For a marketing agency, there are plenty of software tools that you can hitch your wagon to. And those software tools can be in all kinds of segments - marketing automation, sales tools, chat, email, website hosting, productivity, etc.
Several years ago when we were looking through all of the tools that we could partner with, one quickly floated to the top - HubSpot. In 2014 we became a HubSpot Agency and joined their partner program. Why? Well I'm glad you asked...
When it comes to content, far too many businesses are making content for the sake of making content. No strategy. No real purpose. Except to put out content.
Sound familiar? In this episode of the Gettin' Buzz'd podcast, John-Erik Pszenny of HubSpot talked about how you can audit your marketing campaigns and create content for sales.
When we think about a content management system (CMS), we typically think of the biggest player out there - WordPress. And when we think about WordPress, we think about "free", right? So why in the heck would you spend $300/month for HubSpot CMS Professional or even $900/month for HubSpot CMS Enterprise?
Well...all CMS's aren't created equal.
While those just starting out on their inbound marketing or HubSpot journey may be focused on just converting leads, what do you do when you start getting leads and want to hand them off to sales? You surely can't pass every single lead off to sales (or they may lose their minds). One of the most important things for a sales team is to know who is ready to close. Those are the most valuable conversations that a salesperson can have. But how do you know who is ready to buy and who has maybe just shown a small amount of interest? Enter lead scoring.
As we celebrated HIVE's six year anniversary at the end of January, we started to reflect back on what has changed and the wild ride that we've been on over the last six years. From starting as Bee Social (our original name) to becoming one of only eight agencies in Colorado to reach the Platinum HubSpot Solutions Partner level, a lot has changed.
Starting a business has never been easier. File a quick form with the state, register a domain, file with the IRS and you're off and running.
However, growing a business has never been more difficult. There are new businesses popping up every second and that means competition is greater than ever. In fact, approximately 627,000 new businesses open each year!
See how this inbound marketing investment created a 13.73x return on investment for Johnny's Backyard, and helped them increase sales during a period of market volatility.
HubSpot Academy offers a wealth of information covering all aspects of running a business, from a broad overview of inbound to detailed lessons on data privacy. While I have yet to encounter a HubSpot Academy course that hasn’t taught me at least one new idea or tip, there are a couple courses I’ve taken that offer a wealth of knowledge that I can use day-to-day as a copywriter. One of those is a staple of the HubSpot inbound methodology — Inbound Marketing.
We've been there. You signed up for HubSpot, you've been shown all the cool things that it can do and how powerful it can be. You are excited to get started.
Then you actually get into the tool and realize that you have no idea how to use it.
It can be daunting and confusing. It's such a big tool that you're not going to learn it over night. It will take time.
As a new member of the HIVE, part of my onboarding process has been earning relevant certifications from HubSpot Academy. I’m a new copywriter on the team, and while I’ve been working in marketing for the last five years, I’m new to HubSpot. Let the certifications begin!
