JUMP START Blog and Online Community

You've probably heard of both HubSpot and ActiveCampaign during recent years, but you may be wondering which one is the best fit for you. 

This is a big decision that should be evaluated based upon your unique needs, budget and the skill set of your internal resources.

However, we'll outline the biggest differentiators below so you can make an informed decision.

Are you confused about how to use HubSpot's prebuilt email sequences for your sales and marketing drip campaigns and workflows? Or are you not even sure what drip campaigns are (if so, you're not alone!).

Drip campaigns, or the process of continuing to nurture prospects and leads in a systematic way via emails, are a key part of moving cold leads and prospects more quickly through your sales and marketing funnel with less manual effort, time and resources.

Conferences are great for many things: learning, networking, growing your knowledge base to get closer to your goals...but how do you know which to attend? Each month, we let you know our faves, so you can book your tickets and show up, ready to learn without the fear or anxiety of not knowing what you're getting yourself in to. 

What? HubSpot's Inbound
When? September 4-7, 2018
Where? Boston, MA
The holy grail of all-things-marketing. Join the more-than-20,000 attendees for what's sure to be one of the top conferences of the year, put on by the industry leaders at HubSpot. Oh and did we mention DEEPAK CHOPRA will be there? #BowDown.

If you're wondering how to post a blog in HubSpot...I have two things to tell you: 

1. You're not alone
2. It's easier than you think

Let's take a look at just how easy it actually is...so read on, and you’ll be Content-is-Kinging it all the way to the coveted page one in no time.

For digital marketers, HubSpot is a phenomenal tool. For content marketers? It’s a dream. It's robust, versatile, scalable and powerful, with analytics that will basically blow your mind. And, did I mention…it can totally change how your content gets out there and who ends up reading it?

Stop what you're doing right now. Close your eyes, and picture your idea of success. What do you see?

A high-paying job? A fancy car? A business idea that took off? A happy relationship?

Now ponder this: in any of those images of success, do you see the risks that were taken and even the failures that happened alongside the success? Or do you only see the bright and shiny 'success,' packaged up in a pretty bow?

Chances are, you're in the latter camp—like most people. And because people believe success is often devoid of failure and struggle, it stops people from even trying. It's too big of a risk to try and possibly fail, they think, so why even begin? The same holds true for potentially challenging, time-consuming or risky marketing activities or campaigns. 

Hubspot reports that "marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to achieve a positive ROI on their efforts."

Those are great odds and definitely worth pursuing.

If you haven't started a blog for your organization, now is a good time to do so. To get you started, here is a step-by-step guide to developing and posting a blog through Hubspot. 

There are a lot of inbound marketing tools on the market today, so it's sometimes difficult to know which ones are good and which ones aren't worth the time or money needed.

Luckily, the Flair Interactive team has done the hard work for you and we've identified four must-have inbound marketing tools that will make your job easier—and will provide a high return on investment if they're implemented the right way.

Check out our free listicle to learn about the latest and greatest inbound marketing tools!

Are you afraid to give away too much information to your site visitors and followers? Don't be!

According to Hubspot, that's one of the top three fears that stop people from embracing the inbound methodology. But don't let this hold you back, since educating your visitors is one of the MOST important things you can do gain a following and attract people to your brand.

Other top concerns, says Hubspot, include changing an existing sales process or sharing sales and revenue data with marketing teams (who, ironically, are typically expected to increase sales and revenue).

Read this spooooooky post from Hubspot to learn more about why people are afraid to utilize Hubspot and inbound—and what you can do to overcome these fears and get a better ROI on your marketing:

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/scary-fears-to-overcome

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.

I talk to a lot of marketers each week, and most of them have at least one thing in common: they're frustrated because they have to use a TON of tools to complete their day-to-day marketing responsibilities.

There are a zillion third-party tools on the market for email marketing, social media, landing pages, forms, analytics, reporting, customer relationship management, ecommerce and many others. And if you're like most other modern marketers, you have a hard time keeping up with the updates, user interfaces, training and login information for all of those disparate tools.

Often, smaller businesses try to save money by cobbling together low-cost tools and painfully trying hit-or-miss ways to integrate them together, even if they're not designed to work with one another. Sometimes it works and sometimes results are less than desirable.