On Tuesday, I participated in a Grow With HubSpot seminar in Washington, D.C. It took place in the Shaw District of the city at Youth for Understanding’s office.
HubSpot is one of the premiere marketing websites in the country that specializes in inbound marketing (which I’ll expound on in the coming paragraphs). They are based in Cambridge, Mass., and are known for their yearly INBOUND Conference held in Boston. It was founded by two MIT graduates in 2006. Here’s more about the company from a recent profile in Motley Fool:
Over 19,000 customers in more than 90 countries use HubSpot’s software, services, and support to transform the way they attract, engage, and delight customers. HubSpot’s inbound marketing software includes social media publishing and monitoring, blogging, SEO, website content management, email marketing, marketing automation, and reporting and analytics, all in one integrated platform. HubSpot’s award-winning sales application enables sales and service teams to have more effective conversations with leads, prospects, and customers.
With approximately 1,500 employees, HubSpot is a global company with offices in Cambridge, MA; Portsmouth, NH; Dublin, Ireland; Sydney, Australia; Singapore; and most recently, Tokyo, Japan.
I’ve followed their marketing blog since late 2014 and have written about them given how resourceful the company is.
When I arrived at the Youth for Understanding building, I checked in and got some swag in the form of a HubSpot pen and accompanying orange journal. Seminar attendees were met with delicious food of the Chinese variety. (We had refreshments and coffee during a break.) Seating was adjusted for about 200 or so participants, with the room close to capacity. People were clearly excited to attend this seminar enthusiasm generally absent from most political events I’ve been to. (Oh my!) You could tell people were excited to learn more about HubSpot and inbound marketing. Best of all, this was a FREE event to attend.
I was vaguely familiar with inbound marketing before attending this Grow With HubSpot seminar. I saw pop-ups on HubSpots website about it and friends had mentioned it to me in passing. It bewildered me. I asked myself, how can I apply inbound marketing to politics-let alone conservative politics? I don’t have extra funds to invest in HubSpot’s program or think about sales right now. Most political operatives think in terms of raising funds and have a grassroots army to disseminate and push our ideas. (No wonder we are behind the times, as my friend said after we completed the Grow With HubSpot event.) We have to adapt, and we can do so with the help of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing generally applies to brands and companies, but I believe it has the potential to work well for political campaigns especially those on the Right.
Heres how HubSpot defines inbound marketing:
Inbound marketing is about using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention. Sharing is caring and inbound marketing is about creating and sharing content with the world. By creating content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more.
I like how customer/client/consumer-focused inbound marketing it. Just as in effective storytelling, inbound marketing is all about accommodating and servicing clients. People are inclined to things that benefit them versus services companies think best serve them (outbound marketing), so it makes sense to implement these tactics.
Guest speakers included those from HubSpot and local company representatives who use their program. The HubSpot lecturers were superb, professional, and knowledgeable about their field. You could tell they believe their mission and in their product (the HubSpot program).
Heres a pic I snapped at the seminar.
These were some interesting statistics I took away from the lecture:
—54% more leads generated by inbound tactics than traditional paid marketing (outbound marketing)
—Companies are 3x as likely to see higher ROI on inbound marketing campaigns than outbound marketing campaigns
—$20K average saved by companies with inbound marketing tactics vs using outbound marketing tactics
Did my post pique your interest in learning more about inbound marketing? Find your local HubSpot User Group and get involved! They are community groups that comprise HubSpot customers, partners, inbound marketers and developers to improve inbound marketing. (We have several in the D.C. areaD.C. proper, Annapolis, Richmond, and Hampton Roads.) Connect with HubSpot at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you feel inclined!
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