Startup Blog

HubSpot Internal Marketing Memo "Advice on Working with Sales"

Posted Mike Volpe on 7/31/12 10:03 AM

Here is an internal email that I just sent to all of our "segment marketers" (also called "mini-CMOs") who are the marketing leads for each segment (a teams of sales and marketing folks that target a specific customer profile such as small business, SMB or enterprise).  This is a newly created position, and organizationally, we're still figuring it out.  Some of the marketing folks in this job are having the typical challenges of a new CMO / Director / VP of marketing where sales is running over them to other folks int he organization if they are not happy with some small thing.

Marketing Automation Terminology

Posted Mike Volpe on 1/25/12 11:15 AM

One of the biggest hurdles that buyers encounter when implementing a marketing automation system - or any software for that matter - is learning the terminology.  You know that in order to have effective lead management, you need a strong demand generation system that will drive leads into your funnel. From there you need to define a lead scoring methodology and then make a lead nurturing plan to support the various leads based on their scores and where are at in the buying cycle. Great! Now, what does all that actually mean?

In this video from the MASG team over at Software Advice, Carlos Hidalgo of the Annuitas Group describes these two terms to alleviate some of the confusion.


In part 2, Hidalgo discusses how to work within marketing automation to support the processes and strategy that you already have in place.
If you want to learn more about marketing automation, I did a presentation called "Death by Marketing Automation" that asks tough questions about the right and wrong ways to use the technology.  Click here to watch Death by Marketing Automation!

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.

A Bathroom Lead Generation Tip

Posted Mike Volpe on 7/29/10 2:54 PM

Without calls to action, you won't get any leads.

call to action in bathroom

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.

Using Social Media to Drive Lead Generation

Posted Mike Volpe on 11/10/09 12:51 PM

Social media and the social web can be used to drive leads and sales for your business, if you use it in the right way.
  • Start by growing your following and publishing interesting and useful content
  • Then, next to the content you are promoting in social media, include calls to action and offers next to that content - the second and more detailed content piece or free trial is what drives the leads
  • Make sure you have content both at the top of the funnel and at the middle of the funnel

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.

Case Study on Social Media Marketing Lead Generation - #sherpaB2B09

Posted Mike Volpe on 10/5/09 2:00 PM

I had the great opportunity to speak to a bunch of my marketing peers at the Marketing Sherpa B2B Demand Generation Summit in Boston today (#sherpaB2B09).  It was part of a panel discussion, and there were no slides, but my notes are below  Enjoy and share!

twitter for marketing and pr

Quick Landing Page Tips from #sherpab2b09

Posted Mike Volpe on 9/23/09 12:42 PM

I am listening in at the Marketing Sherpa B2B Lead Generation Summit #sherpab2b09.  (HubSpot TV is live streaming the event if you want to tune in.)  Here are some notes from the landing page session run by Flint McGlaughlin from MarketingExperiments.

Wire Fence Company Uses Social Media to Get 850% More Leads

Posted Mike Volpe on 7/29/09 1:51 PM

850%.  Really.  I didn't believe it either.  But I have talked to him and seen the numbers.

Chalk this one up as another example of a business that you would never think could blog or use social media... proving that it can work for almost any business.

If the video dioes not work for you, use this link.

 

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What are the marketing goals of blogging?

Posted Mike Volpe on 6/30/09 11:38 AM

A new question: What are the marketing goals of blogging?  I think some of the goals for launching a blog are:

  • Improve SEO performance - blog articles help with SEO a lot by increasing your presence on the web and attracting more links into your website
  • Build thought leadership and bradn - if your blog has interesting content, it can build your brand as a thought leader in the market
  • Increase social media performance - you are a lot more interesting in social media if you are writing and then promoting interesting blog articles (instead of telling people what you had for lunch)
  • Get more leads and sales - by adding calls to action to your blog, you can get blog visitors to convert into leads and customers for your business

Download video for iPhone and iPod

How to Improve B2B Website Lead Conversion Rates

Posted Mike Volpe on 3/13/09 10:32 AM

As a B2B marketer looking to generate leads through your website, you need to think about a few of the key factors driving your conversion rates.  If you understand these key factors, you can try to implement ways to improve each of them, and therefore increase your overall conversion rate, driving more leads.

  1. Traffic Quality- If you are selling business software, traffic from MySpace is just not going to convert for you at a high rate.  But, traffic from the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch or CNet might convert really well.  Look at all the sources of traffic to your website and the conversion rates of each source.  Try to drive more traffic like the sources that convert well for you.  Don't waste your time working on sources like the ones that don't convert.
  2. Calls to Action - A landing page with a conversion form should be no more than one click away from every page of your website.  Make sure you have a great call to action on each page of your website.
  3. Landing Page Quality - Once your visitors are directed to a landing page with a conversion form, make sure that page is performing well.  Do some testing and optimization to improve the conversion rate of all of your landing pages.
  4. Industry- Certain industries just experience higher conversion rates.  If you are selling to IT people, they are usually really sensitive to spam and often know a bunch of tricks to avoid giving you their contact info.  Your conversion rate will just be lower than companies in other industries.  There is not much you can do about this (besides change jobs) so don't worry about it.
  5. Brand - As you become more well know, people will trust you more and typically your conversion rate will increase as your brand grows over time.  This is a long term effect, so there is not much you can do about this in the short term so don't worry about it.

Want more info? Read this article about how to draw attention to your calls to action.

Download video for iPod.

Why Bounce Rates are Useless for B2B Marketers

Posted Mike Volpe on 3/11/09 10:23 AM

I am always surprised when B2B marketers worry so much about "bounce rates" (the % of people who leave your website after the first page view).

  • You don't care if someone views 1 page or 10 pages on your site - if they didn't convert into a lead, it was not that valuable to you.  In fact, fewer page views might indicate a visitor who is ready to purchase and just trying to contact you - lots of page views might be someone just in the research phase.
  • You should measure the overall website conversion rate - how many leads you get for each 100 visitors to your website.  This is a core metric to focus on and try to improve.  Look for my next article on how to think about improving your conversion rates.

 

Now... if you have banner ads on your website and monetize through advertising, or if you are an ecommerce website, you should worry about bounce rates, time spent on site and page views per visit - engagement metrics.  Your goals are different from a B2B lead generation marketer.

Download video for iPod.

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