compelling, spend a few moments this week living vicariously through us on social media as we post vignettes from the journey.  More importantly, find yourself in Boston a year from now.  Register your interest in joining us next year here; we can’t wait to see you.