I was recently on a joint session with a current client and our rep Frank from HubSpot. As we were discussing the HubSpot platform and how it would transform our client’s marketing program, Frank said something profoundly simple. He said, “Inbound marketing is not our theory, or Quintain Marketing’s theory. This is how B2B marketing works.”
Wow.
In 2009, I read Inbound Marketing by the founders of HubSpot and became hooked. I visited their website, downloaded a top of the funnel piece of content, was nurtured into agreeing to a call, and shortly after signed up for their service. At the time, I was VP of the company and head of the marketing department for a well-established consulting firm in the insurance industry that had been around for over 30 years. We had a decent brochure-style website, and from what we guessed, a decent amount of traffic and brand awareness.
After signing on with HubSpot and implementing the exact same process that Frank outlined on our call recently (graphic below), I was astounded. Within just one month after ramping up our blog, creating a keyword strategy and implementing an online sales process, our traffic increased by over 450%! From there, we began to nurture that traffic, super-qualify and eventually target and convert those leads into new clients – aka revenue. The results were real, and I knew that this was the way marketers had to do things moving forward.
The brief story above, many details omitted, is a main reason why I am where I am today. Inbound marketing works! I use my first personal example along with results from my other companies and clients when chatting with prospective clients. I firmly believe in the inbound process and attempt to convince skeptical executives.
After years of pleading with people to listen and asking them to switch their thinking, Frank (most likely unknowingly) boldly stated the obvious. It’s not my opinion on how to do marketing, and it’s not anyone’s theory on how to conduct a B2B marketing process. It is simply the way.
There are plenty of inbound marketing case studies to support this argument of inbound being the way do to things. While the inbound process must follow the foundational building blocks (again in the graphic above), there is no magic pill and every organization will do things a little differently. There is really no one right answer. Rather, it is about adjusting constantly to find what works for you and then replicating it. The only wrong way is to do bits and pieces which I call ‘marketing decaf’.
If I’ve piqued your interest and you want to learn more about inbound marketing, I encourage you to take our free inbound marketing assessment or sign up for a 30 day free trial of HubSpot. If you, too, have had a great experience with inbound marketing, share it with me in the comments below!
