Last month, I was able to attend HubSpot’s 2026 Unbound Conference — formerly known as the Inbound Conference — with Kevin (my husband and Wild Fig’s Chief Propeller Head/UpNorth MarTech Guy/resident HubSpot expert) and son, Sam (Wild Fig’s MarTech Specialist).
The conference gave us plenty to think about when it comes to AI, content, sales, marketing, and leadership.
And no, the biggest theme wasn’t simply “use more AI” — even though, yes, there was a lot of talk around AI. But it was more about using AI and other technology thoughtfully while keeping the human elements of marketing and sales front and center.
Here are the ideas that stood out to me most this year.
In Jay Schwedelson’s session, he told us about this hack he’s been using to make sure the most important info in his emails ends up in AI email summaries.
Because, while we still write our emails primarily for humans, more and more people are relying on AI summaries to give them the gist of an email. So we have to write our emails so that inbox summarizers will pull the right info from them.
Here’s the biggest takeaway: Make sure your most important email copy is machine-readable.
This means:
As to that last point, Jay recommends using the formula: ACTION + PRODUCT/OFFER + DEADLINE in the beginning of your email. Here are the examples he gave:
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Sales calls give you direct access to the language your prospects and customers actually use when expressing their questions, objections, and needs. So, why not scour your sales call transcripts for insight when creating your marketing messaging?
First, use AI to analyze your transcripts, identifying:
Then, use those insights to create your website copy, emails, social content, sales materials, and campaigns.
The takeaway: Listen to how your customers talk about their problems, and use that same language to market to your prospects.
A “pitch slap” is an unsolicited, generic sales pitch sent right after connecting with someone … without first establishing any kind of rapport. Basically, it’s like, immediately after saying “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Kari,” I’d follow up with “Want to buy a marketing package?” You’d run in the other direction, right?
The term may be funny, but it’s a growing problem as AI is making mass personalization and outreach easier and more common.
The takeaway: NEVER use automation as an excuse to skip relationship-building! Use technology to make your outreach more relevant, timely, and personal — not less.
While B2C marketing uses a lot of emotional language, too many B2B companies skip the emotion in their marketing. And that’s a mistake.
According to LinkedIn B2B Institute’s Global Head of Research, John Lombardo, B2B messaging is SEVEN TIMES more effective when you add emotion.
Honestly, this makes all the sense in the world to me, because no matter what you’re selling or who you’re selling it to, you’re always communicating with people. And people are far more responsive to content with emotion than they are to something that’s solely rational.
This is especially important to remember as more and more companies are using AI for their messaging. AI-generated content can start to sound generic pretty quickly … so if you infuse some genuine human emotion into your marketing, you’ll automatically stand out.
So here’s your takeaway: Don’t just explain what your company does; Help your audience feel why your product or service matters.
This was a new one to me. The Magnitude Encoding Effect, according to Nancy Harhut, describes how our brains automatically and unconsciously translate physical, visual, or auditory features — like text size, length, or spoken syllables — into an internal sense of numerical “size” or value.
For example, dollar signs and numbers trigger the pain of spending. So when you talk about what your competition charges, you should use as many digits as possible (i.e., $4,000.00). Then, when you share your own prices, use fewer digits (i.e., $4,000) or write out the amount in words (four thousand dollars).
In addition, people perceive a sales price differently based on how it’s positioned. If the sale price is the same size as the original price, it’s less effective. However, if you put the sales price in a smaller font, it’s more effective.
Crazy, right?
The takeaway: How you present numbers matters.
When you give them context, comparisons, or relatable reference points, your audience can better understand their magnitude (and they’ll be more likely to be persuaded).
Today’s customers have SO much more access to information than they used to. From reviews and pricing info to educational content, competitor research, AI tools, and more, consumers have much more data to help them make decisions.
And that’s changing the customer journey.
Customers can do extensive research on their own before ever contacting a salesperson. They can (and do) search in more detailed, conversational ways, and interact with brands across multiple platforms.
This means we need to adapt our sales and marketing strategies for a customer who comes to us more informed … and with higher expectations. We need to meet them at every step of the buying journey.
The takeaway: Content, paid media, CRM data, and sales outcomes should be treated as one connected system, rather than separate marketing activities. This is key — and why it’s so important to bring your sales and marketing teams together on a regular basis to connect campaign activity with what sales teams are actually seeing and hearing.
In Mel Robbins’ session, she spoke on the concept that “leaders bring the weather.” Meaning: the attitude and energy a leader brings into a room can influence everyone around them.
Especially during periods of rapid change (like, for example, the way AI is currently transforming how teams work), leaders set the tone for whether people respond with curiosity, fear, excitement, or resistance.
The big takeaway here is that culture is more than the company value statement written on your website. You create it through your everyday behavior as you lead your team.
Another hot tip from Jay Schwedelson: If you want to show up in AI searches, keep your website content fresh.
Traditional Google rankings are still a worthy goal to reach for, but that’s no longer the only way people are searching for products and services. They’re also using chatbots like ChatGPT. And when they do look to Google for answers? They’re more likely to stop at the AI-generated answer at the top of the page, rather than scrolling down to click on other results.
So, if you want to reach today’s consumer, you need to show up in AI searches.
To do that, you need fresh content. A few stats from Jay’s HubSpot Unbound Conference session:
The takeaway: Make freshness a part of your ongoing SEO/AEO content strategy.
Here’s how to implement that:
HubSpot’s Data Agent allows you to keep client and prospect information current … without endless manual data entry. It does this by automatically researching your prospect and enriching their CRM record through tools like Smart Properties.
So, for example, when you add a new prospect, Data Agent can automatically search for and fill in data like the company they work for, their work contact info, recent hiring stats, and more. This means:
The takeaway: Content creation isn’t the best way to use AI — this is. Data Agent can improve the quality of the data that powers your entire sales and marketing system.
Overall, we had a great time at HubSpot’s 2026 Unbound Conference and learned so much that we’re excited to implement!
Unbound reinforced something we talk about often at Wild Fig: the best marketing technology is only as good as the strategy behind it. Both HubSpot and AI are creating powerful new opportunities, but success still requires understanding your customers, connecting sales and marketing, maintaining quality data, and communicating like a human.
As a certified HubSpot partner, our team is here to answer all your HubSpot questions, ensure you’re getting the most out of the platform, and help you keep a human touch in your marketing. Want to explore working with us? Simply schedule a discovery call to chat about your needs and how we can help.