We loaded up on webinars, luncheons, and trainings over the past month, looking for folks who are putting out truly valuable content on a regular basis. Here’s what we found:
1. There is a lot of really terrible content out there.
A quick Google search for “marketing webinar” generates 47,300,000 results. 47 MILLION! And news flash: just because a result is on the first page, doesn’t mean it’s the best. Quick-fix searches won’t cut it, you’ve got to spend some time getting to know the folks you’re dealing with.
- Start exploring sources based on your greatest needs.
- Get as specific as possible with your searches.
- And ask the experts around you for recommendations.
It’s rare that we stumble across a random webinar or speaker that’s worth more than the time we lose. The events that offer the most value are almost always recommended by our friends and colleagues (many of which you’ll find we recommend in #3).
2.HubSpot is a beautiful dangerous beast.
HubSpot is a content machine. With 4.5M monthly visitors to their blog, countless webinars, and regular conferences, they’re cranking out more content than anyone could keep up with. And for the most part, they can offer some great value (we’re particularly fond of the Inbound Marketing Report they put out each year), but it’s very easy to get sucked into stats and catchy headlines that don’t actually apply to your business.
For example, if you just started looking into the value of SEO last week, you probably don’t need to jump into Latent Semantic Indexing quite yet. Or, if you’re in no way responsible for creating design or visuals for your brand, you probably don’t need to attend a webinar for Photoshop power users. We recommend going in with a game plan. Don’t just start clicking before you know the play–figure out what topics will help you most in the position you’re in, and ONLY click relevant articles or webinars. You may want a teammate on the line with you to make sure you don’t spend the next 4 hours reading about the history of clipart or 34 LinkedIn features you’ll never use.
3. Nashville is full of brilliant people.
We may be a tad biased, but to ignore the talent and creativity that surrounds you is just plain dumb. So, we can’t end without recommending some of our favorite orgs offering opportunity to learn and grow right here in Nashville.
- Free
- Monthly
- No membership required
- Great speakers
- Free coffee and donuts
Nashville Junior Chamber – Membership Meetings
- Free
- Monthly
- No membership required
- Great speakers (organized by FoxFuel’s own Colton Mulligan)
- Free Yazoo booze
- Ticketed
- Array of both events and training opportunities
- Always highlighting and engaging amazing powerful women
- Members get access to exclusive events and discounts on regular luncheons
Nashville American Marketing Association (NAMA) – Power Lunches
- Ticketed
- Monthly
- Great speakers
- Membership discount