topic Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything! in Ask Me Anything and Panel Discussions

Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:35:53 GMT

I'm really looking forward to this AMA. Some topics that may be of interest (and that I'm happy to talk about) include:

Anything related to the new products and features HubSpot launched at INBOUND 2016 - see here
Best practices, tips and tricks using the HubSpot Marketing Platform & COS
How SEO is changing, and how you can adjust your content strategy using HubSpot
HubSpot Marketing Free
How to evaluate, and get the most out of your growth stack

Hopefully, I can be helpful!

This AMA will start on Wednesday, November 30th at 9:00 AM EST. I will be answering questions between 9am - 1pm EST, and again in the late afternoon from 3-5:50pm. I'll do my best to get to all the questions I can during those times.

Feel free to start adding questions now, and I will begin answering them on Wednesday.

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

senateeskridge — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 01:50:34 GMT

I am new to Hubspot free crm What are some best practices regarding Birthdates? I track clients birthdates and like to send out Birthday cards to all clients. Is there an easy process to track Birthdates and pull a list of everyone who has a Birthday in a particular month or even week?

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 09:26:13 GMT

Hey @Jeffrey thanks for posting!

I had a question about the new Marketing Free / Lead Flows tools - specifically form types.

Out of the Pop-up box, Dropwdown banner and Side-in box form types, which do you think is best for a good user experience? I love what this tool offers but I"m mindful about being disruptive with pop-out forms/content offers.

Any best practice tips on incorporating these forms would be super helpful - thank you!

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

FProctor — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 19:54:01 GMT

Hi Jeffrey,

There are times when I feel a bit overwhelmed with the number of tools in the hubspot marketing product. Blog posts, content, landing pages, emails, SEO, any everything in between. With only so many hours in a day, I constantly struggle with figuring out what I should actually be working on that will make my hubspot experience as successful as possible. Do you have any suggestions for things to focus on or think about when trying to make these decisions?

Thanks

Frank

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

AHP — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:08:10 GMT

Hi Jeffrey! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. To provide a little background, I am currently using the CRM and the Free Sales Tool and seeing some really valuable insights. I'm pretty confident about retaining my customers, however I'd like to capture more "hot" leads. From either the free tools, or the tools in the $50/month range (we've got a small budget), what would you recommend in terms of strategy for making sure I can identify leads that are likely to become customers as opposed to leads that will cool off? Also, how do you see the new messaging tool coming into play here?

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

JamesOickle — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:19:57 GMT

What is the best way to schedule Facebook post shares in Hubspot?

I essentially want to share a post and write commentary as per the norm on Facebook interface, but schedule them to release over time.

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

glarochelle — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 21:08:45 GMT

Is there a way to integrate with Wistia in Marketing Free? I dont see the integrations option if the drop down in top right of the Free version.

Thanks,

George

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 10:26:42 GMT

In follow up to @glarochelle's query, what are your opinions on the growing role of video in content marketing? Does it have a place in inbound marketing and does HubSpot have any plans to introduce further video technology?

I've heard great things about Wistia - is this possible to integrate with free tools?

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

RhiannonCleary — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 10:58:38 GMT

Hey @Jeffrey I've been reading up on the soon-to-come Content Strategy tool. In light of your experience with SEO and industry changes my question is - why thew new focus on this content structure, instead of just keywords? Is one more important then the other?

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:28:29 GMT

Hi @senateeskridge, great question. Within the CRM you can add custom contact properties (more on that here), such as Birthdate. Once you have the contact property for Birthdate you can filter the view based on information you add here, such as date. Here's an example screenshot:

Hope that helps!

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

robpyrz — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:31:23 GMT

Jeffrey, I am an existing Hubspot customer. When we had our new site made 2 years ago we were advised to have the Blog set up for posting in Wordpress and not Hubspot. Should we change this?

Rob

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:23:02 GMT

Hi @Anonymous. I'm a huge fan of the new Lead Flows tool, and Marketing Free and there are a lot of compelling use cases and ways to utilize the new forms. User experience is more important than ever, and as Dharmesh said at INBOUND this year, HEO (Human Experience Optimization) is the new SEO. Here are a few ways you can use each Lead Flow type:

Pop-up: These are great for capturing attention, but should show up at relevant times. Maybe it's when a reader gets to the end of an article, or towards the bottom of a landing page. Pop-ups can also work great on exit intent, that is, when a user starts to scroll towards the back or close button the pop-up displays.
Dropdown banner: If you have a long page where readers consistently scroll, a drop-down banner can "stick" to the top of the browser and be a good option to use. Drop-down banners are also great on mobile so that the pop-up does not take up the entire screen.
Slide-in Box: Slide-in boxes are great for providing supplemental resources. If you have a post about the best ways to use Lead Flows (for example), then a supplemental example could be an offer or another blog post on how you used slide-in boxes to increase time on site and conversion rates.

I would recommend reading the post "Should Marketers Use Pop-Up Forms? A Comprehensive Analysis" by my colleague Ben Ratner. It's a great deep-dive into pop-up forms.

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:52:26 GMT

Hi @FProctor. Thanks for the question. I think the first thing to focus on should be aligning the tools you're using daily with your goals. For example, if you're working to create more top of the funnel awareness, then starting with SEO and content creation would be a natural place to start.

A few suggestions that are hopefully helpful:

Utilize Projects - There are templates in Projects that will guide you through the step-by-step creation of a project that meets your goals, like a top of the funnel awareness campaign, or demand generation campaign. Using Projects will naturally streamline the tools your using into one consistent flow that achieves your goal.
There is a great breakdown of steps on HubSpot Marketing here. Starting at the top and developing your goals, then personas will naturally lead into using a number of different tools.

Keep your buyers in mind regardless of the approach you utilize, and start small. Developing blog content should start with the keywords and blog tool, but allows you to foucus on those tools. Good luck!

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 17:54:05 GMT

Hi @AHP. Great question. Are you currently using the Deals built into the HubSpot CRM? If not, the column available for "Qualified to Buy" is a great starting point to determine who your sales team should be reaching out to. As far as identifying who makes it into the "Qualified to Buy" stage, there are a number of considerations:

Engagement - Individuals, or companies, visiting your website can be a great source of Prospects for sales. Using the Prospects tool within Sales Pro you can see which companies are engaging with your website and then get a daily digest to your sales team to reach out.
Live-Chat - Many people today prefer to find an answer, or chat with someone online as opposed to picking up the phone. The upcoming Messages feature will help integrate Live Chat on your website and automatically feed that conversation back into the HubSpot Sales tools so you can use it as context for each deal.
Email Notifications: Email notifications are helpful at identifying prospects who are actively engaged, and then you can use Meetings, and Messages along with marketing free to make connections with folks interested in your product or solution.

If you are also using the HubSpot Marketing platform, you can optionally gain access to things like Lead Scoring (or Predictive Lead Scoring) which would help you rank incoming leads that your sales team should reach out to. With the HubSpot CRM and Sales Pro though, I would utilize the deal stages built in and consider what makes a qualified buyer and ensure sales is primarily reaching out to those prospects/leads.

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 16:31:30 GMT

Hi @JamesOickle. From within the HubSpot Marketing platform, if you go to the Social menu, and then to Publishing you can create content to share out to Facebook, Twitter, and other channels. If you are sharing a blog post, just copy the link and paste it into the window and HubSpot will automatically attach it and allow you to add commentary. A screenshot example is below, and for more information you can check out the Social Media User Guide here.

Hope that helps!

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

casaatlantica — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 18:24:50 GMT

Hello Jeffrey ,

My name is Ozan , I am an appreciated user of Hubspot tools for ouy little shop . I am still new in this and I have a lot of questions. We started using collecting lead forms for our website. but when you click on exit on subscription screen it appears again after 2 weeks . Is there any other option or tool that we can provide chance to subscribe for our potential clients anytime ?

With Best Regards,

Ozan Bilen

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 18:29:54 GMT

Hi @glarochelle & @Anonymous. Can you tell me a bit more about what you would like to do with a Wistia integration and Marketing Free?

At this time it's not possible to integrate them, however if you are using HubSpot Marketing Basic, Professional, or Enterprise, you can integrate Wistia and see specific information about contacts watching videos within the timeline, and use it for segmentation.

Video has an increasingly important role in marketing. According to the State of Inbound 2016 report, 48% of marketers plan to add YouTube videos to their mix, and 39% plan to start using Facebook video. We currently have a great integration with Wistia that many customers are using with the paid Marketing Platform. If there are additional integrations or functionality you would like to see, let me know!

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 18:45:33 GMT

Hey @Jeffrey I've heard the concept 'Smarketing' before. I was wondering which HubSpot sales/marketings tools should be shared / used by sales and marketing teams to collobarate. How can two teams using each half of the product work well together on the HubSpot suite?

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

Jeffrey — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 18:52:23 GMT

Hi @RhiannonCleary. Glad you asked, this is one of the INBOUND 2016 announcements I'm really excited about.

The new Content Strategy tool is evolving based on the changing nature of search engines, and how content needs to adapt. Keywords are still very important, and still matter, but how your content is structured and the engagement of that content has become far more important in the eyes of Google.

There are a few fundamental shifts occuring that are driving this change:

As searchers, our queries are changing. Instead of just searching for "sports cars", our queries are more complex now. One example could be, "what are the best sports cars under $50,000?"

As a result of queries getting more complex, Google introduced RankBrain to help understand the context of your long-tail query and boil it down into a meaningful answer.
Because Google, and other search engines, have begun to understand and interpret induvidual terms and the context their used optimizing for just one keyword may mean you miss out on the overall topic. There are a ton of different but related searches going on to your keyword that you don't want to miss by just optimizing content for a single-term.
Individual words within your post is now only one of over 200 signals that Google uses to rate results. Some other crucial elements are page architecture, inbound links, social sharing, and more. The new Content Strategy tools helps ensure your content structure is setup for success.

If you have content already created, you're ahead of the game. Content Strategy is simply a shift from the existing way of creating content and shouldn't require replacing existing content, or rewriting content.

Fundamentally the new Content Strategy structure starts with a topic to focus on. Generally a topic should be a highly searched term that is only a few words long. You may not be ranking for the topic overall right now (which is OK). An example of a topic could be Inbound Marketing. Your core topic should be a page that is the definitive resource on the topic. Surrounding that topic should be sub-topics that are individual blog posts, social messages, videos, etc which answer questions around it and all link back to the core topic page. This structure helps diversify your terms into a broader collection which will help search engines interpret as authority on the given area.

If you want more information on the topics over keywords framework, check out this blog post by well-known SEO Matthew Barby. Also if you're interested in Content Strategy you can find out more here.

Hope that is helpful!

Re: Hi I'm Jeffrey, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Ask Me Anything!

celina_CJ — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 19:09:11 GMT

Hello @Jeffrey, I've been using the CRM for some time and am just starting with HubSpot Marketing and I'm really liking the feel of them so far. One thing that I've noticed myself looking for more and more is advanced reporting - I noticed the new dashboards on both the Sales and Marketing sides, and I love their customizability. When I went to add new dashboard elements, I saw that some were only available with the Reporting Add-On. So my question is: is it worth it to buy the Reporting add-on when you are still using the free Marketing and Sales tools (we don't have enough money in our budget for both)? If so, what are some best practices for using the add-on with these tools, and how have you seen other businesses leverage it to get a better handle on the effectiveness of their sales/marketing efforts? Thanks for your insight.