Inside Inbound Marketing
I love when a good book finds me. This was the case with “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, And Blogs” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of HubSpot. It was next up on my Amazon Wish List but then – Boom! – it came my way via a promotional copy handoff from Social CRM consultant Brent Leary.
This friendly exchange ended up being a nice example of what the book is all about; creating content (online content for the most part) and relationships that help people find you and your business. These guys are good… I called up Brian right away and he was open to sharing some additional thoughts regarding Inbound Marketing implications and opportunities. His comments became the basis of my January PR Tactics article “Welcome to the DARC side: Creating compelling content for your Web site.”
The article focuses on the authors’ DARC acronym detailing essential qualities for every communicator in the digital age (Digital Citizens, Analytical Chops, Web Reach, and Content Creators). I couldn’t fit everything from my discussion with Brian into this piece, so here are some additional insights he shared. His comment regarding Apple is timely this week given introduction of the iPad, and extension of their simplicity and ubiquitous themes. (Apple PR, by the way, is an interesting study unto itself. This New York Times article by David Carr gives further details.)
Ryan Zuk: You cite Apple and the iPod among the inspirations for HubSpot. Are there elements here communicators can apply to help do their jobs better?
Brian Halligan: When I think of the iPod, instead of a complicated MP3 player, I think of a great experience focused less on features and more on user interface. Apple designed an alternative focused not on features but on an enjoyable experience. This is the takeaway everyone in business should consider. At HubSpot, for example, we take complicated Web concepts and simplify them for marketers. Most marketing firms wanting to do modern marketing right need to assemble SEO, blogging, lead management and Web analytics consultants. This can get rather complicated. Our Internet marketing software harnesses these elements to help businesses generate more inbound leads and convert a higher percentage of them into paying customers.
RZ: How does Inbound Marketing change business operation and communication?
BH: I was reading a comment by David Meerman Scott basically suggesting that the old-school rules of marketing focused on buying attention (advertising), begging for it (PR) or bugging people one at a time (sales). Inbound Marketing is about creating really compelling content for your Web site (videos, blogs, EBooks etc) that pulls people in to learn more about you. The people attracted include other Web site owners who link to your content, and people tweeting about your content and sharing it on other social networks. Lots of links naturally bring more people to you, and meanwhile you start ranking nicely on Google.
When you have good content it tends to snowball. More and more people start to find you. The nice thing about creating remarkable content is that it is very cumulative. You earn a few more links after each post. It’s kind of like compounding interest in your bank account.
RZ: What can we do as marketers, PR practitioners and communicators to get on board?
BH: Marketing teams and PR agencies need to help clients change their culture of content creation. Bigger, older businesses need to understand that every piece of content shouldn’t be scrutinized through legal reviews. You really need to crank out lots of good stuff, so focus on turning your clients into publishing machines. Businesses who win on the Internet are prolific publishers. Zappos and Whole Foods are a couple that come to mind.
Help your clients craft content that is right for them. Maybe it’s videos for one and blogs for another. Getting remarkable content to the masses creates an inbound flow of traffic that becomes your prospect pipeline, and eventually your paying customers.
My thanks to Brian for his time. You can find HubSpot’s free Grader resources at Grader.com if you haven’t experienced them already. The tools help evaluate and improve your Web presence as well as how you use Facebook and Twitter.
Also check out www.hubspot.tv which airs Fridays at 4:00 p.m. Eastern
Great supplement to an already fantastic read!
I am particularly interested in Brian Halligan’s statement -’bigger, older businesses need to understand that every piece of content shouldn’t be scrutinized through legal reviews.’ I would love to see expanded information about this aspect of the conversation, if it exists. Did Brian offer any additional insights about this reality or recommendations on how to bring about that understanding?
Hi Lisa. Thanks for reading and commenting. I didn’t dive into the “legal review mentality” topic with Brian. I do agree with his general statement – that you can limit your potential by spending too much time analyzing and gate-keeping your own content. I equally see your point about this requiring rationalization to aid such a cultural shift, if one is to occur. As much as volume and quality of content are ingredients for Inbound Marketing success, its accuracy is essential too. (This would make for a great discussion or blog post!)
Ryan: Glad you enjoyed the book.
Lisa: The issue of getting larger organizations to overcome this reservations around publishing more content is a tricky one. Though I haven’t seen hard data on this topic yet, I will say that I can’t come up with any examples where a large, established company tried blogging/twitter/etc. and messed it up so badly that it was permanently damaging. I think, on average, most companies over-estimate the actual risk associated with giving employees freedom to share insights.
Thank you both for your responses – it is an interesting issue. Blogging and social media tools have come into popularity while I have worked at smaller organizations. That said, companies that have focused so heavily on activities such as direct mail or email marketing will need to gain a comfort level with teams and individuals delivering the message. I’d love to hear how some larger companies have made the shift.