Inbound marketing is an exploding practice. Hundreds of HubSpot vars are popping up all over the world, which causes prospects to be a bit overwhelmed when it comes time to pick an agency to work with. One competitive advantage that no one will stop you from pursuing is transparency. By showing your clients what lies behind the scenes of an inbound marketing strategy you will surely stand out from the "smoke and mirrors" out there. You will also be shocked at how smoothly things run (financially and logistically) if everything is laid out in stone up front. No secrets people... let it all hang out. Below is one strategy, complete with all the educational resources required, to attract new opportunities and nurture them to a point of sale using content and HubSpot's automated marketing software.

For any of you that actually get through this: your comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

PART 1: Blogging Implementation

Necessary Tools:

• HubSpot Blogging Tool

Scope of Work:

• Create a blog calendar
• Write 500-600 words of copy twice a week (every week)
• Optimize & post your blog articles using the checklist below

Resources:

Still Need to Setup a HubSpot Blog? See HubSpot’s blog setup guide here: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/set-up-hubspot-blog

IMR’s Blogging Checklist

#1 Develop Blog Content

1. Identify the Buyer Persona – before publishing or writing a blog post, identify exactly which target prospect is going to be appealed to by that particular piece of content. This buyer persona is the desired audience for your post and should be the primary audience in mind as the content is being developed. Selecting a target buyer persona for each post is crucial to delivering valuable content and associated offers within the blog itself that ultimately influence a lead conversion.
2. Deliver Best Practices/How to Solve that Problem – upon identifying a buyer persona and their associated problem/need ensure that the content of the blog post addresses that need directly with valuable, helpful information related to the problem being investigated by a reader.
3. Simplicity/Format – use clear section titles and implement bullet points whenever possible. Simplicity in terms of format is crucial to maintaining reader interest and ultimately influencing a conversion

#2 Outfit for SEO

1. Blog Titles Include Keyword (Meta Title) – the keyword(s) that each blog is attempting to rank for must be included in the title in some form, preferable within the first few words.
2. Scheduling – 2 posts per week, 8 posts a month. This is a proven formula that presents no risk in terms of overwhelming search engines with frequent, redundant posting that negatively effects ranking.
3. Keyword Tags (3-5 max) – tag the blog with up to 4 keywords that are associated with the content using the tagging tool.
4. In-Text Keyword Usage – use each keyword up to five times within the post itself, and highlight each keyword at least once by bolding or italicizing.
5. Meta Keywords – use the same keywords used in the tagging tool to populate the meta keywords field.
6. Meta Description – provide a succinct, value-added summary of the content that includes the primary keyword somewhere in the description.
7. Internal Links to Resource Pages (Keyword Mapping) – include between 2 to 4 links back to helpful pages related to the content. The ‘anchor text’ of the link (the text that is actually read and clicked-on) must be keyword targeted so that it can be meaningfully picked up by search engine. Avoid linking generic terms and focus on phrases or specific terms related to the issue being addressed by the content.

#3 Optimize Blog for Conversion

1. Place CTA Aligned with Topic – include a CTA for a piece of premium content that most properly aligns with the topic of the post. Include this CTA at the end of the post.
2. Outfit with Images – use at least one image that is tightly aligned with the content.
3. Enable Social Sharing – ensure that every post provides an opportunity to share the content via social networks and email. At the end of each post request readers to share the content.

Part 2: Top of Funnel Premium Content Implementation

Necessary Tools:

• HubSpot Landing Page Tool
• HubSpot CTA Tool

Scope of Work:

• Create a Call to Action Button
• Create a Landing Page
• Create an Automatic Follow-up Email (Using Landing Page Tool)
• Create a Thank You Page

Resources:

Tutorial for creating landing pages http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-call-to-action

New to HubSpot’s Landing Page Tool? Check out this link for a tutorial on building landing pages using HubSpot: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-landing-page

Here is a tutorial for creating Thank You Pages: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-thank-you-page

IMR’s Top of the Funnel Premium Content Checklist:

#1 Ensure your premium content does the following:

1. Identify the buyer persona and informational “need” category
2. Industry best practices & information to satisfy the need for information
3. Introduction to the specific approach (or strategy) that you recommend taking based on experience. Give them specific recommendations on how to solve their problem.
4. What are the next steps to solving the problem (down funnel offers).

#2 Place your CTA at the bottom of related blog articles:

Example: Check out the contextually aligned CTA button in this blog article

#3 Make sure your landing page follows best practices:

Here is a quick 10 step guide to landing page optimization: http://academy.hubspot.com/Portals/137828/docs/10-step-guide-to-landing-page-optimization.pdf

#4 Plug your #1 Sales Tool (your Middle of the Funnel offer) on the Thank you Page and Follow Up email.

The idea here is to make it very clear to your new prospect what the next step is. Aligning the thank you page, follow up email and the premium document itself with that next step offer “the middle of the funnel content” or “#1 selling tool” will ensure that the next step is clear to your prospect. (see example on next page).

The “triple shot” Nurture

1: Thank you Page:

2: Follow Up email:

3. Premium Content Document

Part 3: Nurturing With “Supporting Content” Implementation

UPDATE: If you are having trouble with the basics of segmentation. Check out this article on segmenting workflows by qualification.

Necessary Tools:

• HubSpot Email Tool
• HubSpot Workflow Tool

Prerequisites:

• You must have already created a middle of the funnel offer landing page (see part 4)

Scope of Work:

• Create an automated email for each supporting content offer in your strategy
• Create a TOFU workflow
• Make sure to “suppress” any down-funnel lead “lists” you may have created (see part 4)

Resources:

Tutorial on HubSpot’s Email Tool: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/how-to-use-email-tool

Tutorial on HubSpot’s Workflow Tool: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/set-up-workflows

IMR Lead Nurturing Email: Note the primary and secondary offers.

IMR Workflow Settings: TOFU workflow is triggered by any TOFU content download. Three emails are triggered.

Suppress any “down funnel lists”: you don’t want people to receive this messaging if they take action on a Middle of the funnel or Bottom of the funnel offer.

NOTE: A majority of leads will not take the desired down funnel action during the course of their automated email messaging. You may consider making the last step of the workflow a “list enrollment” and create a list called “TOFU Quiet Leads”. That way once a lead finishes their workflow, you can send the “TOFU Quite Leads” list a subtle monthly reminder or even a special offer. You don’t want to annoy them to the point of un-subscription, but for organizations with very long sales cycles, this is a good way to stay top of mind every month.

Part 4: Middle of Funnel Offer Implementation

Necessary Tools:

• HubSpot Landing Page Tool
• HubSpot CTA Tool
• HubSpot Lists

Scope of Work:

• Create a Call to Action Button
• Create a Landing Page
• Create an Automatic Follow-up Email (Using Landing Page Tool)
• Create a Thank You Page
• Create a list called “Marketing Qualified Leads”

Resources:

Tutorial for creating landing pages http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-call-to-action

New to HubSpot’s Landing Page Tool? Check out this link for a tutorial on building landing pages using HubSpot: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-landing-page

Here is a tutorial for creating Thank You Pages: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-thank-you-page

IMR’s Middle of the Funnel Offer Checklist:

#1 Ensure your Middle of the Funnel Offer does the following:

1. Validates your company best practices
2. Articulates the value add of your organization
3. Addresses any common push-backs from working with you
4. What are the next steps to solving the problem (down funnel offers).

#2 Place your CTA at the end of all Top of Funnel Content, TOFU Thank you Pages, & Follow up emails:

Example: Check out the contextually aligned CTA button in this blog article

#3 Make sure your MOFU landing page follows best practices:

Here is a quick 10 step guide to landing page optimization: http://academy.hubspot.com/Portals/137828/docs/10-step-guide-to-landing-page-optimization.pdf

#4 Plug your 1^st contact with sales (your Bottom of the Funnel offer) on the Thank you Page and Follow Up email.

When someone takes action on your #1 sales tool it is critical to change the nature of your messaging. This is no longer a lead that has only shown interest in best practices and learning, they have taken clear action to solve their problems, and they are looking at you for help. Middle of the Funnel messaging “workflows” should now focus on getting that lead to a point of sale.

Part 5: Nurturing With “Selling Content” Implementation

Necessary Tools:

• HubSpot Email Tool
• HubSpot Workflow Tool

Prerequisites:

• You must have already created a Bottom of the funnel offer landing page (see part 6)

Scope of Work:

• Create an automated email for each selling content offer in your strategy
• Create a MOFU workflow
• Make sure to “un-enroll” leads from up-funnel workflows (TOFU) when your MOFU workflow is activated.
• Make sure to “suppress” any down-funnel lead “lists” you may have created (see part 6)

Resources:

Tutorial on HubSpot’s Email Tool: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/how-to-use-email-tool

Tutorial on HubSpot’s Workflow Tool: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/set-up-workflows

IMR MOFU Workflow SETUP: When a lead takes your middle of the funnel offer – begin the MOFU Workflow. Step 1, make that lead a “Marketing Qualified Lead”. Step 2, automate your MOFU emails. Step 3, at the end of the workflow put your leads into a “quiet MOFU” category for later.

MOFU WORKFLOW SETTINGS: It is important to un-enroll a lead from your TOFU workflow when your MOFU workflow is triggered. This will eliminate the chance of a lead getting two sets of messaging. You will want to suppress anyone that is a part of a down-funnel list, like “sales qualified leads”, or lists that you don’t want to be exposed to your sales process.

Part 6: Bottom of Funnel Offer Implementation

Necessary Tools:

• HubSpot Landing Page Tool
• HubSpot CTA Tool
• HubSpot Lists
• HubSpot CRM integration (as needed)

Scope of Work:

• Create a Call to Action Button
• Create a Landing Page
• Create an Automatic Follow-up Email (Using Landing Page Tool)
• Create a Thank You Page
• Create a list called “Sales Qualified Leads”

Resources:

Tutorial for creating landing pages http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-call-to-action

New to HubSpot’s Landing Page Tool? Check out this link for a tutorial on building landing pages using HubSpot: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-landing-page

Here is a tutorial for creating Thank You Pages: http://help.hubspot.com/articles/Tutorial/create-a-thank-you-page

IMR’s Bottom of the Funnel Offer Checklist:

#1 Ensure your Bottom of the Funnel Offer does the following:

1. Communicates relevant & tangible value to the prospect at no charge
2. Articulates the value add of your organization
3. Clarifies the follow up action you will take (phone call or email follow up)
4. Captures the necessary information for follow up

#2 Place your CTA at the end of all Middle of Funnel Offers, MOFU Thank you Pages, & Follow up emails:

Example: Check out the contextually aligned CTA button in this blog article

#3 Make sure your BOFU landing page follows best practices:

Here is a quick 10 step guide to landing page optimization: http://academy.hubspot.com/Portals/137828/docs/10-step-guide-to-landing-page-optimization.pdf

THE END... Feedback would be fantastic: mtraylor@imrcorp.com or use the comments below.