You’ve finally decided to purchase HubSpot – an exciting milestone! But after that honeymoon feeling fades, you may ask yourself: “Okay, so now what? How do I get the most out of my investment?”
You could attempt a “hands-on” approach and dive in headfirst and learn as you go. However, if you want to ensure user adoption, and ultimately business growth, consider some of these tips we’ve seen work for clients in the past:
Do Your Research
More than likely, you put in the work before deciding on HubSpot – but revisiting their website as you start to use it can help you get familiar with the different tools, as well as the company’s mission and values. You’ll also get a sense of the terminology they use, which will help you navigate the platform.
In a similar vein, search for any material written about using HubSpot, particularly any resources from HubSpot itself, long-term users, or HubSpot agencies. You may even find an onboarding partner from your searches, something we’ll get to later.
Take HubSpot Academy Courses
HubSpot has a deep appreciation for education. They offer hours upon hours of world-class training videos in the HubSpot Academy. They range from simple to in-depth and cover topics from inbound marketing to software best practices. Pay close attention to the HubSpot Marketing, Customer Service, and Sales Software certifications. These courses teach you how to use each platform and test your knowledge to confirm you’ve digested what you need to know!
Check Out the HubSpot Community and Knowledge Base
As noted, HubSpot loves providing educational resources to learn the in’s and out’s of their growth stack, as well as the principles of inbound marketing. If you like to pursue forums, you’ll love the HubSpot community where users, agencies, and HubSpot employees engage with each to discuss product questions and resolve any problems you may have regarding HubSpot. From lead nurtures to the all-new CMS, you’re bound to find a response!
Those who prefer a written “how-to,” don’t sleep on HubSpot’s help center or Knowledge Base. Here you can browse through various topics or search for your direct issue. There is an assortment of articles, including high-level introductions on topics like lifecycle stages or deep-dives into using APIs for workflow extensions. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can learn a lot about using HubSpot from the Knowledge Base.
Visit the App Marketplace
To get the most out of HubSpot from the get-go, visit the app marketplace, where you can find common integrations that extend the software’s capabilities. For example, say you already have Microsoft Teams. You could download the Microsoft Teams HubSpot Integration to connect the two systems and improve interdepartmental communication, setting yourself up for success from day one.
Partner with a HubSpot Onboarding Agency
Getting up and running with HubSpot is not a turnkey operation, which is why the best way to get started with the platform is to undergo onboarding with an agency like Lynton. Doing so can help you accelerate learning and adoption and enable your business’s strategy by zeroing in on metrics you need to make data-informed decisions, whether you’re using HubSpot Marketing Pro/Enterprise or HubSpot Sales Pro/Enterprises.
So, what does this look like? Our approach to both Marketing and Sales onboarding is consultative, informative, and results with your HubSpot portal being tailored to your specific needs. For instance, if you don’t have a form strategy in place, we can help create one. If you do, we can improve it, so you generate more leads when utilizing HubSpot.
We do all of this through collaboration. You’ll work with a growth strategist and onboarding specialist supported by an implementation team, including HubSpot, SEO, design, development, and copywriting professionals. Ultimately, we want to adequately train you on HubSpot’s functionality, from workflows to list building and analytics so that you can launch your campaigns smoothly. This process – for both Marketing and Sales – takes roughly three months and is broken down into three distinct phases, plus support:
Discovery. We get to know your company and your needs in detail. Understanding your business processes will ensure successful HubSpot configuration and usage. For many users, they’re replacing their current systems with HubSpot, so we’ll want to recognize how HubSpot will fit into your existing website and technology, and what will differ to avoid any confusion. We will also advocate you nominating someone internally to own your onboarding project so we can move seamlessly through the remaining steps.
Recommendations. After we fully comprehend your business processes, we set up your portal for success. We’ll build marketing or sales-specific workflows, lifecycle stages, pipelines, templates, and more. As noted, if you’re switching from a different system, we’ll take the time to teach you the HubSpot vernacular. While MQL and SQLs are the same throughout marketing and sales solutions, lifecycle stages, for instance, are not. Additionally, we’ll work to determine what sales and marketing assets you can move to HubSpot and what will be rebuilt in your portal. Because there is so much to learn about HubSpot such as this, we break this phase down into steps as well, beginning with more straightforward concepts such as contacts, companies, and privacy and moving up to building marketing and sales dashboards and pipelines.
Training. During this portion, we get into your HubSpot and show you how it’s currently built and how to set it up properly in the future. For example, we’ll go behind the scenes of your email marketing strategy – considering how marketing or sales sequences work depending on your organization’s inbound strategy. We’ll also make any necessary enhancements during this phase, such as improved naming conventions, file management, or whatever else you may need.
Support. By this point, the Lynton team will make sure everything is working to your satisfaction and provide additional consulting to optimize your portal further. We’ll put regular meetings on our calendars to continue to guide you.
More About HubSpot Onboarding with Lynton
The above is just a sampling of how we tackle HubSpot onboarding. Depending on your needs, we can offer assistance in blog migration, conversion rate optimization, custom reporting - and so much more!
But no matter what requirements you have – or what HubSpot product – deciding to work with an onboarding partner is recommended. From templates to playbooks and documents, we’ll make sure everything is in place for you to take over and dominate your inbound strategy using HubSpot. Reach out today to see how we can help.
