by Tiffany Nix • 3 minute read • November 13, 2014
Picture this: you find an ancient oil lamp buried in the back of your office closet. You think, Wow, I knew this closet hadn't been touched in years, but I didn't think I'd find antiques in here.
You dust off the lamp and your imagination starts running wild.
Hmm, what if...
So you look over each shoulder (to make sure no one is looking), and decide to give it a little rub. What the hey, you think, it's worth a shot, right?
Suddenly, a genie appears! You realize, All my dreams are about to come true!
But then he says he'll grant you only one wish. And it has to be work-related. Because he's a work genie. (Yeah, I know... just work with me here.)
What do you want most? Since "a billion dollars" and "world peace" are both off the table, you know what your decision has to be—more leads. You'd do anything for more leads.
Download Now: How Our Company Put HubSpot To The Test
HubSpot isn't a genie in a bottle.
While "more leads" may not be the most strategic thing to ask a genie for (actually, wishing for "more customers" might be a little smarter), in reality, you need them. Leads are one thing you can never have enough of.
At first, HubSpot can seem to resemble a shiny magic lamp. All the hype makes it sound like it's going to be the answer to all your lead problems. But once you've bought in and given it your first rub, you quickly discover there's no genie inside.
HubSpot is a fantastic software. But that's all it is—software. You have to be the genie. You have to make the magic happen.
Why isn't HubSpot working for me?
Chances are, HubSpot isn't working for your company because you aren't putting in the amount of time and effort it takes to make it work.
Really, HubSpot itself can't do anything for you. Don't get me wrong, it's software that can make your life a lot easier. But what it's really all about is the time and effort you and your team put into content marketing. And we know from experience—it takes a lot of time, and a lot of effort.
HubSpot is only a tool to help you manage your content marketing/inbound marketing efforts. The rest is completely up to you.
If your company just hasn't been able to generate many leads using HubSpot, here are a few reasons why it may not be working.
#1: You aren't creating enough content.
The more content you create, the more successful you're going to be at the inbound marketing game. Anything less than two articles a week on your blog isn't going to attract much organic traffic. (Not very quickly, anyway.) As a general rule, the more content you create, the more successful you're going to be at attracting traffic. (And that's not rocket science. The more articles you write, the more opportunities you're going to have for potential customers to find you in organic search.)
As you probably know, after you attract those potential customers, you're going to want to convert them into leads. You do this through offers (free, downloadable content offered to website visitors in exchange for some information about themselves—at minimum, the visitor's name and email address). You may have created an offer or two to start out with that you've placed at the end of your articles as calls-to-action. But in order to keep converting visitors into leads and to keep moving your leads through the buying funnel, you're going to need to keep creating new offers. You can't just write one or two and then call it quits.
It's all about content. So make sure you're creating enough.
#2: You aren't publishing content consistently.
Writing an article "here and there" isn't going to get you anywhere. Your blogging and offer efforts have to be consistent if you want inbound marketing to work for your company.
You're building a library of content not only to attract visitors and convert leads, but also to build credibility with search engines. Search engines evaluate your website and it's legitimacy based on the content you publish, which means that consistent blogging efforts will help you rank in search results.
#3: You aren't writing about the right things.
The whole point of content and inbound marketing is to create content that potential customers will find valuable. Therefore, if you aren't writing about what your customers are searching for or you aren't writing enough about it to be helpful, you're wasting your time.
If you already have HubSpot, you've probably created some buyer personas, which means you know who your target audience is. Do some research to figure out what questions your potential customers are asking on a day-to-day basis. What are they typing into Google's search bar? Once you figure it out, do some keyword research to figure out how they're wording their questions and whether or not there's some search volume for those particular phrases. Then, base your articles around those ideas.
One of the biggest "no-nos" in inbound marketing is writing about what interests you—what you care about isn't necessarily what your target audience cares about. So put yourself in your buyer personas' shoes. The more successful you are at honing in on what your potential customers want to read, the more successful you'll be at generating leads.
Check out The Anatomy & ROI Of A One Million-View Blog Post to learn more about making your articles as "searchable" as possible.
#4: You haven't been at it long enough.
If you feel that you are doing a good job of creating great content consistently, it's possible that you haven't been doing it long enough to see any results yet. In that case, you just have to keep it up.
Inbound marketing isn't a quick solution for lead generation. It takes a consistent effort for a long period of time. Give it around six months or so, then evaluate where you're at in relation to the goals you've set for yourself.
#5: You don't have the right customer base for inbound marketing to work for your company.
Ask yourself these questions:
Does my target audience search for solutions to problems online?
If they don't, or they do very little research online, then this method of lead generation may not be for you.
What is the lifetime value of my average customer, and what is their relationship with my company before and after the sale?
Because inbound marketing is a process that involves continually providing value to build trust, it works best when you’re looking for potential clients to work with for the long haul—ones you'll need to nurture as they travel through a lengthy buyer journey. This kind of lead wants to be sure about their purchase decision because of the high dollar amount, and inbound marketing is the perfect way to build your company's rapport with them.
You're less likely to be successful with inbound marketing if you sell your products or services at a very low cost and your buyers' journeys are short. In this scenario, you'll need a much higher volume of leads and it'll be difficult to figure out how to "nurture" them as they are making quick buying decisions. Plus, you don't really need to create much of a relationship with them since they'll most likely buy and be on their way.
Ultimately, it comes down to evaluating your company's specific situation. It's possible that inbound marketing isn't the best marketing strategy for you. And if you decide that it's not something that will work for your company, you don't need HubSpot.
Be your own genie.
At the end of the day, it's your hard work coupled with HubSpot's intuitive software that can bring in the leads you need. Don't sell yourself short. You don't need HubSpot—HubSpot needs you. If inbound marketing is a strategy you believe can work for your company, put concentrated time and effort into it, and watch the magic happen!
