What does an inbound marketing agency do? It’s a question we get asked a lot. Do you just build websites? Do you just do online marketing? Do we need HubSpot to work with you? How can we tell the work we pay you for is having an impact? These are all very valid questions.
The best way to answer some of these questions is to share with you what we do here at LyntonWeb. Down here at the Lynton Corral, we focus on website design and development, HubSpot integration, and inbound marketing.
As an inbound agency our typical mandate is helping clients develop a strategy that will increase visitors, prospects, leads and ultimately sales. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we cannot close sales. No one from an inbound marketing agency can get on the phone and be a closer for you. We can generate valid marketing and sales qualified leads that will support your sales team in closing deals.
If you’re expecting sales to increase by simply hiring an agency - you’re thinking about this stuff the wrong way. You should expect an effective and powerful lead generation strategy that includes the typical components of inbound marketing - social engagement, content generation, website optimization, and possibly paid media. If you’re expecting an inbound agency to close deals for you - you’re better off hiring a sales coach, not an agency.
So here's what we do - broken down.
Website Design
As an agency, we evolved from a deep technical heritage and find that many prospective clients come to us interested in redesigning or updating their website.
Before we even get into the technical details with our prospective clients, though, we always address the business goals driving their need for a website redesign or new website. We want to make sure that we're not building some shiny new website they’ll become frustrated with in a few months because it’s not helping them generate leads or sales or increased visits and therefore not contributing to their bottom line. A $20,000 or $30,000 website investment that doesn’t provide a return on investment is the sort of thing that gets people fired.
We always link business imperatives to the technical work that we do.
Hubspot Integration
Once we are clear on the business imperatives, the conversation shifts to technology and processes. As we are a HubSpot VAR and, more importantly - we use, believe in, and love HubSpot - we’ll look to see how HubSpot can help support your business goals.
During the HubSpot conversation we’ll look at your processes to see what you’ll need relative to integration. You may have an existing enterprise website on a tool like Sitefinity or perhaps a home grown customized website. We’ll look to determine the integration touch points. Should we initially just implement HubSpot with landing pages and a blog or will a more holistic approach be beneficial?
Then there is usually the question of leads. Once they are captured in HubSpot, what happens? Most folks we talk to have a CRM. They want the leads from HubSpot to go to places like Salesforce or Sugar or Microsoft Dynamics so we need to understand how all that is set up. Where does the CRM live? Is it hosted? Behind a firewall? Who manages it etc. etc. That discussion will drive the integration implementation.
As an inbound agency we are focused on an optimized HubSpot website and assuring the data captured from this website is sent to it’s most useful place (i.e. usually a CRM). The whole process of a site build out and integration could take anywhere from 3 to 6 months depending on scope and technical requirements and ultimately the business drivers of the solution.
Inbound Marketing
Once we complete your website and integration, you have this awesome hotrod with a souped up engine - your integrated inbound website. It’s time to hit the road and see what this baby can do. You can’t do that without gas. Lots and lots of gas - premium unleaded. For an inbound marketing website, that gas comes in the form of content - blogs, advanced content, infographics, video - anything that educates and brings value to visitors on your site. That’s the other part of what we do.
We fuel your inbound engine with content aligned to your buyer personas that’s designed to move prospects, visitors and leads down the sales funnel to a buying decision. That’s what people get when they sign up for marketing retainers with us. Inbound strategy, development and implementation of content. Crafting ebooks and email campaigns, building out and testing landing pages. The works. Sometimes we work in conjunction with an internal team. Other times we are the outsourced marketing department.
That’s us. LyntonWeb. Not all inbound agencies are the same. I told you about the agency I prefer and the one I like the most. I’m biased. Sorry.
If you’re on HubSpot or considering HubSpot, talk to your HubSpot rep about what agency might be a good fit for you. It’s important to find an agency with a culture and a mindset that matches yours and be sure to speak to a number of HubSpot agencies before identifying the best agency for your needs.
