I had a recent opportunity to represent Amplimark at the 8th annual Content Jam conference in Chicago. Over 600 people were in attendance from 35 different states and over seven different countries. Being surrounded by a crowd of strangers that all shared a similar purpose of continuing their career growth through collaborative learning was inspiring. The speakers touched on a variety of marketing tools, strategies, and stories of where the industry is headed, why it is going in the direction that it is, and what we as marketers should do to stay ahead of the curve.

The conference was inviting. It opened new doors to marketing strategies that I never really considered before. April Dunford discussed finding the perfect position for your market and that even with the greatest marketing team in the world, if your position is not in the right spot, you won’t see the growth you are looking for. Britney Muller dove into the world of machine learning and how fast it is progressing with real-time data and the ability to predict consumer behaviors. While it is sometimes scary to think about, she showed how beneficial machine learning will be in marketing as the technology progresses.

These were just a few of the topics that were discussed along with what you should know when it comes to email marketing, transformational storytelling, and how to best use big data to name a few. Because of the diversity in topics, I felt compelled to dig deeper and explore the tools and concepts discussed at the two-day conference. So, to keep this post from being 10 pages long I am going to discuss a new topic each week and present the variety of facts, opinions, tools, and ideas that are reshaping the marketing world.

Being able to attend conferences, like Content Jam, is a humbling opportunity. Learning never stops and is such a powerful tool to exchange ideas and promote personal and career growth. I am grateful for this opportunity and am very excited to share what I have learned.