Posted by Michael Damphousse on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 @ 06:40
About 18 months ago, Green Leads embarked on an aggressive plan to increase our inbound marketing activity. We focused first on content and blogging and then decided to dig deeper into SEO best practices. Along the way we started drinking some Orange Kool-Aid in the form of Hubspot's inbound marketing educational materials. We weren't looking for a content management system at the time, but they had so many valuable pieces of content on their site that we soon became Hubspot junkies without even being a client. Eventually, we jumped in headfirst and signed up.
We were able to get the site migrated and up and running in less than a month. The first lead came in during the first six hours of going live. Here's the process we went through; I recommend you pay attention to the "homework" parts:
- Pre-Project Education -- We went through all sorts of webinars, videos and documents on Hubspot's site. Knowing the basics was key to the planning of the project: Understand SEO. Understand the value of Content. Understand the basics of online lead gen. Know how moving forward will impact your site and resources.
- Migration -- Hubspot's conversion team takes your existing site and migrates it to their platform. I recommend that you don't peek at the work in progress until it gets a good deal of the way there. You'll want to tweak things and until the team is complete, you'll probably throw wrenches in the works.
- Expert -- In parallel to the migration, your Hubspot Inbound Marketing Consultant will book some sessions to go over best practices. Be religious about doing the sessions and doing your homework between sessions. Hubspot is about education more than it is CMS.
If you educate yourself and you implement their methodologies and best practices, you will be successful. (our expert, @kylejames, rocked!) - Content -- At every trade show I've attended in the past year the mantra "content is king" was heard over and over again. If you want to be successful with SEO, you have to have people visiting and people linking to you. The only way to do that is through content. Make a commitment to yourself that this is a top priority and an ongoing effort. Don't start/stop. Budget time and resources to create content constantly.
- Conversion -- In the end, it's all about capturing the visitors and converting them to leads. Don't lose sight of that. When you are laying out your pages, spend as much time on calls to action as you do content. Make them click on those compelling offers. Then make your landing pages convert.
- Go Live -- I almost made the mistake of holding off my go-live date until I perfected every page. Huge mistake. After a few weeks of tweaking and working on content, Kyle said "Go live, man!" I just turned off the public view of the pages that weren't ready yet and made the switchover. Six hours later the first lead came in. Within a week, the fact that it was live forced us to fix the loose ends. It was up and running.
- Focus -- Once you're live, it's time to start working on your keywords, rankings, content, and ultimately ... leads. However, you can lose sight of the short-term successes by going too wide. Example: Green Leads' obvious keyword that we want to own is "appointment setting." But there are already tons of people ranking high on that one, so we put our initial focus on some other keywords that were easier to own. It worked. In just one month, we had five major keywords that are now on the top of Google's search results. We're still focusing on "appointment setting", but it's not the holy grail.
- Action -- Don't just watch the leads pile up. If the call to action was appropriate for a sales follow-up, then take it. If they did multiple visits or multiple page views (Hubspot tracks this), increase the lead score and contact them. Treat inbound leads as the ultimate prospect lists. Just because they raised their hands doesn't mean they want to buy. You still have to reach out to them and ask for the introductory appointment or the presentation. That lead produced by inbound marketing now turns into an outbound marketing pursuit. Dial the phone. Send the emails. Close the loop. Engage with that prospect, then get the sale.
N
et-Net. Don't just drink the orange Kool-Aid, savor it. Buy into the methodology, not just the license fee. Invest the time and effort to implement the program exactly the way Hubspot teaches you to. You will be handsomely rewarded.
A more detailed product review coming that will focus on some key features and benefits. Stay tuned.
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Wed, Oct 14, 2009 @ 03:41
Whenever I get a new lead from a prospective company, I always check its web site to see if it looks like a good fit. A good deal of the time I'm unimpressed with what I see. The home pages are cluttered, not structured for a quick read, and no actions are suggested.
Isn't a home page the ultimate landing page? Granted, you don't want the home page hiding all the navigation and consisting of a form, but take landing page best practices and use what makes sense. Make the goal of your own Home Page "Landing Page" to convert the single-page visit to a multiple-page visit.
We all put a great deal of effort into landing pages. Studies show how people read a web page and what triggers response. Last week at the MarketingSherpa summit in Boston, for example, we heard that "people read a landing page like the letter "F:" Top scan, down the main body, scan right, take action (if triggered).
Here are two great examples. The first is Salesforce, which I've always criticized because of the big, animated ad in the middle, but then I changed my mind. The ad gives you a quick message -- six messages in fact. Then it's surrounded by calls to action and the flow leads you to a next step.
But the animation is not SEO-friendly, you ask? No it isn't, but does Salesforce need its home page SEO optimized? Most likely they rank OK as it is.
The second is Hubspot, the inbound marketing gurus. The home page reads just like a landing page with call to actions and a next-step arrow to learn more (upper right).
Both are easy on the eyes. The design is clean and uncluttered, with a clear call to action on the righthand side.
Home Page as the Ultimate Landing Page considerations:
- keep it above the fold (little to no scrolling)
- keep it clean, uncluttered -- whitespace is good
- the headlines should make the statements, not the text
- the text should be simple and not get in the way of the next steps
- calls to action should be clear, mostly to the right
- the goal of the page is to convert a single-page visit to a multiple-page visit
Is your home page designed to convert? What about Green Leads new Home Page? Comments?
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 10:06 AM
RoyHP: Collaborate with Data Analysts: 4 Strategies to Improve Relationships with IT http://ow.ly/qM0Q MarketingSherpa
mvolpe: "design your website first for search engines" use the free tool http://www.websitegrader.com/ to check how you are doing #sherpab2b09
NetSuite_Mei: Focus on providing valuable content on your website to drive traffic #sherpab2b09
mvolpe: I agree!! "you can make your website as pretty as you want, but if search engines don't list you, no one finds it" #sherpab2b09
ajdun: Jaren Green: "Not everyone searches like you do" Amen. There is no such thing as the average web surfer #sherpab2b09
MarketingSherpa: Audience poll #sherpab2b09: Majority of marketers using lead scoring can't quantify the value they're getting from it.
kimalbee: Look at the big pic 4 success - metrics: # visits > #leads - initial > #leads - more info > #sales-ready leads > Sales closed #sherpab2b09
viewstream: #sherpab2b09 Julie Wisdom, Babcock: content is KING, but expensive. SO leverage content, and find inexpensive ways to produce.
jill_rowley: Remember - even if you're doing B2B marketing, you are marketing to humans - per Julie from Babcock & Jenkins #sherpab2b09
BabcockJenkins: RT @viewstream: #sherpab2b09 @juliewisdom Top 4 Content Mediums For B2B: 1: video, 2: white papers, 3: ondemand webcasts, 4: case studies
MarketingSherpa: 97% of SMBs say email newsletters ‘important' or ‘very important...only 27% say same about Twitter. #sherpab2b09
kimalbee: SMB Newsletter Response: Look beyond the opening click to conversions when examining response and best day to deliver #sherpab2b09
viewstream: @KenricVanWyk landing page driven site fueled only by organic search. #sherpab2b09
LaBergeLLC: Acoustics By Design -Great example of using blogging to add SEO content for your web site. http://www.acousticsbydesign.com/ #sherpab2b09
Quality vs. Quantity:
damphoux: Quality v Quantity RT @MarketingSherpa Jaren Green: Work lead quality into every discussion to improve relationship w sales #sherpab2b09
For a chuckle (congrats @andrewspoeth for both of them):
andrewspoeth: Can anyone read the font size on this slide? #sherpab2b09
andrewspoeth: Picture of today's crazy, complex sales funnel according to Forrester. #sherpab2b09 http://twitpic.com/iywkj
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 09:52 AM
TJMcCue: RT @MarketingSherpa The 5 levers for improving lead-gen performance: http://bit.ly/10TUGy #sherpab2b09
amberjwallace: RT @juliepower: Best viral marketing campaigns by b2b and b2c from Sherpa http://snipurl.com/s2h9i
ajdun: Great stat from Sirius Decisions via #sherpab2b09 80% of leads DQ by sales go on to buy in 24 mos
MktgExperiments: @brianjcarroll: study shows 28% of early-stage leads take 100+ days to become sales-ready. #sherpab2b09
mvolpe: Brian Carroll just quoted me when I quote @dmscott the originator: "Think like a publisher, not a marketer" #sherpab2b09
andrewspoeth: RT @damphoux: answer these questions on landing pages: where are you at? what can I do here? why should I do it? #sherpab2b09
mvolpe: Quick Landing Page Tips from #sherpab2b09 http://hub.tm/?QYdmH
alanorourke: Clarity trumps persuasion! Landing page conversion #sherpab2b09
ardath421: sell the download (content) NOT the company on your landing page (Flint) #sherpab2b09
jepc: Genoo chose not to blog, but to create microsite http://www.b2bonlinemarketingpros.com/ & promote it in their own LinkedIn Group #sherpab2b09
MarketingSherpa: Albee: Creating a LinkedIn group gives you a great list: Genoo's enewsletters to LinkedIn Group members avg. 19%-44% CTR. #sherpab2b09
mvolpe: I disagree!!! www.facebook.com/hubspot has 6,000+ fans & FB is a top 10 source of leads for HubSpot #sherpab2b09
InboundMarketer: Almost everyone at MarketingSherpa has a corporate Twitter account, though less than half of those people read Twitter daily #sherpab2b09
InboundMarketer: Less than half of those at MarketingSherpa have company Facebook pages, & less than 10 update those pages daily #sherpab2b09
And for the lighthearted chuckle...
damphoux: @repcor most interesting part of the conference is listening to the ambient conversations next to the camera during breaks ;) #sherpab2b09
repcor: Going to turn off the lifestream for a few. Back on in 15. #sherpab2b09 http://bit.ly/sherpa09
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Thu, Sep 17, 2009 @ 07:57
Even though I preach my own brand of outbound marketing Kool-Aid, for the past six months or so I've been drinking some of the inbound marketing variety (the orange kind from Hubspot). Before discovering this particular flavor, we had invested a year or so working on SEO, blogging, social media, and link building. But I didn't start formalizing some of the new marketing ideas I'd been learning until I took a deep swig and discovered the great taste.
Outbound marketers live off of lists. It's like candy to a kid. Companies like Jigsaw, Onesource, and Netprospex provide the candy; the more contacts we have and the better targeted, the greater our success.
What if you had the same size list, but it was on steroids? What if it was comprised of people already researching your offerings, thinking about the issues you solve? These are inbound leads.
Inbound leads come from whitepaper downloads, free trials, blog subscriptions, you name it. From the surface, it sounds like the best lead you'll ever get. However, they don't all show up downloading a whitepaper and then issuing a P.O. And they don't all come calling for appointments with your sales reps. You still have to work them, nurture them, and call them. You still have to get them to engage in the sales process. You can't take the outbound work totally out of the process.
Inbound Leads = Über List = Outbound Success
Outbound marketers should embrace all this and consider the leads coming from inbound marketing efforts as the Über List. Granted, some leads may just be tire kickers or even competitors. Work through them. Use lead scoring. Weed them out a bit. Then use them as the fuel for your outbound marketing efforts.
Consider inbound leads a list source, but a much warmer list than a purchased one. And don't neglect to share the credit. The inbound marketers created the lead. The outbound marketers got the prospects to engage. It's a team effort.
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Fri, Sep 04, 2009 @ 11:53 AM
A while back, I read an article by Chris Brogan that discussed 19 chores we could each do daily to help us maintain an online presence. I was already doing a majority of the list, but then it got me thinking. What if I had my browser setup so when I wake up in the AM all my daily tasks for maintaining my social media prowess were just lined up waiting for me to get my coffee? Here's my Lead Generation Tip for today.
I've never been one to clutter up toolbars in a browser, but this seemed like a great reason to do it. So I bookmarked the following links and turned on the bookmarks toolbar. This allows me to wake up, sip my Greenest Bean coffee (organic, locally roasted), and make my presence known. I come back to it during the day when I need a break and hit them again.
- HootSuite - been using this since I uninstalled tweetdeck for locking up my system every day. I've got it all decked out with columns, tabs, subjects, friends, you name it
- Google Reader - still the easiest RSS reader going. Read up, schedule the best for tweets on HootSuite with Send Later. Comment on a few relevant articles
- Hubspot Dashboard - finds daily chores for me to do around blogging, keywords, search rankings, etc.
- LinkedIn Q&A - to maintain my top Lead Gen Expert status and to accept invites and other LinkedIn goodness
- Personal Facebook - post some drivel
- Company Facebook Fan Page - post some value
- Fast Company Blog - share an article
- Smashmouth Marketing Blog - write an article
- FriendFeed - check out friends thoughts
- SocialOomph - vet my new twitter followers
During the process, I usually digg or stumble a few articles as well.
ps. Look at the other top experts in the Lead Generation section of LinkedIn. I'm in good company!
What other daily tasks do you do to keep yourself in the frontlines? Leave a comment
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 08:45
Smashmouth Marketing has two guest post blog articles this week, writing about
Outbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing and Tony Soprano.
Hubspot: Outbound Marketing and Inbound Marketing Can Learn From Each Other
Fast Company: Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing, by Tony Soprano
Just gonna keep spreading the Outbound Marketing goodness! 
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Tue, Aug 18, 2009 @ 10:31 AM
Tony Soprano:"Every decision you make affects every facet of every other #?%!% thing."
ok, the Tony Soprano thing was just a late addition after I read some hilarious quotes from the show on IMDB last night, and realized they had some ...ahem... relevancy -- just a little fun ;)
For years the world of b2b marketing has used outbound marketing as a source of lead generation. Many companies also operate inside sales departments, and there has been an industry built around supporting these efforts and providing superior service to clients. Services such as appointment setting, lead generation and list development are pervasive and a very common tool in the demand gen arsenal.
Then there was the Google. Studies have shown recently that most buying decisions start with a Google search. Although I don't totally agree with the statement (especially as it pertains to emerging technologies), I will agree that it's Google that sits on most people's desktops all day long and is a tool we use constantly. Our goal as marketers -- get the buyers to find relevant content, then find links to vendors, then capture their name as a lead (eventually). Classic inbound marketing.
Tony Soprano: "Hey, You want that, it's a phone call away."
In order to capitalize on this, there's been a rush to successfully implement inbound marketing strategies so that we can capture the leads that are out there stumbling on our sites from various sources. Search engine marketing (SEM), search Engine Optimization (SEO), blogging and social media strategies all contribute to solid Google rankings.
Marketers have been considering their strategies in two budget line items. Inbound marketing and outbound marketing. Some have even gotten passionate about which strategy is the ultimate demand gen horse to ride, the majority seem to be implementing both inbound and outbound marketing equally. What many have overlooked is that most inbound leads don't just jump into the boat with a purchase order. Raising their hand for an ebook shows interest, and coming back to the site several times for more content raises their interest (and hopefully your lead score), but when are they going to jump in the boat?
Tony Soprano: "A wrong decision is better than indecision."
This is where the alignment of inbound marketing and outbound marketing come together. Over the past several months I've visited several companies that specialize in inbound marketing (if you follow my blog or twitter, you'll know who they are). I've been to lead nurturing companies, marketing automation companies, SEO companies, SaaS companies offering solutions for inbound marketing, etc. One thing they all had in common was a sizable outbound marketing component to their own marketing efforts -- large inside sales teams, outsourced lead gen companies, and appointment setting programs. There always has to be someone to give the pitch and ask the questions.
Tony Soprano: "Oh, poor baby. What do you want, a Whitman's Sampler?"
Any good outbound program starts with names. The names can be purchased from Jigsaw, Onesource or other data sources. They can be identified or researched. They can also be somewhat warm from inbound activity. In fact, those warm ones have the highest lead scores in most systems. But getting that human being that's raising their hands to talk with you is the ultimate challenge, and inbound marketing certainly makes outbound marketers more effective in this task.
I'm not slamming inbound marketing whatsoever, in fact Green Leads is investing heavily in it for our own benefit as well as combining inbound services with traditional outbound services in order to maximize our efforts (see: Hubspot, LinkedIn, twitter, Facebook). What I'm advocating is for Demand Gen Alignment. Maximize the investment in both inbound and outbound.
As Tony Soprano may have said if he were a marketer: "There might be an inbound mafia and an outbound mafia, but together, the family can be stronger and produce."
Posted by Mike Damphousse on Fri, Aug 07, 2009 @ 11:09 AM
Karen Rubin and Mike Volpe Hosting Hubspot TV's 1 Year Anniversary
Yesterday was the start of my evaluation of Hubspot. There will be a Smashmouth Product Review coming shortly, but I just had to comment on how it got started. After a one hour detailed demo from Bonnie and Chris, and an interrogation by me, Linda and I got to join the Hubspot team and local twitterati for the 1 year anniversary of Hubspot TV. It doesn't impact the review, but it definitely impacts my impression of the company and people. They were all energetic, fun, welcoming, marketing-savants -- great to be around.
We loved every minute of it. Thanks to Dan Tyre and Mike Volpe for hosting us.
As far as the review... I've spent about 3 hours with the product (not counting the time Bonnie and Chris put in), and I've been able to use most of the basic functions without a hitch. I was trying to upload a video and couldn't quite figure out how to upload/host it. For now I had to opt for a slideshare version of our video What Does Sales Want? I'm sure I can get a few pointers from support and put a checkmark next to that issue.
My highest level of excitement though is the fact that SEO and Inbound Marketing written all over it. I can hear "you've got mail" already.
More detail in the official review.