JUMP START Blog and Online Community

We hear a lot about how businesses can benefit from lead scoring.  In fact, some marketing automation platforms go so far as to say it’s a “must” for any inbound marketing program.  However, our friends at Hubspot tell us that there are certain instances where lead scoring is actually a waste of a marketer’s time, and we tend to agree.

Have you been to Hubspot's annual INBOUND conference yet? If not, you're missing out on a lot of insightful and informative sessions and advice from industry pros about all things inbound, so ask me about registering for INBOUND 2016.

One of my favorite gems from INBOUND is Beth Dunn's BOLD "Fix Your Writing" talk. It's actually a few years old, but I refer to it over and over again to remind myself about the most important advice we can follow as online marketers: write every day, even if it's crap. Even the best and most influential writers turn out mediocre writing on some days and that's okay. The most important thing is that they write EVERY DAY. You can always refine it after you get the words down on paper or on your screen.

Stay in the know about content marketing with these handy infographics that have gone viral this month.
 

Check out this interesting chart from Google Trends. It shows the increase in relative searches for the term inbound marketing during the last ten years—from zero searches before 2007 to rapid and continuous growth from 2008 to present. (Note that this is showing relative interest over time—so it's not saying that there were only 100 searches total.)

In the world of inbound marketing, we approach the marketing process in terms of four primary components: attract, convert, close, and delight.  In that first stage, it’s all about getting your business in front of the right audience. Attracting a well-targeted audience is critical; otherwise, you’re wasting your time and energy.

The majority of marketers today will tell you that content marketing is nothing without a plan. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but the underlying concept really hits home.  Creating a solid plan for your marketing initiatives gives you a much better shot at success, and a detailed content marketing strategy should be a part of that plan.

Are you a new Hubspot subscriber, but you're scratching your head about how to get started? Or have you heard a lot about Hubspot, but you're not exactly sure what all of the fuss is about? 

I'm thrilled to introduce our new and FREE 5-Day Hubspot Crash Course. This is a self-paced and simple email course that you'll receive over the course of five days.

Every day, you'll receive one email lesson that covers the basics of Hubspot—including:

• what makes Hubspot so popular
• who should use it
• how to do basic tasks like blogging, social media, landing pages, calls to action (CTAs), forms and reporting
• what else you should keep in mind as you get started with your marketing transformation
• tips, tricks and special caveats that will help you work smarter, faster and more efficiently 

Click on the link below to enroll in the course, then sit back and relax while you review these quick and easy lessons.

Find out what you've missed in the world of content marketing for the week ending September 25th. These are a few of this week's top stories, hand-picked by the team at Flair Interactive Services.

This quote from a German proverb says it all...

I've seen a ton of online marketers and business owners spend countless hours on their marketing efforts, only to throw their hands up in frustration and say, "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong!" Do any of these symptoms sound like you?

• You've spent money on every online marketing tactic out there, but none of them get you the results that you need
• You try to stay up-to-date about the newest online marketing trends and best practices, but you barely have time to do your real job or actually implement anything due to all of that time spent learning
• You spend a lot of time writing blog posts, social media posts and other content, but you're never really sure which ones are paying off or which ones are a giant waste of your time
• You've hired a writer, online marketer or freelancer in the past, but they can't seem to connect with your audience or speak their language
• You're attracting a lot of traffic and leads, but they're not the right kinds of leads or they're not converting into paying customers
• You and your team clear your schedules for big marketing campaigns every few months, but they never pay off so you don't make marketing a priority

Well folks, if that's you, then I'm happy to tell you that there IS a better way!

I was just reading an article by our friends over at Hubspot called 8 Rookie Mistakes That Will Ruin Your Website Redesign, and I found myself cheering out loud. Seriously. This blog post is SO on target regarding mistakes that I've see people making over and over again during my last 20 years in online marketing and web development.

As author Jami Oetting notes, website redesigns involve a lot of moving parts and it can be overwhelming to someone who's never been involved with that kind of project before. (Heck, it can overwhelming to people who HAVE been involved with redesigns!)

We see clients every day who dive headfirst into a redesign and don't really stop to think about all of the details. I guarantee that if you stick to the 8 suggestions offered in Oetting's blog post, you WILL see better results from your redesign project--not just during the chaotic, stressful days of the project itself, but for many months and even years after your site launches. It's all about building a solid foundation with a well-planned site and a carefully crafted marketing strategy that is reflected in every area of your new site.