Startup Blog

Debate! Content Marketing vs. Inbound Marketing? (not really)

Posted Mike Volpe on 1/20/12 11:26 AM

gavelMy personal view is that content is an important ingredient to inbound marketing but content is not the whole story.  You need to measure and analyze your marketing, you need to convert visitors into leads and customers using landing pages and lead nurturing.  You need to promote your content using social media dn other methods.

Using Video for Marketing and Lead Generation

Posted Mike Volpe on 10/19/11 11:58 AM

My friends over at Pixability had me as a guest on their video marketing show, where we chatted about:

  • What exactly is inbound marketing, and how can it drive relevant leads to your company?
  • How can you incorporate video into your inbound marketing strategy?
  • Can inbound marketing completely replace your outbound marketing strategy?
  • Can an inbound marketing strategy work for B2B companies as well as B2C companies?

 

Great Content: The Missing Ingredient in Your Conversion Optimization Plan?

Posted Mike Volpe on 8/22/11 11:00 AM

Conversion Conference - Mike Volpe SpeakerEarlier this year, my good friend and colleague Tim Ash and I collaborated on a webinar called “Optimizing Your Site for Maximum Lead Flow”. If you’re not familiar with Tim, he’s the author of the book “Landing Page Optimization” and chairs an interesting event focused exclusively on website conversion optimization called Conversion Conference.  Tim’s specialty is convincing web visitors to take action on your website, and my niche is attracting people to your website. We made a great team, because together we provided a 360-degree view of website optimization, from getting more people to find your site to getting them to complete your conversion action once they’re there.

Marketing Quotes for Inspiration, Motivation and Presentations

Posted Mike Volpe on 6/28/11 9:06 AM

Check out these 101 Marketing Quotes compiled by the awesome team I work with.

Lady Gaga Meets HL7 Protocols? Really.

Posted Mike Volpe on 11/16/10 10:00 AM

While the corporate music video parody meme is not anything new, if the video is done well it never gets old.  Here is a new addition from Nuesoft (a HubSpot customer!) called "Interface" (video w /lyrics).

Should I Use Free Press Release Services to Promote Blog Articles?

Posted Mike Volpe on 11/9/10 12:01 PM

marketing Q AI got this question by email:

Win a Free Ticket to the Inbound Marketing Summit

Posted Mike Volpe on 9/23/10 9:30 AM

I am very excited for the upcoming Inbound Marketing Summit outside Boston on October 6-7.  The lineup of speakers and attendees looks amazing!  I really think it is an event worth attending if you can make it there.

inbound marketing summit

19 Marketing Experts Share Tips and Predictions for #IMS10

Posted Mike Volpe on 9/17/10 10:04 AM

Something I have been working on with Justin Levy.

Lawyers Shut Down IMU?

Posted Mike Volpe on 6/2/10 2:01 PM

EDIT: Please note that this post is associated with an Alternate Reality Game -- it is not real, it's for fun! Find out more here. We hope you will play along and solve the mystery. 

IMU Shutdown letter

Lead Generation, Conversion, Measurement and Marketing ROI

Posted Mike Volpe on 2/24/10 10:24 AM

Earlier this week at Woot Con, in addition to the keynote presentation, I gave a presentation about Lead generation, Lead Conversion and ROI.

Inbound Marketing Keynote at W00t! Con (video & ppt slides)

Posted Mike Volpe on 2/22/10 2:15 PM

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.

How to use great story-telling to engage prospective buyers

Posted Mike Volpe on 2/11/10 9:00 AM

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. 

create compelling content for marketing

Marketing 2.0 Book Review

Posted Mike Volpe on 10/27/09 11:57 AM

Bernie Borges has written "Marketing 2.0", and I think it is a great inbound marketing book that you should buy.  Here's why:

Book Review - Inbound Marketing

Posted Mike Volpe on 10/19/09 10:30 AM

Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah have written Inbound Marketing, which hits bookstores today!

Lead Generation and Conversion in Inbound Marketing and Social Media

Posted Mike Volpe on 10/13/09 3:30 PM

I had the opportunity to speak today at The BIG Conference about how to generate leads and sales through inbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing for the Home Appliance and Electronics Industry

Posted Mike Volpe on 8/31/09 11:23 AM

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.

How long does it take for the “get found” part of inbound marketing to start?

Posted Mike Volpe on 8/6/09 12:19 PM

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.

  1. The age of your website. The older your website is, the sooner you might see results.
  2. The amount of content you have. If you have more content, you have a better chance of seeing results sooner.
  3. 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.
  4. The competition in your market. If you have competitors that are well established online, it will take longer for you to
  5. 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.

Inbound Marketing for Recruiting

Posted Mike Volpe on 7/2/09 10:55 AM

This is a clever video that the creator sent to me.  I think it is a great summary of the concept of inbound marketing, specifically for the recruiting industry.

Using Online Video for Marketing

Posted Mike Volpe on 6/10/09 1:45 PM

I've been doing a bunch of work this week to put onto (virtual) paper a lot of the best practices we use at HubSpot for using online video for marketing.

I wrote a blog article about SEO for YouTube, and today Karen Rubin and I are doing a webinar on How to Use Video for Online Marketing.  It will be interesting to see how a webinar format is different for us than www.HubSpot.tv

Here are the slides from our webinar - download PPT slides.  Enjoy!

 

Dallas Inbound Marketing Summit - SEO 101 Presentation

Posted Mike Volpe on 5/27/09 12:01 PM

Here is my SEO presentation from the Inbound Marketing Summit in Dallas, including all the search engine optimization tips and tricks I covered, and information about how social media impacts search engine optimization.  There is still one more IMS in Boston - September 30 to October 1, 2009 - www.InboundMarketingSummit.com.

Download full PPT here or view the slideshow below.

 

But... How do I get started with Inbound Marketing?

In addition to my presentation, there were a lot of questions about "Where can I learn this stuff?  Where is the "101" content?"  Well, a big part of what we do for marketing at HubSpot is basic education on inbound marketing.  So here are links to some intro or 101 presentations on the basics:

Finally, if you want to learn more, register for the Inbound Marketing University, a free series of online classes to train you on all the basics, there is even certification available (if you can pass the exam).

Inbound Marketing Book - Reviews of Inbound Marketing and New Rules of Marketing and PR

Posted Mike Volpe on 3/9/09 10:21 AM

The top Inbound Marketing Book is, of course, "Inbound Marketing" by Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan.  The book is based off of all of our experience doing inbound marketing at HubSpot.  I highly recommend you spend the $17 to buy it on Amazon.com.

Pan Seared Salmon on YouTube

Posted Mike Volpe on 2/17/09 5:34 PM

Inbound marketing is not just for tech companies.  A restaurant can make a video about how to cook salmon and put it on YouTube and their blog.  Looks yummy.  Maybe I should go there this weekend...  Get the idea yet?

Video Podcasting While Driving to Albany

Posted Mike Volpe on 2/14/09 3:10 PM

I decided to do a video podcast about preparing for inbound marketing to give yourself a better chance for success while I was driving to Albany, NY to give a presentation to the AMA there.

Summary points:

  • Too many people jump into inbound marketing without the proper preparation
  • Who are your customers?  What is your fundamental value proposition?
  • To answer these questions, talk to and interview your customers - ask them how they would describe your company and product or service
  • Ask your customers where they hang out, how they learn more about their industry, what they read, how much they use discussion forums, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

All of this will help you with 3 things:

  1. Some good seed words for starting your keyword research for SEO purposes
  2. Great topics for content creation (blogging) and ways to find some other blogs to read and comment on
  3. Starting points for where to get involved in your social media activity that will target the highest proportion of people in your market

Download File for iTunes / iPod / iPhone (.m4v)

Inbound Marketing at the AMA Albany

Posted Mike Volpe on 2/12/09 10:05 AM

Today I am speaking at the Albany, NY chapter of the AMA (American Marketing Association) about inbound marketing.

For anyone interested in what I am saying, download the presentation (PPT format), or flip through the slides below.

If you saw the presentation and liked it, leave a speaking testimonial on this blog article or on my LinkedIn profile.

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