If you didn’t already know, Page One Web Solutions is a certified HubSpot Partner and as we forge our way through 2017, we wanted to take a step back and think about what that means for our clients and future clients! In this blog post we’re going to discuss what HubSpot is, what it means to be a HubSpot Partner and some of the signs companies and marketers should look for that indicate their need to hire a HubSpot Partner Agency.
Let’s start by explaining what HubSpot is, for those of you who aren’t familiar. HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales software that helps companies drive traffic to their website, convert traffic into leads and close more customers. The idea is that a marketer has a number of different initiatives in the day-to-day of their role and with that comes using a bunch of disparate tools. This can make their job much harder than it needs to be! Drum roll please…...HUBSPOT! HubSpot combines a number of tools within one easy-to-use platform to help marketers of all industries and experience levels manage their marketing efforts effectively with a single login.
HubSpot DOES make things easier but sometimes you still need some help from the experts. This brings me to our next question- what does it mean for Page One Web Solutions to be a HubSpot Partner? Not only do we use HubSpot as a company, but we’ve partnered with HubSpot to combine their award winning software with our inbound and online marketing expertise, so that we can offer HubSpot to our clients who are a good fit for the platform as well as partly or fully manage HubSpot for our clients to effectively deliver the results they are seeking. Not only does Hubspot make us more efficient as a marketing agency but it allows our clients to engage and have input in the work we are doing on their behalf. Clients can see everything we’re doing, easily provide feedback to ensure the work we’re doing speaks to their brand and most importantly view the results we’re delivering- all from within HubSpot.
As I mentioned above, Hubspot is a lean machine that makes a marketer’s life much easier but having worked as a Customer Success Manager at HubSpot previously, my customer’s biggest pain point was the dreaded duo….TIME & RESOURCES. Even if you have a dedicated marketer, made the wise investment in HubSpot and have the best of intentions- you can still fall short finding yourself missing deadlines and searching for a solution. In times like these, it's time to pull in reinforcements to do the dirty work. Let’s talk about some symptoms that may indicate your need to work with a HubSpot partner:
1. You’re new to inbound marketing- There is a learning curve to both the concept of inbound marketing and the use of HubSpot. HubSpot says there are 4 stages to inbound marketing (attract, convert, close & delight) and there's about 4 initiatives/tools you’re expected to master in each (see inbound methodology below). Oh, and the engine doesn’t tend to work as well as it should unless you’re doing them all and doing them well. So once you’ve learned the best practices on social media, blogging, content offers, landing pages, emails etc- you still have to learn how to use the software to execute on all of these deliverables. Starting to catch my drift?
This might indicate you need the help of a certified HubSpot Partner to help with the the education and execution aspects of successfully marketing your business online. So, if you wanted visitors, leads and customers yesterday- decrease the learning curve and work with a team that knows what they’re talking about.
2. Your boss thinks you’re a team of 3 but he forgot he fired the other 2- Do you have the daily tasks of 3 employees and its just you? Sure you’ve got Hubspot that makes it easier to do your work in one place...but if there’s not enough manpower to complete all the work it won’t make enough of a difference. Additionally, most marketers have initiatives outside of just online marketing (preparing for trade shows, writing press releases, planning events etc) or maybe you’re not even a marketer but somehow inbound marketing got added to your job description. It’s much easier to facilitate and oversee marketing initiatives than deliver them. Hire a marketing agency and you’ll quickly find yourself working with a knowledgeable team of individuals that you’ve needed all along.
3. You’re not technical- Some marketers are more technical than others and HubSpot surely makes it easier to whip up a landing page or blog post but there are just some things you need someone with design experience to handle. Want to tweak the layout of your blog? Wish you had some cool new Call-To-Action buttons on your homepage? Or just want a new email template design for an awesome ebook offer you plan to promote? If you don’t have an in-house developer and don’t have design/coding experience, you’re up the creek without a paddle in sight. If you call HubSpot Support they’ll tell you it's not within their scope of work to help you with design questions- after all they work for HubSpot, not Wordpress or Squarespace. You need a marketing agency- and one who is certified to design on HubSpot’s CMS as well as others like Wordpress and Squarespace (depending on where your site lives).
4. You’re not a content writer- So you know “SEO”- but good luck trying to get search engines to direct traffic to the pages of your website if you’re not publishing consistently great content. Optimizing will only go so far. Writing content is time consuming and was always one of the most common pain points amongst my clients while I was working at HubSpot. We’d hop on a call to do a quarterly account review and I’d find myself asking once again “Well, I see you haven’t posted to your blog or added the content offers we discussed” and almost always the response was “I just didn’t have the time. I promise I’ll start blogging next month” but it almost never happened.
You may be a savvy marketer but if writing content just isn’t you’re thing or you don’t have the time, it may be time to evaluate a HubSpot Partner. Content gets you traffic, leads and customers and there’s no way around it.
We talked through a couple tell-tale signs that you should evaluate hiring a HubSpot Partner. If you fit the bill of the above symptoms this option may be for you. Obviously we’d love for you to speak with Page One Web Solutions about your particular needs but you can also look into other HubSpot Partner Agencies by visiting HubSpot’s Partner Directory from within your portal if you have an active HubSpot subscription.
Want some more info? Click the button below to download our free Ebook: Hiring an Inbound Agency vs. Flying Solo
