Posted by Mike Volpe on Wed, Jun 02, 2010
Posted by Mike Volpe on Mon, Mar 15, 2010
Karen Rubin and I will be in Las Vegas March 19 for live showing of HubSpot TV and then a marketing workshop.
I did a little research on Twitter Grader, and found a few folks that I would like to meet on March 19, and who I am hoping might want to come to the HubSpot TV show that day.
Are you on this list? Connect with me or leave a comment, and let's chat! Maybe we can have you on the show?
Not on the list? Know someone else that I should meet? Invite them to come to the show on March 19!
Posted by Mike Volpe on Wed, Feb 24, 2010
Earlier this week at Woot Con, in addition to the keynote presentation, I gave a presentation about Lead generation, Lead Conversion and ROI.
I streamed the presentation live, so you can watch the video or view the slides below.
Presentation on Lead Generation, Conversion, Measurement and Marketing ROI by Mike Volpe, VP Marketing at HubSpot. Covers how to convert more traffic into visitors using landing pages, offers, calls to action, analysis, and how to measure ROI and marketing.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Mon, Feb 22, 2010
Today I had the pleasure of delivering the keynote address at W00t! Con in Bakersfield, California. I used my new iPhone 3Gs to stream the presentation live on Qik (my old phone was just an iPhone 3G and did not do video). You can watch the presentation in full (until my battery died during th Q&A) or just see the slides.
Inbound marketing keynote presentation by Mike Volpe, VP marketing at HubSpot at www.WootCon.com on 22 Feb 2010 in Bakersfield, CA. The presentation covers inbound marketing, online marketing, internet marketing, SEO, social media marketing, lead generation and small business marketing.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Thu, Feb 11, 2010
This is a guest post by Jeff Ogden is a demand generation expert and sales leader, as well as the President of Find New Customers, a lead generation company, which helps businesses create lead generation campaigns and continually publishes the best lead generation ideas, so his readers can determine the best lead generation strategy to find new customers.
Seth Godin, author of best-selling books on marketing like Purple Cow, Meatball Sundae and Permission Marketing and his latest book, Linchpin talks about the need to develop remarkable content. What is remarkable content? Seth says it is "Content the reader finds so interesting, people remark to each other about it."
How can marketers create content so interesting to the reader that people start talking to each other? That seems, to most B2B marketers, a bar set too high. They certainly grasp the concept, but they struggle to put it into action. The goal of this article is to give you specific ideas of how to put Seth's concepts into action.
How can our content deeply engage readers and earn their permission for continued communications?
In order to answer that question, we need to move to an area where most of us have little experience - publishing. Specifically, we're looking at great story-telling - that engages readers on an emotional level. Don Hewitt, the late creator of 60 Minutes, described the continued success of that show as being due to their ability to tell great stories. Look at the young girl in the picture above - she's obviously engrossed in a book she finds of great interest. She's emotionally engaged. But how might you do the same thing in your B2B company? I think the best way to examine this challenge is to look at what makes - and does not make - a great story.
What does NOT not make a great story?
- Information about your company, your products or how great you are.
- Technical and obtuse terms - your speeds and feeds
- Company history and awards
What does make a great story?
- An engrossing plot with surprises, twists and turns. In the B2B world, it may be as simple as a yarn of how companies can move from a business problem to stellar results. But it's got to be a great story.
- Short chapters with images that support the story. Pleasing graphic treatments that engage the mind.
- Each chapter ends with a "hook" - a tease of what is to come in the next chapter. That keeps the reader flipping pages and looking forward to the next installment.
- The ability for the reader to direct the story. Let her move back and forth - look at an earlier chapter, for instance. Readers want to be empowered.
Lastly, once you have a great story, pleasing graphics, "hooks" end every chapter and you're ready to go, you need to take another page from the publishing industry and promote your story. Ask influential bloggers to read it and comment. Get your Twitter followers to tweet about it. Write about it on your blog. Perhaps you are thinking "Hey, Jeff. This is a great idea. But I'm not a writer." As Brian Halligan, HubSpot CEO and Founder pointed out in a recent webcast - there are plenty of journalists and writers looking for work. All you have to do is go out and look for them.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Tue, Oct 27, 2009
Bernie Borges has written "Marketing 2.0", and I think it is a great inbound marketing book that you should buy. Here's why:
- It is a complete vision of inbound marketing it is not just about social media, blogging or lead generation - it is a holistic view of inbound marketing
- It has great specific examples and case studies from lots of different industries
Disclosure - I wrote the foreward to the book and Bernie gave me a free copy!
Download file for iPod and iPhone.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Mon, Oct 19, 2009
Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah have written Inbound Marketing, which hits bookstores today!
Here is why I like the book:
- A complete vision of inbound marketing it is not just about social media, blogging or lead generation - it is a holistic view
- To do list and questions throughout, making it an interactive guide
- It draws heavily on our experiences growing HubSpot from a brand new company, to over 1800 customers and 100 employees in just 3 years
Disclosure - it was written by my bosses (and I got my copy for free)!
Buy "Inbound Marketing" on Amazon.com
Download file for iPod and iPhone.
Posted by Mike Volpe on Tue, Oct 13, 2009
I had the opportunity to speak today at The BIG Conference about how to generate leads and sales through inbound marketing.
You have fans - so NOW what? Conversion, Landing Pages, Offers
The offer and landing page are important parts of any lead generation marketing campaign. This is where the conversion takes place to fill the top of the sales funnel. You work really hard on all your blogging and social media efforts, but without attractive offers and optimized landing pages, all that effort goes to waste. There is a lot that goes into a successful landing page from the offer to the call-to-action, to the landing page layout. This session will cover all the basics of how to convert more of your traffic into leads and sales and actually make something worthwhile out of all your inbound marketing effort.
Yes, it is ok to sell things through social media.
Yes, it is ok to evaluate your blog as a source of leads and customers.
See the presentation to learn more!
Posted by Mike Volpe on Mon, Aug 31, 2009
I have the pleasure today of speaking at the BrandSource National Convention, where they have asked me to talk about inbound marketing (and especially social media). In addition to may latestmaterial, I added a few slides and examples relevant to this particular audience. But, we're looking for more ideas from you! See below and leave a comment.
View presentation below, or download PPTX file.
Additional Inbound Marketing and Social Media Marketing Resources:
What are your ideas?
What ideas do you have for how a local appliance and electronics retailer could do to leverage inbound marketing (publishing online content, optimizing for search, leveraging social media)? Leave your ideas in a comment below?
Posted by Mike Volpe on Thu, Aug 06, 2009
If you are launching a new inbound marketing program for a website, there are a number of variables that determine how long it might be until you see measurable results.
- The age of your website. The older your website is, the sooner you might see results.
- The amount of content you have. If you have more content, you have a better chance of seeing results sooner.
- The number of inbound links you have. If you have more links into your website, you have a better level of authority with the search engines, and you might see results sooner.
- The competition in your market. If you have competitors that are well established online, it will take longer for you to
- The amount of effort you put in. The results you see from inbound marketing are completely based on how much time and effort you put into it. If you blog once a week and spend a bit of time in social media you'll see results, but you'll get a lot more a lot faster if you blog 3-5 times a week and spend a lot of time making friends in your industry online.
For a well established company that has a lot of inbound links and has been around for years, but never did an effective optimization of their website, they could start to see results in a matter of weeks. If on the other hand you are launching a brand new website in a competitive market, it could take 6 months to see any significant results for getting found in inbound marketing. To size up your website and your competitors' websites, use the free tool http://website.grader.com/
Download video for iPod and iPhone.