Inbound 2019 Boston: A week of the hub for digital marketing

Old and new sit well side by side in Boston

Boston presents itself at its best on Tuesday morning with a steel-blue sky and pleasant temperatures. The city is characterized by a harmonious combination of old and new, such as the venerable Harvard Business School in Cambridge on the Charles River (picture left) and the modern architecture of the John F. Kennedy Museum (picture right) - both worth a visit, no question.

Uber City

And yes, Boston, like San Francisco, is a city where Uber has expanded rapidly. In conversations with several drivers, it becomes clear what the success of this company is based on: convenience for the customers and flexibility for the drivers. I talk to a young Brazilian woman who has been working as a cleaner in Boston for six years and also drives for Uber - this is how she is realizing her dream of owning her own home in Brazil. Or the older American who is a school bus driver and also supplements his salary with Uber missions. It would be interesting to know the extent to which Uber, Lyft and the like are responsible for creating additional value for drivers due to their flexibility of use. And the one driver who spontaneously offered me water in the vehicle - that has never happened to me in my life with conventional cabs. 

Boston shines

In contrast to other major American cities, Boston is clean and still has manageable dimensions. Of course, growth has left its mark here too, but since the gigantic subway construction sites have disappeared, the city has a human face again. Boston is also home to the headquarters of Hubspot, the initiator and sponsor of the traditional inbound conference. This is not least due to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT in Cambridge - an excellent IT talent pool. Boston truly radiates joie de vivre, as the artwork in the Museum of Fine Arts sums up. 

Iconic art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

In sales, it's not the what, but the how that makes the difference

One of the conference's taglines is: It's not what you sell, but how you sell that makes the difference. This sentence may not seem convincing at first glance, but on closer inspection it becomes clear that we live in a supply situation with an abundance of interchangeable products. Admittedly, this is somewhat exaggerated, but it gets to the heart of the matter. Against this backdrop, the "how" in sales becomes central, and this is also where the design and differentiation options are great. The first keynote this evening with bestselling author Elisabeth Gilbert ("Eat, Pray, Love") was also dedicated to this topic. She propagates courage and creativity as an approach to an authentic sales approach; it is interesting to note that creativity is not measured by what you do, but rather how you live and act.

We are eagerly awaiting the contributions of the next conference day.