8 Marketing Tips from HubSpot CEO That Will Help You Grow Your Business
Last week I had the chance to attend the Grow with HubSpot conference in London. Over 400 marketers and agencies flocked together to hear what works in online marketing and to discuss trends that will shape its future.
After attending dozens of conferences as a speaker or Slido tech support, it felt refreshing to come in a role of a participant and focus on picking the brains from some of the leaders in the industry.
Throughout the day, I picked up lots of useful high-level methodologies and actionable tips, but my personal highlight came in the morning when HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan talked about his research of B2B buyers.
To identify aspects that impact their decision-making process, he examined the buyers in a similar fashion as when ethologists study the behavior of chameleons. Closely. And with an academic rigor.
Below I summed up and elaborated on Brian’s 8 suggestions for today’s marketers.
1. Cold Calling = Waste of Time
According to Brian, cold calling is not only a total waste of time, but it can actually harm your brand. If you want to grow, choose a different approach, this is a dead-end. Even in B2B.
2. Cold Emailing Works Only When Contextualized
In contrast to calling people that don’t know you, cold emailing might yield positive results. But under one condition — email recipients are already familiar with your brand and they understand why they received your email.
If done right, relevant emails drive 18x more revenue than broadcast emails said Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot CMO, during his talk.
3. AdWords Work and You Need to Figure Them Out
Like it or not, paid AdWords work. Identify what your customers try to solve and drill it down. Take them to the landing page that addresses exactly their problem. Be as specific as possible — you have very little time to impress.
4. Website content is king
Landing pages can help you skyrocket your sales numbers. But the secret to a truly effective landing page is to “ decide on the one thing you want your reader to do and eliminate all other deterrents.” as guys from Unbounce say.
So stay laser-focused and give people precisely what they’re looking for.
5. Social & Blog Work if Done Well
Lots of people jumped on the blogging bandwagon. And many jumped off disappointed. Blogs and social media do work but you need to dedicate yourself to helping people solve their problems, not solely promoting your brand. But, if done right, content marketing can help you build trust in your company. According to HubSpot research, 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from you if you deliver custom content.
6. Don’t bother building mobile apps
When was the last time you downloaded a new app? You see. According to Brian, apps are becoming an endangered species. This is in line with Quartz’s research that revealed that 65% of US smartphone owners download zero apps in a typical month. Ouch! As an alternative to many apps, Brian sees chatbots as the next big thing.
7. Figure Out a Way to Give Buyers a Taste
7-day, 14-day, 30-day trial. Trials are massively effective. People want to try your product before committing to purchase. But how long should your free trial be? The short answer is short. According to Steli Efti, 99% of B2B SaaS products should limit the trial to 14 days. More on that here.
8. Customers = Marketing = Sales
Happy customers are your best sales channel. Period. Be good to them, take care of them, love them.
About the Author
Juraj Holub is the marketing manager at audience interaction platform Slido that has helped to make over 15.000 events more interactive. He regularly writes about meeting design and content marketing on the Slido blog.
