One question we are asked frequently is how to sell and evangelize inbound marketing (and HubSpot) within your own company. As a marketer you may have learned about HubSpot and inbound through a local HUG meetup or even through an Internet search on 'marketing automation software.' Perhaps you've used HubSpot at a previous employer and want to introduce it to your new one. Maybe you volunteer at a non-profit organization and want to give them an edge in their online marketing. Here's a few ways to talk about inbound and HubSpot with your bosses that will help pique their interest and may even encourage them to give this new fangled marketing (to them) a try.
We know IT will never go away. We need IT like our bodies need water (and Skittles) for things like enterprise security and software management. But do you really need IT to update your blog or help you launch a new landing page or email campaign? Absolutely not. It's not a good use of IT's time or a marketing manager's time. If your marketing department needs IT to set up marketing related pages on your website decryption will be needed between IT speak and marketing speak and critical details will be lost in translation. As an alternative to in-house IT support, HubSpot is hosted, stand alone marketing software that IT doesn't have to worry about managing or updating. HubSpot even offers SSL for a truly secure website. Once your marketing department moves to HubSpot, the keys are in your hands. You can create new website pages with a mouse click. Email campaigns can go from inception to design and delivery without ever involving IT.
Email, SEO, Social, Reports, CRM - these are all elements that HubSpot places under 'one roof.' Login to your HubSpot portal and you can check your marketing performance at a glance. Where are you, month to date, on leads and visits? These are core metrics you can build your marketing efforts on. What about your latest post on Facebook, how did that do? HubSpot will tell you. The LinkedIn paid campaign you're running? Yes, HubSpot will let you know how you're doing there. Views and conversions on the blog you posted yesterday? Yes HubSpot tracks that, too. If you are using Salesforce for CRM, Mailchimp for email, WordPress for your website, and Hootsuite for social - you could eliminate the need for all of them with HubSpot. That's potentially four monthly fees you could eliminate by just using HubSpot. That's a pretty big deal.
Inbound marketing is what you do with HubSpot. HubSpot is the Duracell battery that goes into the remote inbound marketing car you control. Your strategy, your business goals, and your goals inform your inbound approach. Inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing in that it is not interruption focused. No cold calls or spammy emails. It's about understanding a prospect's pain point and then finding the best solution for that pain. Inbound is about helping people through their buyer journey rather than telling them what to buy.
So when you chat with your VP or Director of Marketing, bring up these points. They will resonate with them. I guarantee it. Send them a link to this blog post even. If you truly want to own your marketing destiny, HubSpot and inbound marketing is the best way to do it.