4 min read  | HubSpot

4 things digital marketers need to know about HubSpot to get results

Marketing is an imprecise craft: it's not exactly a science. But despite the number of people who refer to it as 'an art', it's not an art either.

Running a marketing campaign used to be a bit of a shoot in the dark. You'd develop some creative, spend some money, and cross your fingers that everything would work the way you intended. Marketing automation technologies like HubSpot have completely changed the way we do our work. With everything in one place, and a metric driven framework to underly your marketing activity, the data generated helps you make wiser decisions.

However, you need to take these 4 key things into consideration before HubSpot's put to proper use. 

1. You can't have automated marketing without a process backing it up

What we have observed with clients time and time again, is that companies have to build out their processes before implementing new automation technology to get results. If a technology gets rolled out, without a clear marketing strategy and tactics to use it, you run the risk of having a system not being fit for purpose. Its important to ensure that as part of your implementation the metrics you are reporting on align to those of the organisation to ensure buy in at all levels.

HubSpot is an incredibly powerful platform. However, if you don't know why you're using it or how you're going to put it to work, you might be rolling out the technological equivalent of a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

2. Inbound marketing is both an approach and a mindset

If your key stakeholders—in particular your CEO and CMO—aren’t 100% clear about the value and necessary commitment needed to implement an inbound approach, then expect a very hard time to get results. The cost of the technology should represent no more than 10% of your overall marketing operational budget. But there is a greater investment in manpower beyond that, to properly create / manage the content and analyse / action the results.

Making a commitment to inbound should not be taken lightly. The good news is that it works, but your organisation must have the appetite to invest in it (in more ways than one).

3. You’re building a relationship, not just transacting

The advent of social media has really changed the marketing playing field in a big way. Being social, by definition, is all about relationship building. This is especially true for business-to-business (B2B), education and public sectors.
Understanding your customer lifecycle, then having contextual interactions based on where they are in their buyer's journey, is the key to marketing success. Use HubSpot's sophisticated, automated reporting tools to help. If you're solely focused on separating people from their money, without first getting to know their problems and offering appropriate solutions, this guarantees your efforts aren't going to yield sustainable results.

4. Know your buyers before trying to sell to them

Developing buyer personas is strongly recommended when implementing HubSpot. These buyer personas should inform your marketing plan, NOT just your marketing automation's implementation plan.

One of the biggest and most frequent mistakes companies make is using buyer personas for the wrong purpose, and with too little depth. They end up being too trivial to really make a difference. You'll need to seriously put in the time and effort to understand your buyers, before you can make the most of everything that HubSpot offers.

If you've invested in HubSpot, but suspect you're not maximising its potential for your business, the inbound marketing experts at Aamplify can help. Contact us, to start developing a strategy that'll get you results.