HubSpot Fans

Web 2.0 Quotes from a Boston Cab Driver

• I got a new 3G iPhone because I am in my cab all day and it is like a laptop for my cab.
• I use Classmates.com a lot to catch up with people from school and find old friends.
• I forgot my phone today and I am going crazy without it.  Usually I am chatting on MSN with my friends all day.
• The new Apple store in Boston is beautiful, I love it.  I love everything Apple does.
• Have you heard of Hi5? I am from Cape Verde and all my friends are on it.  I have also met new people there.  It's great. 
• Have you gone to AppleRumor.com?  I always check it out to find out what new stuff Apple might e doing.
• I can live without TV.  I cannot live without the Internet.  I am addicted to it.

I am not totally sure what this means from a marketing perspective.  But, I think one thing that it means is that more of your target audience is online and using social networks than you think.  Many marketers might assume that if you are targeting cab drivers that you would not use social networks, blogs or search engines to target them.  I think my cab driver would disagree.

Have you found any unexpected people using social networks?  Who are they?  Leave a comment below.

I had a chance to talk to Leigh Anne Wallace who blogs at TheB2BLead and got her perspective on blogging for business and what she has learned from her experience.

Here are some of the things we chatted about in the video:

• The domain or URL of your blog is important.  Read this article about the best options for a business blog URL. 
• Blogging is a great way to build thought leadership in your community, and can lead to speaking opportunities.
• You can have your customers write for your blog.
• Blogging is a good way to build a relationship with individual people in your market and is a good lead nurturing tool.
• Updating your blog on a regular basis keeps your readers more engaged.
• Take your blog articles and re-use them as part of your email newsletters.

I've been getting this question more and more lately, as Twitter becomes more and more mainstream and the business benefits of Twitter are more and more talked about.

First, a word of caution. When engaging in any social media, you want to do so authentically - it will involve a fair amount of your participation, both give and take. Your first step once you join Twitter should probably not be to go follow 1,000 people. First of all, you very possibly might not be able to due to recent limits set by Twitter. This act seems kind of spammy, and that's the last thing you want to do in social media. You should aim to let your community grow organically. That said, there are a few things you can do to get started.

The first thing you absolutely have to do once you sign up for a Twitter account (though you can do this before signing up for Twitter, but you won't be able to do much beyond this), start monitoring who and what people are saying about your company. Go to Search.Twitter or Tweetscan (it may be worth it to use both, or even additional Twitter search engines, as they don't all pick up on everything) and search for your company name, your executives' names, perhaps your competitors' names. You'll see all the recent tweets that mention that name or phrase. What's also great about these services is you can subscribe by RSS to this thread so you'll be able to keep tabs on new posts about your company. When someone does talk about your company - respond, favorite the tweet perhaps if it's favorable, and start following the person.

A very close second most important thing to do once you're on Twitter is to actually engage in the community. If you want people to follow you, you need to give them a reason to. Post interesting tweets, respond to others (see first point above). As noted in my word of caution, you want to be an authentic participant in the community. One of the wonderful things about Twitter is that you have to opt-in to receive someone's updates (follow them). So, you need to think of ways to warrant a follow. I've been pretty impressed with Whole Foods in this regard. I started following them, though I'm no Whole Foods nut, because of their interesting tweets like "TOTD" (tweet of the day), and interesting food-related tweets like plugging food festivals across the country.

Those are really the two most important things you can do on Twitter. But, if you're still interested in ramping up your Twitter following, here are a few additional ideas:

• Go back to Search.Twitter and search on more general phrases that relate to the audience you're trying to reach. Subscribe to those updates and respond/follow as appropriate.
• Check out the directories, like Twellow. Twellow is a directory of Twitter users categorized by industry or interest. There are a few other cool services, like Twubble and Twits Like Me. ReadWriteWeb posted a great article on these services here.
• Follow those who follow you. People like to feel like you're listening to them and that they're engaging in a two-way conversation with you. A follow-back is a great way to set that environment.
• Check out who your followers are following. They are likely interested in similar topics, and are a natural extenstion to your existing network.

One more thought to consider before you get going: Will you be setting up a company Twitter account or will various employees have personal Twitter accounts (or both)? At HubSpot, we recently launched our company Twitter account @hubspot that a few of us monitor and update. There are also a bunch of us who have our own personal accounts, including our CEO, CSA, VP Marketing, and lots of others from across the company, including myself of course. The question is which brand you are building up - your corporate brand, or your personal brand (which in turn contributes to the company brand as well). I like the mix of both, though a lot of marketers may not have the bandwith to support more than one Twitter account. Either way, the first thing you must do after reading this post is to reserve your company's name on twitter before someone else does.

If you want to see some companies out there who are doing a great job on Twitter, check out Zappos or Whole Foods. If you want to see a full list of companies on Twitter, check out the new Social Brand Index (and it wouldn't hurt to get listed there, too, while you're at it).

Have you had any luck building a following for your company on Twitter? Do you have any additional techniques that worked for you? What have you learned from other companies on Twitter - good and bad approaches? Leave a comment and let's discuss.

If you're spending any time using blogs or social media to promote your business, you should be reading Chris Brogan's blog.

Chris is one of the wisest guys there is on these topics and he's constantly sharing the things he's learning with his blog readers and his Twitter followers.

Chris will be part of a top-notch line-up at the Inbound Marketing Summit here in Cambridge, MA, on Sept. 8 (there are less than 55 tickets left, so sign up now if you want to come).

I got a chance to speak with Chris earlier this week at the Affiliate East Summit in Boston, where I asked him how should businesses start using social media? Chris said, start by listening:

We've been experimenting with a new concept... "live TV" at http://HubSpot.tv.  We all know that on the Internet, anyone can be a publisher with a blog, and it is easy to publish a video or audio podcast.  Now, you can even stream live video from your computer or even cell phone.  So we're giving it a shot.  Karen Rubin (HubSpot Inbound Marketing Consultant) will be joining me for a rundown of recent marketing news.  And because this is web2.0, you can chat live with us and ask us questions, so you're part of the show.  If you want a sample, we recorded our first (alpha) show for your viewing pleasure.  Check it out below, along with our show notes and links.

Tune in today at 4:30pm EST at http://HubSpot.tv to our live broadcast and tell us what you think.

Recorded HubSpot.TV - Episode #1 - August 8, 2008

Below are our actual show notes from Episode #1. They might not mean much to you, but maybe you can follow along, use the links, etc.  It also helps search engines index the content more easily, since they can't tell what we're saying in the video.

1. Introductions - Karen Rubin and Mike Volpe from HubSpot

2. Search Challenge Email as Most Popular Online Activity --http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/06/search-challenges-email-as-most-popular-daily-online-activity/

3. Marketing News - McCain Campaign Ads go viral - "Obama Celebrity" ad gets 2m+ views http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHXYsw_ZDXg - Newer "Obama = God" ad up to almost 1m views http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8 --Paris Hilton response to McCain ad... (as a promo for Funny or Die) --http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d -- BUT, is it having an effect?  What is it saying, really?  Is making fun of someone hurt them... or maybe help them?

4. Olympic Marketing Tips from Colleen Coyne - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFC-SkacFQ -- http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4261/8-Marketing-Tips-From-An-Olympic-Gold-Medalist.aspx

5. Forum Fodder -- LinkedIn Groups - Are they great? Should you have one? How are we using them?

6. Marketing Tip of the Week -- Start a LinkedIn Group

7. Sign off - What are you doing this weekend?

There has been a lot of discussion this week in the A-List blogs about the role of a PR firm within the world of inbound marketing and social media.  I have been thinking about this for a while, both as a blogger (who is now getting pitched by PR firms), an active social media person, and a client of a PR firm - and part of a company that has a strong presence on LinkedIn (group with 7,000+ members), Facebook (over 600 fans) and Twitter (still growing, but employees like me have 100's of followers).  In fact, I have been asked to speak on this very topic at the upcoming Worldcom conference in Montreal (a conference of hundreds of PR firms).

Changes Challenging the Value of a PR Firm

1. Direct Relationships - Does the media expect direct relationships with the company (through social media) rather than having the PR folks as a "go-between"?  If so, can the PR Firm play a role at all?
2. Speed of Publishing - The old world had quarterly or annual editorial calendars.  Now A-list bloggers decide what to write that morning while having a latte in their robe in front of their laptop.  HubSpot has gotten coverage within 50 minutes from ZDNet because I responded to a question on Twitter from a blogger.  When the time between idea and article can be 30 minutes, can a PR firm really help a client get coverage?
3. Approachability of Media - The media today are really pretty approachable, unlike the old days where it was hard to get a meeting with a writer for the Wall Street Journal, today you can follow the key media players on Twitter, be friends on Facebook, comment on their blog, etc.  So, if the relationships are easier to formulate today, what's the value of a PR firm?

To review some of the discussion going on right now, Steve Rubel at Micro Persuasion thinks that PR firms need to adapt, because bloggers and "new media" people want to "discover news for themselves" and not be pitched by PR folks.  Michael Arrington at TechCrunch says that "PR as a profession is broken".  Ouch.  Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins from Mashable says those who "position themselves in the mindset that they aren't gatekeepers for information but connectors for entrepreneurs and resources for journalists" will be a productive resource for their clients.  Robert Scoble from Scobleizer thinks that "there's no reason to go crazy with a PR firm if you build something that people want."  And Todd Defren of PR-Squared posted a response (including a video of me).  But probably the best summary and comment on the debate (besides this article of course! :) comes from Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWrite Web who summarizes his article with "Is it worth the expense and loss of direct experience for many startups to hire PR people? It probably is." 

How a PR Firm Can Provide Value Today

1. Research - You could spend the time finding the best 100 bloggers who write about your specific niche, but having someone else do this for you can save time, especially if they do it for a living and have access to tools to make it easier and faster.  Same things goes for researching conferences, events, speaking opportunities, awards, etc.  HubSpot has won a ton of marketing awards, and for most of them our PR firm found them and did everything for us.
2. Training - Few people are social media and blogging experts, and if you hire the right PR firm, they can help bring their expertise into your company.  Don't let them do everything for you, make them train and educate your marketing team (not just marcom, product people too!) and executives about social media, blogging, how to comment on blogs, how to use Twitter and Facebook, etc.  Inbound Marketing relies on using your entire company for marketing, and teaching people how to do it can be a great way for your PR firm to provide value.  Even though we think we know a lot at HubSpot, our PR firm has taught us a thing or two and we've tried some new stuff based on their suggestions.
3. Create & Publish Content - PR folks are experts at writing, and increasingly audio and video too.  Your PR firm can help you figure out how to take your boring company announcement and craft it into an interesting story, even if it is not for a news release, it can be just for your company blog.  Your PR firm can also interview employees, customers and others and post videos on your blog or website, etc.  They do this stuff all the time (if they're good) and might be able to do it better and faster than you can.  Our PR firm has written more than press releases for us - they don't write for this blog - but other stuff has been helpful.
4. Pitching / Relationships - There are some times when a PR firm does have relationships you don't have, and times when that makes sense.  A lot of these relationships might be "old media", but old media is still important to a lot of companies.  For instance, Business Week, Inc Magazine, and others will probably only cover you twice in the next 5 years (if you're lucky), so does the writer really want a "relationship" with you.  Probably not.  But a PR firm brings lots of different clients to the table, and having a relationship with the PR pro might make sense for the writer.  Our PR Firm is really completely responsible for our relationships with print media.  We just don't interact with those folks much ourselves.
5. Monitoring - Good PR folks will do a great job of monitoring all the right blogs, social networks and other conversations for relevant information.  They then should email you and tell you to respond, comment, or react on your blog as necessary.  Even if you have a ton of RSS feeds, alerts and more set up, you might miss some things.  Our PR Firm doesn't send us too much in terms of monitoring because we use lots of tools (including HubSpot software) to monitor things ourselves, but about once a month they send something I missed, and it's usually good.  But, we have about 10 people actively monitoring 100's of blogs and 100's of search feeds daily (not kidding, the joke is that we consume 40% of the Internet on a daily basis).  I bet that your company has way fewer people in your company doing this stuff, so your PR firm will provide tons more value here.

Beyond these points, I also think there is something to be said for the ability for a PR firm to relatively quickly ramp up your capabilities, whereas if you were doing things internally it might take a lot longer to find and train a productive internal person.  Don't take this as a glowing recommendation that everyone should go out and hire a PR firm today.  But, I also don't think they should be swept under the rug as useless - there is a lot of value a PR firm can provide in the right circumstances for the right client.  As always, understand what all your possible tools can do, then choose the right tools for the job.  A PR firm might be one of those tools.

Here is some more of my thoughts on video:

Note: HubSpot is a client of Shift Communications, and we're happy with what we have accomplished working with them over the past year.  But we also talk frequently with them about how to make the relationship work best for both of us.  I recommend all companies do that with your PR firm.  Maybe this article can be a starting point for the conversation with your PR firm.

What do you think?  What is the role of a PR firm today?  Leave a comment below and let's discuss.

If you're a savvy marketer, you have a range of online tools and techniques you use to reach new customers efficiently.

But how does your system stack up with the competition?

How does your marketing mix or conversion rate compare with your industry's average?

To provide some benchmarks and help you answer those questions, today we're launching the HubSpot Inbound Marketing Survey.

If you'd like to know how your conversion rates, your marketing mix or your inbound marketing strategies compare with other companies in your industry, take five minutes to complete this easy survey.

We'll collect responses, then send you the results so you can see how your company stacks up.

In case that's not incentive enough, we're giving away six great prizes to people who complete the survey -- two tickets to the Inbound Marketing Summit in Cambridge, MA, on Sept 8, and four $500 cash prizes. 

The ticket winners will be announced a week from today. Winners of the cash prizes will be announced when the survey closes on Sept 22. Folks who complete the survey within the next week will be eligible for both prizes; if you complete it after that, you'll only be eligible for the cash.

So what are you waiting to for? Get on over to the survey and win those prizes!

Joel Granoff, CEO and Founder of Be Greeted, a chat and lead capture solution, spent a few minutes with me to talk about webinars and his advice for launching a successful webinar.  Here's the video, below are some notes.  (Apologies for the background noise, we tried to find the quietest place we could at the event.)

Summary Webinar / Webcast Marketing Tips

Before a Webinar:

• Decide on your target audience and think about the content that appeals to them
• Carefully plan your content to be enticing, useful, and interesting to your audience
• Have a promotion plan and know what lists, blogs and partners you'll use to promote registrations
• Make sure your practice and rehearse, both for the speakers and to test your technology
• Have a sales follow-up plan and make sure sales buys into the goals of the webinar

During a Webinar:

• Follow a script so you stay on time and on topic
• Make sure to capture all the questions people ask
• Keep the content and media simple so you don't have any technology issues

After a Webinar:

• Send an email follow-up with a recording of the video to both attendees and non-attendees
• Pass leads to the sales team
• Use the data from your event (time spent in a webinar, questions asked) for lead scoring
• Have lead intelligence, content, forms and interactive tools to engage and track visitors to your website after the webinar

If you like webinars and webcasts and want to watch some about marketing, use this link to view all of the HubSpot marketing webinars.

The blog-pushers who insist it's a great way to create a community around your product.

The evangelists who argue blogging is a great way to create conversation.

The practical folks who tell you blogging is a better way to publish your press releases.

You don't dispute any of this. You just find it wishy-washy.

Your business is a data-driven machine. You live and die by leads and sales. You don't have time for unmeasurable, time-consuming concepts like community and conversation.

Fine.

Forget community. Forget conversation. There's a far simpler, far more measurable reason to blog: search engine rankings.

If you publish a regularly updated, well-written blog on your company's site, it will show up more often in search engine results.

Most marketers miss this. They focus on the sexier social, networking and thought-leadership aspects of blogging. These are all very important reasons to blog (you can't really forget community and conversation), but they're complicated to measure.

Great search engine ranking is easier to measure. Just consider how much you'd have to pay to get equivalent ranking on a pay-per-click basis.

If you write a post about your fantastic windmill consulting firm and it shows up in the search results for "new windmills" your blog will get lots of new traffic and leads that you'd otherwise have to pay to for.

This blog is another great example. It drives three times as much traffic from Google to HubSpot as HubSpot's traditional company site. To purchase the same kind of traffic (and the leads that come with it) we'd have to pay Google millions.

Think about that -- our blog is giving us millions of dollars worth of free advertising and generating leads we can count.

There's nothing wishy-washy about that.